Page 28 of Denying a Rakish Duke
A smile threatened Joseph’s lips with a spasm of mirth he suppressed. “I will not be given orders by a woman.”
Vanessa’s resolve faltered. “I am not any common woman. Not any longer. I am a Duchess, and your wife— and I expect to be afforded some decency with that title as well.”
He had the nerve to look offended that she would dare ask such a thing from him. “Decency?” he started and then stopped himself just as suddenly.
“You seem surprised by the notion, I am certain that calling for decency is a foreign concept to you, Your Grace, but despite what you might think, I am still a Lady.”
“It is not a foreign concept; I am simply shocked that you should require it when you seem to insist on doing everything the least orthodox way possible!” His jaw ticked, his hands tightened to fists, and he swallowed down his temper. “Is there anything else that you should require? Perhaps you ought to take the evening to plot a list of demands?”
“If you are so shocked that I could ask for asingle thingfrom you then perhaps you should afford me my own lodgings so that the issues will handle themselves. You can trot me out like a prized broodmare on special occasions and forget that I exist every other day of the year.”
Joseph scoffed, breath puffing indignantly from his chest. “As if I couldeverforget that you exist!” Vanessa blinked slowly, unsure of how to take his meaning, but he was crossing back toward her, holding his finger in front of him.
“You are like a splinter! Always just out of reach, working your way further under my skin so that it is impossible to ignore you, tainting every one of my waking thoughts with you!” His voice rose in volume as he stared at her, but she shouted right back.
“Then perhaps you should have left me to my fate to save your precious fingers, Your Grace! For if you had nottouched mein the first place, I could not have pricked you!”
A tapping sound came from beside the entrance to the dining room. The Dowager Duchess stood in the open doors, having rapped her cane sharply against the floor to gather attention from those quarreling parties in the room.
“Heavens, I should have thought that there must have been a fire for this sort of reaction inside of these walls.” She looked accusingly from one hot-headed body to the next. “Is everything quite all right in here?” she inquired, knowing fully well that it was not.
Vanessa hastily smoothed her skirts down in front of her and straightened her spine lest she embarrass herself any further in the presence of the matriarch. She owed her everything: her family's reputation, the security of Amanda’s position … if the Dowager Duchess had not spoken up in the office, Vanessa might have been doomed. More importantly, Amanda might never speak to her again, but Amanda’s prospects would still exist because of the Dowager’s quick thinking.
“Apologies, Your Grace, I did not know that you would be joining us for dinner.” The Dowager glared at her grandson.
“I am surprised to see you in the formal dining hall at all, given that tonight is your wedding night. You only get one, after all.” The newlyweds exchanged a look and quickly looked away from one another. The Dowager made a noise that seemed to be directed at Joseph more than Vanessa as she slowly started toward the table.
“It is rude to leave the room when your guests remain at the table, Your Grace; I should hope that I had raised you better than that,” the Dowager said with heavy suggestion. Joseph’s fingers twitched as he hesitated and then came back into the room to retake his seat.
“Forgive me, Grandmother.” Joseph sat awkwardly on edge as silence filled the space until it threatened to suffocate every person in the room. “I was unaware of your intentions to join us this evening.”
“So, you planned to have your new bride finish her dinner on her own and then what? Turn her loose in the home? Are you such a terrible host?” Joseph chewed on the inside of his cheek.
“I am certain thatHis Gracehas much more important matters to attend to than moving me from one room to the next, but I thank you for your consideration. You are certainly far more gracious than your grandson.”
The Dowager turned her scrutiny to Vanessa who quickly looked away. She did not know why she bothered attempting to cover for the man who had all but told her that he would be a lout for the rest of her days.
“Do not make excuses for him, Girl. If you give that scoundrel an inch, he will take a mile— something that I am certain that you are more than aware of. Then again, with the reputation that you have garnered for yourself, I should have thought that you would be more than a match for him. Tell me, was that incorrect as well? All I see before me is a wilted flower,” she nodded to Vanessa and then to Joseph, “and a coward.”
When neither party spoke in their own defense, the Dowager rose to her feet. “The air in this room is so sour, I have lost my appetite after all.” She shook her head. When she left, Joseph waited only for the sound of her cane tapping against the polished floors to fade before quickly exiting the room as well.
* * *
“Quite a mess that you have managed to get yourself into, Vanessa,” Vanessa muttered to herself. Her long black hair was pleated loosely and flung over one shoulder as she sat on the large, comfortable bed that had been allocated to her. She was staring at the far window, her knees brought up to her chin, and her arms wrapped around her slender legs as she blinked away tears.
It was her first proper night away from home. Not a single one of her sisters were there to comfort her. She did not have the safety of her stables to escape to. There was no telling if Apple was all right or if she would be able to beg and plead with the Duke to purchase her from her uncle so that she could be with her beloved friend again. She was alone, and she felt it in her bones. She wished to write to Amanda, to apologize for the hundredth time, but she was certain that any correspondence that she would pen to her sister would be promptly thrown in the fires of Amanda’s chamber. If Amanda were to ever forgive her for this, it would only be in her own time, and pressuring her would help nothing. She knew this. She did know this, but she did not wish to accept it.
For all of the nights since she had become engaged, she had gotten little to no sleep. She could not get Joseph out of her head. Every time his handsome face would swim to the forefront of her mind, her mother’s disappointed face would follow shortly after it, making her feel ashamed. She could admit that to herself now, she supposed, as he was her husband. She did want him. That day she had gotten carried away, but she had not intended to stop him either. She liked the way that his hands felt on her. She liked the way he looked at her as if nothing else in the world could ever possibly matter to him.
What had he planned?
If he had planned to take a wife as a figurehead to his title anyway, why should he be so very upset that it was her? He was upset, disappointed even. She could tell from the way that he had spoken to her. He was likely with a harlot. Right at this very moment, he was likely doing things to a woman that Vanessa could not even fathom. Joseph would spend his wedding night consummating a temporary unholy union while she sat fighting tears.
How silly I am.Angrily, she smudged the back of her hand across her cheek and wiped the tears from her face as her legs unfurled from in front of her, and she slid from the bed. The black nothingness that could be seen through the window would not soothe her anyway.
Vanessa wrenched her sheets back from where they were tucked and threw the decorative pillow to the floor. The Duke’s servants had offered to make everything ready for her, and she had shouted at them. She should not have shouted. She should not have forced them from the room. It was not the way to conduct her affairs, and she knew that. A part of her kept waiting for one of them to come back for something or another so that she might apologize to them for her behavior.
She was just about to slide into bed when there was a single knock at the door. The door swung wide, and Joseph strolled inside without looking at her. Startled, Vanessa grabbed a pillow and clutched it to her chest, her eyes wide and her heart pounding. He paced the side of the chamber in front of the large window, his white linen shirt untucked and undone. She could see glimpses of his well-muscled chest and the smattering of dark hair that covered it each time he turned to the other direction. He needed to get something off of his chest but could not find a starting point.
