Page 62 of The Unwanted Duchess

“That is… an interesting choice.”

They were not Graham’s favorite. They were strangely large and small at the same time and too round to be considered dainty and floral as he believed a flower should be.

“I like that the flowers themselves are so very small, but together they make something bigger. It is like people, do you not think? On our own, we are these tiny little beings, but together, we make this great strongthing, and I cannot help but find beauty in that. I also enjoy saying the name of the plant in Latin.”

“And what might that be?”

“Hydrangea. It sounds nice, do you not think?”

“Hydrangea,” he said slowly, listening to it carefully.

And whilst he did not see as much beauty in it as his wife seemed to, he was glad that she did. It was as though each time she spoke, he could see more and more how well she would do if she were allowed to enter university. She was intelligent and passionate, and he wanted her to keep talking to him, about anything, if it meant that he could hear her more.

“I particularly like the pink ones,” she continued. “I do not even like pink all too much, but when they are with cornflowers, they make such a beautiful pair.”

“I see,” he replied, making a note in his mind to tell Davis the moment that he saw him.

“Now, enough about me,” she decided. “What are your plans for today?”

“I have been working on a few things, and now that I am almost at the end of the day, I can feel myself tiring. I almost wish to stop now, even though I cannot.”

“Well, I do not wish to keep you from it nor be an excuse.”

“You are most certainly not. If anything, my work has been distracting me from you, so much so that I did not even noticethe fact that the dining table has changed until my hip hit it after breakfast this morning.”

“Yes, Mary found a carpenter that had it with him, and she decided to have him bring it in the early hours. It is quite lovely, is it not?”

“A darn sight better than the drab one it has replaced.”

“And incredible quality. Now that I know he lives in our village, he shall have so much work to do that he will not know where to start!”

“Good, and pay him handsomely for it. At this rate, I shall be free of that awful amount of money I have.”

They fell silent, Graham thinking about just how much that sum of money would change another man’s life.

“Why do you hate your money so much?” she asked. “I know it is because it was your father’s, but do you not simply see it as good fortune?”

“It is not mine.”

“But it is. It is your right as the heir to inherit everything. That is what my father said about my half-brother, at least.”

“Yes, and he is not exactly a shining example of what a father should be, is he?”

She fell quiet, and instantly, he regretted saying it. He had not meant to hurt her feelings, of course, but he simply wished to challenge her father’s opinion every bit as much as he was challenging his own father’s.

“My apologies,” he said gently.

“No, there is none needed. I only wish to understand.”

“It is as I told you — my father was only ever interested in having the four of us loathe each other, and it worked. Now, I cannot say that I truly hate any of my brothers, even Nicholas in spite of what he did, but that does not mean that I wish to reward them for the years of spite that they had towards me.”

“And so you do not wish to share it with them?”

“I wanted to protect the money,” he explained. “My brothers were so busy with all of their schemes during their attempts to prove to our father that they were deserving of it that they squandered what they had. The more they had, the more they spent. I guarantee that Miss Norton believes my brother to be far better off than he truly is, but that is none of my concern.”

“So you did not share with them because they would not take care of it?”

“Precisely, and I would much rather give it to you to spend on our home so that you will have a household that you are happy with. You have as much right to it as I do, in spite of what my brothers want. I do not like having to do it, but it is how it has to be when you do not treat others well. I cannot reward them for it.”

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