Page 30 of Duke of Wickedness
Helen laughed at Ariadne’s retreating back.
When Ariadne got back to her bedchamber, she found herself feeling even more restless than she had been when she’d left it—which was no mean feat. She nearly started pacing again, then caught herself.
She didn’t want to go back and forth on this by herself. It wasn’t getting her anywhere, unless she counted driving herself even further to distraction.
What she needed was advice, the kind of guidance that younger women got from previous generations. In most cases, this would have meant turning to her mother, but since Ariadne could count on one hand the number of times she’d seen her mother in the past decade, she had no plans to seek out the Dowager Duchess of Godwin.
Instead, Ariadne would turn to the woman who had been a real mother to her: her sister, Catherine.
And if Catherinejust so happenedto be married to the Duke of Wilds’ closest friend…
Well. That wasn’t Ariadne’s fault. The world was simply full of many strange and charming coincidences.
And if that overlap meant that Ariadne would have to be careful to hide specifics of her situation, that was something she’d already intended, given that the last thing she wanted was to worry her sister.
Cheered by these hypotheticals, Ariadne did a little repair work on her coiffure and took the short trip to her sister’s house.
The butler showed her into the front parlor before retreating deeper into the house to find Catherine. The lady of the house must have already been headed in this direction, however, as Ariadne had only been in the parlor for a minute or so when Catherine and Percy both came walking into the room.
Giggling. They were bothgiggling.
“Oh, hello, Ari!” Catherine said, trying and failing to tamp down the tail end of her laughter.
Ariadne fought to keep her own face impassive. She was thrilled that Catherine was so happy, but it still felt so bizarre to see her sister—who had been widely lauded as one of the most fashionable, admirable, and proper women in Society during her years on the marriage mart—act like a giddy schoolgirl.
And that wasn’t even getting into the strangeness of seeing the stiff and stern Duke of Seaton act with the same level of cheer and joie de vivre.
“Hi, Kitty,” Ariadne said. “Good morning, Percy. Sorry to interrupt your morning at home.”
“Not at all,” Catherine replied instantly. “We don’t mind in the least.”
Percy looked as though he minded a little, but when his wife nudged him in the side, he nodded along.
“We don’t mind at all,” he said unconvincingly.
“Try a little harder,” Catherine muttered under her breath to her husband.
Ariadne pressed a finger to her lips to hide her smile. Coming here had been a good idea; she felt a little better already.
“You know,” Percy said, as if the idea had just occurred to him, “I think I am actually going to work from my club today. So, if you are thinking I am around and might hear things, I am not. I am elsewhere, not bothering anyone.”
Thank you, Ariadne mouthed to her brother by marriage, who gave her a little nod.
Catherine looked faintly disappointed, but nodded, too. “Oh, fine,” she sighed. “I’m guessing you came to talk, since we are so rarely blessed with your unexpected presence.”
Catherine said this with all the warmth in the world, but Ariadne felt the usual flicker of insecurity. Catherine might be happy to see her, but Ariadnewasstill a burden. Shewasstill interrupting.
If she let her doubts show, however, Catherine would try to reassure her, and Ariadne wouldn’t believe her, and they wouldspend time going around and around only to end up where they had begun.
So, Ariadne shoved down her worry.
“I did come to talk, if you have the time,” she said instead.
“Of course, of course,” Catherine reassured her.
Both sisters smiled. The words were all right, but Ariadne felt a pang.
Things were different now. Once, they wouldn’t have been so polite with one another, because they had lived in the same house. They would have seen one another at breakfast, wandering the halls, at night while they were already in their shifts for sleeping, but just needed one last cup of cocoa to settle themselves in for the evening.
