My Last Duchess, стр. 2

“Over-stitched with gold thread,” his sister said, nodding. “You’re disgustingly handsome, even given the Wilde eyebrows,so I’m not worried on that front. No, the real problem is persuading a skittish lady that eight children don’t pose an insurmountableburden. I’ll definitely have to sacrifice the rose silk; it might be enough to weight the scales of your desirability againstyour offspring.”

“No need for a sacrifice,” Hugo said, his tone sharpening. “I employ two nannies, three nursemaids, and a governess. That’senough mothering. What’s more, given that Horatius is at Oxford, and Roland, Alaric, and Parth are at Eton, four of the eightwould scorn the notion they needed mothering.”

Louisa groaned. “Parth is more trouble than the other boys put together. Did I tell you about what he—” She cut herself off.“Never mind that. Ignoring those boys, and the two others, for the moment, you have daughters in the nursery. I’m serious, Hugo.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“The girls must be taken to London, presented at court, and brought out at balls. That’s not to mention the delicate businessof steering them away from fortune-hunters and toward respectable young men.”

“You—”

She shook her head. “Your daughters cannot wither in Cheshire, going to the local assemblies, living on the edge of a bog,racketing around the castle with no one to talk to.”

That stung. “I visit the nursery at least once a day.”

“Your children are rarely in the nursery so that hardly matters.”

Hugo frowned. “They aren’t running around Lindow Moss, are they?”

“When they’re home, the older boys virtually live in the bog,” Louisa said dismissively. “The children love to visit the stables,even the baby. My point is, terrible mother though she was, Yvette knew everyone in London.”

“As do I.”

“I have trouble picturing you rounding up your acquaintances and putting on a ball in Betsy’s honor—which will have to takeplace in a mere dozen years or so. I don’t mind acting as your hostess here, but I rarely leave Cheshire, as you know. I goto London solely to visit the modistes and see an occasional play.”

“Perhaps Horatius will have married by then,” Hugo said, thinking of his oldest son. “I have every faith that he will choosea perfectly raised daughter of a peer, who can do the honors.”

“I can imagine,” Louisa said, with a shudder. “I’ll probably hate her.”

“You won’t have to see much of her, if you outlive me. Horatius informed me last year that I was neglecting the future ofEngland. He will surely attend every session in Parliament, so he’ll have to live in London a good part of the year.”

“I adore Horatius, but he’s a terrible prig,” Louisa said.

Hugo didn’t answer, because . . . it was true. Sad but true. His eldest son was best taken in small doses.

“At any rate, you can’t lean on the wife that your heir doesn’t yet have. Horatius is only eighteen. Perhaps he’ll rebel andturn into a complete rogue.”

They both considered it, and shook their heads at precisely the same moment, an unintended benefit of being twins.

“Enough,” Louisa stated. “You have to take a wife, and that’s all there is to it. The girls, particularly Joan, need a noblewomanof unassailable reputation to usher them into society.”

Hugo’s brows drew together, but before he could speak, his sister planted her fingers on his desk, leaning over and meetinghis eyes. “Joan looks like Yvette; I’ll give her that. She’s going to be beautiful. But she does not look like a Wilde.”

“She is a Wilde,” Hugo growled, surging to his feet.

Louisa drew her shoulders back but held his gaze steadily. “Don’t play the fool, Hugo. Whether or not it’s true, her goldenhair will be seen as a gift from Yaraslov. You need to marry a powerful woman now, so that rumors are throttled early, if only because those gossips are terrified of the Duchess of Lindow’s wrath.”

“Wonderful,” Hugo said, deadpan. “You’re telling me to marry a dragon with a disgust for bed sport. She’ll be a delight tolive with.”

“You don’t have to bed her,” his sister pointed out. “Lord knows, you have more than enough heirs. Think of it as taking ona superior governess.”

“I don’t want another governess, no matter how superior.”

Louisa snorted. “I’ll let Prism know that you’ll be leaving for London tomorrow. Take the silk directly to Grippledon; I thinkhe’s the best tailor these days.” She headed for the door, scooping up her hat on the way, but stopped and swung about. “Donot, under any circumstances, mention the children during your courtship, Hugo.”

“You just said that I need to find a woman precisely because of my offspring,” he said. “I should talk of nothing but thechildren—just as I would when choosing a governess, may I point out.”

“No,” his sister said. She rarely laid down decrees, preferring to run his household with a smile, albeit a fierce smile.But this was a command. “Let the woman see you as a man, not a father. No one wants to marry a father.”

Hugo swore under his breath, and then shouted, “I’m not leaving until next week,” as the door closed behind her.