Page 48 of A Duchess Disciplined

“Yes,” Catherine said.

William cleared his throat. “Indeed,” he said. “Lords have many interests and admire…many things about women. As long as you both grow into proper ladies, I do not imagine you will encounter difficulty in finding respectable husbands.”

Catherine nodded.

Privately, she did not know if the girlswouldso easily find husbands, but she did not wish to destroy their hopes. Besides, they might very well be proper ladies. Who was she to assume that they would not? Once, she would have thought it impossible forherto find a respectable husband, but she had.

Well, given a certain definition ofrespectable. Catherine was unable to deny that her husband did not entirely fit that definition, given some of his behavior.

The carriage jolted into movement, its wheels clattering against the smooth, well-worn road. Catherine turned her own gaze towards the window, watching as the countryside swept her by. An ache twisted in her chest, a knot of longing for her brother and sisters. When would she see them again?

She knew she couldaskto visit them, but Catherine was also aware that young ladies were expected to spend a certain amount of time with their husbands, adjusting to new households. She could not simply request to return to her family whenever she wanted. It would be improper, even for her.

“How did you meet?” Hannah asked. “Was it at a ball?”

Ah, so he has not told them this part,thought Catherine.

William cleared his throat. “That was not when we decided to wed, but we had met one another before at balls.”

“Did you dance?” Hannah asked.

“No,” William replied, his sharp gaze flitting towards Catherine.

“Did you ever see me and want to dance?” Catherine asked, genuinely curious.

She could not even recall much about him before their marriage. Catherine supposed that she must have seen him once or twice at a ball, but they had never spoken. They had never even exchanged a glance.

“I have not thought much of dancing in recent years,” William replied.

No, she supposed he had not. That was unsurprising given that he seemed to devote nearly every waking moment to the paperwork in his study.

“Now that I know you, I suppose I wish that I had,” William said. “Our wedding was quite sudden. It would have been…less so if we had danced and conversed beforehand.”

Catherine nodded. She tried to imagine it. What would she have felt if she—the perpetual wallflower because everyone knew she was not a proper lady—was asked to dance by this cold and proper duke? It was unfathomable.

“Perhaps,” she said.

She did not want to diminish the girls’ hopes for a happy marriage. Catherine clasped her hands together to keep from fidgeting. She ought to ask William precisely what he had told them. Catherine knew only a vague sketch, that he had told Hester and Hannah she was to be their guardian and to teach them to be proper ladies. What else had he said, though? Had he claimed that there was love between them?

The carriage rattled along, and Catherine fell silent.

“I am glad that you were able to join us, Your Grace,” said Hannah. “I know that you are always so busy.”

William grunted in response. “I am. And I shall have much to do when we return home. Do not anticipate seeing me for dinner.”

“He had no plans to join us anyway,” Catherine said, seeing how Hannah’s face fell. “Do not let him make you feel guilty. He would have remained working late into the night, regardless of what any of us might have said or done.”

William fixed her with a stern look, and Catherine raised an eyebrow, suspecting that he wanted to disagree with her. However, he did not. Instead, the duke merely offered a small nod of his head, as if conceding the point.

“I am glad, too,” Hester said.

Catherine glanced at William, searching his face for any reaction to his sisters’ words. If he found their gratitude to be heartwarming, he did not show it. He was such a strange man! Would nothing move him? Catherine could not decide if his heart was made of stone or if he was merely a man who insisted upon building a stony façade in every aspect of his life.

She remembered bending over the loveseat and the attentions that he had given her. On their wedding night, he had not seemed like a man incapable of emotions. On the contrary, she had found him passionate and full of fire. Would she ever see that man again? Catherine had fantasized about him many times since their wedding night, but he had never reappeared.

“We are nearly here,” William said.

Indeed, she could see more carriages and elegantly dressed couples mingling about by the road. At long last, the carriage halted. Catherine reflexively adjusted her skirts, although she knew they would inevitably be disturbed when she left the carriage.

---