Page 9 of His Abandoned Duchess

Regarding them all, Amelia lowered her voice, doing her best to ensure that the maids posted against the wall could not hear their conversation.

“I intend to show the Duke that residing with Amelia can be quite the chore. Adjusting the way I take care of the house will prove too much of an annoyance for him to push the issue further. When he sees that the home runs quite well and that I am perhaps…eccentric, my husband with abscond to the countryside with haste.”

Selina scoffed, laughing under her breath. “To be quite honest, dear, I cannot believe that it will take much to convince the Duke that you are adifficultwoman to live with.”

Frowning at her, Amelia narrowed her eyes on Selina, who flinched back before adding to her statement.

“I only mean that you have lived alone without the need to accommodate a husband. That alone will cause friction. Trust me. When I first began my life with my late husband, it was quite the change from my previous day-to-day life. Small habits and the like can prove exceedingly challenging to put aside.”

Her friend had a point. Amelia wasn’t used to living with anyone. She’d long heard that learning to live in a house as a couple could put quite the strain on any relationship, let alone one that had been so fraught with tension and distrust right from the beginning.

“I see your meaning, Selina,” Amelia chewed out, doing her best to maintain her manners even though Selina was constantly testing them. “And yes, that was precisely what I was thinking. Demonstrating how I am accustomed to doing things, putting more fervor behind some of the more irritating habits, could very well drive the man back to Blackford.”

“What do you intend on doing?” Ethel set her teacup down, along with the book that she’d been idly reading while the others gossiped.

With a grin, Amelia took another sip of her own beverage, feeling sly in her clever thinking.

“The first thought was to make a terrible racket during the night. I could blame night terrors and discomfort on my need to moan and wander about the halls.”

“Oh, that is clever. Perhaps you could also tend to his clothing with too hot an iron or purchase new bouquets that are sure to make the Duke sneeze?”

“Well done, Charlotte. Those are excellent suggestions. If I recall from our wedding, the Duke is quite affected by lavender. It would be no task at all to add it to the washing and don the halls with several bundles.”

The room warmed with their laughter, and even Ethel grinned at the thought of making the Duke sneeze until he had to go lie down for the evening. Selina had finished her tea when she spoke up with her own suggestions as well.

“You could throw another of your famous drums since the Duke seems fit to loathe them. And invite several to join you at home as your husband is likely accustomed to the quiet of the country.”

Amelia nodded emphatically. “Selina, you do have quite the mind for this sort of thing. Remind us all to remain in your good graces.”

Her friend smiled back at her, and Charlotte leaned into the center of the small conversation circle they had all formed.

“Why wait? Is the Duke not studying just next door? Perhaps a little game would pass the time well since it is so dreadful outside.”

It was exceedingly foul weather, a storm drenching the streets in the rain as thunder rumbled overhead. Amelia cast a wicked glance over her shoulder at the wall where a fire warmed the room. Richard was just on the other side of it, looking over the ledgers apparently. There was nothing to find in them that hadn’t been double and triple-checked by her already, and her husband wasn’t going to find anything of actual concern.

Five years of running this estate had gone by as smoothly as one might expect. Amelia knew that should her accounts or decisions cause genuine concern for the estate, the Duke would have returned much sooner. But she had never been in overdraft at the bank, even as it was regularly common, and her credit expenses were all in line with what the estate could afford to pay back.

“An excellent idea, Charlotte. He is presently looking over my receipts. I am certain he would not appreciate a distraction.”

The young woman smiled; her sweet, rosy cheeks and lovely teal eyes filled with excitement. “A game of Blind Man’s Bluff, perhaps?”

Amelia was quick to nod and stand up from her seat on the settee. “Perfect choice, dear. Do close the curtains so that we can darken the space. I shall be it.”

The others readily joined Charlotte in closing the curtains and readying the space for the game by moving the furniture to the walls. Though Magnus grumbled incessantly during the entire affair. He took up a spot near Isaac, his stern countenance as humorless as ever.

“Be at ease, Magnus,” Ethel jabbed, playfully shoving her book toward him. “If you have need of it, you may always borrow the tome for better entertainment. Surely something must be done if you are to avoid making the crease between your brows permanent.”

He glared at her, roughly seizing the book that nudged at his ribs and setting it down on the small table that sat beneath the window. Ethel did her best to hide her grin behind her hand while Magnus turned back to Amelia.

“Shall we begin this little game of yours then?”

Amelia grinned, closing her eyes and turning around a few times to keep herself from remembering her friends’ location. In just a few short moments, Amelia began to stumble around the room, running into furniture as her friends laughed.

“I shall find at least one of you!” Amelia giggled, totally at a loss for where she was in the room and walking solidly into the edge of the couch.

The carved wood collided with the bone at the front of her leg, and she immediately stopped, reaching down to rub the growing bruise.

“Oof! Not a minute, and she has landed herself into the settee.” Charlotte laughed, and Amelia spun around, hearing her friend’s voice from the other side of the room.

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