Page 5 of Her Heartless Duke

“I am sure you will do well, Fi,” Olivia told her gently, reaching out to give her cousin’s hand a reassuring squeeze. “I have met a great deal who have sharper tongues, and they all found their matches.”

“Truly?”

“Yes, dearest. Truly.”

As her aunt and brother resumed discussion of the events lined up for that week, Olivia took a sip of water when she started to feel a dull, throbbing ache in her temples.

Oh no…not right now…

It was not the first time it had occurred in the past few weeks either. One time, she had been in so much pain that she feared she would throw up and disgrace herself over afternoon tea with Lady Trowbridge and her daughter, Lady Eleanor Covington.

“Excuse me,” she mumbled, pushing her plate away. “I would like to retire early tonight.”

Fiona looked at her in concern and she saw Daniel’s brow furrow.

“Are you alright?” her brother asked her. “Should I call for a physician?”

Olivia shook her head. “No, no—that is not necessary. I am just tired from all the day’s excitement.”

Aunt Joana nodded. “We had been rather busy today going about Regent Street. It would be best for you to get some rest.”

Olivia tried to ignore her brother’s pointed gaze as she mustered as cheerful a smile as she possibly could, before heading straight to her bedchamber. Once inside, she locked the door behind her and flung herself onto the bed, reeling from the pain and the feeling that she might be violently ill.

A memory from when she was a child resurfaced in her mind—one of her beautiful Mama quietly excusing herself from their dinner as she just did. Later, when she walked by her mother’s rooms, she had seen her Mama being violently ill, heaving over a chamberpot being held by her maid.

She had thought that it was nothing—a mere illness that would pass in the next few days.

However, her Mama had only gotten worse, until she barely even left her bed. She began to sleep on most days. On the days when she did wake up, the laudanum kept her mostly in a daze so that Olivia could not even talk to her.

Their father summoned the best physicians their money could buy but to no avail. By winter, her Mama was dead.

She knew the symptoms, had feared as much when the first headaches came. She did not need a physician to tell her the awful truth—that she was ill in very much the same way her Mama was and there was no cure on this earth for it.

Olivia smiled bitterly to herself. How cruel it was for one to die so young! But at least she would not leave many who would mourn her death greatly.

She only wished that she might be able to accomplish something grand, something so inexplicably wonderful before she left this world. Her Mama had lived long enough to participate in the ton’s grandest dance competition and meet the love of her life. She had given birth to two children for him before she passed away.

Olivia felt that she would not have as much time as her mother did. But perhaps, it would be enough to join Lady Willow’s dance competition…to grab that one brief moment and hold on to it even in the hopelessness of her condition.

Clutching at her head, she curled into her bed, her fingers digging into her scalp. She would have asked for some laudanum, but she had seen what it had done to her mother, and she did not want to be subjected to its effects.

Perhaps I should call for some rosemary tea… but that would be the second time this day.

The first had been just before she set out with her aunt and cousin for Regent Street to buy the things they needed for the Season. If she called her maid for another cup, they would become suspicious, and she did not want to alert them to her condition.

Not yet, at least.

CHAPTERTHREE

“Oh, my word! I thought Sir Percival Lawrence was the handsomest man that I had ever met, but that was until I saw Lord Huntington!”

Olivia smiled as her cousin gushed over the last gentleman she had danced with. “In your estimation, every gentleman is the handsomest man you have ever laid your eyes on,” she teased her. “I fear that you might have to make up your mind eventually before they fight for your favor.”

“Oh, you do not think they would be so silly, Livvy?” Fiona’s eyes were wide with shock. Realizing that her cousin was merely jesting, she swatted at her lightly with her fan. “Surely they would not be so ill-tempered about it.”

Olivia giggled and fluttered her fan over her face. “Well, if they were to be as ardent in their affections as they proclaim, then they certainly would find it a great blow if the lady they are courting did not find them as handsome as the next man.”

“So, you think I should keep my opinions to myself?”