Chapter 4
“If you will excuse me,” the Duchess said in a tight voice, her hazel eyes blazing. “I think I hear something precious shattering thanks to the clumsiness of your… brutes.”
Without another word and with no reply to his suggestion, the beautiful woman turned on her heel and hurried away from Jeremy.
She couldn’t have known that he would enjoy her rear view just as much as her front, his gaze admiring the sway of her shapely hips and the way her walk made her dress move, accentuating a narrow waist and a perfect hourglass figure.
She hitched her skirts to run away from him, revealing a glimpse of her ankle and a delicate stocking, igniting a desire to see more and to look higher.
But it was the nape of her neck that held his attention. There was something about that spot, that exposed skin, that never failed to provoke him. In truth, it filled him with an urge to bite, though he had never understood why… and her neck was particularly inviting.
Aye, she’d knee ye in yer nethers if ye even tried. A smirk graced his lips, though it soon became a frown as he watched her disappear into the manor.
He hadn’t expected the duchess to cause so much trouble.
Last night, he had gone through the thick dossier of documents the solicitor had given him, searching for any mention of a dowager house.
He figured that would be the simplest solution for everyone, only to find out that what had been the dowager house had been destroyed in a fire about thirty years earlier, and no one had bothered to rebuild it.
Nay matter. She’ll be gone soon enough. She was exquisite; she clearly knew how to run a household, had more than enough spirit to excite a man, and a figure and charisma that would make any man want to be close to her; it would not be difficult to find her a suitable replacement in marriage.
He didn’t know how old she was, but she didn’t look older than twenty to him and had no children, which many gentlemen would consider fortuitous. Few men wanted to raise another man’s progeny, even if it boded well regarding a woman’s fertility.
Aye, the lass will be another man’s problem once I have secured her a match.
The thought prickled at the back of his mind, as he imagined some other man’s hands on the dramatic curve of her waist, some other man’s lips on the nape of her neck, some other man’s clumsy fingertips unbuttoning her dress.
His strange irritation was interrupted by one of his household’s maids, a valise in each hand.
“Yer Grace,” she said politely, her head bowed. “Where should I take yer personal belongings?”
He cast her a hard look. “What sort of question is that?” He shook his head, realizing he shouldn’t take his annoyance out on her. “The Duke’s chambers. If ye can’t find them, ask someone.”
“Of course, Yer Grace,” the maid mumbled in reply. “And… um… what about Her Ladyship and Miss Sophie’s things?”
Jeremy looked up at the manor, a stunning building made of rich golden sandstone, three stories tall with a flat roof adorned with sculptures that only a keen eye could see in detail.
A needless, overt display of wealth, but beautiful nonetheless.
It was a grand house, larger than the castle, with multitudes of rooms.
I wonder which one belongs to the Duchess. Although he intended to ensure she was safe and away from his home as soon as possible, he didn’t want to cause her additional distress by accidentally moving his sister-in-law into her bedchamber.
“Ask someone about a nursery for Sophie,” Jeremy replied. “There must be a suitable room in there somewhere. As for my sister-in-law, take her things to the largest guest chamber, one close to wherever the nursery might be.”
Beatrice and Sophie were due to arrive at the end of the week, the former having decided to spend a while at her mother’s house, until everything was more settled at Stonebridge.
And though he dearly loved his niece, there was part of Jeremy that wished that Beatrice would just stay at her mother’s residence, for he couldn’t bear the reminder of their recent, shared grief.
He could manage well enough, keeping his sorrow in a locked box inside him, but Beatrice was not so silent about her grief. And Sophie, still too young to fully understand, kept asking for her Papa. Every time she did, it jiggled the lock on Jeremy’s emotions, prying at the hinges.
The maid dipped her head. “Very good, Yer Grace.”
As she shambled away, he didn’t stare like he had with Anna.
The maid didn’t catch his eye at all, even though she was a pretty sort of lass.
He knew several men among his staff kept an eye on her, but none would dare to pursue any woman working for him without a lass’s explicit permission.
If any tried, they would lose their employment… and a hand.
A week until everyone is here, he mused. That ought to be more than enough time for me to tame the lady of the house.
Wrapped in a blanket against the night’s chill, Anna crept along the manor’s hallways, oblivious to the fact that summer was fast approaching.
She strained to catch any hint of life; it would hardly suit her defiant image if one of the newcomers were to see the Duchess sneaking through her own corridors.
I wonder if this manor has ever been so full.
She had tucked herself away in the lake house all day, away from the chaos, too overwhelmed by two households trying to cram together.
But she thought of her beloved staff now, imagining their disgruntlement at suddenly having to share space in the servants’ quarters.
“How bad is it?” Anna whispered to Katherine, who had joined her in the lake house for most of the day. The maid was wary of strangers, anxious around too many people, and for good reason.
Katherine shrugged. “Not too bad, Your Grace. There weren’t so many of us to begin with, and the servants’ quarters were built with more staff in mind.
The maids are complaining that it’s noisier, but no one has had to give up their room as of yet.
” She paused. “As long as no more servants arrive, all should be well.”
Anna nodded. “And everyone is being cordial?”
“There’s something of a… language difficulty, but otherwise everyone is getting along well enough,” Katherine replied. “I think His Grace’s staff are just glad to have somewhere to stay, but the true test will come tomorrow, when everyone is trying to do their work at the same time.”
Anna had instructed her servants to be kind to the newcomers, although it had pained her to concede ground to Jeremy.
However, it was not in her nature to punish others for one person’s actions, and it was not as if she had much choice in the matter.
The only thing she could do was show kindness to those who had lost their home, even though she still did not know how their home had been lost.
“Shall I fetch your tea up to you?” Katherine asked as they reached the main staircase.
Anna nodded. “If enough people are awake, do you think I might have a bath drawn? Only if it is not an imposition. I feel I need to soak in hot water to wash away the insult of all of this.”
“Certainly, Your Grace,” Katherine said with a smile.
“Only if it is not an imposition,” Anna repeated. She would feel far worse if her servants were rudely woken up, just so she could bathe. They, too, had had a trying day after all.
Parting ways temporarily, Anna tiptoed up the stairs and along the hallway, quietly opening up the door to her dressing room.
In truth, it had once been an adjoining bedchamber, but she had transformed it into a peaceful domain where she could bathe, dress, and prepare herself for each day, separate from where she slept.
Stifling a yawn, she began to undress, not bothering to wait for Katherine to assist her.
She had never much liked having a maid to help in such things, unless she was preparing herself for a ball or undressing after a ball.
Of course, they had been in short supply over the past year-and-a-half, since her wedding and immediate widowing.
Strangely enough, no one seemed to want to invite such an unlucky woman to their events, even if the doctor had confirmed that Robert likely passed from an inherited malady of the heart, like his father and his grandfather and his great-grandfather before him.
Anna stepped out of the cooled bath and into the waiting linens held up by Katherine. It was everything Anna had hoped for—her spirits lifted, her body relaxed, and her mood lightened by the steaming, fragrant water. Even if Katherine had definitely woken the maids to help fill it.
“Thank you, Katherine,” Anna said, as she wrapped herself in the linens. “Truly, I do not know what I would do without you.”
Katherine smiled. “The feeling is mutual, Your Grace. Indeed, none of us know what we would do without you.”
And that is precisely why I will not be moved from this house.
Anna did not say so out loud, for fear of worrying her staff further, but she felt it keenly.
Yes, of course, she didn’t want to lose her home because it was her home and where she felt completely safe, but she cared just as much about the fate of those who had been so kind to her as she did about her own.
They were connected, and Jeremy was a fool if he thought he could get rid of her that easily.
Quickly, Anna dried herself and pulled on a clean nightdress, scented with lavender.
“I will fetch your tea for you now, Your Grace,” Katherine said, as she bundled the wet linens in her arms. “Someone can come and empty the bathtub in the morning, so you’re not disturbed.”
Anna stifled a yawn and gave a grateful nod. “I may be asleep before I even taste a sip of my tea,” she said with a laugh. “But I can always drink it cold in the morning.”
“Well, I will be very quiet when I come in then,” Katherine replied, chuckling.
With that, the lady’s maid headed out of the dressing room, and Anna moved toward the adjoining door to her bedchamber.
She could already feel the soft mattress beneath her, the bed linens cocooning her, and, after a night without sleep already, she was finally tired enough to rest. A dreamless sleep, with any luck, without any tall, dark strangers making her toss and turn beneath the coverlets.
Quietly, she opened the adjoining door and stepped into the darkened room, the drapes already drawn. One of the chambermaids must have prepared everything in Katherine’s absence, though there was no fire burning in the grate as usual.
No matter. It is no wonder that they are forgetful on a day like today, with everything in such disarray. Besides, it was not so cold in the bedchamber, her body still carrying some of the heat of the bath, and she would soon be warm in the soft, comfortable bed.
Feeling as if she might sleep for a week just to avoid running into the new Duke again, she padded toward her usual side of the large bed, closest to the window, and slipped beneath the covers.
Yes, that will do nicely. She smiled as she lay on her back and stared up at the canopy for a moment, but she had never liked to sleep on her back.
So, she flipped onto her side, curling into a fetal position, wriggling for comfort, ready for a good night’s rest…
when her backside suddenly bumped into something hard.
Her feet, too, suddenly brushed against a solidity that should not have been there.
“Seducing me won’t change me mind, Duchess,” a deep voice murmured sleepily.