Page 21 of A Bride for the Rakish Duke

Lydia laughed. “Be careful what you wish for.”

At the landing, she paused and glanced left and right, searching for any sign of a maid. There was a young woman half asleep in a chair about halfway down the left-hand hallway, who looked promising.

Lydia approached cautiously, not wanting to frighten the woman. “Excuse me?”

The woman jolted out of her dozing, wide-eyed. “Goodness, Your Grace! I’m so very sorry. I didn’t mean to fall asleep, but I thought it’d be hours until you retired for the night.” She bobbed a clumsy curtsy. “It’s no excuse, I know, but it gets so dark and warm in these hallways. I was drifting off before I could stop myself!”

Lydia liked her immediately. “No need to apologize. It happens to us all. Why, if I had stayed down there much longer, I thinkIwould be asleep in the middle of the ballroom.”

“There’s nothing as good for the soul as a good rest, Your Grace.” The woman opened the door next to her. “These will be your chambers if they’re to your liking. If not, we’ll find another for you.”

Lydia stepped forward, admiring the airy room beyond with beautiful bay windows and a ceiling that had been entirely painted with a frieze of cherubs and clouds. A writing desk was positioned by the middle window while bookshelves adorned the wall to her left, and the four-poster bed looked inviting enough that she reallydidfeel sleepy.

“May I offer you my congratulations, Your Grace,” the maid said, ushering Lydia inside. “Truly, you’re very lucky to be married to such an honorable man. And you’re a charming lady, too, so that’s twice the luck.”

Lydia had to stop and look at the maid to see if she was quite serious. The young woman’s expression seemed utterly sincere, her smile wide and genuine, her eyes warm with admiration.

Honorable is not the word I would use.

As if instructed, Lydia’s mind conjured forth the memory of that secret, teasing kiss in the library, her lips burning as if she were experiencing it again. The image whirled into a dance, his arm almost encircling her waist, his fingers intertwined with hers, his thigh pushing against hers so insistently, his foot grazing her ankle.

She resisted the urge to laugh. “I have yet to discover his honor, but it has been a pleasant enough day.”

“Oh, Your Grace, I promise you, you are lucky indeed,” the maid insisted. “Not a week ago, he sent for a physician to help my sister. She’d been having some trouble laboring, and the physician had to do all sorts of things to save her and the baby. Paid for all of it—His Grace did, I mean. Not many dukes would do that for their servants, let me tell you.”

Surprised, Lydia turned to glance at the door, as if she might find William standing there. If he had been anyone else, she might have suspected that he had commanded the maid to say nicethings, but William was not the sort of man who would do that. She knew that much.

“That is all true?” she had to ask.

The maid nodded eagerly. “Oh yes, Your Grace. It isn’t the first time either. You just ask Jenny Hen. She’s got stories for days about his good deeds.”

Lydia had no idea whoJenny Henmight be, but she planned to find out.

Maybe William was not as bad as he seemed.

“Now, would you like a bath drawn?” the maid asked. “I’ve put away most of your belongings, so I can choose a nightdress for you, or you can choose your own. You tell me how you want things done, and I’ll do it.”

Lydia cleared her dry throat. “A bath would be lovely, and… uh… I will leave you to choose a nightdress.”

“Very good, Your Grace.” The maid wandered over to a door, just to the right of the bed. “This is your adjoining door. His Grace’s chamber is the room beyond. I took the liberty of unlocking it, and the key is on the writing desk.”

All the enthusiasm drained out of Lydia as she heard that, her eyes fixed on the adjoining door.

“I’ll have that bath drawn for you now, Your Grace,” the maid blustered on, oblivious. “You settle in while I get on with it. I’ll bring up some supper for you too if you’d like? You haven’t eaten since this afternoon, I expect.”

Lydia nodded out of habit, feeling a sudden tremor of fear as the maid hurried out of the room to complete her tasks.

Indeed, amid all the bustle of the day, she had quite forgotten about what came after—the wedding night.

CHAPTER 9

Bathed and attired in the nightdress that her maid, Beth, had chosen for her, Lydia had done everything to try and keep the maid in the room with her. She had asked Beth to stay while she ate her supper, she had asked if she might read aloud to her, she had asked to go through all of her belongings to select a dress for tomorrow, and the poor girl had obeyed at every turn, stifling yawns.

She is going to think I am quite mad.

Lydia would have laughed at her own antics if her nerves had permitted it.

“I have kept you too long, have I not?” she asked apologetically.

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