“Constance has had a letter from Ivy,” Robert said. “You will not interrogate her about it.”

“A letter from Ivy is good, isn’t it?”

“Not if the letter asks Constance to send coach fare, so the girl can run away again and this time run so far her uncle can’t find her.”

“And Jane wonders why I will never marry,” Stephen said, opening the gate so Robert could ride through. “Marriage leads to children, and any fool can see what a lot of nonsense children are.”

Stephen was the most devoted, doting uncle a niece ever had, and no sibling claimed a more loyal brother.

“Marriage per se does not lead to children,” Robert said, leaving the arena, “and I venture to guess that you are not a monk.” Nor was Stephen a coward, but he was terrified of the very sort of intimacy Robert so cherished with Constance.

“I am not a monk. That is an accurate observation.”

The next few minutes were taken up with arranging his lordship in the saddle and stowing his canes. Then Robert and Stephen sent their mounts ambling down the drive.

“So why are you still determined to ride?” Stephen said. “That little staring spell frightened me nearly witless. Sorry. Frightened me half to death.”

“Why aren’t you living out your life in a Bath chair?”

“Because I am a fool? Because I am too stupid to exercise prudence? Because my family would hate to see me in such a reduced circumstance any more than they already do?”

Because you are brave, and you yet cling to hope. “It’s not enough to placate a commission of examiners with regard to my competence. I hope that exercise is the formality Cranmouth claims it will be. I must be in a position to accept Ivy into the household I will share with Constance, and that means I walk, talk, ride, and comport myself as a man worthy of being entrusted with the welfare of a child.”

Stephen’s horse came to a halt, though nobody had given that command. “Bloody Jack Wentworth haunts us all.”

Well, no. Jack Wentworth haunted his children, apparently. Robert was haunted by an entirely different sort of incompetent parent, and that too was a reason to persist with horseback riding.

“You do know this examination will be more than a formality?” Stephen asked, sending his horse forward again.

“I am aware of that. Sir Leviticus has schooled me thoroughly, at least in terms of the examiners’ questions.” While Cranmouth, may his traitorous soul rot in whatever hell specialized in crooked lawyers, continued to make reassuring noises while doing nothing.

“What will you do about Ivy’s threat to run away again?”

“I trust my duchess to address that situation in the manner she deems most appropriate.”

“She’s not your duchess yet.”

“Yes, she is.” Robert settled his hat more firmly on his head and sank his weight into his heels. “Canter.”