Page 47 of His Accidental Duchess

“Oh, please stay with us, Papa!” Kitty pleaded. “It would be so nice if you did. You know so much about stars and stuff. Anna, wouldn’t it be nice if Papa stayed?”

Theodore glanced over at Anna, his eyebrows half-raised as if he expected her to recoil or make some excuse that would let him escape.

Instead, she met his eyes squarely and lifted her chin. “What a lovely idea, Kitty. I think that would be very nice. Thank you for the tea, Martha. Just put it down here. Oh, and could you fetch another picnic blanket? I believe His Grace will be joining us.”

Theodore held her gaze for a moment, and she could have sworn that a faint smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.

CHAPTER 13

Anna kept glancing sideways at Theodore. He sat very straight, his legs folded underneath him, and listened intently as Kitty talked him through each of her mud pies. When at last she’d talked herself out of the subject of mud pies, she added, quite casually, “Papa, can I have new ribbons? I don’t like yellow anymore.”

Theodore blinked. “But yellow is your favorite color.”

“Not anymore. I want pink now, or green. Oh, yes, green! Martha says that she can do my hair in one braid now, instead of two, and when I go out to play, she can twist it up into a knot at the back of my head, so it will stay tidy. It’s like a grown woman’s hairstyle, isn’t it?”

Theodore cleared his throat. “Yes, but you don’t need a grown woman’s hairstyle, Kitty.”

Kitty pouted. “Not yet, but one day.”

“Not for a while,” he insisted firmly.

Anna said nothing. She supposed that this was the sort of thing that Martha, and Kitty herself, had talked about.

Theodore was utterly baffled in front of his daughter. He sat still, watching her play around, obediently holding whatever treasure she pushed at him, but seemed to have no idea how to interact with her.

She is growing up fast,Anna thought wryly,and he has no idea what to do next.

Abruptly, Kitty scampered off, with Martha in tow, in search of more wildflowers. The sun was down now, only a few distant braziers back on the terrace lighting up the night. The moon was beginning to show its face, although it was still too light for any stars.

“This is a strange age,” Anna said before she could give herself a chance to think too hard about it. “Kitty’s age, I mean. My sisters went through an odd sort of phase when they were seven. One minute they were like the children we’d always known, getting dirty and climbing trees, and the next… well, the next they were like little adults. It was rather difficult to get my head around it.”

“Is it better when they are eight?” Theodore asked, watching his daughter frolic in the weeds. “Or nine? Or ten? Or eleven?”

Anna winced. “It’s different.”

“Not better?”

“Different.”

The corner of his mouth twitched up. Although that could have been a trick of the light, of course. They watched Kitty in silence for a few moments before Anna remembered the invitation.

“I almost forgot. We’ve been invited to a ball.”

She handed him the invitation, but Theodore only glanced at it and groaned.

“Oh, the Tethers. Of course. It’s been something of a mad race among the ton to see who can invite us to our first official outing as a couple.”

Anna blinked. “Well, nobody’s ever been quite so eager for my company.”

He snorted, leaning back on his elbows. “They aren’t. We’re a duke and duchess, remember? I’m… well, I’mme, and you’re my brother’s jilted bride. The tonwill be gossiping about nothing but us for months to come.”

Anna wilted a little at this prospect.

He glanced at her. “Disappointed?”

“Well, a little,” she mumbled. “I thought I might… I thought I might make some new friends.”

There was a pause, and then Theodore let out a bark of harsh laughter. “Friends? Oh, my dear. Society is not the place to make friends.”

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