Jack shook his head. “I’ll never understand women.”
“What a trite thing to say,” Thomas said, surprising him.
“I beg your pardon?”
“Women are people, Jack.” Westfield’s voice was nearly patronizing it was so patient. “Frequently better people than we are. If you can understand your friends and yourself, you can understand a woman who chooses to live with you.”
“I know they’re people,” Jack muttered.
“Everybody’s people,” Duncan murmured to the ceiling, stretching his booted legs as far out as they would go.
Jack managed to resist the urge to slip a leg under his friend’s and send the earl’s chair tipping backward, but only barely.
“If you’re having trouble understanding a woman, my boy, it’s probably because you’re not listening to her,” the Duke said.
“Et tu, Your Grace?”
“I’ve been married a long time, son.”
“So then what am I supposed to do?”
“Have you tried talking to her?”
“Well, er, not really.” Jack felt his cheeks heating. “Should I?”
Three versions of the same pitying expression faced him.
“Ask her what she wants,” Thomas said.
“If I know your wife, she’ll be honest with you,” Duncan added. “Ask her what sort of marriage she wants and then decide if you can give it to her.”
“But what about the Delphine?”
“Last time I checked, that ship of yours was lovely but it didn’t walk, talk, or provide heirs. Perhaps it’s time you thought about remaining on land part of the time.” Duncan toyed with his napkin, then glanced at Jack thoughtfully. “You know, you could combine the two parts of your life.”
“How? Kate will never be able to go aboard ship, as far as I know. I can’t see her as the wife of a sea captain when the sea unmoors her magic.”
“What about the wife of a shipping magnate?”
“A what?”
“Shipping, Jack. I daresay you’ve got more direct knowledge of how the actual ship part of such a business works than virtually any of the merchants in those dockside offices. And I happen to know that you’re a fierce negotiator.”
Jack remembered the pure enjoyment he’d felt bandying numbers with his new steward as they’d bargained out the man’s position and salary. “I suppose . . .”
“Your presence would probably be required on some few of the most important runs,” Thomas said, the speculative tone in his voice reminding Jack that his cousin was one of the finest scholars in the world. “I wonder if anyone is providing magic-specific shipping services.”
“Mostly couriers,” Duncan said. He should know. He’d been one, and wound up married afterward. “No companies.”
“You think I could get articles to incorporate such a business?” Jack asked, turning the thought around in his mind. Life with Kate . . . and the sea? Was it possible?
“I think if you were to start such a venture, you wouldn’t have a hard time finding investors,” the Duke said, gesturing around the room.
Thomas and Duncan nodded.
“Bradley, too. And I can think of a few friends who might be interested. Morgan?” Thomas tilted his head toward Duncan, who nodded again.
“He’s never turned down a solid investment in his life, and he’s a damned good judge of them.”
The Duke held up a hand. “Ask your wife, Jack.” The man who’d raised him looked Jack squarely in the eye. “I think you’ll find that you want what she wants.”
Chapter 22
The visit to the Witch had been just the sort of thing Kate hadn’t known she was missing. Female companionship, sisterhood, and a great deal of quite naughty discussion and laughter. The tea leaves had been inconclusive, but the Witch had nodded when the Duchess had murmured something about magical interference from Kate’s own latent gift. The two of them had drifted into an increasingly esoteric discussion about magical heritage, using words Kate had never heard before, at which point Fiona had rolled her eyes and offered to show Em, Kate, and Alicia the trick of reading palms.
Most of it was for show, of course. Fiona admitted that she’d learned the practice from a friend who’d once used it to fleece folk who attended her family’s traveling show. But with a witch’s applied attention, a few things could come to the surface.
“No twins for you,” Fiona had told her cousin with a laugh.
“Thank goodness,” Em said. “One at a time, please.”
As for Kate . . . “Murky, but family is central,” Fiona said with a shrug.
“No surprise,” Kate said. She wasn’t as disappointed as she expected to be. Maybe Jack was right, and surprises were meant to be had in their own due time. Thinking of Jack made her heart feel as though it was beating too hard within her chest. She wanted to spend time within the warmth of his arms, to discuss plans for the estate with him and revel in his agile mind, to hear more about his magic. She also wanted to box his ears much of the time, or roll her eyes at his outrageous jokes. Were these strange, conflicting feelings normal? Was she . . . in love with Jack? She hoped not, or she might not be able to bear it when he left.
Now, she was back at the keep, in the library, reclining on a chaise near the window with a novel Fiona had lent her. She hoped that it would distract her from thinking about being in love, but the romantic plot had drawn her in. Deep in the story, she didn’t hear the door open, and it wasn’t until she heard the murmuring voices that she realized she wasn’t alone. Closing the book, she gathered herself to sit up and announce her presence, then froze when she realized who was with her.
“So this is why you left,” Robert Dalton said. His voice was low and somehow gentle.
“One of the reasons,” Alicia said.
Kate heard her sister’s restless movement and shrank back against the cushions. She really shouldn’t be eavesdropping. But . . .
“I looked for you.”
Robert knew Alicia well enough to look for her? Just what had passed between them in London? Kate only barely remembered meeting the young man, but apparently Alicia had done more. How much more?
“Did you? I’m sorry.” Alicia didn’t sound particularly sorry to a sister’s experienced ear.
“Do you want to tell me about it?”
“Not particularly.”
“Do I know who it is?” Well. So much for that speculation. Apparently the father of Alicia’s child wasn’t Robert Dalton. Kate found herself obscurely disappointed.
“I don’t know. Do you?” Alicia’s tone was clipped, but Robert’s was still gentle.
“I think I do.”
“Well. Good for you.”
“He married her, you know.”
“I know.”
Oh, Alicia. Marriage to the father of her child—the man who’d led her to believe he would marry her!—wasn’t an option. And Robert Dalton, of all people, somehow knew who the man was. Alicia’s quiet answer had confirmed it.
“What are your plans?” Robert’s tone had shifted slightly, and Kate wished desperately that she could see the couple’s faces. What was he asking?
Alicia sighed. “You might as well know, since I’m sure your mother does. I’m going to learn magic, it seems.”
There was a long pause. “I had overheard that you might have developed a gift.”
Overheard, had he? Robert seemed to know a great deal, for a quiet young man.
“A gift is one word for it.” Alicia’s tone was dry, but the overwrought emotion that had led to the disastrous stable fire was absent. “I’m coming to terms with it. Slowly.”
“And what about . . .?”
Another pause. “What about it?”
Kate could picture the
face that went with this particular tone. Her sister’s jaw jutting, chin firm, eyes narrowed. She’d seen it many times. How nice not to be the recipient for once.
Robert sighed, and Kate heard a small, soft sound, as though he were running his hands through his hair. She could sympathize with his frustration, but she smirked anyway. Alicia had that effect on people. His next words wiped the smile from her lips.
“I came to ask if you would marry me.”
Alicia’s sharp intake of breath masked the sound of Kate’s own gasp. What?
“What?”
She heard the sound of his feet on the carpet. He was moving closer to Alicia. Taking her hand? Perhaps. Kate shook her head. Or perhaps her imagination was running away with her.
“I’d give you my name.”
There was more silence, and Kate wondered what the two of them were saying with their eyes. Finally, Alicia broke the spell. “I don’t need your name, Robert.”
“I’d give it to you anyway.”
Alicia sighed. “No, Robert. Thank you for offering. I won’t marry you.”
“Not now, or not ever?”
“Does it matter?”
“It might.”
“This baby is mine.” There was something in Alicia’s voice Kate had never heard before. Protectiveness? “Nobody’s but mine.”
“And after the baby?”
“After the baby, I’ll know more about my magic. I’ll find my place.”
“I see.”
“What-What will you do?”
Kate was wondering the same thing. She’d barely known Robert Dalton existed, for all that he was related to her husband. What was he doing with his life, exactly? Not the typical young blood she’d assumed he’d be. Nobody in the Edgebourne family was quite what she’d expected, so she probably shouldn’t have been so surprised.
“I have a few things to take care of. Some people to talk to. Then I think I’ll come back and ask you again.” Kate heard the sound of lips on skin—he must have kissed Alicia’s hand—and then footsteps followed by the door opening and closing.
“You might as well come out, Kate,” Alicia said wearily. “I know you’re there.”
Kate sat up. “Why did you refuse him?” Her sister was still standing where Robert had left her, staring down at the hand he’d kissed.
“He doesn’t need to be tied down with all of this.” Alicia waved toward her own body, belly and all. “He’s only nineteen.”
“So are you.”
“But you’ve made it clear that I have your support in all my choices, haven’t you?” Alicia stared at her, and Kate ached to see the uncertainty still in her sister’s eyes. She’d matured, certainly, but she still seemed so very young.
“Of course you do.”
“So I can get by. I don’t have to marry.”
“No, of course you don’t.”
“Which means that if I do want to marry, I have the luxury of being able to think about it. I don’t have to say yes to anybody who asks.” A smile began to grow on Alicia’s face. “If you think about it, aside from all of the throwing up and my gowns not fitting, I’m in a much better position than I was before.”
Kate raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”
“We were desperate, Kate.” Alicia’s tone was flat, though her lips still smiled. “I know you had a plan to work, but from my perspective, I had very few choices. I was dancing my way through the Season, waiting for the first person to ask me. I would probably have said yes to anybody. I practically did.” She placed a hand over her belly protectively. “I made the wrong choice in the expectation of marriage, but you saved me. Again.”
“I suppose so.”
“It seems to have turned out all right for the both of us, hasn’t it?” Alicia slid her hand into Kate’s. “You have a pleasant husband and an estate to manage just as you like. And I have the freedom to wait a while.”
“Yes, you do. I hadn’t thought of it that way,” Kate admitted. She didn’t say anything about Alicia’s assumption on the husband part. Jack would be gone soon enough. “But—”
“What?”
“If he comes back and asks again, what will you say?”
Alicia was silent for a few long moments, and Kate wondered again just what had passed between her sister and Robert Dalton in London. “I don’t know.”
Chapter 23
Long after Alicia left the library, Kate sat motionless on the chaise, book forgotten in her lap. She turned the conversation she’d overheard and the one that had followed it over in her head, searching for things she might have missed. Finally, she sighed and gave it up. Nothing was going to tell her what was between Alicia and Robert unless they decided to fill her in themselves.
Kate stood, stretched, and moved to a desk opposite the chaise she’d been reading on. A letter to Lady Morehouse was long overdue. Not that the good Lady M didn’t already know everything, given her connections. But they could both politely pretend otherwise. She found paper and pens in a drawer and began to write.
She hadn’t gotten much further than the most basic greeting when the door opened again.
“Here you are,” Jack said.
“Here I am.” She twirled her pen in her fingers, then looked up at him as he came to stand next to her. “I overheard a very interesting conversation.”
“Did you? Eavesdropping is the family business. I’m glad to see you’re getting the hang of it.” He smiled down at her.
“Robert proposed to Alicia.”
“He what?” The smile vanished from Jack’s face.
“She said no.”
“Of course she did.”
“You’re not surprised?” Kate had been. And still was, to some degree.
“Not at all. She’s a sensible girl, Kate. Related to you, you know.”
“I’ve heard.”
“She’s got choices. We made that clear to her, and this makes it clear she understands, I think.”
“I thought for a moment he was the father of her child.”
“Is he?”
“No. But he knows who is.”
“I’m beginning to think Robert knows a great deal more about many things than I ever expected him to.” Jack pursed his lips. “He was supposed to be at Oxford this year.”
“Will he go back?”
“I don’t know.” Jack shook his head. “I didn’t come here to discuss Robert’s peccadilloes, assuming he has some.”
“Oh? What did you come here for?”
“I came to talk to you.”
Kate’s stomach sank. Had the Delphine arrived to fetch him? Was he leaving already? She tried to ignore the ache in her belly and mustered a smile. “About what?”
Instead of answering, Jack turned in a circle, as though he were searching for something. Finally, he laid his hands on a nearby chair, the smallest of the few that were scattered around the room other than the one she sat in, and dragged it over to face her. He sat down with a thump.
“Duncan has put an idea into my head, and I can’t seem to shake it. I came to see what you think.”
Kate blinked, then relaxed, not without a tiny pang of disappointment. He didn’t want to talk about their situation, or their plans. He wanted her expertise. It was why he’d been so eager to marry her, after all. “Of course. What is it?”
He spoke slowly, turning each word over in his mouth as though he were feeling it with his tongue and teeth before letting it out into open air. “He suggested that I could start a shipping company. One that specialized in serving the magical community.”
Kate gasped. “Oh, Jack, that’s brilliant!” She reached for the paper she’d been writing on, mind whirling. “Look, I can think of at least two organizations in Town you could have retainer c
ontracts with, and if you expanded to the wizards in the countryside—” Her pen flew across the page, lists forming under her fingers.
“Kate.”
“Hmm?” She circled one item on the page, then drew an arrow across to another item in a separate list.
His hand came over hers, stopping the pen’s movement and creating a blot. “Before you’ve built your paper empire, can we talk about something?”
“About what?”
“Us.”
Kate dropped the pen. “What?”
He moved the pen and paper aside, then drew her hand fully into his own and leaned forward. “I need to know what you want.”
“What I want?”
“From this. Us.” His free hand moved in a slow circle through the air. “Our marriage. I know what I said before, but I’m finding . . .” He let go of her hand and scrubbed his hands over his face. “I’m finding I may not want the life I thought I did.”
Kate felt all of the breath in her body freeze. “You-You don’t?”
“Shipboard life is all I’ve ever wanted, but I find that when I dream of the future, there aren’t waves under my feet,” he confessed. “At least, not all the time.”
“What do you mean?”
“Would you . . .?” He swallowed. “We had an agreement, I know, but . . . would you . . . possibly want me to stay?”
She opened her mouth to say “Yes, Jack, please,” and then paused. Her brain was catching up with her heart. It was hard to think clearly with his gaze fixed on her, that handsome face mirroring his anxious wait for her answer.
“You love the sea,” she said slowly. “More than anything.”
“Not more than you, it turns out.”
“You . . . love me?” Her heart felt as though it might burst out of her chest. She laid her hand over it, trying to calm the frenetic beats.
“I love you, Kate. I love your lists, I love your mind, I love your face and your hair and your every new expression. I love the way you care for your family. I’ve never met anyone like you. I love you. I want to be married to you in truth, to make our partnership a real relationship. We fit together so well, Kate.”
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