Page 13 of The Unwanted Duchess

It was simply his instinct to disagree with his brother.

“Brother, you should be thanking me,” Nicholas sighed, “not that you have ever done that for anyone. I am doing you a favor.”

“You are doing anything but that, and I think you know that.”

“Very well, it is perhaps more so for my own benefit, but I have your interests in mind too. I am doing this for our family. I know that has never been a priority of yours, but then you never truly were a part of the family, were you?”

“Stop talking,” he ordered. “I do not wish to hear another word from you. Is that clear?”

“If you insist, but it is certainly something you would want to know about in advance, believe me.”

“Then out with it.”

“I cannot possibly say, for I am following the orders of a duke. For now, at least.”

“Truly, I never thought you had it in you to bethisunderhanded.”

“You and I both know that is not true. Besides, what is a party without a little entertainment?”

Nicholas left Graham there, and he watched after him. Had it been a few mere years prior, he might have at last engaged in family tradition and used physical force to draw a confession from him, but it was not his way.

It had never been his way.

CHAPTER 5

Trusting someone was one thing, but trusting a duke that had outright stated he could not stand her was something that Samantha did not know that she could do.

It was not as though she had much of a choice, of course. The Duke had given her his word, and she had thanked him, whether she thought he was capable of fixing everything or not. She had then returned to the house and been given some strange concoction that she had not dared ask for the contents of and was sitting in the parlor room, feeling the pain subside at last.

“Lady Samantha!” a familiarly bright voice came. “How are you this morning? You disappeared rather suddenly.”

“I felt rather unwell,” she replied meekly. “I am far better now, though.”

She studied the lady in front of her. She knew that she recognized her, but she could not for the life of her remember why that was.

“You do not know who I am, do you?” she asked. “It is no bother, truly. You seemed out of sorts last night, and so I assumed this would happen. I am Lady Penelope Ipson.”

“Lord Drowshire’s cousin,” Samantha nodded at last. “Yes, the Duke spoke of you.”

“And you and I spoke quite at length,” she laughed, “but it is no matter now. I am glad you are feeling better, especially if you have been speaking with the Duke. He can be quite… prickly.”

And then some, Samantha thought.

“I apologize for forgetting,” she sighed. “There has been so much happening that I am at quite the loss.”

“It can feel that way around all of us, but I assure you that you will adapt. Now, what else did the Duke say about me?”

Samantha shifted in her seat. It was supposed to be unladylike to gossip, but she also knew it was the job of a lady to do it and to do it well. Then again, the Duke was helping her, and so it was not fair to him, was it?

“You do not wish to answer,” Lady Penelope giggled. “It must have been terrible.”

“Not at all! No, he simply said that you are a lot like me.”

“Ah, are you also a spinster of four and thirty with no desire to change her situation?”

“I am a lady of twenty with a strong desire to change my situation,” she corrected her, “though not in the way that everyone believes me to. I do not wish to marry at all, yet it is the first thing that everyone expects.”

“I do not,” she shrugged. “I think you are quite the capable young lady, and if you wished to make your own way, then you certainly could.”

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