Page 28 of The Duke of Lies
Beau nodded.
“We’ll need to meet this fine animal before we can decide. Lead the way, my boy.”
They all trailed Beau, who had them neatly in hand, just the way he liked them. For the first time in her life, Verity was aware of the feeling of family around her. And that didn’t mean just people who were related to her by blood or marriage. It was far more than that. It was a feeling of belonging, of connection. Surely that was due to having Beau, Diana, and Simon here together.
Then her gaze fell on Rufus’s back. He walked in front of her next to their son.Theirson. Whether she liked it or not, Rufus was her family, and because of Beau, they were irrevocably linked.
While she might not like it, she realized she no longer hated it. Which was a terrifying prospect.
* * *
After a quarter hourof visiting with the goats, the Duchess of Romsey turned to her cousin with a weary smile. “Verity, would you mind if I went in for a respite before dinner?”
Verity! At last he knew her name!
Kit tried not to laugh at the irony since her name meant truth. It was an amusing antithesis to the utter lie of Kit’s entire presence there. But also sobering.
It was also a very fitting name because to him, truth meant beauty, and as far and wide as he’d traveled, he’d never met a woman more beautiful than her.
Verity.
He might just repeat her name over and over in his mind for the rest of the day. Hell, he was smitten with her. And who could blame him? Beyond her beauty, she was an excellent mother, a respected duchess, and possessed a wealth of intelligence he’d been pleased to tap. She’d proven herself an accomplished assistant with the auditing project, accompanying him to visit tenants on days when Whist had needed to rest. She was precisely the kind of helpmate a man could hope for.
If he were looking for a helpmate, which Kit never had.
Privateers rarely married because few women wanted to join them on the sea. And the alternative meant a marriage of living separately for the most part, which didn’t appeal to Kit at all. Wait, something about marriage appealed to him? He’d never given it a second thought.
Lately, he’d given it third and fourth thoughts. How could he not when he was, albeit falsely, in possession of a wife?
Possession… That word stirred something inside him, something that intensified when he looked at Verity. He didn’t think he could possess her, nor would he want to. No. He rather preferred the idea of her possessing him. He’d been alone and untethered for so long that the idea of someone wanting him and taking him, and not just in a purely sexual sense, was extraordinarily appealing. Christ, he had to stop thinking about this, because the sexual sense was beginning to take over, and if he wasn’t careful, he was going to grow hard.
As he’d done the past several nights thinking of her. Verity.
Verity.
In the midst of his daydreams, he’d completely missed the ensuing conversation, but somehow, the women were headed toward the house with Beau, and Thomas and Whist were taking their leave.
“See you tomorrow,” Whist said with a wave.
Kit waved back. “Yes, tomorrow.”
“And I’ll be here Wednesday,” Thomas said with a nod.
“I look forward to it.” Kit watched them turn and walk toward their cart and recalled watching Thomas with Verity earlier. There had seemed to be something between them, but Kit wasn’t entirely certain, and he couldn’t very well ask. How would that go, exactly?Say, if you two are romantically inclined, I’ll be leaving in a few weeks so don’t let me stand in your way.
So many things about that drove Kit mad. One, he didn’t know when he was leaving and he didn’t really want to contemplate it. Two, he couldn’t say anything like that, of course, not without revealing the depths of his dishonesty. Three, the idea of Verity and Thomas—hell, of Verity andanyone—romantically inclined toward each other made him irritable.
Yes, he was bloody well smitten, and that was a damn shame. For there was nothing to be done about it.
“Something wrong?” Romsey asked, prodding Kit from his jealousy.
“No, no,” Kit said, shaking his head. “Shall we go in?”
“Yes, I want to check on Diana. She’s expecting our first child in the fall.” It sounded blithe but wasn’t necessarily something men discussed, especially men who’d just met. But the pride and excitement in the man’s voice were unmistakable. He was thrilled, and he wanted everyone to know it.
Kit could respect that. And envy it, if he were to be honest. Just as he’d never considered marriage, he’d never thought about fatherhood either. But from the moment Beau had sidled up to him on the settee that first day, he’d been lost. In fact, the thought of leaving made his chest ache and his stomach turn. Never mind Verity and his affection for her, he wasn’t sure he could leave Beau.
“Congratulations to you,” Kit said, wondering if his voice sounded as thin as it felt. As much as he cared for Beau, the boy didn’t belong to him and never would. And he’d likely never have a son to call his own. Was it selfish of him to want to claim Beau? Especially when the boy was clearly elated to have his father at last?
