Page 17 of A Bride for the Cruel Duke

Caroline sighed and then quickly told Aurelia everything. The moment they shared at the inn when he cleaned her wounds, the bed they shared after and how she woke wrapped over him, and then his most strange request demanding that she help him find a bride.

In Caroline’s mind, that last point was the most important, not that she was surprised to see that Aurelia barely paid it a moment of attention.

“Caroline!” she cried out gleefully. “I cannot believe you! You slept with the duke!”

“Will you keep it down!” Caroline hissed. “And we did not sleep together. We?—”

“Shared a bed.”

“Yes. But it was not anything scandalous.” She felt her body turning hot, her heart beginning to thud, as her panic increased. “We had no choice! If the innkeeper had seen us together and learned that we were not married, it might have led to awkward questions.”

“Certainly not as awkward as those you will have to navigate when mother learns that you threw yourself at?—”

“I did not!”

Caroline felt herself getting annoyed. Again, guilty also. Shame flooding her because in Caroline’s mind, such night-time activities were reserved for duty only, a wife’s duty to produce children for her husband and nothing more. That wasn’t to say that her sisters felt differently to her, but it was also a matter they rarely discussed openly. Growing up as children of a cold, dispassionate marriage as they all had, each was likely affected by it in different ways. Ways which they had never delved into because such feelings were personal.

“I am joking,” Aurelia giggled. She could not have looked more excited. “You must admit, it is rather delicious though...” Her eyes flashed excitement. “The Cruel Duke...” A click of the tongue next. “You are lucky to return in one piece.”

Caroline scoffed. “He is not as bad as that.”

A raised eyebrow. “Really?”

“Well...” Caroline hesitated. She had thought quite a bit about the rumors of the duke and how much truth there was to them. Yes, he was a little cold. Yes, he was distant. But was he evil? Capable of such a thing as they said? Somehow, Caroline didn’t think so. He had saved her, after all. Surely, that meant something. “That is not the point.”

“Then what is the point?”

“Did you not hear what I told you? He wishes for me to find him a bride, Aurelia. And this weekend! So, if you do not mind, I would prefer that be what you concentrate on. And you know better than I who is to attend this weekend, which means that I will need your help to—” She caught her tongue when she heard a noise.

It was hushed whispers, coming from the other side of the closed door. Caroline’s eyes widened and she rushed for it, not hesitating to throw the door open, not surprised either to find her younger sisters, Eveline and Iris crouched on the other side.

“You sneaks!” she cried.

Eveline grinned wickedly. “You can talk.”

“What are you doing?”

“Eveline!” Aurelia snapped and stormed toward them. “How long have you been there for? And Iris!” She turned her angered gaze on the youngest of their sisters. She was only twelve, a willowy thing, frail and constantly sickly in a way that made it impossible to ever be truly angry with her. “I thought you knew better.”

“It was not my fault,” Iris pleaded. “Eveline —”

“Don’t blame me!”

“Come here!” Aurelia snatched Eveline by the arm and yanked her into the room. Iris was quick to follow.

Caroline swung the door closed, her heart racing even more now because she had no doubt her sisters had overheard every word said. “It was not how it sounds,” she hurried to explain.

“And how does it sound?” Eveline could not have looked more pleased with herself. She was just seventeen, still coming into herself as a woman, still deciding what kind of woman she wished to be. Like Aurelia, she was loud and outspoken, although unlike Aurelia, she did not know when to keep her mouth shut.

“What did you hear?” Aurelia demanded of them. “And do not lie to me.”

“Is it true?” Iris asked softly. She was fidgeting with her hands, unable to look her sisters in the eyes. “Caroline, that you... that you slept with the duke?”

Caroline groaned.

“So, when is the baby due?” Eveline chided. “How fun, a wedding and a new little sister. This weekend is turning out better and better.”

“Please!” Caroline insisted. “What you heard—it is not true!”

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