Page 96 of His Accidental Duchess

Anna bit her lip and said nothing.

After a moment, Octavia spoke again. “Has he… has he been… been cruelto you, Anna? Has he hurt you?”

Anna heard the anxiety in her mother’s voice. She closed her eyes and shook her head. “No, Mama. He’s a gentleman.”

“Are you sure? You would tell me if… if you were being hurt?”

“I am not being hurt. I just… Oh, I don’t know how I found myself in this situation.”

“Well, I do,” Octavia said, all business-like now that she knew her daughter was physically unharmed, at least. “You allowed yourself to be swept up in the romance, in the novelty of being a duke’s wife. That is all fine and well if you married for love, but as I said before, the Duke was clear, was he not? A marriage of convenience, not of affection. That’s not to say you can’tfeelsome affection for him as time goes on.”

Anna sniffled, reaching for a handkerchief. “I don’t feel very affectionate towards him now. Oh, Mama, what am I going to do?”

Octavia shuffled closer, putting an arm around her daughter’s shoulders. “Here is what I think you should do. Now, I can’t force you to do anything… you’re a duchess, after all. But here is what I would do if I were you. Firstly, go back to your husband.”

Anna sucked in a breath, but Octavia pressed on.

“No, I mean it. Go home and start afresh. Stick to his rules. Be as aloof as you must until you have put enough distance between the two of you to bear his presence with composure. Such feelings are… well, they are not incurable.”

Anna stared down at her hands, loosely knotted together in her lap. “I might be with child.”

Octavia’s expression hardened. “I see.”

“It’s far too soon to know, of course, but it is possible. He wants a boy. That was what we agreed on.”

“Well, I think he will find that neither a mother nor father can control the sex of their baby. Your father and I would have liked a boy, too, but three girls were what the Good Lord saw fit to give us, and we were grateful for such a gift.”

“If I have a boy,” Anna continued, sniffling, “he said that we can go our separate ways and live our own lives. Absolute freedom, he said. I suppose I ought to look forward to that.”

Octavia eyed her daughter for a long moment, her face unreadable. At last, she let out a long, slow sigh.

“Oh, my poor little girl. What am I going to do with you and your broken heart?”

She pulled her daughter towards her, and Anna rested her head on her mother’s shoulder, closing her eyes. Octavia put her arms around her, murmuring softly under her breath and rocking her to and fro, just as she had when Anna was a little girl.

“I just wanted to come home, Mama,” Anna said, her voice breaking. “I know it’s childish…”

“Wanting one’s mama is never childish, my darling girl. Now…” Octavia leaned back, pressing a kiss to the top of Anna’s head.“Now, we can’t cry away the afternoon. Here is what I suggest. I shall go out and fetch Daphne and Emily from their walk, as they might be gone for hours otherwise. I shall tell them you are here, and we will discuss this matter as a family. While I’m gone, you can whip up some refreshments in the parlor—the upstairs one, I still can’t bring myself to use the downstairs one—and we will have a good, long talk about it when the girls and I get back. What do you say?”

“It sounds nice,” Anna said, feeling a little bit better.

She blew her nose vigorously into a handkerchief, feeling more like a grown woman—aduchess—than a tearful, broken-hearted girl. She hadn’t seen her sisters since she had arrived, and she found herself longing to see them.

If only Kitty could have sisters, then she’d know how wonderful it can be.

“Good!” Octavia bounced to her feet, ruffling Anna’s hair. “It’s decided, then.”

A few moments later, Anna emerged from her bedroom. She felt oddly shaky, a little drained, but perhaps her mother was right. Perhaps a little clear thinking was all she needed.

Could I do it? Could I go back after leaving so dramatically? If I’m not with child, then I suppose I might have to. We need an heir, after all. And if I want to be free from him…

Anna froze, halfway across the room, her hand already outstretched toward the bell pull.

I don’t want to be free from him. Not now, not ever.

She closed her eyes. Well, that complicated things. She wasn’t a fool, of course. It was fairly clear that she was falling in love with the wretched man, despite the fact that it was a bad idea. Such things could be reversed, though, could they not?

But apparently, this new feeling informed her that it was far too late for a reversal.

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