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“Love.” Gabriel ran his tongue around the inside of his mouth after saying the word. “I will be thinking about that this Season, but only in regard to Lady Eleanor. The quicker she falls in love with the right man, the sooner my task is complete, and the quicker I can go back to my regular life.”

“Your mother and father—” Richard started.

“Are no longer here,” Gabriel finished.

Richard held his nephew’s gaze as he nodded slowly in agreement with him. “Quite,” was all he said.

Then silence.

The silence would have dragged out much longer if the butler hadn’t come to disturb it. He handed an envelope to the duke without making a sound.

Gabriel opened the envelope and read the contents.

“Here we are,” he told his uncle, glad to have something new to talk about. “Lady Eleanor has received her first invitation. The Season is about to begin.”

CHAPTER 6

Eleanor stood in the main entrance of their family home, staring at her brother as her eyes slowly filled with tears. She loved Nathaniel; he was her closest friend, but she still hadn’t expected to be affected like this.

“I will be back before you know it,” Nathaniel told her.

He wore comfortable traveling clothes, and Eleanor knew his journey would be long. Nathaniel had a long greatcoat over a linen shirt, tan trousers, and hessian boots.

“I wish you were here with me through this Season,” she wept. She wore a high-waisted silk day dress with the waist just below the bust. It was far more comfortable than most of her formal dresses, but she still felt uncomfortable in it, for she was wearing it to visit formally with the duke.

“I wish I could be here too,” Nathaniel admitted. “We should not have put it off so long, and then I would have been able to. If I could stay, you know I would.” He sighed.

“I know,” Eleanor admitted. “I also know how important it is for all of us that you travel over to France and help put a stop to the war. I will think about that constantly to remind myself that my situation is not so bad.”

“His Grace is a dear friend, and he will take good care of you.”

“I know.” Eleanor tried hard not to bite her lip. She didn’t need to complain to her brother about her chaperone when he’d set it up, and Nate had other things to worry about. She would deal with it.

Still, her eyes teared up more at the thought of the duke guiding her Season rather than her brother.

Perhaps Nathaniel believed the tears were only because he was leaving, as he pulled his sister into a tight embrace. She placed her chin on his shoulder, keeping her head up so she wouldn’t wet the fabric of his coat with her tears. She wrapped her arms around her brother and held on tight.

For a moment, Eleanor felt safe, and she didn’t need to think about the Season at all. She was with her brother, and as long as she held onto him, she could hold onto the moment.

When Nathaniel shifted, Eleanor let her brother go. She couldn’t, nor would she, stop him from leaving. She longed to tell him how awful the duke was and that he should consider someone else, but he was the one who had chosen him. Perhaps the initial meeting had come at an inopportune time for His Grace, and maybe he was not always so stern.

Nathaniel took his sister by the shoulders and held her gaze.

“I’m very proud of you, Eleanor,” he said.

Eleanor’s eyes filled with tears again, and her bottom lip quivered.

“You have grown into a fine young woman. You should be very proud of the lady you have become and the lady you will become.”

“I have learned it all from you,” she replied.

Nathaniel gave a tight smile, holding back his own emotion.

“I love you, Ellie.”

“I love you, too, Nate.”

“Oh, how wonderful it is to see the love between my two children.” Margaret laid her head on Nathaniel’s shoulder.