Page 65 of Taken By the Duke of Stone

"I'm rubbish at it, just say it," she tossed the piece of fabric away, "You do not have to coddle me. I do not begin to understand what I was thinking when I decided to join you."

"If I had to guess, I would say you just wanted to clear your mind of whatever that is troubling you and I believe I'll be right to say that it has something to do with His Grace."

"Perhaps."

The woman took her hand and stared deep into her eyes, "I wish you would not think so much about things you do not have control over, and focus on other things. That sadness in your eyes that you are trying so hard to hide, I see it and it makes me sad for you."

Lavinia lowered her lashes to hide the emotions shining in her eyes. She had set out on this commitment for the sole purpose of saving her family from financial ruin. Or so she had told herself. She was beginning to suspect she had been taken with the Duke from the very beginning.

If she ended things, what would become of her family? Would they be able to keep their head up in polite society after the scandal?

"What thoughts plague you?"

She needed to talk to someone and she knew just the right person. After all she owed her friend an explanation for the other night.

"I must go to Jenny's," she jerked up to her feet, "May I?"

Lady Hartfield sighed, "Alright. Take one of the maids with you."

She turned around and raced up the stairs to grab her parasol and bonnet. The Mallory estate was just a few houses down from theirs and she hardly saw the need for an escort, but she had been in no mood to argue with her aunt.

The butler only shot her a curious look when he opened the door, but stepped aside to grant her entry.

"I believe she is in her room," he said stiffly.

Lavinia made her way up the stairs and down the hallway till she finally came up on Jenny's bedroom door. She rapped lightly on the door and at the sound of a muted, "Come in," she pushed the door open and stepped in.

"Lavinia?" Jenny asked in surprise, sitting up in bed.

"Oh Jenny," she wailed, "I have made the stupidest decision of my entire life."

The girl peered at her from behind the round frame of her spectacles and then she carefully shut the book she had been reading and pushed it aside, "Does this have anything at all to do with last night? Or is that an entirely different conversation that we are yet to have?"

She walked forward and dropped down into the space beside the red haired girl.

"I do not know what to do. I thought I had it all under control but it seems to me that I do not and as a matter of fact, perhaps, I've never had any of it under control."

"You are making no sense, Lavvie."

"My marriage with the Duke," she revealed, "it was a sham."

The other girl paused. "Nobody thought it was a love match if that is what you're driving at."

Lavinia scoffed, "It is a love match. Or at least it is now, for me. I agreed to his harebrained scheme to save my family. My family- they- it was all for them. We're on the very brink of financial ruin and I was going to save us. This arrangement with the Duke was supposed to save us. But when he kissed me, it didn't feel like an arrangement."

She leaned forward, "what did it feel like? Was it everything they described in the books?"

"Yes, and more," Lavinia sighed, "I do not think it will ever feel like that again, not with someone else. None of it was real though. I fell in love with him, and he cannot love me."

Jenny clutched her by the arms and pulled her forward. "What do you mean he cannot love you? Everybody is capable of love."

She dragged a hand down her face. "He is, but he will not let himself love anybody or be roped into something as silly as love. I'm afraid that I have become one of those pathetic girls who falls in love with an unattainable man."

"How could he be so cruel?" The bespectacled girl jumped to her feet and began to pace. "He should never have pulled you into such an arrangement if he had no plans to-"

"You don't understand," Lavinia cut in hurriedly, "I knew from the beginning that it would be a marriage in name only. He said as much. It sounded like a dream come true at the beginning, I would be free to do as I wished with the protection of the Wyld name, a generous stipend and a mutual respect between the Duke and I."

Jenny's eyes went wide, and her voice dropped to a whisper. "What about the family line? I do not know much about the process of it, but I am quite sure you have to consummate the marriage to be able to bear an heir, and it sounds like the both of you have no intentions of doing that."

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