Page 36 of My Dearest Duke

“Wife?” his five siblings chorused in comical, flabbergasted unison as if they’d practiced doing so.

“Wife?” Dorena repeated, making the word sound like a foul oath. “You never said a word about a wife when you went to London, Kingston. Only that you would find a solution to our…” she exchanged guarded, private glances with her brothers and sisters. “Our circumstances.”

Did they sincerely believe Vanessa wasn’t aware of their impoverishment?

Well, perhaps pride was all they had left.

Fifteen-year-old Gareth scratched his chin, eyeing Vanessa from head to toe, and she regretted wearing her stylish traveling ensemble. It bespoke wealth they might misinterpret for superiority.

“Seems to me, Rena, she is the solution,” he said with youthful candor.

The boys should be at university, getting an education, and the girls at finishing school, if they desired. Vanessa’s heart ached for all they’d been deprived of.

“Kingston, you married an heiress?” Dorena spat the word before she gave a contemptuous snort. “That was your solution?”

Oh, bugger.

“Dorena.” Rebecca glared darkly at her sister. “Where are your manners?”

“Indeed, Dorena,” Madeline reprimanded, her tone soft but uncompromising. “You’re behaving unspeakably rude to our new sis—" At the horrified glances swung to her by every other sibling, she pressed her mouth into a thin ribbon. “To Vanessa,” she amended with an apologetic glance at Vanessa.

Vanessa hadn’t considered she’d be an outsider. An unwelcome intruder in their tightknit family. A pang of disappointment pealed through her. Once Kingston had made it plain he’d not hide her from his family, she’d hoped to renew her friendship with Madeline and forge new ones with the other Barclays, as well.

Except…he had tried to foist her off at the inn.

She slanted him a considering glance from beneath her lashes.

Had he changed his mind?

Why?

“See here,” Kingston said, his reproving attention settling on each of his sisters and brothers in turn. “Vanessa deserves our gratitude for consenting to join our family.”

Gratitude?

Mouths pinched, mutiny glinted in Dorena and Gareth’s eyes. Madeline and Rebecca darted chagrined gazes between Vanessa, Kingston, and their angry siblings. A half-grin quirking his mouth, Paxton looked on, equally amused and curious.

And there went Kingston’s hand, lifted to scratch his nose.

Vanessa would be bound that he hadn’t expected her to receive a less than cordial welcome, either. His sole motivation was to make a better life for them, and he’d sacrificed himself to do so. They’d never know what depths he’d been willing to go to, what humiliation he’d have endured securing their futures, and righteous anger simmered low in her belly for him.

What would they have done had he brought home the woman who’d won him at the auction that had never taken place? God only knew what manner of person she would’ve been.

A most inappropriate giggle bubbled up the back of Vanessa’s throat.

“I told you I’d do what needed to be done,” Kingston said stiffly, sending Vanessa an apologetic glance over the blond heads surrounding him.

“You should have consulted us first,” Dorena insisted heatedly.

“Aye, we should’ve had a say, too,” Paxton ventured, but without nearly the same vehemence as his sister. “Your wife is very pretty, though, Kingston.”

Dorena mouthed, “Traitor.”

Paxton just shrugged his thin shoulders.

“I do not need your permission to marry,” Kingston clipped out.

The six siblings all began speaking at once, and in the cacophony, several things became clear.