for us to arrive without notice. I would not expect you to go to any great lengths.
Although" - he glanced over at the dowager, who was standing in the hall with a sour look on her face - "perhaps your finest room for my grandmother. It will be easier for everyone."
"Of course," Mary said quickly. "Please, please, it's chilly. You must all come inside. Jack, I do need to tell you - "
"Where is your church?" the dowager demanded.
"Our church?" Mary asked, looking to Jack in confusion. "At this hour?"
"I do not intend to worship," the dowager snapped. "I wish to inspect the records."
"Does Vicar Beveridge still preside?" Jack asked, trying to cut the dowager off.
"Yes, but he will surely be abed. It's half nine, I should think, and he is an early riser. Perhaps in the morning. I - "
"This is a matter of dynastic importance," the dowager cut in. "I don't care if it's after midnight. We - "
"I care," Jack cut in, silencing her with an icy expression. "You are not going to pull the vicar out of bed.
You have waited this long. You can bloody well wait until morning."
"Jack!" Mary gasped. She turned to the dowager. "I did not raise him to speak this way."
"No, you didn't," Jack said, which was the closest he was going to come to an apology while the dowager was staring him down.
"You were his mother's sister, weren't you?" the dowager said.
Mary looked a bit baffled at the sudden change of topic. "I am."
"Were you present at her wedding?"
"I was not."
Jack turned to her in surprise. "You weren't?"
"No. I could not attend. I was in confinement." She gave Jack a rueful look. "I never told you. It was a stillbirth." Her face softened. "Just one of the reasons I was so happy to have you."
"We shall make for the church in the morning," the dowager announced, uninterested in Mary's obstetrical history. "First thing. We shall find the papers and be done with it."
"The papers?" Mary echoed.
"Proof of the marriage," the dowager bit off. She looked upon Mary with icy condescension, then dismissed her with a flick of her head, adding, "Are you daft?"
It was a good thing Thomas pulled her back, because Jack would have gone for her throat.
"Louise was not married in the Butlersbridge church," Mary said. "She was married at Maguiresbridge.
In County Fermanagh, where we grew up."
"How far is that?" the dowager demanded, trying to yank her arm free of Thomas's grasp.
"Twenty miles, your grace."
The dowager muttered something quite unpleasant. Jack could not make out the exact words, but Mary blanched. She turned to him with an expression nearing alarm. "Jack? What is this all about? Why do you need proof of your mother's marriage?"
He looked at Grace, who was standing a bit behind his aunt. She offered him a tiny nod of encouragement, and he cleared his throat and said, "My father was her son."
Mary looked over at the dowager in shock. "Your father...John Cavendish, you mean..."
Thomas stepped forward. "May I intercede?"
Jack felt exhausted. "Please do."
"Mrs. Audley," Thomas said, with more dignity and collection than Jack could ever have imagined, "if there is proof of your sister's marriage, then your nephew is the true Duke of Wyndham."
"The true Duke of - " Mary covered her mouth in shock. "No. It's not possible. I remember him. Mr.
Cavendish. He was - " She waved her arms in the air as if trying to describe him with gestures. Finally, after several attempts at a more verbal explanation, she said, "He would not have kept such a thing from us."
"He was not the heir at the time," Thomas told her, "and had no reason to believe he would become so."
"Oh, my heavens. But if Jack is the duke, then you - "
"Are not," he finished wryly. "I am sure you can imagine our eagerness to have this settled."
Mary stared at him in shock. And then at Jack. And then looked as if she very much wanted to sit down.
"I am standing in the hall," the dowager announced haughtily.
"Don't be rude," Thomas chided.
"She should have seen to - "
Thomas shifted his grip on her arm and yanked her forward, brushing right past Jack and his aunt. "Mrs.
Audley," he said, "we are most grateful for your hospitality. All of us."
Mary nodded gratefully and turned to the butler. "Wimpole, would you - "
"Of course, ma'am," he said, and Jack had to smile as he moved away. No doubt he was rousing the housekeeper to have