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“Hmm...” the duke cleared his throat. “Perhaps that is a tad too familiar? They should not be calling you by your first name. At least not so soon.”

“Oh, it is fine,” she waved him down.

He stiffened. “As I said, for now, I do not think it proper.”

Diana frowned and leaned back, utterly surprised by his reaction. Had she gone too far? “Oh... well... I simply thought, seeing as we are a family, why not begin to act like one.”

“Diana,” the eldest, Josephine said, nodding her head. “May I call you that? Truly?”

“Yes,” she said, to which she felt the duke stiffen again. “But only if I may call you Josephine.”

“And me?” Adeline asked.

“I would expect nothing else,” Diana said. “We are to be friends. Let us begin to act like it.”

The two girls brightened, and she sensed that they wished to rush her. Balls of energy, standing in the one place for two long was clearly a struggle for them both. Before they got the chance, however...

“Girls, if you do not mind, I would like to speak with Her Grace for a moment. Where is Miss Brooks?” He looked about.

“Here I am, Your Grace!” an elderly maid hurried into the foyer. “I am so sorry. They got away from me – girls.” The maid widened her eyes at the two. “I told you not to run off like that.”

“Perhaps you should be faster,” Josephine shot back.

Again, Diana laughed. And again, the duke eyed her in reprimand.

The two girls were quickly led away by Miss Brooks, told to take them outside until called for. It was a stiff demand, given with an even stiffer upper lip. And when he gave it, he looked between the two girls to make sure they understood it was not to be broken.

Miss Brooks dragged the two girls away, that was until Josephine broke free and charged ahead, which had Miss Brooks calling after her. It was all quite amusing, a mood which vanished the moment Diana and the duke were alone because he turned on her in a state of annoyance that radiated from him like heat from a fire.

“I hope that you understand what you did wrong just now.”

She frowned and leaned back. “What I did wrong?”

“Regarding my nieces,” he said sharply. “I appreciate that you wish to make a good first impression but that is not what I expect of you.”

“What you expect of me...?”

He sighed. “You are not their friend. You are not their equal. You are, for all intents and purposes, their mother. And I would expect you to act like it.”

Diana looked at the duke with confusion, almost as if she expected him to break into laughter. Surely, this was a joke? “And what was I to do? Reprimand them for being excited?”

“It is not about punishment or penalizing. It is about creating proper boundaries to which they will adhere. I have brought you into this house to educate them, to ensure that they are raised in a manner that is expected of their class. But the first thing you do is...” He shook his head and rubbed his eyes. “I would appreciate it if in the future you did not contradict me in front of them.”

Diana had no idea what to say.

Where she understood well enough what the duke meant, the manner that he was explaining it was completely uncalled for. As if she should just be expected to know how to treat two children she had never met? As if she should have spoken down to them for no other reason than to assert her authority? She knew little about children, but she guessed that doing so would have been a terrible well to start things off.

The duke was scowling at her expectantly. No doubt, he assumed she would apologize and agree to be more wary in the future. And she very nearly did too. No need to antagonize the man twice in one day. Only then she remembered her conversation with the dowager duchess...

“I think you’re wrong,” she said frankly.

The duke blanched. “Excuse me?”

“I understand the point you are making, but I believe it to be the wrong one.” She straightened herself up, matching the duke’s scowl with her own raised eyebrow. “If I am to help rear these two girls, it will not do for them to be frightened of me. Or to hate me.”

“I was saying no such thing,” he argued carefully, although she could sense the anger brewing. The first time, she realized, that she had seen it. “I simplybelievethat if you are to be their mother, they must respect you.”

“There are other ways to earn respect than through fear.”