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“I have never thought that it suited me,” Catherine said. “It was my sister Dorothy who suggested this color to me, and because she has such good knowledge of fashion, I agreed to buy this gown. However, I have not worn it even once.”

“It looks beautiful on you,” Hester agreed. “You look like a goddess of spring. Oh! Or maybe one of the Three Graces!”

Catherine’s laughter rang again, as clear as a bell. “I would never say anything so extravagant about myself!”

“Then, it is fortunate that you have us to say such things for you!” Hannah said. “Hester is right. You do look so very lovely today. I think you should wear the yellow gown more often.”

William smiled. For all that Catherine delighted in his sisters’ company, they seemed to appreciate her just as well.

“You seem to love your family very much,” Hester said. “You always sound so wistful when you speak of them. Do you miss your brother and sisters?”

Catherine had not been separated from them for very long, but Hester was, as always, very astute in her observations. His wife always spoke of her family with such a heavy longing that a kinder man might have felt guilty for taking her away from them.

“I do,” Catherine replied. “They are—were—my entire world. I had thought that I might simply live together with Elias and my sister Dorothy forever.”

William shook his head at the absurdity of that idea. He pressed his fingertips against the door, prepared to reveal himself. Then, Hannah cleared her throat. “Is your brother stern like ours is?”

The question gave him pause, and he furrowed his brow.Stern? His sisters had never described him assternbefore, and he found himself wondering if this was how Hannah had always felt about him. And did Hester feel similarly?

“He is not,” Catherine. “Elias cares about appearances, but he is also quite content to let my sisters and me live as we please.”

“Any way you please?” Hannah asked, her tone so hushed that William barely heard it.

He grimaced and tried to decide if it might be wise to interrupt before Catherine managed to turn his own sisters against his authority. Williamhadtold her she might be herself in private, though, and this was who she was. Catherine was a lovely, young lady who cared for her family and for his sisters. A lump rose in his throat as he considered his own relationship to Hannah and Hester.

They called himstern. And although William loved his sisters, he had not spent much time with them before Catherine’s arrival. It was really only his wife’s insistence that had him venturing from his study more to spend time with them.

“Any way that you please?” Hester asked wonderingly.

“Indeed. Elias is a good man.”

“I do not think His Grace would let us live however we wished to,” Hannah said. “He wants us to be proper ladies.”

“Yes,” Hester said.

William inhaled sharply. His sisters did not sound distraught exactly, but their voices were unhappy. Solemn. A knot twisted in his chest.

“Your brother has good reasons for what he does. While he could be a little less stern, he is only trying to be a good brother and ensure that the both of you have happy lives with good husbands, who can see to your every need.”

One of them sighed. “I suppose,” Hester said. “But I do not want to think about husbands at such a young age. Can that not wait until I am older?”

“Mostly, it will.”

William moved away from the door. His sisters were unhappy, and he did not know how to face that unsettling realization. Since their mother’s death, William had thought his sisters were content. They had been growing up into proper girls, and he had felt that a feminine presence was needed only to give them a little polish. Now, he knew differently.

How long had they been dissatisfied with their lots in life? William took a steady breath of air and wandered slowly away from the door. Was it Catherine’s influence that had caused such dissatisfaction from his sisters, or was it something that had been boiling inside them for years and escaped his notice? William sighed and raked a hand through his hair, his thoughts awhirl with the possibilities.

“Are you ready to depart, Your Grace?” Geoffrey asked.

William, who had not noticed that the butler stood scarcely a few feet away, jolted at the unexpected address. “I am,” he replied, “but Her Grace is not. I will resume work in my study. Send for me once she has resolved to leave.”

The butler furrowed his brow, confusion apparent on his face, but he said nothing. William swept past the man and bounded up the stairs to his study. He entered the room and closed the door behind him. William stormed to his desk and fell into his usual chair. With a heaving sigh, he tipped his head back and stared at the ceiling.

What was he to do? His sisters were unhappy with him for trying to raise them to be proper ladies, and he had no idea what to do with that notion. Although William loved his sisters, he could not change the ways of the ton.

He could not allow them to run wild and free like Catherine, or they would find themselves unwed and unsafe in a world of wolves set to take advantage of them. But he also did not want them to be unhappy. Could hemakehis sisters find happiness somehow, or was that feeling something that would bloom with time?

There was a light knock on his study door. William tipped his chin down against his collarbone. “Enter!”