Page 44 of A Virgin to Tempt the Duke

The house was quiet around them. Somewhere below, a door opened and closed. The sound of someone in the kitchen yard. London’s low continuous hum, which the old walls absorbed into a murmur. After perhaps fifteen minutes, she heard the sound of small paws on the windowsill. She did not look up.

Come on, Percy…

Paws on the floor. Then, the silence of a cat crossing carpet. She kept reading, pretending not to notice. The book had a shadow across the bottom of its page, which it had not had before. She looked up. Percy was sitting at her knee, which was two inches from her knee, studying her face with the focused gravity of a creature conducting a serious evaluation.

“Good day,” she said. Quietly. Simply.

She did not move. She looked back. He blinked. Once. Slow. She turned her hand over in her lap, not lifting it, not offering. Simply open, resting, palm upward.

He looked at her hand. He looked at her face. He looked at her hand again. He took one step forward, lowered his head, and placed his cheek against her fingers.

“That’s it.”

It was the softest kind of weight, the side of his face against her palm. His eyes closed. She could feel the warmth of him, and under that, the faint, fine vibration of a purr beginning. Not loud. Almost private, as if he had not quite committed to it but was considering the matter.

She sat very still. She did not say anything. The afternoon light came along the corridor. Percy purred, quietly, into her palm. And Anna looked at him, at this small, difficult creature who had taken four weeks and a rescued hedge and a cold garden and a piece of meat. She had always loved animals, especially thosewho made her work for their affection. This was the closest she had come to a pet of her own.

“All right,” she said softly as she petted him. “All right, then.”

The purr deepened. Percy opened one eye, confirmed she was still there, and closed it again.

CHAPTER 17

“Mr. Barnes has arrived, Miss Cartwell,” Simmons announced that Thursday, eleven days after they had arrived in London. “His Grace asks if you would join him in the study.”

She had been assisting Rachel with some correspondence, set down her pen, and followed with a nod.

Frederick was standing beside his desk when she came in. He was not sitting, which she had learned to read. Rachel was already in the chair near the fireplace. Barnes was in the chair across from the desk, with his folder open. He stood briefly when she entered, which she acknowledged, and then sat. She took the remaining chair, folded her hands in her lap, and waited.

“I will not delay the matter,” Barnes said, which was not his most extraordinary sentence since she had found it was generally how he began. “Miss Marsh has been located. She was in Somerset, which is near enough to Wiltshire that my thinking…” heglanced at Frederick, “and Your Grace’s men, both arrived at it within a day of each other.”

Anna went very still.

“She is well,” he said, which she had not asked but was grateful to hear. “She was staying with her sister’s family. She had heard, through channels I won’t try to document, that inquiries were being made, and she had been… cautious. She was not unwilling to come forward in the end. She simply needed to understand that she would be protected.”

“And she is satisfied on that point?” Frederick said.

“She gave her statement to my clerk in full. She confirmed the morning of the wedding, in precise detail. The dress delivered to her the night before with instructions from Viscount Edgeware’s household, no explanation given. Miss Cartwell’s state when woken. The coercive circumstances of their departure for the church.” He looked at Anna. “She is a good witness. Clear, specific, consistent with your own account in every particular.”

Anna looked down at her hands. They were very still in her lap. She hung on his every word.

“The statement is signed and witnessed,” Barnes continued. “Between that and the other materials we have assembled, I am satisfied that we have grounds not merely adequate but compelling. I will begin the formal filing early next week.” He closed the folder with the brisk finality of a man satisfied with his own preparation. “I will not make promises on the precisetimeline, Miss Cartwell. These proceedings have their own pace and the court moves as it moves. But I can say with confidence that the petition is in an exceptionally strong position. I would be surprised if there were significant obstacles.”

The room was quiet for a moment.

“And Birchall?” Rachel asked. Carefully, like a woman picking a path across uncertain ice.

“He will be notified, as is required by law.” Barnes said it without drama. “He may contest. Men in his position sometimes do, for reasons that have less to do with the law than with their own dislike of losing. However, contesting this petition would require him to make arguments that do not reflect well on himself, with a witness now on record who was present for the morning in question.” He paused. “I don’t anticipate a serious challenge.”

“Thank you,” Anna said. Her voice came out steady, and she was glad of it.

Barnes rose, and Frederick walked him out, and the room was still.

Rachel said, “Anna.”

“I know.” She looked out the window. “I know. It’s good news.”

“It is the best news,” Rachel said. “Anna, it’s nearly over.”