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“If I had feelings to hurt, you might have.”

“That would be a yes, then, for you have plenty. I apologize. I am not trying to push you away. I do not want to push you away, not when you have been so kind to me.”

“Will you tell your sister?”

“I may. Not yet, though. She has been determined that all of this has been a facade, and once she discovers that she was right, she will not let me live it down. I shall like to spend my final few hours of being right about it.”

“Then I shall tell her I was merely here to bid you good morning.”

“She will think me such a fool. You must think me one too.”

“Not at all. You are not foolish for putting your faith in your father, when as far as you have seen, he truly has changed.”

“But I should have known better. When I was a girl, and our aunt was caring for us, I would sometimes sit by the door and wait. I do not know quite what I was waiting for. I would dream that he would walk through the front door with gifts and a smile and apologies, but he of course never came.”

“And what happened when he did?”

“He was already incapable of speaking. I believe he told us that we were useless as we tried to drag him through the door, but I cannot be sure. After all, he was, again incapable of speaking.”

“I do wonder how you and your sister are so well adjusted, given the circumstances.”

“As do I at times, but we were fortunate to have our aunt. I should like to speak with her again soon. It has been far too long, but I never know what to say to her. There are only so many ways to thank someone for everything that they have done for you.”

“She did what was expected of her as your aunt. It was kind of her, but you need not feel indebted. Perhaps once we are married, you might send her a letter and invite her to dinner?”

“I would like that a lot, Your Grace.”

“I cannot wait to drop such a formality as that, you know. I hate the reminder that I am a duke. I never wanted to be one in the first place.”

“Well, the moment we are married, we can forget it exists at all. Can you wait that long, do you think?”

From the way he was looking at her, however, his eyes burning into hers, she couldn’t help but question whether or not he could.

“I believe so, so long as you do not use those two dreaded words anymore.”

“I believe I can be amenable to such an arrangement.”

With a small laugh, he led her back to her home. She said nothing more about how she was going to bring the topic up to her father, but she did not need to. He hoped that it would at least be as easy as possible for her to get through it so that they could move forward.

He simply wanted her to be happy.

CHAPTER 12

Diana never thought she could dislike her father any more than she did when the Duke told her what he had been doing.

She wanted to believe that it was a mistake and that there was simply another drunkard resembling him that was doing all of it, but she knew that that was not possible. Whoever had told the Duke was clearly someone that he trusted, and so his word was as good as gold, as far as she was concerned.

Samantha.

Once more, she had to decide whether or not she wished for her sister to know before she confronted their father. She knew that it was better to and that Samantha had a right to know that their father was not acting in the way they had hoped, but Diana couldn’t bear the thought of Samantha being hurt by him again, especially if there was even the smallest chance that it wasn’t like that.

But she was not a fool. She knew that she had to tell her, and she also knew that her sister had watched her walk outside with the Duke and then returned, and it must have been quite evident that something had changed.

“Is everything alright, Di?”

It appeared that her sister had noticed her, indeed.

“Yes, Sister, everything is perfectly fine.”