“You surprise me, Miss Linford.”
“Why?”
“Because, although I can hardly believe what you are saying, you are prepared to take on what I should have thought would have seemed too formidable a task for any woman of your age with no man to look after her and protect her.”
“I admit that it will be challenging, Your Grace, but I am certain I can do it. Moreover, in many ways it would be better for the children than to stay here, where they are not wanted.”
He did not answer her and then suddenly and sharply he said,
“Why was I not told that Alistair had a son?”
His voice seemed to echo round the study.
As Pepita stared at him, thinking that it was a stupid question, suddenly with a perception she had always had, she knew what had occurred.
Because the Duke had lost his eldest son, the M
