Page 34 of Married to a Frozen Duke
“You’re not any of those things.”
“Then what am I?”
“Unexpected.”
The word hung between them, and for a moment, she thought he might say something more. Then a clock chimed somewhere, breaking the spell.
“We should return,” he said. “Your family will worry.”
“Yes.”
The journey back was quieter but less tense. They’d said things that needed saying, even if they solved nothing.
As he handed her down at Coleridge House, he held her hand a moment longer than necessary.
“Four days,” he said.
“Four days.”
“Are you afraid?”
The question surprised her with its gentleness.
“Yes.”
“Of me?”
“Of everything. Of not being enough. Of being too much. Of living the rest of my life as someone’s regret.”
“You’re not my regret.”
“Not yet.”
She pulled her hand away and went inside, not looking back.
Four days.
Four days until she became Ophelia Montclaire, Duchess of Montclaire.
Four days until her life ended and something else began.
She climbed the stairs to her room, each step an effort. Tomorrow there would be more preparations. The final fitting for her dress. The wedding breakfast menu to approve; not that she cared what they served. The flowers to choose... she’d already decided on violets, though no one would understand why.
Her journal lay open on her desk, the last entry still visible: *Today I became betrothed to a man who finds me distasteful but necessary.*
She picked up her pen and added: *In four days, I marry him. Heaven help us both.*
She could survive being necessary.
Couldn’t she?
Chapter Nine
The morning of her wedding dawned grey and drizzling, which Ophelia thought was rather appropriate considering the circumstances. Even the weather understood this was not a day for celebration.
She lay in bed, staring at the ceiling she'd memorized over twenty-three years of sleepless nights, and tried to comprehend that this was the last time she'd wake in this room. The last morning she'd hear Charles and Edward arguing over boots in the corridor, the final dawn as Ophelia Coleridge.
The thought sent her stomach churning with dread.
