Page 40 of A Virgin to Tempt the Duke

“Your Grace.” She recovered the smile. “I did not know you were back.”

“Just.” He came to the top of the steps and looked down at the garden, at Percy still on his step. “I didn’t know you came out here.”

“I find I cannot always sleep easily.” She had turned back to face the sky, tilting her chin up again. It was a very natural gesture, entirely without pretense. Yet, she looked elegant, her face as delicate as any statue in the Louvre. “Rachel says I think too loudly. The garden helps. The stars too.”

Frederick sat on the step above Percy and looked out at the lawn.

“He was on the third step when I came in,” Frederick said.

“He was on the fourth when I arrived.” Anna was looking at him. “He moved down one while I was standing here.”

“That is, in fact,” Frederick said as he looked at Percy, “extraordinary.”

“I thought so too.” Her voice was warm with it, just at the edge. He almost smiled. She looked up again at the scattered stars between the clouds. “Do you know any of them? The constellations. My governess taught me the winter ones, but I was always better with the summer sky.”

He looked up. “Perseus is there, if you follow the line east of that cluster.” He pointed, which she followed. “And Andromeda to the west. This time of year, they are clearest just past midnight.”

“My governess would have liked you for that,” she said. “She read everything. Natural philosophy, astronomy, all of it. My father had a library that took up most of the east wing, my most treasured memory of him. He died when I was very young.” A pause. “It was sold shortly after.”

“I know.” He had not meant to say it. She looked at him. “Rachel mentioned it.”

“I don’t mind.” She said it without self-pity. “I minded then. Now I mind that I never memorized more of it.” She looked back at the sky. “He would have liked to know his books were being read, wherever they ended up.”

“‘I think he’d be proud that you think about them anyway.”

“Thank you, Your Grace… that is kind. I do not often have the opportunity to speak of my late father.”

He nodded, then paused before speaking again. “Well, for what it is worth, I think he would be proud of you. For how strong you are, and for all you have faced with such strength and fortitude.

A small, comfortable silence grew between them as he watched her cheeks grow slightly pink. A smile crossed her face. He liked the image.

“What else did you learn as a young girl?” Frederick asked after a short silence.

She considered this. “My father taught me to ride when I was a toddler, believe it or not. To think clearly when I was frightened, which he said was the most useful thing anyone could learn, and that the trick was to have practiced it before you needed it.” She paused. “He was right about that, as it turned out.”

“Was your mother the same?”

“No. She was all warmth… until my father passed.” She smiled at the memory. “I think she decided to love him very quickly and then went about it with great determination. He took considerably longer to catch up.”

“But he did.”

“Oh, entirely. He was devoted to her.” She was quiet for a moment. “I would like that, I think. Or… at least, I had always dreamed of true love, and look at what’s become of me.” Silence swelled between them, and she stammered, “I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have?—”

“Do not apologize. You haven’t said anything wrong, Miss Cartwell.”

He was aware that he had stopped looking at the sky some time ago as he turned closer to her, entranced by the sound of her clear voice.

“Do you think about it?” she asked. “…Getting married?”

“Not often,” he answered honestly. “I think about Rachel getting married more often.”

“Rachel?”

“Rachel first, yes. Always.” He said it without hesitation, because it was the plain truth and had been for long enough that he no longer thought about it as a choice. “She needs to be well settled. She needs someone steady, who would understand what she is and not try to diminish her. That has been the work. I will not force her into a match that is not all she deserves.” He paused. “Beyond that…”

He turned the question over and found the honest answer in it, which he had not looked at clearly in some time.

“Yes?” She asked, showing genuine interest in what he had to say.