Page 59 of Blame It on the Earl (The Duke's Estates 3)

He supposed itwasa respectable match? This Deane could be a wastrel or a blackguard or worse. Perhaps that was why Papa had rejected him. But he’d come to Poldene and presented himself to ask for Tamara’s hand. The visit would have been public. A villain would not have done that. He would have tried to lure Tamara away and abandon her afterward.

His sister had told Benning this Deane fellow had a solid background. “‘Small landholder” inevitably made him think of Sarah’s father. And his own marriage. And the way Sarah had been received at Poldene. Tamara did not deserve the way she’d been…removed from their family. And he had done nothing.

He saw that the sun was lowering toward the horizon. Returning to the bench, he said, “We should go back.”

He fetched their mounts. When he lifted Sarah into the saddle, she felt lithe and yielding in his arms. He wanted to say something to redeem himself, but he couldn’t think what.

“Your sister’s arrangements, and Benning’s, were very clever,” she said as they rode away.

She didn’t comment on why they were necessary. Would his mother have burned the letter? Yes, he believed she would.

“I am glad to have Tamara’s address,” Sarah added.

“I never tried to find it,” Kenver admitted. “I wonder if my parents ever did.”

“I can’t imagine that they wouldn’t have inquired.”

She couldn’t imagine the sort of household that had been all he knew. This incident had brought back those shouting matches from his early years. They’d been frightening. He hadn’t wanted to endure anything like them again. And so, there was a hole in his family that he’d never tried to fill.

“I shall answer her letter,” Sarah said, as if she thought he might object.

He acknowledged this with a nod.

“I shall take my letter to the village myself, to be certain it is sent,” she added.

Did she think he would try to stop her? He would not do that. He wondered if Sarah was despising him.Shehadn’t hesitated over the letter, despite the cold reception she’d received at Poldene. Intrepid… He called her that before.

She rode a bit ahead. Was she thinking he would fail her as he’d failed Tamara? Something inside flinched at the idea. He couldn’t turn away. He didn’t wish to! “I shall put a letter in with yours,” he said. “If I may?”

“Of course. She is your sister.”

And Sarah was his wife. Quite a stirring, revolutionary wife, as it turned out. He hadn’t expected that. He hadn’t dreamed she would be just the…inspiration he needed. He would find a way to vanquish all opposition, for her.

They arrived home just in time to change for dinner and separated with no opportunity for further conversation. The meal was even stiffer than usual, and Kenver felt renewed appreciation for their ducal guests, who seemed able to manage anything.

“I am not sure how to respond to her,” Sarah told Cecelia later that evening when they sat together well away from the others in the drawing room. Sarah had told her Tamara’s story in hushed tones. “I would like to make friends,” she added.

“Tell her that,” Cecelia suggested. “And that you were glad to have her letter. That should be a welcome reaction from Poldene.”

“Are you angry?” Sarah asked. The duchess certainly looked unusually stern.

“I am so weary of the way families oppress young women,” she replied. “Thinking they have the right to treat them like counters in a financial game.”

“Tamara escaped.”

“It seems so. Things might have gone badly for her, however.” Cecelia looked down at the letter, lying on the sofa between them, shielded by their skirts. “In fact, we do not know how her rebellion turned out.”

“She has a home. And the authority to offer it as a refuge.”

“Yes. That is a good sign.”

“We were fortunate to have kind parents,” Sarah said. She felt a brief stab of longing for hers. They hadn’t always agreed, of course, but she’d never doubted their love.

“My father is more distracted than kind, but I certainly consider myself fortunate.”

“I thought things would be so different when I was married,” Sarah said. “I expected to have my own establishment. And the freedom to order it as I liked.” She hadn’t understood all her hopes until the reality turned out so disappointing. “I certainly didnotimagine living among people who despise me.”

The duchess’s brilliant blue eyes narrowed. “Yes, we must see what can be done about that.”

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