Heiress in Red Silk (Duke's Heiress #2) - Madeline Hunter Page 0,32
showed due to her extreme thinness. “Isn’t it a shock, Dolores?”
“Quite a shock.” Dolores’s throaty voice contrasted with Agnes’s shrill one. Despite their obvious differences, to Kevin’s mind they were two sides of a double-edged sword. Both tall, both dark of hair and eye, both spinsters, both annoying as hell. “It must be—how long has it been, Agnes? I never dared presume he would ever visit me at my little cottage, but you . . .”
Little cottage, hell. These two had bled Uncle Frederick for decades, feathering their nests with allowances and demands. Deciding it was their due, they sent bills aplenty to their brother for the duke’s accounts.
“Years. My goodness, I can’t remember how many.” Agnes speared Kevin with a sharp gaze. “Won’t you sit, Kevin? I’ll send for refreshments so we can celebrate this rare honor.”
He suffered her call for the servant and their chatter about some ball they anticipated attending. Finally, the coffee and cakes arrived.
“Have you come up to Town for the Season?” he asked Dolores.
“She brought enough trunks to say she did, even if she claims it is only a brief visit,” Agnes said. “I told her she would be more comfortable if she let her own house for the Season. Don’t you agree with me, Kevin?”
“It is wasteful to let a house for a fortnight, Sister. It isn’t as if Frederick left me the funds to squander that way.”
“I’ll be stunned if you leave after a fortnight. You are here for the duration. You can’t fool me, Sister. It was all I could do to get you to go home the last time, and I know your sly plan. I say she should stay with Hollinburgh at Whiteford House, Kevin. Don’t you agree? That is where she used to stay when Frederick was alive.”
“I’m not sure—”
“I would be imposing, Agnes. Nicholas needs to be attending to his own matters this Season. It is time for him to woo and win a wife.”
“You can advise him if you are there,” Agnes said seriously. “He will need your help. How much better if you were in the house so he could consult with you about these girls whenever he wanted? Truly, Sister, it is your duty to move there.”
Kevin roused himself at the direction this was taking. Nicholas would have a fit. “I think that he would rather discuss such things with both of you,” Kevin said. “You each bring special insights into society and the families in question. Better if he called on you both here.”
“I agree,” Dolores said. “It is unfair to expect him to seek us out separately, as if he had nothing else to do.”
Aunt Agnes’s mouth pursed. She did not look on Kevin kindly. “Is there any special reason for your visit, dear boy? You too have much to keep you busy, what with your trade and such.”
Your trade. Agnes and Dolores, indeed most of the family, made it a point to refer to the enterprise that way. It was their idea of a subtle insult.
“Although I thought it past time to make a social call, as long as I am here there is something I want to talk about. I am curious why I am the only member of the family who has not received an invitation to your dinner party. I would think it was my trade, as you put it, but since the guest of honor is my partner in trade, it can’t be that.”
Agnes resettled her thick body on the divan. Her expression shifted as well, from chagrin to petulance. “I did not think you would want to come, Kevin. I assumed that while she might be your partner, she was also your enemy. After all, this woman has half that invention now, doesn’t she? You must resent her. Hate her. I didn’t want to have a scene at my dinner.”
“I would never make a scene.”
Agnes laughed. Dolores joined in.
“Oh, that is too amusing,” Dolores said. “At best, you would sit there brooding silently, ruining everyone’s enjoyment. At worst, you would use that cutting wit of yours to create unbearable awkwardness. We would all be rushing to cover it up with chatter, lest it get worse.”
They all but said he was too rude for decent company. How insulting. “I would never do that. If you doubt it, let me inform you that Miss Jameson and I are good friends, not enemies. I have spent quite a lot of time with her since she came up to Town.”