Page 40 of Wedded to the Ruthless Duke

“Very well.” Grace nodded. Seeing her mother had taken over the task of the bouquet entirely, Grace reached for her discarded book nearby and opened it, ready to read again. It was a book on botany and plants. It did not last long in her grasp before her mother snatched it away.

“I hope you are prepared for this wedding, Grace.” Althea then nodded at Tabitha. “Perhaps it’s best, Tabitha, if you give Grace some instructions this evening on how to carry herself at the wedding. Lord knows I will want the chapel floor to open up and swallow me whole if you trip on your wedding gown and fall flat on your face.”

“Thank you, Mama, for that vote of confidence.”

Tabitha smiled in a rather sorry way and patted Grace’s hand softly.

“I am sure the Duke of Berkley is marrying her because he likes her as she is.”

“Don’t fool yourself, Tabitha.” Althea waved this thought away with one of the flowers. “He’s marrying her because he has to. If you want to be a good duchess, Grace, then you must learn how to be one. Now, take that.” Having finished the bouquet, she pushed it back into Grace’s grasp. “Let’s see you walking up and down the room as if you are walking the aisle.”

“Is this necessary?” Grace asked with a sigh.

Althea’s harsh look was enough of an answer without words.

* * *

“He’s here,” Grace whispered to herself as she looked out of the window. The maid had left so that only she and Tabitha were still in the room. Tabitha was fussing with the bouquets again as Grace pulled and shifted the wedding gown around her, angered at it.

Pressing her face close to the window, Grace peered down at the Duke of Berkley.

It was the morning of the wedding. As per tradition, he had come to call on her father, but he had not asked to see her. He now parted from the house, reaching toward a carriage that waited for him.

Grace’s eyes were hungry for the sight of him. She couldn’t peel herself back from the glass as she stared at him. He was tall and impressive in his midnight blue suit with a dark black waistcoat. The cravat, alabaster white, was a contrast to the richness of the suit. There wasn’t a crease in his appearance, and his hair had been trimmed perfectly for the day.

How shameful I will look at the side of him.

As he climbed into the carriage without looking up to her window and vanished from view, she retreated into the chamber, struggling with the long train of the gown. She pulled at the frilly neck too. It was so high today that it had a strangling hold upon her, reaching up to her chin.

“How strange it is,” Tabitha murmured from where she fiddled with the flowers.

“What is?”

“Well, it’s unheard of for a groom not to call on his bride until today, isn’t it?” Tabitha asked in a horrified whisper. She put the bouquet down and stood, moving to stand beside Grace, so they could both look in the standing mirror together as Grace fidgeted with the dress.

“Why should he come?” Grace asked, feeling defensive. “He is marrying me out of duty, after all. Nothing more. I should not have expected him to come.”

I did though. I had hoped for it.

She pulled sharply at the frilly neck again, remembering the way he had torn the last high-necked dress in order to get to her.

“I am so worried for you,” Tabitha said in the softest of tones. Grace softened her own expression, smiling sadly at her cousin the mirror.

“Do not worry for me.”

“But I do. If he is unkind to you, if you do not like him, you know you could ask for an annulment, don’t you?” Tabitha suggested.

An annulment?

Grace hadn’t even considered the idea. Not many married couples had their marriages annulled. Such things were usually followed by scandal and supposition, but it was a possibility. It was an option she hadn’t even considered.

“No one would allow it,” Grace replied after a few seconds of quiet thought.

“They would, if you…” Tabitha hesitated, glancing at the closed door, clearly checking that no one was going to walk in on them before she said anymore. “If you avoid your duties tonight.”

“Oh.Oh.”Grace exclaimed in understanding. Tabitha was suggesting that she avoid the Duke of Berkley’s bed. If the marriage was not consummated, they could then have an annulment. Grace laughed a second later which made Tabitha’s eyes widen.

“You could do it, Grace.”

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