Chapter 6
Six
Michael only stayed long enough to see Jane into the house and say a few words to Alex while Jane divested herself of her spencer and bonnet.
Jane was not sure what Alex said to him to send him off without even tea.
His hurry must have had something to do with the man Michael was in Bath to meet for business.
Michael had been rather vague about his reasons for being in Bath.
A very odd thing indeed, as she found that her brother-in-law rarely kept details private unless he had been specifically told to do so.
The new unmarked carriage, which had been the source of one of Michael’s humorous jokes, added to the mystery.
Jane followed her sister into the parlor. “That was the most peculiar visit. I was sure Michael would stay longer. He told the best joke: ‘What is it that a man in love always loses but never misses?’”
“I don’t know.” Alex did not even look up to answer.
“‘His heart.’ So romantic. He must miss Phil.”
“It is a day for visits that one does not expect.” Alex asked a maid to see to tea and to be sure that the buns Jane picked up were served.
“What do you mean?” Jane sat in the chair she had claimed as her own on her first visit to Bath.
“Do you know the Duke of Aylton?”
“Of course, how could I not? Michael thinks highly of his cousin. We all owe him a debt for what he has done for both Phil and George. But I cannot say I know him as you do.”
“Have you ever spoken to him?” asked Alex as she reclined on the fainting couch. The familiar pop of Peggy’s straps being released followed. Alex often removed her prosthetic if she knew she would sit for a long period with family.
“Not in a conversation. Polite greetings only.” Jane tried to read her sister’s face. Something was not quite right. Alex was asking too many questions without meeting Jane’s eye and settling in for a good long conversation when they had only been apart for an hour.
“While you were at the Abbey, the Duke of Aylton came here, and we had the most interesting conversation of my life.”
Jane leaned forward. “His Grace came here?”
“Yes, he left as you returned.”
Mrs. Green brought in the tea tray, featuring a large Sally Lunn bun sliced into four sections along with clotted cream and raspberry preserves.
Jane waited impatiently for the tea to be poured.
Mrs. Green often poured as Alex, like now, was not in a position to without spilling.
Jane could have but didn’t mind not being responsible for spilling as she might if the conversation grew any more peculiar.
A duke in Alex’s townhouse who left before his cousin’s arrival.
Very odd indeed. Especially as she did not see him at all.
Once they were alone, Jane pushed her sister for more. “Are you going to tell me what His Grace wanted?”
Alex covered what Jane already knew, mainly the death of the duchess and rumors that she had been less than faithful. “His Grace is worried that there are few women in England with the honor he has seen in Phil.”
“Our sister is quite fond of him. I have even heard her call him Richard.”
“Yes, Phil likes him as much as one could one’s husband’s cousin. She says that in private he is kind and amiable.”
“The gossip pages say he is gruff and intolerant.” The night he took George and her to the theater, he had spoken only when required, but he did not seem mean.
“Whom do you trust more, the society pages or Phil and me?”
“You know him well?” Jane could not recall Alex talking of him much at all.
Alex took a bite of her bun. “As well as I can, considering he was married for the entirety of our acquaintance. I have beaten him soundly in several games of piquet over the years. However, he is not one for light conversation as he plays.”
“And now he is in mourning?” Jane could not make sense of the unchaperoned visit. Alex was old enough that society would look the other way if she had a caller while unchaperoned, and the Duke did not seem the sort of man to put her in a compromising position.
“Yes, which is part of a major conundrum he has found himself in.” Alex took a long sip of tea before launching into an explanation of the Duke’s need to marry quickly and search for a wife.
Jane set aside her food as she listened. “He proposed to you?”
“Yes.”
For years Jane had assumed she and Alex would grow old together as spinster sisters. Neither fit to marry. Beautiful, kind, brave Alex, who deserved more in life than to be the favorite aunt to her nieces and nephews. “You accepted?”
“I could not.” Alex turned her attention to her nearly empty plate, blinking far too rapidly to be doing anything but holding back tears.
“I do not understand. There is hardly a woman in England who would not think you are a fool for turning away a duke.” Jane could hardly believe what she was hearing.
If Alex married the Duke, father would never have a hold over either of them again.
The one man in all of England whom father feared was the Duke of Aylton.
Alex bit her lip. “The Duke needs to have an heir. Do you know what that entails?”
“I am aware of the mechanics of the act.” Jane tried to be nonchalant as heat rose to her cheeks. “We grew up in the country, and George was forever worried about animal husbandry. I suppose humans are not so different as all the breeding pens she dragged me to.”
Her sister blushed. “That was not what I was referring to, exactly. I was more speaking of the part of carrying a child inside and birth.”
“Again, we grew up in the country and Phil allowed George in her birthing room. She told me some.”
“The injuries I sustained during the accident, especially to my hip and that area, make it unlikely that I could endure childbirth or carry a child. For me to accept the Duke would be a great disservice. If I could not produce an heir, his problem with his half-brother would remain.”
Jane had watched puppies, kittens, piglets, and calves enter the world. Because people did not often notice her, she heard more than one tale of childbirth and once heard the midwife despair at a particularly slight bride’s hips. “How long have you known you might not bear children?”
“It was one of the first things a doctor told me. I think I knew that motherhood would be unlikely even before I realized I had lost my leg. Do you understand why I rejected the Duke?”
Jane moved to the fainting couch and hugged her sister. “I am so sorry. I know how much you wished to be a mother.”
“I got to help raise you, George—when she was not fending for herself—and Rose. That will be enough. Now I am an aunt, all the fun and none of the discipline.” A silence settled between them, companionable and sad in equal measure.
“For one wild moment I wished very much I could have accepted Richard’s proposal. ”
“Richard?”
“He gave me permission to use his Christian name.”
“Oh Alex,” Jane clasped her sister’s hands and thought of all the ways her sister was everything she was not…
graceful, certain, the kind of woman a man noticed across a crowded room.
“I wish I could have been in your place those years ago. I am practically useless and will never marry, and you are the prettiest of all of us and cannot.”
“You, Jane, are far from useless. You are the smartest of all of us. How many languages do you read?”
“Five, but I cannot speak them well. A bluestocking is fairly useless in society.”
“Father has told you too many lies. You should not believe them.” Alex and Jane hugged again.
Jane drew back. “I try not to, but it is hard.”
“I know. I hear his rants in my head far too much.” A long, mournful sigh accompanied Alex’s words. “If not for my sisters, I would be quite lost. Much like the Duke is now.”
“What will he do? He can hardly find a wife in a week, can he?” Even for a man of his wealth and stature, the task could prove difficult. He was in mourning, and the ton would not look upon a quick marriage with any degree of allowance.
“Well, besides asking me to marry him, he asked me something else.”
Mrs. Green collected the tea tray, and neither sister spoke until she had gone.
A dozen thoughts ran through Jane’s mind as they waited for privacy. “Please tell me his request is nothing dishonorable.”
“Richard dishonorable? I think not. All the ton will agree he was faithful to a fault to his wife, and he is well respected in parliament. Nothing dishonorable. He asked me to convince you to accept his proposal.”
Jane gasped and fell off the fainting couch, landing with a light thump on the wool carpet. “Me marry a duke?”
“Yes, you marry Richard Kenworth, one of the finest men in all of England.”
Jane stood and straightened her skirt. “Why did he not ask me himself?” The question came out before she could stop it. She was not sure what answer she wanted.
“He thought you might not stay in the room long enough to hear him out. I told him you tended not to speak around those you don’t know.
I did not say that though the bruise on your cheek has faded, I know you are conscious of it and would likely not even look in his direction.
” Alex reached her hand out to coax Jane to join her again.
“I might have excused myself.” Jane bit her fingernail, something she had not done in years. “Even if I had a week to prepare. I do not know if I could look him in the eye and hear out a proposal. My voice would not come out to accept it. He would think me to be a mute.”
“You would consider accepting him, then?” If Alex did not look in earnest Jane would have said no on the spot.
“A duke and me? Do you think we could ever get on?”
“I do. But you would need to be very patient with him. Remember when Sir Galahad was about a year old and father tripped over him?”
“Father did not trip.” The kick poor Sir Galahad received then, like other times, was meant more to be a punishment for Jane than for the dog.
“Likely not. But that is not my point. You tried to help Galahad, and what did he do?”
“He bit me. But he was in pain.” Jane looked at her left hand, where the small scar still sat between her thumb and forefinger.
“Richard is in pain. I am sure he would never bite or hit you. But he might go into a corner and growl or whimper, so to speak.”
“Are you sure he would never hit me?”
“He never raised a finger to the duchess, though Phil felt he would have been more than justified to toss her out of his house. I am confident that he will never hit you.”
“What about giving him an heir? If I am too nervous to even look at him…” Jane could not think very far on that subject.
Alex blushed. “That is a better question for Phil or George, not that you can wait for your twin’s answer. However, you watched both of our sisters in the weeks and months after their weddings. Considering how much kissing they do, I am sure kissing is not very difficult.”
“I will have to kiss the Duke?” Jane did not hear Alex’s answer as there was a roaring in her ears and, for the first time in her life, she fainted.