Page 58 of A Mother for the Blind Duke’s Orphans

There was a rustle as she turned about within it. “It is just my size!”

The duchess moved closer to him. Hector could sense her nearness. She smelled faintly of fresh air and jasmine. He found nothing ordinary in his response to her presence. His heart fluttered unexpectedly and an unwelcome warmth spread through his chest at her nearness. It was as if her presence stirred something tender yet alive within him.

Aurora gave a squeal then, sudden and piercing with joy, pulling him back to reality. Hector’s slight smile broadened before he could prevent it.

“It has a little place here,” Aurora cried. “Poppy, look. Look, you must look. It is mine. It is my new closet.”

“I see it,” Her Grace said.

Her voice had changed, too. Hector kept his gaze toward the open door and did not turn to her.

“Did you plan this?” she demanded.

“No,” Hector said slowly. “I did not.”

“But Mrs. Patterson knew.”

“Mrs. Patterson knows a great many things in this house.”

Aurora shifted inside the closet.

“Did you make it?” the duchess continued to ask.

“No, I left it to my housekeeper, and she did a good job if I do say so myself. Why do you ask?” Hector did not want her to know the truth.

“The wood you were painting inside the maze⁠—”

“A fairy made it!” Aurora shouted from the closet, cutting her off, and Hector was grateful for the distraction.

Mrs. Patterson’s composure faltered as she laughed. “A fairy, miss?”

“Yes. A house fairy. A very good one. She came when I was not looking and made me a new closet because I did not have one.”

Her Grace’s quiet laugh warmed the air around Hector. “A fairy seems possible.”

Hector turned his head a fraction toward her; he did not want to be distracted by her beauty and light again.

“It is big enough for me to sit in,” she announced. “And if I curl, I could sleep in it.”

“You are not required to sleep in it,” Hector said sternly, but Aurora laughed as though this were a splendid joke. The duchess said nothing, but he felt her looking at him again.

Aurora emerged from the closet and looked up at him.

“Uncle Hector, did you see? It is mine.”

He was in awe that she was even addressing him at all.

“I heard,” he said. “It seems to have met with approval.”

She giggled.

Aurora beamed. “May I keep it forever?”

“It was made for you.”

“Poppy, come inside.”

“I am not certain I will fit,” Her Grace said teasingly.