Page 30 of A Bride for the Rakish Duke

Though it might have seemed like Lydia was breaking his rule, she was only bending it slightly; she had come up with the idea herself, and he had said nothing about refusing Mary’s help when it came to fashion and beauty. As long as she wrote to tell Will that she had encountered his mother, she was still technically obeying him.

Besides, what he did not know about the rest could not come back to bite her.

CHAPTER 12

“Goodness, I hardly recognized you!” Jenny Hen declared as Lydia popped into the kitchens to say her farewells.

“I wanted to tell you that we are leaving now, so you will have a quiet manor at last.” Lydia made to step further into the steamy room, but the ruddy-faced, cheery cook gave a yelp of alarm.

“Stay where you are! I won’t be responsible for ruining that beautiful gown with a spill of something or a dusting of flour. I wouldn’t forgive myself.”

Lydia chuckled and retreated to the threshold. “I am not accustomed to dressing so nicely either.”

“Nonsense. You always look like royalty to me.” Jenny Hen washed her hands, took off her apron, and ushered Lydia out into the hallway. “I’ll walk with you to the front to wave you off. Oh, that reminds me…”

She darted back into the kitchens and grabbed a wax paper parcel that had been sitting on the nearby counter.

Lydia eyed the package. “And what might that be?”

“A few of your favorites for the journey.” Jenny Hen smiled. “I’ve taken it upon myself to put some more meat on your bones, and as you’ll not be here for a while, this is the best I can do, short of sending you daily parcels. Though, I might yet do that, since I’ll have no one but the staff to feed.”

Lydia beamed with delight. “Thank you, Jenny.”

“It’s my pleasure.” The cook patted the parcel. “Truth be told, I’m glad you’re following him down to London. When he said he was going away, I thought he was half-mad. Would’ve drilled some sense into him if I’d thought he would listen, but you’re doing the right thing.”

“I hope so.” Lydia let out a nervous breath.

For the past three-and-a-half days, she had spent most of her time writing notes on the things she had learned about seduction from her sister, Marina, and Nancy, and rehearsing what she would do in her mind.

The rest of the time, she had decided to make a good impression on the servants, getting to know them, learning their names, hoping to win them over so that they might impart some knowledge about Will that she could use to her advantage.

But Beth and Jenny Hen had become her favorites, so friendly and welcoming that she occasionally forgot that she planned to leave Stonebridge one day soon, never to return.

“Beth told me you’ve been teaching her to read,” Jenny Hen said as they headed up the stairs to the main hallway of the western wing.

Lydia nodded shyly. “I hope you do not mind. She mentioned that you had once tried to teach her to no avail, so I should hate for you to think I am trying to usurp you.”

“Why would I mind? Mercy, it’ll change things for the girl if she can master it.” Jenny Hen laughed. “I’m not the most patient teacher, and she was at an age when daughters don’t like to listen to their mothers, so I can only thank you for doing what I couldn’t.”

Lydia paused. “Howdidyou learn to read?”

“His Grace taught me when he was a young’un,” Jenny replied with a fond smile. “When he was learning, he’d teach me what he’d learned. After that, I couldn’t be stopped.”

Those sorts of stories kept popping up over the past few days, almost every servant having a tale of Will’s kindness and generosity to tell her. From buying the gardener new boots to rounding up sheep that had strayed in the middle of a storm to fixing fences with his own hands to finding alternative work for the old stablemaster after he went blind.

“I wish I could meet this duke I have heard such wonderful things about,” Lydia said with a faint smile. “I believe I would like him.”

Jenny Hen laughed. “He’s got a hard shell, but he’s one of the best people I know. I’ve got faith that you’ll warm up to one another, though I still can’t fathom what he was thinking, going off to London without you.” She tutted under her breath. “I suppose he’ll have had his reasons. He always does.”

“You would not happen to know what they might be, would you?”

For the past few days, Lydia had hoped that Jenny, of all the servants, might reveal some secrets about Will.

But as ever, she proved to be a veritable fortress. “You’ll have to ask him when you see him and give him my regards when you do.”

“I will.”

They had come to the main entrance, and though servants were not supposed to use those doors, Jenny led Lydia out onto the porch steps anyway.

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