Undercover Duke

was vile to one of your children has nothing to do with why you believe this.”
Mother tipped up her chin. “It just shows she is vile in general.”
“There are two problems with your theory. The first is that the Armitage dukedom hasn’t had wealth in years, thanks to Uncle Armie’s spending.”
“But she didn’t know that.”
“Which leads to the second problem. Your theory doesn’t explain why she would wait all those years and suddenly decide to kill Uncle Armie to bring Father back to England, thus making Father into a duke as well. Wouldn’t his new status contribute to her envy?”
Mother’s lips thinned into a severe line. “Well . . . I mean, we don’t know for certain that your uncle Armie was murdered, do we? We’ve just assumed it was part of the pattern. But it might not be.”
That brought Sheridan up short. She had a point. If Uncle Armie had genuinely died from drunkenly falling off his horse and breaking his neck, then their father coming back and becoming duke might have merely infuriated Lady Eustace that Mother was once again “landing in clover.”
“It’s something to think about, I suppose,” he said as their carriage approached. “I’ll mention it to the others.”
The carriage halted, the footman put the step down, and Sheridan helped his mother inside. Once they were settled into their seats and on their way back to Armitage House, Mother asked, “Are you angry with me?”
“For what?”
“Letting Cora have it with both barrels. I know I was supposed to question her about the house parties, but I just saw her sitting there with her cat-in-the-cream smile, and I . . . I wanted to tear her hair out after what she did to Grey.”
“How could I be angry over that? She deserved it.”
“But it makes your task all the more difficult.”
Mother had no idea. He’d be lucky if he could even get inside the Pryde house now. “I will work it out, never fear. At the very least I have to uphold my promise to Vanessa that I will bring Juncker to visit.”
“Ah, yes. And how will you convince him to join you?”
“She and I concocted a plan. I just need to hunt him down tonight so I can set the plan in motion.”
“I see. Good luck to you then. Both of you will need it.”
How true that was. Worse yet, after tomorrow he’d have no more reason to see Vanessa. Either she would have caught Juncker at last, or Juncker would have made it clear once and for all that he had no interest in her.
You could court her yourself. Make her your wife and have her in your bed where you want her.
He tamped down on the instant surge of heat coursing through him. Aside from not wanting to be the consolation prize for a woman who’d lost the main object of her affections, he needed to marry an heiress with a large fortune. And Vanessa’s dowry, as generous as it was by all accounts, still wasn’t enough for that.
So tomorrow would have to spell the end to his time with Vanessa, no matter how much he knew he would miss it. And damn, how he would miss it.

Chapter Ten
Vanessa and her uncle returned home to discover that her mother had gone to bed and “didn’t wish to be disturbed.” That was one of the many tactics in Mama’s arsenal for ruling her roost, and it had worked well during Vanessa’s childhood. When her mother was so upset with her behavior that she wouldn’t even speak to Vanessa, Vanessa had often gone to sit outside Mama’s door pleading with her not to be angry and asking what she could do to make it better.
It had taken her years to realize that her mother wielded silence like a weapon to make Vanessa think the world would crash down about her ears without her mother. Mama enjoyed watching Vanessa beg. Or having Father do so, for that matter. But he’d resorted to begging less and less as the years went by, choosing instead to storm about and then leave to find recourse with one light-skirt or another.
When Mama was unhappy, everyone else must be unhappy. That was how the silent treatment worked.
Fortunately, by the time Vanessa was seventeen, she realized that ignoring her mother’s silence was her best recourse. One couldn’t punish someone with silence if that someone didn’t take it as a punishment.
Apparently Uncle Noah had learned that lesson, too, from growing up with Mama, for Vanessa couldn’t miss the look of profound relief on his face when he heard that his sister had already retired for the night.
“It’s probably for the best,” he said. “She’ll have calmed down by morning.”
Vanessa sincerely doubted that.
“And at least we can have a peaceful evening,” he added.
“It’s all right if you want to go, Uncle. I’ll be fine.”
He stood there in the foyer and stared up the staircase. “Are you sure? I can stay if you wish.”
“No need. I’ll have a tray in my room, and then I’ll read until I fall asleep.” Besides, it would give her plenty of time to prepare for every contingency tomorrow—Mama raging, Mama sullen, Mama threatening to cut off the connection Vanessa had with Grey and his family.
“All right, then.” Uncle Noah bent to kiss her forehead. “Tell your mother I will call on her again tomorrow.”
“I will.”
“Oh, and don’t count Armitage out yet. If he’s the sort of fellow you richly deserve, he will come to his senses on his own. Because clearly he likes you a great deal.”
“I hope you’re right. Because I like him a great deal, too.”
It was true. During their previous visits, they’d talked quite a bit. She’d expected familiarity to breed contempt. Instead, she’d found him to be more of the sort of man she wanted—responsible, thoughtful, and intelligent. She didn’t care if he also needed her money. She would give it to him gladly if he helped her escape the likes of Lord Lisbourne.
After