Page 29 of A Bride for the Rakish Duke

“Just trust me,” Lydia repeated. “And help me.”

Emma gave a small nod and glanced back at Marina and Nancy. “I say we retire to the sunroom, if the Duke has one, and begin a very lengthy, very detailed, very… secret conversation. Snowy shall stand guard, and when we are done, I believe you shall have all you need for success, dearest Lydia.”

Bolstered by her sister’s confidence in her, even if she did not understand, Lydia got to her feet with refreshed enthusiasm. “We ought to have lemonade. Something to cool ourselves through what is undoubtedly going to be an afternoon of blushing, if the pink-cheeked sight of you three is anything to go by.”

Nancy laughed. “Itisridiculous, is it not—to blush over something so wonderful. Why, when it is done properly andverythoroughly, it is like heaven on Earth. Nothing to be ashamed of. I remember when Adam and I first?—”

“Is that my darling daughter?” A high, cheerful voice cut through what was undoubtedly going to be a scintillating story, snatching the attention of all four women and Snowy.

Lydia stared at the approaching woman, puzzled. She had expected to see her mother there, though the voice was nothing like her mother’s. Instead, she looked upon the face of the older woman she had last seen being thrown over Will’s shoulder.

The resemblance was strong, the Dowager’s hair still dark and silky, albeit peppered with strands of gray. Her eyes were slate gray, a touch darker than her son’s, but no less striking. And it was obvious she had been a rare beauty in her youth, for she was still exceptionally beautiful now, and she must have been fifty or so. Perhaps that was why her eldest son was so exceptionally handsome, the trait passed down.

The Dowager came forward and took hold of Lydia’s hands, smiling from ear to ear, her teeth white and perfect. “My sweetling, I am sorry that I have not come to give you my congratulations sooner.” She squeezed Lydia’s hands gently. “You cannot know how happy you have made me, marrying my son. The moment I saw you come through the church doors, I knew you would be his savior. I felt it in my bones—I thought, here is someone worthy and capable of softening his heart.”

Remembering Will’s rules, Lydia dropped her gaze and did not return the squeeze, as if by just being in the Dowager’s presence, she was defying her husband’s wishes. And she refused to be the one who broke a rule first, not when so much was resting on her own rule.

The Dowager sighed. “He has told you unkind things about me. He has told you not to speak with me.”

It was not a question.

Lydia chewed on her lower lip. “He did not say that, Your Grace.”

He just said I could not listen to you and should write to him if you bothered me.

But she was not bothered, and she would not be rude if she did not have to be. Besides, she assumed Will had meant that she could not listen as incould not heedany advice or tales that his mother might tell, not that she could not listen to her speak.

“Mary, please,” the Dowager insisted.

Lydia gave a small nod.

“Wherearemy sons today?” Mary asked. “I had thought I would at least find Willie with you.”

Willie?

That must have been one of the abbreviations he had said he could not abide, though why there was such ill feeling between mother and eldest son remained a mystery.

“I do not know where Anthony went,” Lydia replied, “but Will has gone to London to reside at the townhouse for a short while. He left not long after breakfast.”

Mary gasped, shaking her head vigorously. She was not the only one to be shocked, as worried looks flashed across the faces of Emma, Marina, and Nancy. Lydia could almost see what they were thinking—her husband did not come to her chambers last night, and he had abandoned her the day after the wedding.

It did not look good from an outside perspective.

The Dowager said as much. “Oh dear, that is not good! Not good at all.” She pursed her lips. “My darling girl, you must ensure that your husband isobsessedwith you. That he cannot live a moment without you and may die if he has to. You cannot allow for any prolonged distance, or it will grow in more ways than the physical.”

“Absence is no indication of disinterest or failure,” Emma interjected. “If the Duke has ventured to London for a short while, at such a time as this, I am certain he had an excellent reason.” She glanced at Lydia for an explanation, and Lydia flashed back a look that she hoped relayed the message.I will tell you later.

Mary, however, waved Emma’s words away. “I mean no offense, but I have had many more years to understand men better than most. These first weeks are crucial.” She returned her attention to Lydia. “My dear girl, you are a beauty, make no mistake, but a duchess must be otherworldly in her beauty. She must be a creature that all men desire but cannot have—at least, that is what they must think.”

It was Lydia’s turn to be red-cheeked with shock, for she could not imagine her own mother saying such things.

“Save your blushes, sweetling,” Mary said, chuckling. “When are you journeying to London to reunite with my son? Do not tell me you are planning to wait for his return, for that will not do at all.”

Lydia fidgeted awkwardly, remembering something Will said before he left, letting it swell into an idea. “I had planned to meet him at the opera four days from now.”

That would be long enough for him to think he had not been followed and long enough for her to learn about what needed to be done to get him to break her rule first.

Mary nodded, pleased. “Then we have four days to turn you into the breathtaking, rare bird that I know you can be.”

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