A Lady of Persuasion (The Wanton Dairymaid Trilogy #3)

He made a fist and pressed it against the window sash. “Right now, I scarcely care about the baby, that’s what a fiend I am. I just want Lucy to be all right. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost her.”


“You won’t lose her.” Toby put a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Jem, I hate to put it this way, but Lucy knew well before this morning what an overbearing tyrant you are.”

“An addle-brained brute.” Jeremy grimaced. “That’s what she calls me when she’s cross.”

“Very well. She knows you’re an addle-brained brute, then. But she also knows you love her. And she loves you. You’re not the only one with protective impulses. If she’s keeping you away, I doubt it’s from some desire to punish you. If I know Lucy, she’s the one shielding you. As your little row this morning proves, you can’t bear to see her in distress. She knows that, and she doesn’t want this to be any harder for you than it already is.”

“You’re wrong.” Jeremy rubbed his temples. “But I wish to God you were right.”

“When it comes to women, I’m always right.”

With that, Toby lost his grip on the conversation. Joss and Gray had long ago ceased talking, and the room tumbled into a well of silence. Eerie, lifeless silence. No screaming Lucy. No wailing infant. Just silence.

“It’s gone quiet up there,” Gray finally said. “Or had you noticed?”

Toby cursed inwardly. Of course he’d noticed. He’d been trying not to speculate on what it meant.

Jeremy returned to his armchair and sank into it. With a low moan, he buried his face in his hands.

“She’s fine,” Joss said. “She won’t die, not today.”

Jeremy made a sound of derision. “Suddenly you’re the voice of optimism? How do you know she’ll be fine?”

“I just know.”

Before there was any time to elucidate that pronouncement, Miss Osborne entered the salon. The young woman’s apron was rumpled and stained, but her cool self-possession was intact. Her placid expression revealed no hint of emotion, neither sorrow nor joy. “Lord Kendall,” she said, “Lucy’s asking for you now.”

“Oh God,” Jeremy groaned. “She’s dying, isn’t she? That’s the only reason she’d want to see me. She wouldn’t ask for me unless she was dying.”

“She’s not dying,” Miss Osborne said.

Jeremy paused. “The child?”

The young lady sighed. “My lord, I think you should go upstairs and see for yourself.”

Jeremy swore under his breath. “That doesn’t sound good. Are you certain Lucy wants to see me?”

“I’m certain. She asked for you, in no uncertain terms.”

Jeremy rose to his feet. “Tell me what she said. I want to know her exact words.”

“Very well.” Miss Osborne crossed her arms over her chest. “I believe they were something like this: ‘Tell my addle-brained brute of a husband that his son is in need of a name.’”

Toby added his voice to the masculine chorus of congratulations. “You see, I told you all would be well. You’ve gained a son, and you haven’t lost Lucy.”

“Haven’t I?” Jeremy’s face remained impassive. “You heard her words. She can’t forgive me.”

“You didn’t allow me to finish, my lord.” The faintest hint of a smile played on Miss Osborne’s lips. “She said, tell my addle-brained brute of a husband that his son is in need of a name, and …”

“And?”

“And his wife is in need of a kiss.”

Toby imagined that a rare smile cracked Jeremy’s stern expression as he bolted from the room

—but he didn’t really notice his friend’s exit. His attention was occupied with the arrival of Sophia. She brushed past Miss Osborne and flew straight to Gray’s embrace, burying her face in his chest. As she wept, Gray exhaled with obvious relief, releasing a string of colorful oaths befitting a seaman. Toby would never have uttered such words in a lady’s presence—hell, he’d never even heard a few of them before—but Sophia didn’t seem to mind. Her shoulders shook with laughter along with the tears.

Then he noticed Joss and Miss Osborne exchanging peculiar glances. The two stared at one another, not speaking—Miss Osborne still frozen in the doorway and Joss still reclined on the settee, arms propped behind his head. Toby could not quite name the emotions conveyed in

their eyes, but he could tell they were of a private nature. No gentleman—not even one as illmannered as Joss—greeted a lady in that posture unless some intimacy existed between them. Well, this was a day of surprises. Of all the unlikely couples in the world …