Page 52 of A Bride for the Forbidden Duke
It nestled beneath his skin, attempting to make him lose his composure.
Henry cleared his throat. “That is… very astute.”
“Thank you, Your Grace. It is the least I can arrange for you, seeing as you have done so much for me.”
“You are not indebted to me.”
“I suppose you might remind me of that more often before you hold everything that you have done for me over my head.”
He thought she was arguing with him again, but when he lifted his gaze to her, he found Veronica smirking at him.
She is in very good spirits today, he thought.
“Tell me more,” he motioned.
“I wish to redesign the ballroom. Something more elegant and muted. None of the bright colors now. I wish for classical decoration. Pale curtains over doorways, perhaps the crest of the Westley name painted on the floor. I want the adornments to be sophisticated. Busts, perhaps, of good leaders and the monarchs.”
“I did notice that some of the paintings in the hallway had changed,” Henry noted. “I like the one of the violent ocean storm.”
“Well, you are a traveled businessman, are you not? This house should reflect you.”
And what of you? he did not let himself ask, if only because he had a hard time figuring outwhyhe wanted his home to reflect Veronica. They were not a true husband and wife, and he felt nothing for her.
“Regarding your study,” she continued, “As you stipulated upon our wedding day?—”
“Do not call it that.”
“Regardless, that is what it was.”
“You make it sound more than it was. It was a convenient day to allow us this arrangement.”
“Well,” she muttered, “as you stipulated, I am not to enquire about your business, so do you wish to rearrange your study yourself? I have had a hand in the refurbishments, you see. Arranging flowers, arranging chairs, that sort of thing. Minimal actions, but so I feel part of the plans. What do you wish to do about your study?”
“Leave it,” he told her. “It sounds like too much fuss.”
“But Your Grace, I have already made the plans?—”
“Leave it,” he insisted. “I shall not have my business meddled with.”
“You seemed rather happy a moment ago.”
“I was merely being polite,” he lied.
He truly did not want her poking around his affairs.
“Then you may take care of everything. All I request is when I can inform the workers to proceed with the changes, and you may move your papers to the library, perhaps.”
“Do not dictate me,” he groaned, setting down his teacup. “Do as you please with the rest of the house, but do not touch my study, understood?”
He had moved towards her, as he found he often tended to do when they argued, as if their tension had him gravitating towards her. Still, Veronica only met his gaze head-on, steel resistance in her eyes. She was a woman who knew what she wanted and told him so with her chin raised.
“You infuriate me,” he told her, his voice flat.
“And you are stubborn and impossible to work with,” she shot back.
And yet he could not move back from her. Henry could not bring himself to create such distance. Instead, he began to lean in closer, trying to remember how her mouth felt on his. All the while, he told himself to ignore that craving.
But he did crave.
