Chapter 21
“I’m surprised the two of you were willing to have visitors,” Michael commented as he came through the front door. “I think if it was my honeymoon, I would turn away all callers and spend all my time locked in a room with my new wife.”
He smirked at Norman.
Norman rolled his eyes. He had expected this sort of behavior from his cousin, but he didn’t enjoy it. “Show some respect,” he commented. “You’re in the presence of a duchess.”
“I’m sure she doesn’t mind,” Aunt Tabitha said. “And I’m sure she doesn’t object to a bit of company, either, do you, Susan?”
Norman noticed that his aunt hadn’t used Susan’s title. Or given her the respect of referring to her as Your Grace. She really should have done those things—but maybe this was an attempt to be kind, to show Susan that she considered her a member of the family.
At any rate, Susan didn’t appear to be offended. She gave Aunt Tabitha a smile. “You’re quite right, Lady Keethroad,” she said. “I have no objections.”
“Well, I didn’t think you would,” Aunt Tabitha said with a knowing smile. “Of course you don’t object to having your honeymoon interrupted, Susan, since this isn’t a real honeymoon.”
Susan’s jaw dropped.
Norman’s temper flared, too. That was an incredibly rude thing to say. But perhaps Aunt Tabitha meant it as a joke of some kind. He wasn’t going to let it stand, though. “Our honeymoon is as real as anyone’s,” he said. “And I assume you came here for dinner, Aunt Tabitha, not social commentary?”
“Well, I don’t see why we can’t do both,” Aunt Tabitha said with a smirk. “But let us go into dinner, you’re right. I am hungry.” She turned and led the way toward the dining room.
Susan glanced at Norman, but she didn’t say anything, and after a moment she followed after Aunt Tabitha.
“This is going to be an interesting meal,” Michael remarked.
Norman wondered what his cousin meant by that—but then, whatever he might have meant, Norman didn’t think he was wrong. Interesting was one thing this meal would certainly be.
They took their seats around the table, and the food was brought out and served.
There was pheasant, vegetables and potatoes, bread and fish—plenty for everyone to enjoy.
And it did its job. For a few moments, they all sat in silence, savoring the delicious meal and not saying anything much to one another.
Aunt Tabitha dabbed at her lips with her napkin. “So,” she said, breaking the silence. “It’s been about a week since the two of you were married. Is it all you hoped it would be?”
She was addressing the question to Susan. Susan sat up a bit straighter and looked down at her hands in her lap, then looked back up. “I don’t know that I had any specific hopes about it,” she said. “I’m glad that everything seems to be going smoothly, though.”
“Yes, I don’t doubt you are,” Aunt Tabitha agreed. “It’s always better when you’re able to integrate yourself easily into someone else’s household once you marry. I’m sure that was something you had at the forefront of your mind when you planned all this.”
Susan frowned. “I didn’t plan all this,” she said. “My father was the one who made the arrangements, Lady Keethroad.”
“Of course,” Aunt Tabitha said. “And how have you found life as a duchess so far? Just as exciting as you dreamed it would be?”
“I didn’t have any dreams about it,” Susan said. “I never thought about this life before I was living it.”
“Well, that’s not very responsible of you. To put yourself in this situation without even thinking about what it would be like?”
“I told you—it was my father who made the arrangements,” Susan said. “I had to go along with what he wanted. I didn’t have a choice in the matter.”
“I see—so what you’re telling me is that you don’t wish to be married to my nephew?”
“No.” Susan’s voice shook, but to her credit, she kept her chin up. “That isn’t what I’m saying at all.”
“Oh, Aunt Tabitha, stop it,” Norman snapped. “I don’t know what you want her to say. Her father made an arrangement for her, and she’s following through with it. She’s doing her best. We both are. You know, you can’t expect people to do any more than their best with the hands they’re dealt.”
Aunt Tabitha didn’t look remotely chastened, but at least she fell silent, and that was a start.
“I quite agree,” Michael spoke up. “And may I say, Your Grace,” he added, turning to Susan, “I think you will be a remarkable addition to this family. I never expected to see my cousin happily married.”
A small smile found purchase on Susan’s face. “I do hope to make him happy,” she said slowly.
“And I’m sure you’ll do just that,” Michael agreed.
“Pay my mother no mind. You must understand that there are plenty of social climbers who would have liked to take advantage of the situation. With Norman being so newly a member of the ton, it would have been easy for anyone to slip into his good graces and make herself a duchess.”
Norman scowled. “Do you think I’m so undiscerning, cousin? That I would just marry anyone who charmed me?”
“I think it’s a valid thing for Mother to be concerned about,” Michael said.
“But no, Norman, it’s clear from how this has transpired that you haven’t just married because you’ve been charmed into it.
I know you made the right decision for yourself.
” He smiled. “Your wife is charming, though. It’s a pleasure to count you as part of the family, Your Grace. ”
“You can call me by my name,” she told him. “Since we are family, I think that’s only fitting.”
“I hoped you might feel that way about it,” he said with a smile. “Susan, then. And you’re quite right. You and I are cousins now—and my mother is your aunt.”
Aunt Tabitha gave a terse nod, acknowledging the truth of that statement. And yet, by the expression on her face—the high lift of her chin, the set of her jaw—Norman could tell that she hadn’t decided to count Susan as a member of her family at all.
“Truly, I don’t know what’s gotten into her,” Michael said. He and Norman had retired to the study following dinner to share in a glass of brandy.
“I wish she could be counted upon to be alone with Susan,” Norman grumbled. “I don’t feel right leaving the two of them to their own devices for very long. How can she blame Susan for this marriage?”
“Well, she’s not entirely wrong,” Michael pointed out.
“What I said at the table was true, you know. There are plenty of ladies who would have tried to secure a marriage with you in order to advance themselves. And don’t you think that is what Susan’s father was doing, even if she wasn’t doing it herself? ”
“Susan had never been anything but forthcoming with me about her reasons for wanting to marry,” Norman said. “It bothers me that Aunt Tabitha thinks me such a fool that I would be seduced into a marriage on false pretenses.”
“She worries about you, that’s all,” Michael said.
“Truth be told, Norman, we both do. Not because anyone thinks you’re a fool, but because you are so new to this world—this life.
Because the ton is full of people who live to deceive, and we wouldn’t want you to be deceived. We both want better for you than that.”
“I may be new to this life, but that doesn’t mean I don’t understand the way things work,” Norman said.
“I needed this marriage to make the most of my opportunities. I’ve gone into business with Susan’s father, and Lord Crownway and I are doing very well.
Before long, no one will have cause to doubt me or to question my name or my place in society.
Everyone will see that I was able to make the best of this opportunity.
And this marriage is exactly what I needed to make that happen.
Not only am I able to use the dowry I received when Susan and I married to further my investments, I’ve also been able to secure this working partnership with her father.
It’s all for the best, even if Aunt Tabitha can’t see that. ”
“You may be right,” Michael said. “But are you happy, Norman?”
“What do you mean? Why wouldn’t I be happy? Haven’t I just said how well everything is going?”
“I know you never had dreams of being a part of the ton,” Michael told him.
He picked up his glass of brandy and swirled the liquid around, watching the tracks it left on the inside.
“I can concede that this marriage of yours was the best thing to secure your position as Duke of Heathmare, but that was never something you used to care about. To see you devote your whole life to it like this… you can’t blame us for feeling some concern for you.
And now you tell me outright that you only married her to advance your investments—well, I did know that, of course, but to hear you say it… ”
“If you knew it, how can that be alarming?”
“Not alarming,” Michael said. “But we do want you to be happy, Norman. We’d have liked to see you married to someone you truly loved, not just tied to whoever was most advantageous for your future prospects.”
“I’m perfectly happy,” Norman insisted.
He didn’t know whether that was true. He hadn’t married for love. He had married for convenience, for advancement—Susan had done the same. But they were both getting what they wanted out of that arrangement, so could either one of them claim to be dissatisfied with it? He didn’t see how.
And he had never thought of a love match for himself—that was, not since accepting his new title.
He could admit now that, had he married for love, Susan was the sort of woman he might have been interested in.
But neither of them wanted to fall in love.
She had made that fact clear, and as for him…
marrying for love seemed like something you just couldn’t do if you were to manage a dukedom.
It didn’t matter that she captivated his attention whenever he was around her—he couldn’t allow himself to fall in love with her.
That was the kind of thing a person did when he had no other responsibilities in life, no duties to tenants, no need to worry about anyone beyond himself.
It wasn’t something Norman could have done now.
And yet…
Was it true that he hadn’t made a love match? How was a man truly to know? It wasn’t as if a physician could test a racing heart and a fluttering stomach to see what the cause was, when the cause was nothing more than being enamored of one’s wife.
Why am I even considering this question? Of course, I’m not in love with Susan. All right, so my feelings about her have grown more complicated since we married, but that’s because I’m coming to realize that I like her and enjoy her company. It doesn’t mean I’m in love with her.
He shook his head. His aunt and his cousin had filled his mind with all sorts of unwelcome ideas. “These are foolish questions,” he said. “And they’re going nowhere.”
“All right,” Michael said. “I can see you don’t want to discuss it.”
“That’s right. I’m doing well for myself. I’m achieving everything I wanted to achieve as a member of society. That should be enough for you and Aunt Tabitha, without my having to constantly worry about the question of whether I should have married for love.”
“Nobody wants you to be worried about it,” Michael said. “That’s not why we ask, Norman. We just want you to be happy. It seems to me that a love match would make a man happier than an arrangement like yours, but if that isn’t true for you, I won’t press the issue.”
“It isn’t true for me,” Norman said stoutly. “I’m happy.”
But deep down inside, he wondered.