Page 54 of Stolen By the Heartless Duke

“I am… very sorry, Lady Jane.” The older gentleman looked mortified. “It truly would be best if you went to your mother.”

Zachary watched the realization settle across her face. “There. Even Mr. Mulvey agrees. Now, you,” Zachary replied pleasantly, “are dismissed.”

Neither of them moved. The room seemed to shrink. Sunlight filtered through the tall windows, illuminating floating dust between them.

It had always been Colin’s favorite room. She remembered standing beside this very desk while he explained maps of the estate. He had never once told her to leave. Never once suggested she was incapable because she was a woman.

He had answered every question she asked. He had listened when she offered opinions. He had trusted her.

Now she was being turned out like an unruly child. The unfairness of it made her throat ache.

As she reached the doorway, Zachary spoke again. “Oh, Lady Jane.”

She stopped. Without turning.

“I suggest,” he said silkily, “that you devote your energies to finding a husband. You may yet secure yourself before reality catches you.”

She walked away. Only once she rounded the corner did she allow herself to breathe again. She did not hear the study door close. She did not hear the lock click into place. But, somehow, she felt it.

Jane wandered the corridor without direction. Her footsteps echoed through Wynten House.

For the first time in her life, the familiar halls felt foreign. Portraits of generations of her family lined the walls.

She stopped before her father’s portrait. The painter had captured him smiling faintly.

“I do not know what to do,” she whispered.

The portrait offered no answer. Only silence.

She rested her fingertips against the frame.

“I miss him.”

A floorboard creaked behind her. She turned.

Her mother stood several feet away, one hand clutching her handkerchief. “My darling?”

Jane forced a smile. “It is nothing.”

Lady Wynten looked unconvinced. “Your face says otherwise.”

Jane hesitated. She crossed the corridor and slipped her arm through her mother’s. “They sent me away.”

Her mother’s shoulders fell. “Oh.”

“They are discussing Colin’s estate.”

“I feared they might.”

Jane stared toward the study. “It is wrong.”

“It is.”

“I know Colin would have wanted me there.”

“I know,” her mother said.

Jane laughed quietly. It held no amusement. “It appears the law never asked for Colin’s opinion.”