School For Heiresses 2- Only a Duke Will Do by Sabrina Jeffries

manor as thoroughly as he preferred when assessing adversaries. After a brisk walk down a carpetless hall devoid of portraits and smelling faintly of linseed oil, they were ushered into a private sitting room filled with bird cages, some of them empty, most of them not. With a smile, Lady Trusbut curtsied while her hoary-headed husband made a sketchy bow over the stout ivory cane he leaned upon. Judging from the grim expression on the baron’s gaunt face, he was not nearly as happy that they’d come as Lady Trusbut seemed to be.
    The baroness rushed forward, her hazel eyes alight. “Your Grace, we are so delighted to have you.” She inclined her head toward Louisa. “And you, too, Miss North, of course. Did your sister-in-law not come with you?”
    “We took my phaeton, so there was no room for her,” Simon explained. Lady Trusbut edged closer to where Raji was perched on Louisa’s shoulder and peered cautiously at him. “I say, is he really clutching a toy canary?”
    “His favorite,” Simon said. “Though as you know, he also bears a certain fondness for miniature peacocks.”
    Lady Trusbut gave a trilling laugh. “He does, indeed.” She gestured to a settee littered with yellow feathers. “Please, do stay a moment.”
    Once he and Louisa were seated together opposite the Trusbuts, who’d each taken a chair, the baroness called for tea. Raji, scamp that he was, immediately settled himself into the curve of Louisa’s arm and buried his face in her bodice.
    Louisa laughed. “Don’t tell me you’re choosing now to be shy, you little imp. After all the trouble you caused the other night?”
    When Raji gazed up at her adoringly, she fussed over him. A sudden pang struck Simon’s chest. It was easy to imagine Louisa fussing over his child instead, cooing to his sloe-eyed, dark-haired son or tenderly stroking his curly-headed minx of a daughter. As Simon’s throat constricted, he had to look away. All in good time. You will have that, too, if you can only be patient. A pity he felt far less than patient right now, with the feel of her hand on his thigh still fresh in his memory.
    “See here, little fellow,” Lady Trusbut told Raji as her husband looked on sullenly, “do not be frightened of us. You’re among friends here.” Waving her hand in the air, she uttered a series of clicking noises. “
    Come, Garnet and Opal, Ruby and Sapphire! We have guests!”
    As a flock of canaries alighted on her arms and shoulders, Simon quipped, “What? No Diamond?”
    “Diamond is ill.” Lady Trusbut gestured to a cage at the far end of the room. “He’s resting, poor thing. How did you know?”
    “Lucky guess,” he said, exchanging a glance with Lord Trusbut, who sat grimly silent with his hands upon his knees.
    Lady Trusbut took a bird upon her finger. “Come now, Emerald, say hello to Raji.”
    Emerald did more than that—she sang. Raji’s head jerked up, and before anyone knew it, he’d tossed his toy aside and was scampering over to Lady Trusbut.
    “Raji, no!” Louisa cried and lunged forward.
    But Simon caught her arm. “It’s all right. Just watch.”
    The monkey scrambled into Lady Trusbut’s lap, then sat listening, enraptured. Lady Trusbut smiled. “Look at that, will you? A perfect gentleman.”
    “He knows the difference between real birds and toys,” Simon explained. “He’s very careful with real birds. It’s the toy ones he loves to death.”
    Lady Trusbut brought her bird nearer Raji, who visibly sighed with pleasure. When the canary stopped warbling, Simon gave Raji a command in Hindi.
    Raji clapped his hands and everyone laughed, even Lord Trusbut before he caught himself.
    “What did you say?” Louisa asked.
    “I told him to show his appreciation for the song. Certain commands he will only heed if I give them in Hindi.”
    “You speak Hindi?” Louisa said, clearly surprised.
    “Some.” Not knowing the language of the people whom one ruled could lead to disaster, as he had