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It was, Grace was charmed to note, the baron, not his wife, who spoke with such open affection about each child—though this was possibly, she allowed, because the baronet had not had to give birth to all eleven of the brood.

“Do you often take the children into the village?” she asked politely, dabbing gently at her mouth to ensure no shortbread crumbs lingered. “I am afraid I have not yet visited; His Grace has not yet had the opportunity to escort me about.”

She watched as husband and wife tried very hard—and resolutely failed—not to make meaningful eye contact with one another.

Grace leisurely took another sip of tea and waited.

“I do believe,” Lady Fenwick said cautiously, “that His Grace does not frequently travel into the village.”

“No,” Grace agreed, giving the other woman a slightly conspiratorial nod. “I know that, of course. I am hoping to get to explore the place sooner rather than later, though. I am very eager to get to know my new home.”

She was, quite transparently, angling for an invitation. Though, as a now-married woman, she no longertechnicallyneeded a chaperone, she strongly suspected that if the new duchess waltzed into the village all by herself, without the husband that apparently loomed like a ghoul in local imaginations, she would be met with little more than aggressively frosty politeness.

“There is a lovely little shop if you’re looking for ribbons or lace or other bits and bobs,” Lady Fenwick said eagerly. “No doubt it’s not as fine as what you will have seen in London?—”

Both husband and wife had treated the news that Grace had grown up in London with a sense of awe; apparently, as country gentry, they’d both been raised within ten miles of their current home, had conveniently married the closest neighbor of a similar class, and never regretted it for a moment, if the eleven to twelve children were any indication. To them, Grace coming from London was the same if she’d said New York, or India, or the moon.

“—but fine enough,” Lady Fenwick continued. “You would be more than welcome to join us for a trip, of course, so long as His Grace doesn’t object?—”

“So long as His Grace doesnae object to what?”

Grace closed her eyes briefly as her husband’s voice thundered through the room. Of all the times for him to suddenly appear, he had chosennow?

Still, she drew in a breath and pasted on a smile.

“Lord and Lady Fenwick have invited me on their next journey to the village,” she said brightly. “Wasn’t that kind of them?”

She had made itsoeasy for him. He didn’t even need to respond, not really! A nod would have sufficed. Even a grunt! He was typically so fond of grunts.

Today, though, while Lord and Lady Fenwick visibly shrunk back in their seats, reedy Lord Fenwick looking like he was dreading the possibility that he would have to defend his beloved wife and the offspring they carried, Caleb decided to bechatty.

“Why d’ye want to go to the village?” he demanded.

Grace blinked at him. Was this revenge for asking him about the portraits? Because that was completely different—his thing was stupid and her thing was obvious.

“To see it?” she said, hoping her expression conveyed that it would really be best if he could just behave himself for, oh, five minutes or so.

Caleb did not seem interested in receiving any such message.

“It’s small,” he said. “You willnae like it.”

One of these days, she thought as she smiled at him through gritted teeth, he is going to speak, and I am just going to start screaming. Forever.

“I would still like to see it for myself,” she said with aggressive lightness. “I’m sure it would be nice to get to know some of the people who live in the area.”

“Hmph,” Caleb said.

Oh,nowhe was happy to grunt?

“I think we should bid you both farewell,” Lord Fenwick interjected nervously as Grace glared daggers at her husband. “Thank you so much for inviting us, Your Grace, but we should get back to the children, you see.”

“Hmph,” said Caleb again, which made the baron flinch just a bit.

“Of course,” Grace said, ignoring her husband in favor of smiling at the couple. “I loved having you. I do so hope you will come again.”

The lord and lady very much did not confirm their intent to return as they beat a hasty retreat from the room. When they were gone—which did not take long; Lady Fenwick moved with impressive quickness for someone so far gone in her pregnancy—Grace let her polite expression drop and scowled openly at her husband.

“What,” she demanded, “was that?”