Page 101 of Stolen and Seduced By the Duke

"Good morning, Your Grace," the housekeeper said, approaching the table with her hands folded neatly before her. "His Grace asked me to inform you that he has left Ravenfield and shall be away for several days."

Margaret nearly dropped her teaspoon. "Left?" she repeated, setting it down with a sharp little clink. "What do you mean, left?"

Mrs. Norris remained admirably calm beneath the Duchess's stare. "The Duke had departed early this morning to attend to personal affairs.

Margaret blinked at her. "Personal affairs?" she echoed, suddenly certain that those three innocent words concealed an entire conspiracy. "Did he say anything else?"

"He did not, Your Grace," Mrs. Norris replied gently, offering an apologetic smile. "He only asked me to assure you that he would return in several days."

"Very well," Margaret said, forcing a smile that probably looked more like a grimace. "Thank you, Mrs. Norris."

The housekeeper curtsied and departed, leaving Margaret alone with her breakfast and an increasingly unreasonable collection of thoughts.

Left? Without a proper word to me. How dare he?

Margaret stared at the empty chair opposite her as though Pierce were sitting there merely to irritate her. He had left without telling her himself, without even giving her the courtesy of an explanation, after spending the previous evening kissing her and then walking away as though he had merely remarked upon the weather.

He has finally had enough of me.

She had irritated him beyond endurance. His mysterious personal affairs involved some investigation into Hugh's past, which would at least make sense, although Margaret found herself troubled by how consumed he had become with what had happened before she entered his life.

She frowned into her tea. Pierce seemed determined to uncover every secret surrounding Hugh, Augusta, and the mysterious months before the child had arrived at Ravenfield.

Margaret understood his reasons, of course. If someone had taken his son away, he had every right to know why. Yet there was something unfair about watching him devote so much of himself to the past when she had given nearly every waking moment to the present. She had made herself part of this household, learned Hugh's habits, filled the dreary rooms with flowers, and tried to understand a husband who seemed determined to remain an enigma. And now she discovered that she had begun to miss him terribly after less than a day.

Her cheeks warmed at the thought. "Oh, this is dreadful," she muttered, pressing her fingers against her temple. "I actually will miss the man."

She had spent weeks insisting that she wanted nothing to do with Pierce when it came to intimate matters, and now she found herself craving his company, his voice, his infuriating arrogance, and, most dangerously of all, his touch. She looked towards the door as though he might suddenly appear and frowned when he did not. Then another possibility occurred to her, and she nearly choked on her tea.

"Personal affairs," she whispered suspiciously. "Could mean anything."

Her imagination, which had always possessed a mischievous streak, immediately supplied the most unpleasant possibility.

A mistress. Was Lady Darren right? Was Hugh the child of some mistress and not Augusta?

Pierce had gone to see some woman he had known before their marriage, some beautiful, sophisticated creature who understood his moods and did not challenge every ridiculous rule he invented.

Margaret's stomach tightened. She pushed the thought away at once.

"Nonsense," she told herself firmly. "I refuse to be jealous of a woman who may not even exist."

She rose before she could torture herself further and went in search of the nanny.

"I want Hugh dressed for a picnic," Margaret announced when she found her, clasping her hands with renewed purpose. "The weather is lovely, and I see no reason for us to spend the entire morning indoors."

The nanny smiled and agreed, and Margaret then marched to the kitchens with equal determination.

"Please prepare a basket for us," she told the cook, listing meat pies, cold chicken, fruit, small cakes, and a flask of tea. "And something soft for Hugh. He has developed very strong opinions about food, despite possessing scarcely enough teeth to express them."

Within the hour, Margaret was seated upon a blanket in the gardens with Hugh beside her and the nanny nearby. The sunlight poured warmly across the lawn, and Hugh seemed delighted by everything, from the fluttering leaves to the distant birds.

Margaret lifted him onto her lap and kissed his cheek. "There you are, my darling," she murmured, smiling as he grabbed at a lock of her hair. "Your father may disappear for days at a time, but your duchess shall remain where she belongs."

Hugh responded with an enthusiastic squeal and tugged harder. Margaret laughed, attempting to rescue her hair.

"Yes, yes, I understand. You have missed me terribly."

She settled him beside her and produced a little wooden toy, and soon the two of them were engaged in a game that consisted largely of Hugh knocking it over while Margaret solemnly rebuilt it.