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His eyes widened. “Rebecca…” he started, but his voice betrayed him.

“Yes?” she asked, pretending to be all innocent.

“You… wouldn’t,” he said, shaking his head.

“I wouldn’t usually, no,” she agreed, turning to face him. “But if you force me, then I have no other option.”

He sighed heavily, raking his fingers through his hair. “You promised you wouldn’t use that anymore.”

She shook her head. “I don’t remember ever saying anything like that. You must have imagined it, along with that fear of frogs you can’t seem to outgrow.”

“It is because I fell into that damned pond as a child,” he growled at her, although there was no anger in his words, only annoyance. “I could feel them crawling and swimming all around me as I found my way back to the bank. Disgusting creatures.”

Rebecca laughed. “I would never bring one here to your home. Never,” she said, teasing him. “But there is a pond very close by. Perhaps one of them might find its way here, just hopping merrily until?—”

“Fine!” he exclaimed, lifting his hands at her in a mock gesture of surrender. “Fine! We’ll play the stupid game. Are you happy?”

“Yes,” she nodded, glancing out at the garden. “Very much so.”

CHAPTER 16

With nothing that needed her urgent attention, Ciara found solace in the shade of a large oak tree, her book resting gently in her lap. This was one of the rare moments of tranquility she found in the midst of her new life. The soft rustling of leaves and the distant murmur of voices from the estate’s grounds provided a soothing backdrop as she immersed herself in her reading.

Her peace was interrupted by the sound of approaching footsteps. She looked up to see a footman standing before her, bowing respectfully. “Your Grace, Lady Kirdale has requested your presence,” he said.

Ciara closed her book, her curiosity piqued. She knew the Lady, having met her only once, during her hasty wedding to the Duke. Lady Kirdale was his cousin, one he was obviously very close with. She could deduce that much easily.

She nodded to the footman, rising gracefully, only to follow the man across the manicured lawns to where Jonathan andLady Kirdale were standing, gathered where the servants were finishing setting up a game of Pall Mall.

“Your Grace,” Lady Kirdale addressed her. “Thank you for joining us.”

“It is a pleasure to see you again, Lady Kirdale,” Ciara curtsied before the lady politely. “I apologize for not having welcomed you. I… I had no idea you were here.”

“Oh, that is entirely your husband’s fault, my dear,” Lady Kirdale teased her cousin. “He has this nasty habit of keeping himself to himself which I’m certain you have already witnessed.”

Ciara only smiled at the comment, feeling it was not her place to take sides in their game of teasing. She didn’t know either of them that well.

“Perhaps I simply like to keep people away fromyou,Becky,” Jonathan said playfully. “Have you considered that?”

“See?” Lady Kirdale shook her head as if she were a governess whose ward had misbehaved time and time again, and she couldn’t even be mad at him anymore for the simple reason that it served no purpose. “He is utterly incorrigible.”

“Some things are beyond repair, I suppose,” Jonathan shrugged. “You simply wish to make everything perfect as it is in your little bubble.”

“Perfection is a wonderful thing,” Lady Kirdale chirped. “Although I admit, it is extremely difficult to obtain.”

Jonathan sighed, turning to Ciara. “Don’t mind Rebecca, Duchess. She can be… too much at times.”

“And yet, you love me,” Lady Kirdale smirked. Jonathan resisted smiling, but the smile was there, nonetheless, and Ciara knew that their love was unbreakable.

Lady Kirdale then turned to Ciara. “We were just about to play a game of Pall Mall. Would you care to join us?”

Ciara hesitated, her fingers nervously toying with the edges of her book. “I appreciate the invitation, Lady Kirdale, but… I must confess, I do not know how to play.”

Jonathan’s brow furrowed in surprise. “Didn’t your father teach you?”

She didn’t want to tell them the truth. Far from it. She knew she had to resort to a lie as she always did when someone new asked her about her family. Because if they knew the truth, they wouldn’t believe her. No one would believe that a mother and a father could be so insensitive to their own child, so utterly cruel, while pretending that they were doing it all for the child’s sake.

She shook her head slightly, her gaze dropping. “My father was often preoccupied with his work, and I have no siblings to teachme either. And at the nunnery…” Her voice trailed off, realizing that she had almost divulged too much.