Page 38 of Stolen and Seduced By the Duke

"Children have instincts."

Despite himself, Pierce smiled. Margaret crossed the nursery and bent over the crib, and her entire manner changed when she looked at Hugh. The teasing disappeared, replaced by a tenderness Pierce had not expected to see so quickly. She gently brushed one finger over the baby's cheek. Hugh stirred but did not wake, and Margaret smiled as she whispered, "You and I shall get along just fine, little one."

Pierce remained silent, watching her with an unfamiliar tightness in his chest. He had spent so long searching for answers about the reappearance that he had forgotten there might be another question worth asking.

What sort of woman could love my son?

Margaret might be that woman, and the thought unsettled him more than he cared to admit. She straightened and turned towards him. "He is lovely."

"He has your approval, then?" Pierce asked.

"He does."

"Good. I should hate to have to find another duchess."

Margaret laughed softly. "You are dreadful."

"I have been called worse than that," he said.

"I am certain you have earned it."

Pierce escorted her downstairs towards the front entrance, where the footman waited to help her into the carriage. The hour was late, and the house had grown utterly still. When Margaret reached the door, Pierce folded his arms and regarded her with a mixture of amusement and disapproval.

"Once again," he said, "you have proved yourself bold and reckless."

Margaret turned towards him. "Reckless?"

"Showing up at a man's door at this hour is reckless, is it not?" his brow rose.

"It needed to be done," she said. "I could not sleep otherwise."

"Of course it did," he nodded in agreement.

She narrowed her eyes. "Do not mock me."

"I would never." He gave her a sideways grin that had been known to stop women in their tracks.

"You are doing it now," she said.

"I am merely observing."

Margaret pulled her cloak around herself. "You seem to observe me quite frequently."

"That is because you are interesting," he said.

She blinked, apparently caught off guard by the compliment, and Pierce enjoyed that immensely. "Your bold nature will get you into trouble one day," he continued, his voice taking on a teasing note.

"That may be," Margaret replied, lifting her chin, "but it will be trouble of my own making and doing, not someone choosing trouble for me."

Pierce smirked. There it was again, that stubborn independence that had first caught his attention. "You realize," he said, "that you are arguing with the man you are marrying tomorrow. A man who will decide your fate."

"I am aware. Are you aware that I might decide yours, instead?."

Pierce raised his brows. "That is an ambitious prediction."

Margaret smiled sweetly. "You said yourself that I was a walking contradiction."

"I did."