Page 17 of His Accidental Duchess

“I sell myself so that my little sisters don’t have to endure the same fate,” she said quietly.

Her gaze aimed at the ground, she didn’t see whether the Duke’s expression changed or not.

“Very noble. However, since you will be a duchess, I’m sure you’ll find a way to console yourself. Now, there is more to discuss regarding the heir.”

She sighed, sitting back in the chair. “Tell me the worst.”

He eyed her for a long minute, his expression unreadable as always.

“Making and birthing children is, I understand, easier when one is younger. I propose that the two of us make all necessary efforts to produce an heir within the first year.”

“Agreed.”

“Once a son is born, your freedom will be absolute. You may take a hundred lovers if you like—only don’t present any bastards as mine, understand?”

She flinched at the tone of his voice. “What on earth… I would never do such a thing! What is wrong with you?”

He pressed his lips together. “Forgive me, but I needed to be clear. Furthering this point, I suggest that these…effortsbegin immediately. We are both healthy, as far as I can tell, and there is a fairly good chance that you conceive within the first month of our marriage.”

Anna shifted. She didn’t enjoy this line of conversation.

I’m not a broodmare, and you’re not a stallion, even though you clearly think you are.

There was something worse, though. It was impossible not to think of theactwhen the Duke talked like this, and she subsequently envisioned herself andhim…

Best not to allow those thoughts to take root. Anna firmly conjured up an image of a nice, warm cup of tea and focused on it.

“We must try our best,” she continued.

He kept eyeing her. Was there some reaction he was waiting for?

“I am a busy man,” he said shortly. “Since you are not to annoy me with chit-chat and your general presence—which you have assured me is most agreeable—and we are not to share a bed, there’s nothing for it but for me to summon you.”

There was silence.

“Summonme?” she managed.

“Yes. I shall not hurt you, and I shall not force myself on you, which is why your acquiescence is necessary now. At the end of the month, we shall wait to see whether you are expecting. If not, we will renegotiate these matters. Once you are with child, I will naturally leave you alone. When a son is born, I shall leave you alone forever. It’s a necessary evil, I assure you. So you must agree that, for the first month of our marriage, you will answer my summons whenever and wherever I send for you.”

There was more silence. Anna sat stock-still, thinking.

How has any of this happened? I came looking for Henry, for heaven’s sake!

She swallowed hard, thinking of the Earl of Downton again, the way he’d sprawled over their drawing room sofa.

The Duke, at least, looked better than the Earl. The Earl had never inspired anything besides disgust, certainly not this… this… Well, Anna did not know how to describe it. Her insides did a flip every time the Duke’s eyes met hers.

She kept remembering how good he smelled when he leaned close to her, how broad his shoulders were and how thick his chest seemed to be. He struck her as the sort of man who was muscular under his dainty Society suits.

It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, would it? Going to bed with a man like that?

Not a bed, actually. He said no beds, more or less. But then where?—

Stop it!

“Very well,” Anna heard herself say. “We have a deal.”

CHAPTER 5

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