Page 29 of The Replacement Duchess

“No? Then tell me, Sister, what else you have in mind?”

“It is nothing,” Samantha sighed. “Pretend that I did not say anything. You are right, you want what is best for me, and I ought to listen to you. After all, you are to be a duchess, and I am to be… Well, whatever becomes of me.”

“You will do great things,” Diana said firmly, stopping dead in her tracks and facing her sister. “You will do incredible, wonderful things with your life that others can only dream of.”

“You are only saying that because I am unhappy.”

“I am saying it because it is what I believe. I would never lie to you, you know that.”

“I do, but what do you think I can do? I wish to see the world, and I cannot even leave my household unless I am chaperoned. How can I do anything more? What if I never get to be anything more than what I am?”

“If being a kind and intelligent young woman with her choice of gentlemen is all you ever are, then you will already be better off than anyone else I know.”

“Perhaps one day that might be enough.”

“And if not, you could fall in love with a gentleman who travels the world and leave with him.”

“Or, more likely, live vicariously through him.”

“Would that be enough?”

“No. I sometimes wonder if anything ever would be, you know. Believe me, I am glad that being a wife and mother will be more than enough for you, but it is not the same for me.”

Diana smiled at her sister, but her heart shattered inside her chest. That sort of life was not what she had expected, but would it be good enough?

She couldn’t be sure.

CHAPTER 8

There were worse routines that a lady could have, to be sure.

With her father continuing his changes, it made her life far easier, and her morning promenades with the Duke were almost joyful. They felt lovely during, but afterward, she felt so conflicted that she swore to refuse the next day. He was dangerous, a friend and nothing more, and…

Very handsome in the morning sunlight. Then she would blink and they would be promenading once more.

“Have you read the scandal sheet this morning, Sister?” Samantha asked at breakfast.

“I do hope that you haven’t been reading those,” their father sighed. “It is never true, and it only serves to hurt those mentioned.”

For once, Diana agreed with her father.

“I am not asking because I wish to gossip,” Samantha replied, rolling her eyes. “It is because… well, you are better off reading it for yourself, Di.”

Diana eyed her carefully before taking the sheet from her. Samantha pointed to the part she wished her to read.

And such is the issue that I take with Lady Diana Winston and her troublesome Duke. You may wish to note, dear reader, that I am not speaking of His Grace by name. This is quite simply because should he uncover me, he may do unspeakable things in response. However, this author is quite convinced that you all know exactly who I am referring to. There have been matches made of convenience and nothing more, they are more common than love matches, at least, but one cannot help but see such a bizarre pairing and wonder what it is that they see in each other. Lady Diana shall see his riches, that she has lived without all of her life, and his title, which is far greater than her own father’s, and perhaps that is all that she requires in a gentleman (she certainly would not be alone in having such requirements) but I wonder what the Duke sees in her?

Should he be in search of beauty, grace, and a lady younger than one of spinsterhood, he need have only looked beside his bride-to-be. Lady Samantha, her sister, is revered by some, and it has not gone unnoticed that she was skipped over in favor of the wallflower spinster whose only notable traits are the two I listed a few mere words ago. If the Duke was not alreadyknown for his madness, it would not at all surprise me if he earned the title now.

Then again, I would not be surprised if this was some sort of deal between him and Lady Diana’s drunkard father. A business deal to protect his precious one that might actually succeed, or at least find a husband that is not accused of… Well, dear reader, you know precisely what he is accused of, and so I shall not repeat it here. Speaking of accusations, however, Lady Smythe?—

“Why did you show me this?” Diana asked her sister. “To mock me?”

“Of course not. I would never do that to you, and you know that. I am only showing you so that you might be aware of it, that is all. I also thought you might wish to tell the Duke.”

“I believe he is quite aware of it.”

“You were not, and you engage with Society. The Duke does not, and so I highly doubt that he is any the wiser about what is thought of him.”

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