“Colin, we can’t,” she moaned as she closed her eyes.
“Shh, I know,” he ran his nose up her neck and into her hair. “Don’t worry.”
He leaned back and enjoyed how affected she was by his touch.
“Tell me about your friend,” he urged, trying to distract himself from how tight his breeches had become.
*
When he joined his wife and Lady Burnham for tea the next day, Elizabeth turned to her friend and said, “Lady Emilia Burnham, this is my husband, Duke Colin Talbot.”
Colin told himself there was a note of pride in her voice, which brought him great happiness.
“It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Lady Burnham. I hope you’ve travelled well,” Talbot said and gave her one of his deeper bows, the ones he reserved for important people.
“I have, thank you. It is wonderful to meet you.”
“I’ve heard a lot about your late husband from my father’s letters during the war. He was a great man.”
“Thank you, he was,” the older woman said, and the pride inhervoice was unmistakable. “Please, allow me to thank you for your hospitality. You have a fine estate here.”
“Any friend of my wife’s is welcome in our home,” Talbot said, and Lady Burnham nodded approvingly. “Have you travelled these parts in the past?”
“I was actually born near Sandringham, I’m a Spencer.”
“Truly? Then you are practically a local,” Talbot smiled, then frowned. “Wait, you’re Sir John’s sister?”
“I am,” Lady Burnham smiled widely.
“I cannot believe I haven’t put it together earlier. I’ve heard so much about you from your brother over the years.”
“I assume you haven’t made the connexion because my brother never refers to me by my name,” she said.
“What does he call you?” Elizabeth asked, looking thrilled by their exchange.
“My vexing sister, most likely,” Lady Burnham smiled. “He wants me to live with him and his family, he’s wanted it for years. He’s worried about me being alone,” she added more quietly.
“Close. He calls you,my vexing little sister,” Talbot said, grinning, and Lady Burnham shook her head with a smile.
Elizabeth thought of her own big brother, who most likely only referred to Charlotte in such affectionate terms and only ever worried about her, and it was suddenly hard for her to breathe.
Just then, a knock was heard, and a maid entered.
“I’m sorry to disturb, but Mrs. Clark has a question for Her Grace about the dinner menu.”
“Thank you, Hannah. I’ll be right down. Please excuse me,” Lizzie said to Talbot and Lady Burnham as she followed the maid out.
“Her Grace tells me your late father fought alongside the Duke of Wellington?” Lady Burnham said, and Talbot was surprised his wife had remembered that detail.
“Yes. He perished in Spain, during the Battle of Corunna.”
“I know your loss all too well and I’m sorry that you had to experience it so young,” she said gravely.
“He was a deeply flawed man, but he was still my father,” Talbot found himself saying to this stranger.
“We don’t care about people because they’re perfect,” Lady Burnham said gently, and they sat silently for a while, their shared grief sitting between them like a third friend.
That night, when Elizabeth entered his bedroom, the first thing she said was, “Why do you need three candles burning in here?”
