Page 18 of The Replacement Duchess

“That she is, I suppose.”

“Then the matter is settled.” The Earl beamed. “I must thank you, Your Grace, for taking pity on my daughter. She may not be what a gentleman wants in a wife, but she will be good to you. Isn’t that right, Diana?”

She looked at him, and Colin wondered if she was thanking him or cursing his name. It would be too late for her to refuse him now.

“Yes.” She nodded. “That’s right.”

He returned home with his mind racing. Fortunately for him, he had already asked his solicitor to meet him at his home, and he knew that he would be waiting for him. And there he was in the hallway.

“Charles, you could have gone to the drawing room. What is mine is yours, you know that.”

“Of course, but given the circumstances, I thought it best to wait for you here.”

“I am a fool, aren’t I?”

“Yes. I do not like to say that of you, but yes.”

“I do not know what came over me, and it has only gotten worse this morning.”

“All will be well, but perhaps you might like to tell me what exactly you have done?”

“I decided that it was time for me to find a wife. I was not looking for anything spectacular, just a quiet, little wife that would do her duty as a duchess, and I thought I had found that in Lady Samantha Winston.”

“I have only heard good things about her, I must say, save for her family situation, but that is no fault of her own. She would have been perfectly acceptable.”

“Indeed, had she been in want of a husband. She is not, however, and I am not going to have a wife that resents me for marrying her. Besides, she is but twenty, still a bit young for me.”

“It is for the best, you know.” Charles nodded. “You ought to avoid any entanglement with that family. They are not known for keeping up with Society.”

“Then it is just as well that I am to marry her sister.”

“Lady Diana?” he gasped. “Why on earth are you doing that?”

“She told me she wanted to.” Colin shrugged. “Well, not that she wanted to, but that she would rather marry me than have her sister do so.”

“But Lady Diana? Are you sure? I know that she is not exactly unfortunate looking, but did you truly envision yourself with a bluestocking?”

“I do not believe that she is a bluestocking, it is more that she is uninterested in being the perfect lady. In a way, that is part of the reason why I accepted her proposal.”

“You accepted her proposal. It is a funny thing, you must agree, a bluestocking proposing to a duke and the Duke accepting.”

“She is not a bluestocking,” he repeated. “She will be a better wife than the sort I was looking for, in any case. She is not proper and demure, and thus will not lie to me, nor try to use me for her benefit. She is the simplest option, do you not agree?”

“I agree that you have lost your mind if that is what you are telling me.”

“I have never once suggested otherwise, but I have to admit that it could be far worse.”

“Yes, you could have been rejected by both ladies. Then where will you be? Besides living a simpler life, of course.”

I do not think the life of an unmarried duke is any simpler than that of a married one. At least when I am no longer available, there may be fewer whispers about me.”

“I somehow doubt that.”

And as much as he wanted to argue, Colin knew that Charles was right. People did not simply forget rumors such as the ones about him. It was not something that typically happened, even if the one the rumors were about was someone as upstanding as a duke.

But then, that tended to happen when one was accused of murder.

CHAPTER 5

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