Page 40 of The Duke's Wicked Widow
“Soon.” From the corner of his eye, he saw her shift. “Though I am not regular, I should soon know. I…my maid knows. I told her I thought the possibility was there.”
The possibility that she was pregnant withher husband’sheir. Fawkes frowned. “And?”
The dark gaze flicked to him, then away again. “I am certain she has spread the word among the servants, and most definitely to my inlaws. Your unc— the Earl and Countess called upon me last week to confirm the rumor.”
“So I guess they’re waiting for confirmation as much as ye are.”
As much as Fawkes dreaded it.
“Yes,” she whispered, her gloved hand curling into a fist atop her stomach.
“Ellie!” the child hollered, hurtling across the snow-dusted dead grass. “Ellie, you promised we could go to the river!”
Ellie held up her hand to stop the girl. “Manners, please.” When she turned to Fawkes her blush was gone, her haughty, ladylike mien back in place. She hesitated only a moment before making introductions. “Mr. Fawkes MacMillan, allow me to introduce my stepdaughter, Miss Merida Aycock.”
So old Rufus had given his illegitimate child his last name, unlike Fawkes’s father.
Stifling his smile at the thought of Ellie trying to figure out the social niceties of introducing two bastards of the same family line to one another, Fawkes held out his hand to the girl. When she took it and managed a passable curtsey, he bowed over it.
“Miss Aycock, it is indeed a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I’ve heard about ye, ye ken.”
“You have?” she asked suspiciously, blinking up at him with familiar green eyes. “I haven’t heard of you.”
“Nay, I dinnae doubt that. But I ken Ellie, ye see, and I am—”Yer father’s cousin.Yer father’s bastard cousin.But somehow, he didn’t want to admit to that, not to this innocent, who’d been loved by her sire if not the rest of his family. Fawkes had been rejected by both sides of his family. “I am fond of her.”
He heard Ellie suck in a breath even as Merida’s face split into a grin. “I’m so glad, Mr. MacMillan! Do you know why seven was afraid of eight?”
Seven afraid of what?“Uh…”
“Because seven ate nine!”
The answer was so surprising Fawkes burst into a chuckle, then immediately schooled his features, before Ellie could swing to him with an incredulous expression. He kept his tone somber as he inclined his head. “Very clever, Miss Aycock.”
“My name is Merida, silly! Do you want to come to the river with us?”
“Oh, I doubt Mr.—” Ellie cut in, but he interrupted.
“Please, call me Fawkes,” he said to the little girl. “That’s what Ellie calls me, and we’re friends. Aye, it’d be grand to see the river with ye.”
He shouldn’t have agreed. He had plenty of work waiting for him in his laboratory, and requests for meetings and orders, and the letter from Demon to figure out how to reply to. And being here, with her, it was…wrong. But the words slipped out before he could think about them, and they were true. Hedidwant to go to the river with Merida.
And Ellie.
Well, nay, notthe river. No one in their right mind actuallyenjoyedthe Thames, even in winter. But he wanted to stroll with them, to chat with them.
As if they were normal.
As if they really were friends.
And when he offered his arm and she hesitated only a moment before placing her hand atop it, a thrill ofsomethingshot through him. Lust? Nay. Perhaps it was…pride?
“Fawkes, it’s almost Christmastime, did you know?”
Since it appeared the girl was waiting for an answer, he nodded. “Ididknow that. When I was a lad, we celebrated Yule instead of Christmas, but it’s the same thing, really.”
“Do you get presents for Yule?” Merida asked suspiciously.
Fawkes felt his lips twitch. “What would be the point otherwise?”
