Heiress in Red Silk (Duke's Heiress #2) - Madeline Hunter Page 0,88
he was alive.”
Minerva’s explanation made Rosamund sad. Sad not only for Kevin, but for his father, who had escaped grief through eccentric pastimes instead of treasuring the child left behind with him. She thought it a tragic choice.
A love match, Minerva said. Deeply passionate. The man had been enthralled, and it left him mourning forever.
* * *
Kevin folded a sheet of paper and tucked it into his frock coat. He went down to the morning room for coffee and flipped through the mail waiting there. One of the letters joined the paper.
He was finishing his breakfast when he sensed a presence in the room. He looked up to find his father standing across the table from him.
“Are you going out?” his father asked.
“I am.”
“To see her?”
“Yes. We have business to discuss.”
“That’s a pretty word for it.”
“It is an accurate word. She is still my partner.”
His father caught the eye of the attending servant. The servant left.
“You have decided to disobey me, then.”
“We are past such things. I am almost thirty years old.”
“Old enough to scorn your family, it appears. Allow me to make it plain, lest you think your aunts spoke only for themselves. I forbid this marriage.”
Kevin stood and faced him over the polished wood surface. “I understand that. It is my decision, not yours, however.”
“So be it. If you have decided to make this marriage, all for the sake of your machines or whatever they are, if you are prepared to embarrass me in this way, I don’t want to see you. Do not come back today, or ever.”
The command summoned more relief than concern, although he experienced some of the latter for the man facing him now. His father’s expression appeared stern, but a lot of dismay reflected in his eyes too.
“As you wish. I’ll send for my things once I’m settled.”
His father looked surprised, as if he really had expected capitulation. Kevin collected his mail, then strode from the morning room.
* * *
I will call at two o’clock to take you to the bank.
The note arrived early morning. At two o’clock, Rosamund waited for Kevin in her library.
She had not seen him since they returned. That was not such a long time, yet this outing made her nervous and excited. Paris had receded into the past already. She wondered if they would see each other differently here at home. As less interesting. Less desirable.
She distracted herself by staring at her empty bookshelves. She needed to do something about them. They shouted that she was new to this home, and this life.
Kevin entered the library right after the hour. She heard his boot step and turned around on the divan so she could see him. His warm smile made her core twinge, like an echo of stronger sensations she had experienced with him.
She hopped up. He strode over, pulled her into his arms, and kissed her. “It seemed forever,” he said. “Only now it is like no time at all has passed.”
She couldn’t keep from smiling and laughing. He kissed her again, deeply, and she began to fly.
“We have to go.” He set her away from himself.
She went out with him and got into the carriage. She noticed it was a hired one.
“Have you found all well at your shop?” he asked.
She regaled him with the progress and the commissions coming in. “Matters seem well in hand in Richmond too. I think I may be able to keep both of them. And you? What has happened with you?”
“Nothing much, other than planning the next steps. I spent some time with Nicholas. I arranged the documents we need to send funds to France. Oh, and I told my father about us.”
He said it all casually, as if he barely paid attention to his own words. He might have been saying he ate his dinner, read a book, and by the bye, took a walk.
“What did he think of that news?”
He looked out the window, his lids lowered against the sunlight that sculpted his fine face into their aristocratic planes. “He did not like the idea, but we expected that.”
“Was there a row?”
“Not at all. Although he insisted Nicholas and the aunts come to weigh in. A minor irritation, that. And he told me this morning that he never wants to see me again. Hence the hired carriage you are in.” He smiled at her. “All of which I anticipated, and none of which signifies.”