Page 21 of Her Tiger of a Duke
“That was… thoughtful of him.”
“From what I have heard, it is very much like him. Would you like to choose?”
Frankly, she was overwhelmed by the number of new garments. She had always been used to very few and only changing them at the beginning of a new season. Not wanting to lose her entire morning looking at them, she simply reached out to a pink one and pulled it out.
“This one,” she instructed and was soon dressed to receive any callers.
That morning, it was her mother. She crept inside, looking around in wonder at it all.
“Oh, Beatrice,” she sighed wistfully. “I never would have thought… Oh, you have done so well.”
“I am pleased to be reminded that you never expected it,” Beatrice muttered, taking her for tea.
“I always had hoped for you,” her mother explained. “I knew that, eventually, you would find someone who would agree tomarry you, but I never expected such splendor. Have the girls come to see you, yet?”
“Mother, I have been here but a week! They have husbands and children to tend to.”
“Of course, but they are your friends, and– my word, did you make these?”
She pointed at some treats Beatrice had made with icing. They were some of her best creations, with delicate flowers made of sugar on the top. It was her usual activity in the afternoon, and instead of eating them herself she gave them to the staff, which of course they appreciated.
“Indeed,” she smiled. “I am not yet completely satisfied with them, but they are quickly improving.”
“I am very much satisfied,” her mother said brightly, popping one into her mouth. “I have missed your cakes, Dearest.”
Beatrice’s eyes widened, remembering the times she was chased out of the kitchens and scolded for not being ladylike.
“You hated that I enjoyed baking, Mother.”
“That was because you were unmarried,” she replied simply, taking two more. “You are a wife now, and so all is forgiven and forgotten. What was once something shameful is now veryinteresting, for you are a duchess. You will soon realize that your title changes everything.”
Beatrice smiled weakly and agreed, but there was an undeniable anger surfacing within her. For years, she had been desperate for her family’s acceptance, and yet they had never given it to her. The only thing that had changed was that she now wore a wedding ring, but they acted as though society as a whole had turned on its head and now adored her for the very same reasons that it had once disregarded her.
“Now, are you going to show your mother your new home, or must I accompany myself?”
Beatrice finished her tea quickly, and they made their rounds. As she explained each room, her eyes began to settle on fading wallpaper and old furnishings. It had been wondrous the first time, and she had not noticed it while she was simply living there, but now that she had proudly presented everything to someone else, particularly her mother, the agedness of the place was impossible to ignore.
She wondered if her mother had seen it too.
“I wish I had trained you properly for all of this,” her mother murmured. “I had not expected such an illustrious match. I should have done better by you in that respect.”
And many others, too, Beatrice thought, but she said nothing,
“I ought to bring your father next time,” she continued. “I know that he wishes to conduct business with your new husband.”
“That can wait for a while. We do not want to seem as though we have done this for the sake of Father’s businesses.”
“I know, but it would be for the best that they form a relationship of some sort. Where is His Grace, for that matter?”
“I… I am not entirely certain of that.”
Her mother tutted at her, peering around a corner as if it would make Owen appear from thin air.
“You must change that, and quickly. A lady should always know where her husband is or at least have an answer when asked. If you do not know, it means that he is somewhere you do not want him to be.”
“And where might that be?” a bold voice came.
Her mother was startled, but Beatrice knew precisely who had said it. It was Owen, entering the household covered in mud with a grin on his face. Lady Jennings curtsied at once and stammered some apology that nobody was listening to.
