The dog immediately stood up and followed her. Sally had always been wonderfully obedient—the best friend a young lady could ask for. Now, Madeleine thought, perhaps it would be soothing to take her outside for a walk. The night air would refresh her, she would expend some energy, and by the time she got back inside and tried to go back to sleep, she would be tired enough that the nightmares wouldn’t plague her any longer.
At least, that was what she hoped.
She put on her shoes and scratched Sally behind her ears. Sally gazed up at her, and Madeleine thought she could see the concern on the dog’s face. She knew Sally cared about her in her simplistic way. It was good to have a friend who loved you so easily, who knew nothing of curses and never listened to gossip.
As quietly as she could, she eased the door of her room open and stepped outside. Sally followed, her nails clacking against the floor. There was nothing Madeleine could do to keep that quiet—she would just have to hope that no one else was awake and listening.
They reached the stairs. Sally paused, waiting to see what Madeleine would do, and began to descend only when she had seen Madeleine go first. Madeleine shifted her weight carefully from one step to the next, doing her best not to make a sound, even though the clatter of her dog’s feet ran the risk of waking the house.
If only Sally was small enough to carry! But unfortunately, she was large and heavy, and Madeleine knew that if she tried to pick the dog up, she would risk falling and hurting herself. That, ultimately, would be much worse than being caught sneaking out.
They reached the bottom of the stairs without incident, though, and for a moment, she thought she’d made it.
Then a door off the side of the foyer opened, and Thomas emerged.
He was also dressed in his nightclothes, and Madeleine’s heart skipped a beat at the sight of him. She felt as if she had walked in on something very intimate. “Thomas,” she breathed.
He smiled at her as if nothing was out of order. “What are you doing down here?” he asked. “I thought you had gone to bed hours ago. I didn’t expect to see you again tonight.”
“I thought I’d take Sally out for a walk,” she said, not wanting to share the details of her dream. Horatia was the only person in the world who knew about Madeleine’s dreams, and she was sure others would think her insane if they did know.
How could she possibly explain that her nightmares had always been an odd source of comfort and that tonight had been the first time she hadn’t welcomed hearing those voices?
She couldn’t.
“You shouldn’t go out on the grounds alone at night,” Thomas said, frowning.
“I did it often when I lived with Uncle Joseph,” Madeleine told him truthfully. “Nothing ever happened. I’ll stay nearby and know I’ll be perfectly safe.”
But he was shaking his head. “I can’t possibly have you out there on your own after dark,” he said. “Will you let me come with you?”
“You can’t come with me,” she protested. “I can see that you’re on your way to bed. In fact, I’m as surprised to find you awake as you are to see me.”
“I’ve been working in my study,” he explained. “I often stay up late working even after I’ve gotten ready for bed.”
“Why do you do that?”
“There’s a lot of work to be done,” he explained. “The Dukedom has recovered financially from my father’s losses, but I have to make sure that we never suffer anything like that again. I have to make sure we have plenty of money to provide for our future.”
Madeleine hesitated. “It seems a strange thing to concern yourself with,” she said. “Preparing for the future of the Dukedom.”
“Do you think so?”
“Well…since you don’t plan on having an heir, does the future of the Dukedom really concern you?”
He frowned. “It’s a valid point,” he said. “I suppose that, even though I don’t want to be a father, I still care about Westcourt. I don’t know what will happen to this place when my time is done, but I want it to do well.”
“You don’t want to be a father?” she repeated.
“I thought we’d discussed that.”
“But that wasn’t what you said. You said you didn’t want to have a child withmebecause of the nature of our marriage. You never said you didn’t want to have a child at all.”
He closed his eyes. “I see,” he said. “You must have believed it was because of you.”
“Of course I did. That’s what you told me.”
“I’m sorry. I’ve done an abysmal job with you so far.”
