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"Your wife and son were impaired by the same event?" Olivia blurted out, before she could catch herself

"Aye," the duke said "That’s the devil of it But Rupert has a good heart He’s a kindly, cheerful soul, and if I don’t think about what ether And my dear, I’ve talked to you about your brains and your hips, but theis that you’ve always been kind to him It’s not easy He tends to jabber, but you have never rip on his hand "I promise to be kind to him," she said, and in that ave his odd sone

Five

Events That Warrant No Introduction

Rupert custos; having been coached as to the proper salutations, he took a clear delight in observing the appropriate rules But noalked into the library without a word, his eyes lighting on Olivia’s face and sliding away

Olivia let fly a silent, if heartfelt, string of oaths directed at their parents She had forgotten--again--to consider what Rupertof all this Froht in their surmise that Rupert had not been tutored in the particular situation he now faced

No etting through the business for years Luckily, her father kept a brandy decanter in the library, and she handed Rupert a brilass and poured one for herself as well, and the devil with the fact that her mother considered spirits to be unladylike Still without a word, they sat down on the sofa before the fire

"Left Lucy in the sitting rooht"

Olivia nodded "She will be more comfortable there"

"No, she’s not comfortable," he stated "My father doesn’t like her Says that she’s fit for hunting rats and nothing else She doesn’t wish to kill rats She wouldn’t even kno And your parents don’t care for her, either"

"My parents never allowed us to have a pet of any sort," Olivia said

"You like dogs, though," Rupert stated

"Yes"

"Said I’d do it because of that"

Olivia blinked "What?"

"Marriage"

Apparently she had underestith of will; she hadn’t realized that he was allowed any part in the choice of his duchess Nor had she the faintest idea that the meat pies she’d saved for Lucy comprised her audition for the role

She would have eaten them herself

"It’s not that I don’t like you," Rupert said earnestly "I do But you like Lucy too, don’t you?"

"She’s a dear dog" They were on co in the last year talking of Lucy

But Rupert seemed to have exhausted the subject of Lucy, and with his silence the air turned edgy and nervous again

"We needn’t do it, you know," she said, after a bit

"I"Told my father I would Be like a man Do--be a ht about how much she’d like to throw her parents and the duke off Battersea Bridge "Shall we not, and tell them we did?" she offered

He turned to look at her for the first time, eyes round "Lie?"

"More like a fib"

He shook his head "I don’t lie Not a gentle Better to ulp

In his oay, Rupert was ad for the first time that he would have made a rather exceptional duke, if he’d had possession of all his faculties He had his father’s strength of will, with an extra layer of honor that his father was conspicuously lacking