Page 76 of The Duke and the Wrong Bride

“Of course, Your Grace.”

“And some tea, also.”

“It would be my pleasure.” She bowed and turned to go.

“Oh, and, Miss Barrow, the whereabouts of my wife.” He looked about them, half expecting Charlotte to appear suddenly, for surely she knew that he was home by now. “Do you know where she is?”

“I believe she’s in the library, Your Grace. Shall I fetch her?”

“No, it’s fine…” A smile spread across his face. “I might surprise her.”

Charlotte must not have heard of his arrival. The weather was tragic, and likely she was tucked away in the corner of the library, sitting by the fire, idly passing the time until his return. He hadn’t even had time to send word ahead, warning her of his return, so she would certainly be surprised.

As expected, he found her in the library. She was sitting in the back corner, curled up on a very cozy-looking couch by a roaring fire. Head bent over her book, the warm light making her glow, Henry was careful as he crept further into the room, happy to stand back a moment and simply admire her.

She really was a beauty. It had been so long that he’d almost forgotten how much. Seven days away, yet it felt like two months, which told him as much as anything how much he missed her.

“There she is,” Henry crooned softly, finally going to her. “If it isn’t my lovely wife, looking even more beautiful than when I left her.”

She stayed curled up on the couch, but as he approached her, Henry expected her to put down her book, meet his eyes, smile in a way that told him how glad she was that he had returned, and then offer her lips for a kiss.

She did no such thing.

“You’re back,” she said simply, still reading her book, not offering him so much as a glance.

Henry balked, taken aback by the disinterested response. “What gave me away?” He chuckled awkwardly.

“I thought you might have sent word that you were coming.” Still, she focused on her book.

“There wasn’t time.” He sighed regretfully, reaching out and opting to rest a hand on her shoulder instead. It might have been a loving gesture, were she not so stiff. “Besides, I thought it might be fun to surprise you.”

“Consider me surprised.”

“Clearly…”

Henry wasn’t so stupid that he didn’t notice something was wrong. For how excited he had been to see Charlotte, he’d expected twice that from her. After all, wasn’t she the one who had asked him to be more honest with his feelings? Wasn’t she the one who had told him that she wanted more from this relationship? Why, he’d half-expected her to meet him at the door naked for how she’d been behaving before he left.

“Charlotte….” Henry pulled his hand back and looked down at his wife, who still ignored him. “Is everything all right?”

“Why shouldn’t it be?” Finally, she looked up from her book and smiled. But it was a forced smile, dripping with contempt. “You simply caught me at a bad time, is all. This book has me, and I really want to finish the chapter I am on. You understand?”

“I—” Henry went to speak, only to catch his tongue because Charlotte lowered her head and continued reading.

He might have been angry if he wasn’t so surprised. This was beyond his realm of understanding, and the only explanation he could come up with was that she was trying to anger him on purpose, as if she had fallen back to her old ways, assuming that to be the best means to excite him.

But Henry wasn’t angry. He was, strangely enough, worried, thinking for a moment that she was truly upset with him. Lucky then that she finally put her book down and looked at him.

“There,” she said, keeping that same feigned smile. “Finished.”

“How… how was your book?” He had no idea what else to say.

“Not nearly as interesting as your trip, I imagine. How did everything turn out?”

“I found out who was spreading the rumors about me,” he said slowly, watching her for a reaction, some indication that she cared. “And who was working to undermine me.”

“Oh?”

“It was Graham. Lord Talbot. It turns out that he was behind it from the very beginning.”

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