Page 63 of The Duke Not Taken

These girls, these rowdy little angels, the ones responsible for the noise and the garden trampling and the cow releasing, had caught hold of his heart with their terrible singing. The memory of what he’d so desperately wanted from Diana, the overwhelming desire that had driven him to convince her to try again to bear his child when she’d suffered two miscarriages, was climbing out of its vault.

It was the one thing he’d wanted in his life.Trulywanted. To be a father. He wanted to be Iddesleigh, with his beaming smile, glancing around at everyone to see if they appreciated his perfect daughters as much as he did. And when that hope had been taken from Joshua, he’d pushed his desire for it so far down, it couldn’t breathe. He’d smothered it. Snuffed it out. Despised it, loathed it, blamed it.

And now, here he was, the one place he didn’t want to be, not four feet from those little girls, feeling it rise up like a phoenix in him. Bloody rotten hope, all fresh and new and sprouting into a dull ache.

The first performance was completed. The audience clapped, and the girls, led by the oldest one, clasped hands and bowed.

“Is that all?” Iddesleigh asked eagerly. “Haven’t you another song prepared for us?”

“Yes, Papa,” said a girl who looked to be the middle child. Maisie, Joshua thought he’d heard.

“Are you certain? We’ve not practiced another one,” Donovan pointed out.

“Yes,” Maisie reminded him. “It’s one we sing in the nursery, Papa.”

“Then by all means, let us hear it,” Iddesleigh said, and once again, looked around proudly at his guests.

Mrs. Hughes knew the unsanctioned song and began to play. The girls grabbed hands and began to slowly circle. “Ring around the rosie, a pocket full of posies, at-shoo, at-shoo, we all fall down.”

Only one fell down.

“Notyet,Meg,” said the oldest one.

The princess laughed.

“Oh dear,” said Lady Iddesleigh. “Donovan? Shouldn’t we do something?”

“All right then, lassies, we’ve had our—”

“The king has sent his daughter to fetch a pail of water at-shoo at-shoo, we all fall down!”Meg yanked Maisie’s hand, causing her to fall. Maisie shrieked and hopped to her feet and promptly pulled Meg’s hair.

“Tilly, no!” cried Lady Iddesleigh as the biggest girl took a swing at the back of Maisie.

Iddesleigh stood from his seat and faced his guests. “Regrettably, the performance has come to an end.” Behind him, Mr. Donovan, Mrs. Hughes, and Lady Iddesleigh were working to separate the participants in the brawl while the princess laughed, clearly delighted by the melee.

“Didn’t you say we may see a lunar eclipse this evening, Mr. Swann?” Iddesleigh asked loudly.

“Yes! If we may walk onto your lawn?”

“I think we best walk somewhere, and the sooner the better,” Iddesleigh said, and led the group out of the drawing room and away from the arguing girls.

They walked out onto the terrace. The lawn below was dark; only a pair of torches dimly lit the grass. “This is most excellent,” Mr. Swann said. “We should be able to see all the stars. If you will follow me?”

He jogged down the steps to the lawn. The ladies slowly made their way in the moonlight, a couple of them grabbing onto the arm of a man nearby. Once they had all made it to the lawn, Mr. Swann went forward and stood on a fountain wall. “You will want to spread out,” he said, using both arms to demonstrate how they should disperse. “I find stargazing is best accomplished when you feel like you are the only one on earth.”

Joshua rolled his eyes, but he did as requested, moving away from them all...and Miles and Miss Carhill in particular.

“Now then,” Mr. Swann said. He began to point out some constellations. Lady Aleksander seemed the most interested of all of them and peppered the man with questions. Joshua, however, was not particularly interested in Mr. Swann’s cosmological lecture, and moved deeper into the shadows, toward the hedge.

“Attempting an escape?”

The feminine voice startled Joshua and he twisted around. There was the princess, up against the hedge. Her pale blue gown practically blended with the moonlight. “Are you?”

“Not yet. I would like to see a lunar eclipse—I’ve never seen one. Have you?”

He shook his head and looked heavenward. The stars were brilliant this evening. He lowered his gaze to her. “Are you capable of understanding the eclipse? Or will it require interpretation?”

The princess gave him a sharp look. Joshua couldn’t help himself—he smiled.

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