Page 46 of The Virgin Duchess

Charlotte grinned happily, watching her sister enjoy the gift as much as she knew she would. It was a true delight to see the young girl so happy, and even more so to see both of them doing so much better for the visits from the physician.

“Charlotte,” Cordelia gasped, “how did you come by this?”

She turned to the woman, remembering fondly the previous evening. “I won it at a friend’s house after playing a game of charades. It was truly a lovely night. Even Frederick was there, and he was an incredible partner for the game. He secured our victory by correctly guessing on the last turn.”

Having lost herself a bit to the memory, Charlotte blinked and refocused on Cordelia. When she did, she found the woman staring at her with a knowing smirk, and her heartbeat hurried in her chest.

“What?”

“You have been all smiles since you got her, Charlotte. And the light in your eyes as you mention your husband cannot go without notice.” Cordelia eyed her, her brows up as she leaned closer across the small table. “What has been going on?”

Charlotte blanched, her stomach clenching as it digested nothing since she’d forgotten to eat breakfast thanks to said husband’s distraction.

“It’s nothing. I am happy that you are both well. My husband has been useful in that. Can I not simply be grateful for all that he has done?”

“That is not the look of gratitude, love. Be honest with me—and yourself for that matter.”

“Cordelia!”

She just laughed, and Kitty looked up from examining her new writing supplies with a confused expression.

“What’s going on?” the young girl asked.

“Nothing,” Charlotte cut in quickly before her mother could supply a different answer. “Your mother is teasing me.”

“I am, but it doesn’t change the fact that I’m also right. I take it that things with the Duke are goingwellthen?”

Kitty was the only one in the room who did not pick up on Cordelia’s less than subtle innuendo. Charlotte narrowed her eyes at the woman, clenching her jaw before she let out a long sigh.

“Yes, all right. They are going well. Can we please leave it at that?”

Cordelia shook her head. “Absolutely not. I must hear all about how the Duke has changed your heart.”

“That is taking it a bit too far, I think.” Charlotte fought desperately to turn the conversation away from her love life. “I am grateful to him, and he has shown that he can be entertaining at social gatherings. I’m allowed to be happy that he is not a toad without there being more to it.”

Studying her, Cordelia squinted and then shook her head. “You’re in love with him, aren’t you?”

“What?!” Charlotte gaped like a fish out of water, her mouth hanging open before she righted herself. “How did you come to that conclusion? I have just said that I don’tdislikehim. That is all.”

From the side of the room where Kitty had been entertaining herself with the writing supplies on the floor, she perked up and then walked over to the table where her mother and Charlotte sat. Her little brow was pinched in confusion, and she sat down with obvious trepidation.

“I’m confusion, Lotte.” Kitty and Magus were the only two people on the planet that she permitted to call her that. “If you’re married to him, don’t you have to be in love?”

The room fell silent, and Charlotte turned to Cordelia, hoping that she would step in to help educate her child. It wasn’t as simple as love for most in the nobility and loftier ranks, and while that certainly didn’t make living as Cordelia had been a better situation as a result, it did offer a bit of insight into the very different ways the rich and the poor existed.

“Kitty, I told you. People can get married for different reasons.” Cordelia smoothed her hand down the girl’s hair. “Love, yes, but also to unite families or keep someone safe from the poorhouses. Dukes and Barons and Viscounts, they also look tocreatefamilies. They want to carry on their name. Have someone there to keep their line going.”

It was odd to hear it all reduced down to something that simple. It was true—every word of it. The rich wed to carry on names,continue traditions and family lines. It hardly had to do with love. In fact, that was a rare blessing in most arrangements. Because that’s what they were, for the most part, a business negotiation.

“So then…” Kitty turned to Charlotte again, eyeing her with suspicion and growing worry. “…you don’t love Frederick? Is he bad? I didn’t think so with everything he’s done for us.”

Every knot in Charlotte’s stomach that had wound itself into being at the beginning of this conversation doubled down, tangling all the further until she was forced to say something, if only to ease the strain she saw in Kitty’s eyes.

“I…I like him well enough, of course. Frederick is not bad. As you’ve said, he helped you a great deal and in doing has been kind to me. I respect him as a gentleman and as my husband. Does—does that make sense?”

It took a moment for Kitty to nod, after which she returned to her writing tools and busied herself with practicing the letter K. Charlotte turned back to Cordelia and glared. It took less than a second for the woman to break out into another fit of giggles, and Charlotte was ready to throw the hunk of bread on the table at her.

“Would you stop it?” she moaned. “It’s not as simple as all that. I hardly know the man well enough to be in love with him.”

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