Page 63 of The Duke and the Accidental Bride

“Do, girl?” she said as if she thought Isabella stupid. “What is it that you do. Your interests? Your hobbies? All ladies should have a hobby.”

“Oh.” She blinked nervously, feeling herself grow warm with anxiety. The question was an easy one to answer, but she was not so certain that she should. Certainly, Lady Martell would not like it. And she was sure her husband would not.

However, how could she possibly know that? Knowing so little about him. Again, that desire to do something about the shallowness of this relationship reared its head and this time, Isabella took a chance.

“I enjoy studying,” she said with certainty as she picked up her cup of wine and took a sip.

“Studying?” Lady Martell barked. “Studying what? What do you mean?”

Isabella shrugged. “Many things. Truthfully, I enjoy learning.”

“Really?” Duncan frowned, while also sounding impressed. At the very least, intrigued.

“The sciences are my favorite,” she continued, taking confidence from the look Duncan wore as he looked at her with interest. “Etymology and Ornithology are the two which I find...” she blushed furiously, the ridiculousness of her words suddenly hitting her. “Find most fascinating,” she finished weakly.

“Really?” Duncan looked as if he could not believe it. “Studying? You enjoy sitting in your room, reading books all day? About bugs and birds?”

A slight flair of anger. “I am surprised that you know what etymology and ornithology are.”

Surprisingly, Duncan laughed, and his smile was apologetic. “I was not trying to tease, I promise. I was just surprised, that is all. It is not often that a lady devotes her time to study and expanding her mind.”

She shrugged. “I am not any other lady.”

“No...” His smile reached his eyes as he looked at her. “You certainly are not.”

“Study?” Lady Martell barked at them. “A waste of time, I say. Have you considered learning the pianoforte!”

Isabella ignored Lady Martell this time, as did Duncan. It was a small moment. Fleeting in how quickly it came and then left. But Duncan had complimented her for the third time this evening and this time, Isabella was certain it was genuine.

It made her think about those earlier compliments.Could those have been genuine too?And if they were, what did that mean? Was it possible that Duncan was beginning to have similar thoughts as Isabella?

A smile was shared between the two and despite all that the two had done and shared in this past week, it was that moment right then when Isabella felt as close to her husband as she ever had.

Chapter Twenty-One

The idea came to Duncan as he and Isabella rode home from having lunch with his grandmother. He couldn’t say why the idea had suddenly come to mind, or why the thought excited him as much as it did. What he should have been thinking about instead were the carnal pleasures that he and Isabella were sure to engage in once they returned. But those imaginings failed to take hold as his mind continually drifted back to his original idea.

“There’s something I want to show you,” Duncan explained as he led Isabella through the foyer and toward the back of the manor.

“What is it?” He could hear the nervousness in her voice.

“It’s a surprise,” Duncan said, his grin spreading as he continued to lead her. He made sure to walk behind, one hand placed on the small of her back as they walked through the halls.

“A surprise I will like?”

He chuckled. “Make sure you let me know, won’t you?”

Dinner with his grandmother had gone rather well. It was, Duncan had realized, one of the first times that he and Isabella had engaged in a real conversation and that he had learned something personal about her which he sensed that she had felt nervous to reveal.

She shouldn’t have. The fact that she enjoyed studying and learning wasn’t at all the scandal that she seemed to think it might be. If anything, it had impressed Duncan, as it was so unlike most of the ladies whom he had met throughout his life. Much like their sex life and her equally as perverse kinks, it was yet another side to Isabella that made her uniquely different.

It was this reveal that had Duncan thinking.

These past two weeks had been darn near perfect and if he was to do it all again there was nothing he would change. But it could not last.So far, they had done well to ignore everything outside of their sexual desires, leaving huge gaps in their understanding of one another that would very likely lead to trouble.

My grandmother accidentally revealing my past to Isabella is a perfect example of that. A story that I would have preferred to have told Isabella in my own time. If at all.

As the days went by and as he and Isabella spent more time together, the disparity that existed between them became more noticeable.

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