Page 29 of Three Nights with the Beastly Duke

Arthur shook his head as he stuffed his cravat into his pocket and gathered up his jacket. “Not tonight,” he told her, silently fighting the sexual urges rising inside of him. “You need your rest. I shall go stay in my quarters, but I will see you tomorrow.”

CHAPTERTHIRTEEN

Aknock on her door roused her from her sleep immediately, and Lavinia sat up from the halo of pillows surrounding her. As if waiting for her, memories of the night before rushed toward her, and she felt her body respond to them almost instantly. She had thought, after Arthur had left the way he had, that she wouldn’t get any sleep at all. But now, she felt as if she’d just awoken from a week-long slumber.

“Coming,” Lavinia called out as another knock sounded at her door.

She took a confused look around the room as she got her bearings. She had been so consumed with Arthur the night before that she hadn’t noticed the room or any of its grand baubles or accents. It was plush and comfortable—a room fit for a duchess, to be sure.

Spotting her shift on the floor, she quickly pulled it on and tiptoed across the floor to her door. Was it Arthur? Had he come back like he had promised? She had been disappointed when he’d left, but had he meant that he only liked to sleep alone?

Her smile and predictions faded as she opened the door and found a small young woman dressed in fine clothes flagged on either side by two servants. She immediately noticed that the woman in the crushed silk peach gown with dark green eyes and long, curly, dark brown hair, and something in her memory recalled talks of Arthur’s little sister.

“Hello, Sister!” the green-eyed young woman greeted joyfully. With a squeal, she opened her arms and wrapped Lavinia up in a tight, bone-crushing hug. “Oh, I am so happy to meet you!” She laughed, holding Lavinia tight. “I’ve always wanted a sister!”

“I’m happy to meet you, too.” Lavinia laughed softly. She was able to pat the woman lightly on the shoulder in a return hug before she was let go, and the woman and the servants immediately moved forward and into her room.

“I’m Susan,” the woman explained as the servants went about opening curtains and making the bed. “Arthur’s sister. I’m so sorry I wasn’t there to meet you in London, but I did perhaps get a little carried away with the excitement of Society’s events there.”

Susan said the last part with a little giggle, making Lavinia smile and feel more at ease. For as dark and mysterious as Arthur was, Susan was the complete opposite—a bubbly ball of sunshine. Lavinia liked her immediately.

“Well, that’s all right,” Lavinia replied. “I’m just sorry that we didn’t get to meet each other earlier. I’m, um, I’m not sure what you might have heard, but I am not actually your brother’s intended.”

Lavinia was trying to speak about the matter gently, not sure if Susan knew all that had happened. But the younger woman simply giggled and shook her head as she opened one of Lavinia’s trunks.

“I know that, silly,” Susan teased. “I may have been sent home, but my brother kept me apprised on all of the London happenings. You’re Lavinia, not Rebecca. Which I wish I could say I was sad about, but the truth is, I didn’t have the opportunity to meet either of you, so I am happy to meet you all the same.”

Susan’s honesty was almost intimidating to Lavinia, but she soon realized it was a relief, and yet another stark contrast to her brother. While he kept everything in, Susan thrust it all forward, creating a beaming light that ebbed from her very center. Lavinia decided immediately to happily accept Susan as her new sister.

“And I am very happy to meet you,” Lavinia replied, smiling as she took a nearby seat. She watched in silence for a moment as Susan carefully pulled her dresses from her trunk and noticed that her new sister-in-law admired something or other in each and every one of them.

“Lovely. Absolutely lovely,” Susan praised, picking up a dark maroon gown. “But this one today, I think. You shall need to look powerful. My brother has gone away to do something dukely or other, so I am to show you the estate. You will be meeting the staff, be given schedules, and you will be required to state any additional demands you might have outside the house’s previous needs. What you like to eat, how often you want a bath to be readied, what soaps you like. Anything you need to be provided, our staff will see to it that it is obtained immediately. Has my brother discussed your allowance with you?”

Lavinia felt a deep well of disappointment open inside of her when Susan so casually mentioned the absence of her husband. Had she done something wrong? She had thought, by the pleasure they’d both seemed to experience last night, that their talk in the carriage had gone well.

“What was that?” Lavinia asked, not catching Susan’s last question.

“Ah, your hot water is ready,” Susan announced, sidetracking as a servant carried in a large pitcher of steaming water. “Go on behind the curtain and wash up so you may dress.”

Deeming it wise to not interrupt Susan’s flow, Lavinia obediently went behind the privacy curtain as soon as the servant poured the water into a basin and left, and undressed.

“Your allowance,” Susan said from the other side of the curtain as Lavinia began to wash. As she did so, she caught a hint of Arthur’s musk, and a pang of hunger thudded in her lower belly.

“I do not know of an allowance,” Lavinia admitted, her washing slowing as she started to recall the feel of Arthur’s mouth on her body.

His lips had looked so chiseled and hard but had melded so tenderly to her delicate flesh. She shivered as she drew a warm sponge over her abdomen and shook her head to dissolve the memories. She had to concentrate.

“My brother has set you aside an allowance of eight hundred pounds a month,” Susan replied matter-of-factly as if the number was no larger than that of one. Or two.

Lavinia’s eyes grew large as she heard the sum, and gasped.Eight hundred pounds?What could she possibly spend all that on?

“Surely you are jesting.” Lavinia laughed, stepping out from behind the curtain with a towel around her.

Sweet-faced Susan suddenly stilled, and as her eyebrow drew up, so did that side of her lips in a mischievous smile.

“We are fond of jokes in our family,” Susan said, “but one thing we never jest about is money. It is not just to help you grow your collection of personal belongings, but to use it how you see fit. If there is a charity or cause you wish to donate to, you may do that as well. It never looks bad for any member of our family, married or not, to be seen helping others.”

“I see,” Lavinia murmured, enjoying her peek into the inner workings of Arthur’s family.

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