Page 38 of A Baby to Seal the Duke’s Fate

The dowager looked at him as though he had not understood. “Leopold.”

“The child stays.”

“Do not be obstinate.”

“I am being consistent.”

“She is not yours.”

Leopold’s voice cooled. “That has not changed.”

The dowager stepped closer to the desk. “Then why are you doing this? You are destroying the family’s reputation over a baby who was left on your doorstep.”

The sentence left no room for tenderness, which was perhaps what made Leopold’s temper rise.

Leopold looked at his mother. “She stays until I know where she came from.”

The dowager’s eyes flashed. “And if you do not like the answer?”

“I will still need it.”

“Answering questions is easier than living with them.”

Leopold’s jaw tensed. “I am not sending her to an orphanage.”

The dowager’s expression hardened further. “Then you are making a mistake.”

“Perhaps.”

“You do not seem to understand how quickly this can turn.”

“I understand exactly how quickly it has turned.”

“That is not enough.”

“It is all I have at the moment.”

For a moment they faced each other across the desk in complete silence.

At last, his mother sighed. “If you continue to keep the child here, people will begin to ask the sort of questions you will not like.”

Leopold held her gaze. “Then I will answer them.”

“No, you will not.”

His mouth flattened. “You have said your piece.”

“I have not finished.”

He waited.

The dowager studied him for a moment. “You may find the truth less convenient than you expect.”

Leopold frowned. “What does that mean?”

For the first time since she entered, the dowager hesitated. It was brief, almost nothing, but he saw it.

“Nothing,” she said.