Page 98 of The Replacement Duchess

“My room is next to this one,” Samantha called back. “I shall see you in the morning.”

“Were you truly pretending to sleep just so that we would leave?”

“Of course! The door was locked the second you left. Now, good night to the both of you.”

Colin could not help but laugh. Diana knew that her sister was intelligent, as did he, but still they could not help but forget that from time to time.

“I shall have her head tomorrow,” Diana whispered, though she was laughing.

However, upon turning around, her laughter died down. Diana, it appeared, had been given the larger room with two beds big enough for one person.

Samantha’s room only had one bed that was big enough for two.

CHAPTER 29

“Ican go and tell Samantha to let me in,” Diana said instantly.

It was an instinct of hers. She had been such a burden on the Duke already, and she did not wish to make it worse. Samantha had seen her room, having been taken there already, and so she had known precisely what she was doing, but it was not the correct thing to do.

The Duke was a good man, and Diana could not have asked for a better husband in spite of his flaws. After all, he had been so willing to overlook hers. Then again, they had not yet reconciled after all that had happened between them, and it was all too much, far too soon.

“Stay,” he whispered.

“What did you say?”

“Stay,” he repeated. “You need not go. Samantha clearly wishes to be alone, and I have no objections to you being here with me, not if you want to, that is.”

Diana blinked. Was this an invitation?

“I do not wish to intrude. You have already done so much for me.”

“I am still your husband. That is my duty, is it not?”

“I-I suppose it is, yes.”

“Then stay. We can pretend that we are at home, and that none of this has happened and we are simply going to bed in another one of the sixty-something rooms in our house.”

“Very well,” she whispered, climbing onto the bed.

Colin lay next to her, and he seemed to fall asleep quite quickly, but Diana did not have such a luxury. She had made the mistake of wearing her corset too tightly that day, and with Samantha refusing to open the door to her, and no lady’s maid to aid her, she was left feeling even more uncomfortable than she already would have been.

With a sigh, she tried to place her hands behind her back and pull at the ribbons. Her arms were already quite sore, and at one point she felt like she was back at the bedpost, tied there, and shefroze. She pulled her hands back in front of her and tried once more to ignore it, but it was too tight, and her body was too stiff.

She wondered if that was truly the problem, or if she was instead frustrated by everything else that had happened and thought it was easier to blame a corset than her own reckless behavior. Either way, she could not sleep, and so she tried once more. Once again, however, she could not do it. With a sigh, she threw herself back onto the bed.

“If you need help, you need only ask.” Colin laughed into the darkness.

“I do not need help.”

“It certainly sounds as though you do,” he replied, then mocking her sigh.

“Surely I do not sound like that.”

“You do, but it is quite alright. Now, did you require any assistance?”

“No, of course not. All ladies know how to remove their own corset.”

“Ah, that is just as well, for I have never had to do so on myself.”

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