Page 19 of Keeper of Secrets

CHAPTERSIX

Chloe softly closedthe door of Mildred’s room, nipping at her lip.

Mildred wasn’t feeling well.Just the sniffles the doctor had said but, at her advancing age, he’d recommended a week of rest and recovery.

Chloe pressed her hands down her skirts, as though she might soothe her rising nerves.Mildred was getting on in age, and though Chloe had only known the other woman for just a year, she’d come to depend on her.What would she do if Mildred weren’t here?

She wished she could confide in Mildred, tell her about Ryker’s cynical but practical proposal.She could use the woman’s advice.Mildred understood the duke so much better than Chloe did.

She frowned down the hall toward the room she knew belonged to Ryker.It didn’t seem that the man she’d agreed to marry would be a companion or caregiver, at least any other way than financially.

Important, sure.But the very idea of being completely alone for the rest of her life made her shiver with dread.

She gazed down the hall at the closed door of her fiancé.She hated their arrangement.She was a woman meant to be placed firmly at the side of a strong man.She knew that about herself.

Her father had always supported Chloe.Now that he was gone, she’d need to find another man who could truly care for her.

Which meant one of two things: either she cried off their arrangement or she attempted to convince her husband to have a more traditional marriage.She had a fortnight to determine which was the more prudent course.

But that meant spending time together.

Drawing in a deep breath, she made her way down the hall.She paused in front of his door, lifting her hand to knock and then dropped it again.

She didn’t normally force a situation like this.Instead, she’d watch and read, understand the other person, but the clock was ticking.

Straightening her spine, she lifted her hand and knocked on the door.

“Enter,” a deep voice rumbled, one she instantly recognized as Ryker’s.

She reached for the knob, pausing for only a moment, before she finally pushed the heavy mahogany door open and then she stepped into the room.

“Good, you’re here,” Ryker called from an adjoining room that Chloe assumed was the dressing room.“I need your aid after all.You know how I am with cuffs and cravats.”

Chloe didn’t answer as she moved deeper into the large room, the giant four post bed in the center causing her stomach to flutter.

It was a masculine room with dark burgundy curtains about the bed and on the windows with deep rich wood furniture and paneling on the walls.

But her gaze soon fixed on the man she’d agreed to marry when he stepped from the dressing room.

He had on breeches, skintight, and his boots.But his shirt was undone, showing the rippling muscles of his chest, and his cuffs were loose.

“Chloe,” he growled out with a frown.“What are you doing here?”

She stopped, taking him in from his tousled damp hair, down the strong cords of his neck, over his broad shoulders, to his large, masculine hands.

Dear lord, but he was the sort of man that could make a woman forget her principles.“I wanted to speak with you about Mildred.”

“The housekeeper has already informed me of her ailment.She’s ill enough to stay in bed but nothing to be concerned about.”

She cleared her throat, realizing her thin excuse for coming had been dismissed in an instant.“Yes.That’s right.”

“No need to keep me apprised of Mildred, I have long been keeping tabs on my aunt.”He began to work a cufflink through his cuff, not looking at her at all.

Still.It was good to know that he cared for someone.“Is that how it will be for us as well?The housekeeper will tell you how I fare?”

He stopped, his gaze lifting to hers, his jaw flexing.“You’re not pleased with our arrangement.”

It wasn’t a question, and it didn’t bear answering.Instead, she stepped over to him, reaching out to aid him with his cufflink.

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