Page 80 of His Accidental Duchess

Anna shot Theo a terrified glance. “Did you lock the door?” she hissed.

The amusement in Theo’s eyes fizzled out once he realized that his daughter was about to barge into the room.

“Of course,” he murmured. “Does she usually come to your room at this hour?”

“No!”

“Forgive me, Your Grace,” came Martha’s muffled voice, “but Lady Katherine and I went to His Grace’s room, as usual, but he wasn’t there. Lady Katherine is a little upset.”

“I’m sure he’ll appear at any moment,” Anna replied, feeling the urge to giggle again. “Why don’t you take Kitty down for breakfast?”

“Certainly, Your Grace.”

Retreating footsteps echoed down the hallway, and Anna allowed herself a sigh of relief. She flopped back on the pillows.

“They’re gone. Now, where were we?”

Theo cursed under his breath. He was not listening. “I should probably go.”

He threw back the blankets, completely unselfconscious about his nakedness, and began to gather up his clothes from last night.

She could see the curve of his back, the muscles in his shoulders rippling. He had remarkably broad shoulders, even without the cut of his coat to emphasize them. For such a powerfully built man about the shoulders and chest, he had a tapering waist, curving in without any need for padding or corsetry, like the ones some men used. And below the line of his spine, just where his waist curved into powerful hips, he…

Well, best to leave that alone.

Anna cleared her throat, struggling to find something to say, but nothing came to mind.

It’s all part of the agreement,she told herself, and that only made her feel worse.

“Are you going to eat breakfast with Kitty and me?” she asked when the silence grew a little too heavy.

“Of course,” he said, shooting her an absent look over his shoulder. “And we can review the scandal sheets for today.”

She sighed. “Do wehaveto read that nonsense?”

“I’m afraid so. Itisnonsense, but it is frighteningly accurate. It’s good to stay abreast of the gossip, especially for people of our rank.”

He turned to inspect himself in the mirror, just briefly. He looked fairly rumpled but relatively respectable, and just as handsome as ever. Anna’s chest tightened.

“I shall change properly in my room, Anna. I’ll see you at breakfast.”

He moved towards her side of the bed, half-leaning forward as if he were going to bend down and kiss her. Before Anna could react, however, he had pulled back, turned on his heel, and abruptly left the room.

There was a letter waiting on the breakfast table, placed in the center of a highly polished silver platter. Martha and Kitty sat further down the table, the latter fully engrossed in her breakfast.

Anna managed to enter the dining room at the same time as Theo. Their eyes met, and they both opened their mouths tospeak at the same time. She wasn’t entirely sure whatshewas going to say, and she certainly had no clue whathemeant to say, but whatever it had been was doomed to remain unspoken.

Timmins stepped nimbly in between them. “There is a letter, Your Graces,” he said, eyeing Theo pointedly.

Theo pressed his lips together, a tinge of irritation in his eyes. “There generally are letters, Timmins.”

“Addressed to you both,” Timmins added. “I… I recognized the handwriting, Your Grace.”

Anna did not understand, but Theo’s brow furrowed. “Henry?”

“I believe so, Your Grace.”

Theo shot over to the breakfast table, snatching up the letter. Anna just had time to glimpse the names on the envelope—the Duke and Duchess of Langdon—before Theo tore it open.

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