Page 62 of His Runaway Duchess

Daphne took a moment to orient herself. Edward’s room was very different from her own. It was, to her surprise, smaller, and much cozier. The fire crackled and snapped, and there were hardly more candles than there had been in her room when she left. The bed was made, piled with blankets and a long, soft-looking fur over the bottom. A single chair was angled towards the fire, and Edward had clearly been sitting in it before she arrived. A half-drunk glass of brandy sat on a low table beside the chair.

“What are you doing, Daphne?” Edward said, recovering. He was still standing in the doorway, blinking at her. “I was just about to go to sleep.”

“I, too, would like to go to sleep,” she answered grandly. “But I was waiting for you.”

She wanted to sit down, but there was only one armchair, and that clearly belonged to him. Sitting on the edge of the bed was a step too far, she thought.

He raised an eyebrow and closed the door with aslam.

“Oh? And why was that, dearest?”

She rolled her eyes. “It is ourwedding night,Edward. We must… you know.”

“No,” he answered, not quite able to keep the amusement from his voice. “I don’t know. Do enlighten me, won’t you? What do you expect from me tonight? Here I thought I had beenveryclear about the sort of marriage we would have. You agreed to those terms. A verbal agreement is binding, you know.”

“Only if it can be proved.”

“You deny it, then?”

She sighed, setting down the candle on the table beside the brandy and pulling her robe a little tighter around herself.

“I am concerned, Edward, about legal issues.”

He stared at her for a long moment. The silence was absolute.

“Legal issues?” he echoed.

She pursed her lips. The conversation had gone very differently in her mind. Still, there was nothing to be done about that now.

“If our marriage is not… well, notconsummated, might it not be invalid?”

Edward folded his arms across his broad chest, leaning back against the closed door.

“That sort of thing,” he said carefully, “is not easy to prove. We aren’t required to flap our used sheets about, showing them to all and sundry in the morning, you know. These are not medieval times, my dear.”

She flushed. “Well, even so. As I said, potential legal issues. It’s worth considering, is it not?”

He stared at her for a long moment. It infuriated her that she could not tell what he was thinking, but then it was likely that nobody could.

“You waited for me,” he said, “even after I told you that our marriage would be one of convenience and we would both retreat to our cold beds each night? I thought I was clear.”

She laced her fingers together, trying to appear as cool and composed as he was. She suspected it was not working.

“And I toldyouthat I wanted companionship, that I did not want to live my life alone.”

Edward took a moment before he spoke. “Then we are at an impasse, My Lady,” he said, his voice soft.

For some reason, this made her angry.

Daphne stomped forward until she was only a few inches away from him, tilting her head back to look him in the eye, breathing fire.

“Animpasse? What is that supposed to mean? I know you desire me, Edward. I know it, and you know that I feel the same. What stops us from being together? I’m not asking you to be a real husband to me. I am not asking for a family, or a sweet, romantic relationship. I don’t expect us to grow old together, sitting by the fire in companionable silence. I am only asking for… well, for this.”

She fell silent after her little speech, a little horrified at her audacity.

Am I really asking a man to bed me? With such fervor? Good heavens. Mama would have an apoplexy if she knew.

Anna would never let me live it down.

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