Page 25 of Wedded to the Beastly Duke
“I am glad to see you have a wife,” Adam said, smiling. “You should bring her to Crowny sometime.”
“She could meetyourwife,” Nicholas said, amused. “Look at the way we have fallen into Society’s trap, marrying for money and heirs.”
Adam’s smile turned wry. “Am I to assume it is not a love match, then?”
“A love match? Heavens, no. The only thing I love about her is her dowry, and her inclination to keep out of my way. She is intimidated by the size of the estate, I fancy, and managing the house keeps her occupied. All I need to do is visit her at night and give her pin money for dresses and other fripperies.” Nicholas gave an elegant shrug. “Marriage is not as challenging as I believed it would be. It really takes up little of my time.”
If only that washisexperience, Adam thought. Emmeline’s pretty, stubborn, freckled face flashed in his mind again, and he gritted his teeth against the irritation that flooded him.Shewas not meek and easily cowed. She made her presence uncomfortably known, even when he was taking his privacy in the east wing, and she did certainly not believe in obeying his word.
“What?” Nicholas asked, looking at his face and the expressions that no doubt flashed across it. “Is your wife not so malleable?”
“She knows her own mind,” Adam said at last.
“The eldest Summers daughter, is that right?”
“Yes.”
“I know little of her, but she has had three Seasons and barely one eligible offer of marriage. I heard it was because she was somewhat of a shrew.”
Adam shrugged. “I initially asked for her sister’s hand, but she put herself forward instead. The sister seemed disinclined to accept my hand, and their dowries were equal, so I agreed.”
“A mistake,” Nicholas said, shaking his head. “Never marry a shrew.”
Adam recalled the way the younger sister had quivered and shaken, those pathetic tears streaming down her face. She barely seemed to have had a personality, apart from being lachrymose, something she had no doubt inherited from her mother. He could imagine her wandering around the house, overcome and sobbing in nooks and crannies.
Even Emmeline, who did not seem especially shrewish to him, was preferable to that.
“Of the two sisters, I don’t regret my choice,” he said.
Nicholas’s eyebrows rose. “From what I have seen, the younger sister is uncommonly beautiful.”
Emmeline’s eyes, green and brown in turn, flashed in Adam’s mind, along with the press of her lips against his and the softness of her body underneath his.
The younger sister might have drowned him in her tears, or perhaps frozen with fear, but Emmeline had responded to his challenge in kind.
Adam shrugged. “Perhaps, but the elder is pretty enough to suit my needs. Besides, we will have little reason to interact on a regular basis.”
“Well then,” Nicholas said, offering his hand in a brotherly shake. “I came to see how you were faring after your marriage, and it seems you are taking things well. I am happy for you, and I hope you will continue to find happiness in the future.”
“Yes,” Adam said with just a hint of sarcasm as he contemplated what the future seemed likely to hold. “I hope so too.”
ChapterEight
The cats had not proven to work. Although the Duke had clearly been angry, the cats remained, and he made no other mention of them. He also did not come to the library again.
Furious, frustrated, eager to prove to him that she wasnotthe wife he had expected, and to do so before he inevitably came to her bed, she started plotting rather more extreme ways to get under his skin.
When he had agreed she would marry him, he had specified that she would obey him and behave as befitted a duchess. That point lingered in her mind again and again, and she considered what being a duchess entailed. Taking care of the household, entertaining guests, bearing children, which she did her best not to think of, and otherwise being a representative of the Duke at social events.
There were no social events out here in the country, but her other roles could be fulfilled.
The day after the Duke’s mysterious guest left, she took a basket of food and prepared to leave the house. He came upon her in the ancient hallway, and his eyes narrowed as he took in her bonnet and walking dress.
“Where are you going?”
“To visit the poor,” she said serenely, tying the ribbons underneath her neck. “That is part of my duty as a duchess, you know.”
He frowned, searching her face as though that was the last answer he had expected her to give. “You are not going alone?”
