Happiness

A bright smile spread across Francis’s face. He was… happy. Truly happy.

“This is the best news.”

His sister beamed at him.

He hugged her, eased back, then hugged her again.

He was going to be an uncle, and Francis couldn’t wait to spoil his niece or nephew.

“You are very kind Aurora, but you are also recently wed,” Francis said. “I do not wish to interfere.”

“You are not interfering. I wouldn’t have invited you here if you were. And I need your help.”

Francis would do anything for his sister. “Name it.”

“I need help planning the nursery. You are going to be an uncle.”

Lord Erembour had come home and promptly married the woman he had been in love with since before the war.

Perhaps that had helped him to adjust.

But Francis had no such young lady he loved. He never would have left for the Continent if he had.

“Lord Kane says you need time and to be around those you love,” Lady Aurora said.

Francis was surprised. Duke Erembour had been among the most ruthless and cunning of all England’s operatives.

Had killed more men than most soldiers, but he had done it with stealth and subterfuge.

Yet he had never once faltered.

“Your letters… you haven’t been to the theater, nor did you visit with the Pemberleys or the Haddingtons.”

Francis stared down at his hands and frowned.

“Something is wrong, dearest brother, and I want to help.”

But there was nothing she could do. Nothing anyone could do.

“Are you well?” Francis asked his sister.

“More than well,” she said as she served tea and his favorite biscuits. “Particularly now that you are here. I have been worried about you.”

Francis blinked at her. She was worried about him, and she was the one married to the Duke of Erembour.