The Mischievous Bride by Teresa McCarthy Page B

won’t listen to me. He won’t listen to anyone.”
    Milli’s eyes narrowed. “Well, figure something out. If you have to, take him shopping with you and Gabby.”
    Marcus lifted a shocked brow. “Hell’s teeth. You must be insane. The duke doesn’t shop with children.”
    “Maybe it’s time he did. Gabby can keep the two of you on your toes and that’s just what he needs. And I would watch that language if I were you!”
    Marcus looked down at her with a grimace. “I don’t see how I am going to get that man out of this house. He won’t leave Jane unless he knows she’s better.”
    Milli thought for a second. “Very well. I will have to take matters into my own hands then.”
    Marcus froze. “I would not be in favor of that.” He leaned toward her. “Have you been nipping at the brandy again?”
    She glared back at him. “Perhaps I will at a later time.”
    He frowned.
    And on that note, Milli strode into the duke’s library with Marcus on her heels.
    Roderick looked up from behind his mahogany desk. “Millicent?”
    “I forgot a book last night.”
    Roderick nodded and took a seat in his grand leather chair. Milli grabbed the leather bound Shakespeare book and walked toward the duke.
    He lifted his head to watch her approach. His piercing gaze made her tremble. He was back in duke mode. “Is there something else?” His tone was as frosty as the Thames in winter.
    She swallowed. Should she try two for two? “Yes, there is something else. I need you to go shopping with Gabby and Marcus.”
    A brittle silence settled over the room. She could feel the brothers staring at her as if she had just asked the formidable duke to jump in the lake.
    “No.” His reply was curt and final.
    She leaned against his desk. “It’s for your own good.”
    “No.”
    “Confound it, Your Grace! You cannot smother Jane after she lost that baby. She needs to heal. Lizzie will console her. If you sit by her side all day and night, you will remind Jane of everything she lost. Do you want that?”
    The color drained from the duke’s face. Milli thought that perhaps she had gone to far.
    “Millicent!” Marcus yanked her from his brother’s side. “Have you forgotten yourself?”
    There was a chill in the room that was not from the weather. The duke shuffled some papers, studied one in particular, then set it aside.
    Milli wanted to sink beneath the Aubusson rug and hide. But she had done this for Jane. Yet, what in the world had she been thinking? She rested her book on the duke’s desk and bowed her head, afraid to look at him. “Forgive me, Your Grace. I have a big mouth.”
    Milli knew that shopping was the last thing a Clearbrook man wanted to do.
    A few seconds of pained silence passed before the duke cleared his throat. He stared at the papers on his desk. “Perhaps I do, uh, smother her. If I had not—” He cleared his throat. “Very well.” He looked up at his brother. “I will go with you Marcus. You and Gabby.”
    Marcus’s jaw dropped. He stared at Clayton whose eyes had widened in shock. Stephen could only stare at the duke in utter horror.
    Milli pursed her lips, turned, and eyed Marcus with triumph written on her forehead as she strode from the room. Well, would wonders never cease?
     
    Marcus sank into the wing chair and blinked in awe as Roderick waited for the door to close. What kind of spell did Milli have over his brother?
     The duke glanced up from his desk, fingering the note in his hand. “Gentlemen, we have a problem that has come to my attention. This missive has been delivered from the Home Office.”
    Marcus sat forward. He had never seen his brother so fatigued, so sad, as if something inside him had died. “Perhaps it would be best to have this conversation another time.”
    Clayton agreed. “There is no need to rush matters. Home Office or not. Sometimes we must think of family.”
    Stephen walked toward the desk and put his hand on the duke’s shoulders. “We have been