Page 5 of A Duchess Disciplined

Dorothy cleared her throat. “It is addressed to you, Elias.”

“That is to be expected,” he said.

“Has His Grace made a previous promise to visit us?” Dorothy asked.

“I am unaware of any engagement with us,” Elias replied. “Why?”

“Well, the letter is quite short. His Grace says he will be joining us for tea tomorrow. It seems that he has discovered some recent news which he feels that he must share without delay.”

“The Duke of Sarsen is asking for an invite, surely,” Catherine said. “He cannot simplydemandto join us for tea.”

“And yet he does,” Dorothy said, sounding mystified. “I shall join you for tea tomorrow and share what I have discovered amongst my father’s papers.”

“Can he do that?” Bridget asked. “Join us withoutasking? Without having an invitation extended to him?”

“No,” Dorothy replied, “but I imagine that our brother will want to greet him graciously all the same.”

“Why should he?” Catherine asked. “Elias is a duke, also, andhewould never invite himself to someone’s estate—especially with so little notice!”

Elias sighed. “I did not make the dukedom successful by accumulating unneeded enemies, Cat.”

“If wishing for a duke to follow proper conventions will make him an enemy, he was not a friend from the start,” Catherine retorted. “Perhaps, that we had another engagement tomorrow or otherwise did not wish to meet him! Would His Grace still insist on forcing his company upon us?”

“Perhaps, the news he carries is truly urgent,” Elias said. “If that is true, I suppose we should be grateful that he has given us warning of his imminent arrival, rather than appearing unannounced in our foyer.”

“I suppose,” Catherine said begrudgingly.

If the matter was truly urgent, the Duke of Sarsen would have been unable to announce his intentions to join them. Surely, he would have, instead, arrived without warning, harried from the journey.

“What do you know of him? His name sounds familiar,” Catherine said.

Dorothy furrowed her brow. “I vaguely recall our father being distraught over the death of a friend. I believe that was the late Duke of Sarsen, was it not?”

“Yes,” Elias replied. “The late duke’s sons used to visit sometimes.”

“I do not remember that,” Catherine said.

“You were very young,” Elias said.

Dorothy hummed. “If memory serves…one of them was a menace.”

“Only one?” Catherine asked, waving a hand towards Elias.

“Hilarious,” Elias deadpanned. “You have some audacity for calling anyone a menace, Cat. You may have forgotten all the trees you tried to climb as a girl, but I have not!”

Catherine grinned. “You are just jealous because I could climb them better than you!”

That was not a difficult feat, for her brother had never climbed a tree. Meanwhile, Catherine had become as adept as a squirrel in increasingly desperate attempts to evade her long-suffering governess.

“Well, I assumedthatmenace went without saying,” Dorothy said, waving a hand at their brother, who adopted a look of mock offense. “Was it Thomas? He used to vex your governess so. He would hide behind hedges and in trees, and when the poor woman approached, he would leap from hiding and frighten her.”

“That was Thomas,” Elias said, smiling fondly. “He was an adventurous boy. I remember him talking about how much he admired naval officers. He wanted to embark on great adventures and fight in wars.”

Bridget, the most romantic-minded of them all, sighed longingly. Catherine imagined that her sister was probably thinking about how muchsheloved the idea of a brave, young naval officer fighting in wars and returning home to her loving arms.

Bridget was to be introduced to London society the next Season, and a small part of Catherine fluttered with worry every time she thought about her lovely sister trying to decide which, if any, man to wed. She was so innocent and kind, so inclined to find the good in everyone. Bridget did not realize that some men were wolves, seeking to devour young ladies and leave them ruined.

“Wait,” Catherine said. “I seem to recall he died in a duel. I think that is how I know the name.”

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