Page 13 of My Blind Duke
Prudence hummed softly, her eyes studying the nervous form of the girl before her. She looked perfectly put together – if not a little jittery for some reason – and the duchess was about to dismiss her when her gaze dropped to Melanie’s dress. The hem of the girl’s blue dress seemed to have been dragged in the mud, and Prudence could not help but think that she knew what she was hiding. There was only one place on the estate that boasted rich soil that would stain a dress.
“Wonderful, I want you to feel completely at ease in this house.” Prudence intertwined her fingers on her lap above the sheets and smiled in approval.
“Thank you, Your Grace. Might I be excused? I still need to find my way back to my chambers.” Melanie did a strange kind of jig with her feet as she struggled with something behind her back.
Prudence stifled the giggle that threatened to burst from her lips when Melanie almost fell to the side. “Very well, you may go now, Lady Melanie.”
A look of relief came over the girl’s face as she wasted no time turning back to the door, one arm firmly locked behind her back.
“There was just one more thing…” Prudence spoke up again when Melanie was about to open the door.
“What is it now?” Melanie whipped around and glared at Prudence, forgetting her manners for a moment as she struggled even harder to keep hold of whatever was behind her back.
Raising her eyebrows, Prudence allowed her lips to curve into a smile before removing the sheets and swinging her legs over the side of the bed. “I simply wanted to know what you were planning on doing with that toad now that your plan has failed?” She cocked her head to the side and smiled triumphantly.
Melanie’s mouth dropped open as she stared at Prudence in disbelief.
After a few moments of silence, the child shook her head indignantly, “I do not have a toad,” she proclaimed confidently with her nose in the air despite her rather obvious struggle.
Placing her hands beside her on the mattress, Prudence smiled at the little girl. “Then I think you had better get a hold on whatever it is that you are fighting with behind your back.”
The toad slipped from the little girl’s hands and jumped toward the door as if it knew they had been caught. Melanie dropped to her knees and scrambled after the creature before finally cornering it beside the door with a heavy sigh.
Laughing freely from the pit of her stomach, Prudence shook her head before watching Melanie come to her feet with her prize.
“How? How did you know I had a toad behind my back?” Melanie demanded angrily with narrowed eyes before stomping her foot in frustration. “Are you perhaps a witch?”
The toad squirmed a few more times in an attempt to escape before giving itself over to the situation and hanging limply in the girl’s hands. The poor creature’s eyes bulged on the sides of its head as it sought for help.
“I was once a little girl just like you,” Prudence informed her with a mischievous grin before pushing herself up from the bed and making her way toward her dressing table, where she took a seat.
She decided to hold off on calling for Anna to dress her until Melanie had gotten rid of her toad. She just knew that the duke would be furious with his daughter if he heard.
Melanie’s eyes seemed to follow Prudence’s every move as she stood rooted to the spot. “I do not believe you – you were nothing like me. Nobody is.” She seemed almost resentful as her eyes darkened with pain.
Sympathy clutched at her chest as Prudence examined the little girl’s face. “Why do you believe so?” She reached for her comb and began to untangle her hair as she watched Melanie’s reflection in the mirror.
“You are a fine lady in a big house. You have all that you could want, with your title and servants. I have nothing and no one. My mama is in heaven, and my papa does not care about me.”Her lower lip quivered slightly despite the determination in her eyes.
Placing the comb back on the dresser, Prudence turned her body to face the little girl, taking in a deep breath before she spoke softly.
“My father died when I was a little older than you too. My mother always seemed too busy with my older sister to notice me or pay me even the slightest bit of attention. As for the toad, I knew you wanted to place it in my bed because it is what I would have done when I was your age. If anyone ever wrote a book on pranks, I would be the sole inspiration for the ink in the milk, fish eggs in the tea, and even the frog under the sheets.”
Melanie’s little face seemed to fill with awe as she cocked her head to the side. “Do you mean it?” She seemed to catch herself being far too enthusiastic and shed off some of her excitement as she queried, “How did your papa die?”
The dream suddenly came to the front of her mind as Prudence tightly gripped the edge of her vanity and forced a smile. The body under the sheet, two dead men in two separate beds, dying in the same manner. Perhaps she was cursed and her father’s death had in some strange way been her fault. The Black Widow everyone claimed her to be.
No, that was an entirely different situation.
She scolded herself for allowing her mind to wander to her painful past. Certain things were better left unsaid, especially toan eight-year-old girl. There was no suitable way to tell a child that her father had been found dead in the bed of his mistress.
“That is a very long story. Perhaps I will tell you when you are older. Would you like to tell me how your mother died? How old were you?” Prudence allowed her curiosity to get the better of her but regretted her decision immediately when Melanie’s face crumbled for what seemed like the briefest of seconds.
“I do not think my papa would like it if I spoke to a stranger about her.” Her mannerisms were stiff as she turned her gaze toward the door.
Prudence bit on her lower lip, realizing that she had overstepped. The girl was far more hurt by her past than Prudence had considered. It was careless of her not to consider her feelings before asking her. Being scared to build relationships with others was something that Prudence could relate to on a personal level.
“I apologize if my question offended you, Lady Melanie. My intentions were not to upset you, but rather to grow closer to you. It was a thoughtless, careless thing for me to say, but I assure you that it did not come from a place of malice. I only wish to become friends with you, so that you and I are no longer strangers. That is if you would allow me, of course.” She held her breath when it seemed like Melanie was judging her words.
