The Duke’s Undeniable Bride (The Wild Brides #9)

Chapter 1

“Sit up straight, Susan.”

Jerome Garvey, Earl of Crownway, was as strict a father as one was likely to find, and Susan Garvey felt her spine straightening before she even had time to think about whether or not she wanted to obey.

When it came to minor things, like sitting up straight, obedience was instinctive.

There was simply no point in an argument with her father if she didn’t have to have one.

Besides, this isn’t about me, and it certainly isn’t about Father. This is about Marina. About what’s best for her.

“Now, pay attention,” Father said. “The two of you must be absolutely perfect this week while we are at Heathmare. Especially you, Susan, since you’re the one who’s to marry the Duke.

I went to some trouble to make this arrangement for you, you know, and I’m expecting you to hold up your end of things by being charming and sweet and doing all you can to impress His Grace.

Let him see what a good and worthy wife you’ll be. ”

Susan nodded, though her skin crawled at the sound of the word wife.

She had never wanted to marry—not since the day her mother had walked out on her father and left her and her sisters behind.

Susan knew perfectly well that her mother had been unhappy too—she hadn’t left her marriage out of spite.

But she had left. And one thing Susan had promised herself was that she would never become trapped in anything.

She would never be in a position to have to choose between an unhappy marriage and abandoning her children.

Except that perhaps she was going to be in that position after all. Because the most important thing was, and had always been, Marina.

She decided to try one more time. “Father,” she said, “you know I don’t really wish to marry the Duke.”

Father glared at her. “I thought we’d been through this enough times, Susan. I thought you had seen sense.”

“I’m just saying… is there any way we might change the plan? You’ve already made a match for Leah, and you know it will be easier to find a marriage for Marina than it was for me. Let her go first.”

Her father shook his head sternly. “That isn’t the custom in our family, and you know it, Susan. Elder daughters marry before younger ones, so you must be married before your sister may begin a courtship. You know this.”

She knew. Oh, how well she knew. And this was the heart of the problem.

She wanted Marina to have a future. She wanted whatever her sister wanted, and Marina did not share Susan’s aversion to the idea of getting married.

If only she could bypass me somehow and marry without me having to do it first!

She settled back in her seat, knowing she would speak about it no further.

Asking Father to let Marina go first was one thing, but to express how truly fearful and distressed she was about her impending marriage was something else altogether.

She was doing this for Marina. For that to be successful, she couldn’t allow her sister to see just how difficult the idea was for her. She didn’t want Marina to feel guilty.

“Sit up straight,” Father said again, more sharply this time. “We’re arriving.”

Sure enough, the carriage was pulling to a stop outside a large estate with neatly manicured hedges and a broad, sweeping drive. The door was opened, and the footman helped them down—Father first, and then Marina, and Susan last of all.

She looked up at the house.

If she went through with it, if she married the Duke, this would be her new home.

She would be Duchess of Heathmare. She supposed there were ladies who would have been excited by the title and the massive estate, but it didn’t feel welcoming at all to Susan.

It was too big. What would a person do with all those rooms? Who could possibly live in them all?

Well, one of them will be mine for the next few nights. And another—a different one, I suppose—will belong to me when I’m the Duchess. Or will I be expected to share a bedroom with my husband?

No. Surely not. They didn’t even know one another. She knew she might be called to his bed on occasion, but she would have a room of her own for most of the nights, wouldn’t she?

Three figures were emerging from the front door now.

There were two men. One was perhaps forty years of age, and Susan knew from her father’s descriptions that this would be the Duke.

The other man was only a few years older than she herself was, and he had a welcoming smile on his face that was absent from the Duke’s, and yet it was the Duke who caught and held her focus.

His thick, dark hair, his broad shoulders, his eyes like two sapphires…

he was wonderfully handsome, and she realized that when she had heard his age, she had begun to expect something different altogether.

She had been picturing a man who looked more like her father, wrinkled and balding.

That was unfair, since her father was a good five-and-twenty years older than the Duke was.

The Duke was older than Susan, but he was closer to her own age than to Father’s.

The third person to have come out of the house actually was close to Father’s age. She was a lady, greying and dressed in the latest fashion, but there was something welcoming about her, too. She marched right up to Susan and looked her up and down.

“So you’re the one who’s come to marry our Norman,” she said.

Susan was shocked into silence—what a forward question! Of course, the answer was yes, and there was no reason she shouldn’t ask it, but it was so blunt that Susan felt she didn’t know how to answer appropriately.

Then the lady burst out laughing. “Your face!” she said merrily. “Oh, you darling, I’m only teasing you.”

“You mustn’t let Mother get to you,” the younger man said with a smile.

“She’s this way with everyone. I’m Michael, by the way.

Michael Humphries. I’m Norman’s cousin.” He gestured to the Duke.

“And this is my mother, Tabitha, Countess of Keethroad. We’re all so pleased you’re here.

This is such an exciting time for the whole family. ”

Father recovered himself from the shock of the Countess’ teasing and bowed to her. “Lady Keethroad,” he said smoothly, and then turned to the Duke. “Your Grace. Thank you for having us here at Heathmare. It truly is a magnificent estate. I’m honored to know that my daughter will be a part of it.”

“Welcome,” the Duke said at last. His voice was deep and velvety, and Susan felt a slight shiver go through her at the sound of it.

She pushed that feeling away. She didn’t want to be charmed by this man just because he was tall and had piercing blue eyes and spoke like he was singing.

That was exactly the sort of thing that had happened to her mother.

She’d been swept away on tides of romance, only to discover, years later, that she wasn’t happy in her marriage and never had been.

And besides, there was something cold in those eyes, in that welcome. Not cruel, but distant, as though he wasn’t invested in what was happening here. As though he didn’t really care about it.

If he doesn’t care, I don’t have to care either. There was defiance in that thought, but also relief. His expectations of her would surely be less than what Father had imagined.

“Why don’t you come inside?” the Duke said now. “Our staff will show you to your rooms, and once you’ve settled in, you can come down for drinks and dinner.”

“That would be lovely,” Susan said, realizing she hadn’t spoken yet and knowing that Father would have something to say about that fact.

She did her best to keep her tone cool and aloof, to match the Duke’s, to show him that he wasn’t dealing with a doe-eyed debutante.

This was clearly a business arrangement for him, and he ought to know that she felt just the same.

She didn’t want this to be anything more than what it was going to be—truth be told, though she couldn’t say it out loud, she would have preferred it to be a great deal less.

But he looked at her sharply, eyes narrowed, as if he had heard something he did not expect. Maybe something he didn’t like.

She felt a surge of triumph. If he had believed that he was going to be meeting an overeager young lady who wanted nothing more than to marry and be the Duchess of Heathmare, she had already disabused him of that idea, and she knew it.

He would have to take her seriously now.

He would have to get to know her for who she was—and he wouldn’t be able to think himself too important.

I’m here for my sister’s sake, not for yours, Your Grace.

He took her aback, too, though, when he addressed her directly. “You have a lot of confidence,” he said. “I can tell that about you.”

“I can’t think of a single reason I shouldn’t,” she said, lifting her chin.

He smiled for the first time. “I agree. I enjoy a lady who doesn’t require constant reassurance, constant attention. I think we’ll get along very well.”

And her confidence slipped. Had he done that on purpose?

Had he meant to make her feel uncertain?

For wasn’t he saying that she couldn’t depend on him to make this transition easier?

That he was glad he wouldn’t have to help her through it?

And truly, although I don’t want him to think me helpless, I could use someone who wants to support me in the days ahead.

It would be nice to think he’s concerning himself with my well-being…

Two could play at this game. She pressed her lips together. “I don’t know what sort of ladies you’re used to dealing with, Your Grace, but I can assure you that I require nothing.” Let him make what he could of that.

Did his smile falter? Or had she imagined that?

She was sure she hadn’t imagined the way his gaze fixated on her.

He looked at her as though she was a puzzle he was trying to solve.

She squared her shoulders, facing the scrutiny, wondering what he might discover and what he might make of what he saw, knowing that he wasn’t going to tell her.

Father was looking from one of them to the other, and Susan was sure the nuances of this conversation were entirely lost on him. “It’s good to see the two of you forming such a bond so quickly,” he said heartily. “This will be a very successful union indeed!”

“You’ll want to refresh yourselves,” the Duke said, not taking his eyes off of Susan. “Mrs. Hastings?”

A woman about the Duke’s age bustled forward. Her face was serious, all business, but she had kind eyes.

“Take our guests to their rooms, please,” the Duke said. “And see to it that they have whatever they might need to make them comfortable.”

“Yes, Your Grace.” Mrs. Hastings bowed and then turned to Susan and her family. “Come this way, please,” she said. “Your rooms have been prepared.”

She led them up a staircase that curved around as it climbed to the second floor and down a long, broad hallway, stopping to show first Father and then Marina the rooms in which they would be staying.

“And this room will be yours, Lady Susan,” she said, opening a door at the very end of the hall. “Welcome to Heathmare. I hope you enjoy your stay.”

But as she walked into the room she had been assigned, Susan couldn’t keep her doubts at bay.