Page 69 of The Unwanted Duchess

“But did you not both agree to maintain a friendship and nothing more? I believe he is conflicted because you have both made it quite clear that neither of you shall ever want anything more, and now…”

And now, Samantha couldn’t help but think that she did.

“He is a good friend, at least,” Samantha observed. “Although I do not think that friends act the way that he does.”

“What does he do?”

But Samantha did not know how to explain it any further. All of the slightest things he had done to make her feel that way seemed too small to have any meaning, and so she didn’t wish to say them.

“I cannot explain it, but something has changed of late, and I do not know how to feel.”

“As your sister, I know you very well. Would you agree with that?”

“Of course. Sometimes I think that you know me better than I know myself.”

“Then I want you to listen to me very carefully. Trust him.”

“But I —”

“Samantha, you need to listen to me. Trust him, and all will be well. I promise you that he has your best interests at heart, and if that means you have to wait a short while for his intentions to be clear, then so be it, but know that they are good.”

Samantha wondered how her sister could possibly know that, but she had to admit that it was a talent that she had always possessed. Reluctantly, she nodded and forced a faint smile to show that she was at least willing.

“Wonderful,” Diana smiled, “now, might we discuss these curtains?”

“Oh, do not start,” she huffed. “I am reminded of them each and every time I enter the room. I have everything ready to change this room, but I have been rather reluctant to do so.”

“Why? The drawing room should be the priority. After all, it is where you host your guests, such as me, and they are bound to comment on it or at least think about it.”

“Which is why my wonderful sister that never passes judgment over me has been my first guest here although she may be my last for a while.”

“Nonsense, you are far too good a host to waste away because you do not want to redecorate.”

“I do! I am very much wanting to do this, but the Duke… This is the only room he seems to like at all. He told me he spent a lotof time with his mother in here, and she passed away when he was a boy, and I do not want to change it so drastically that it no longer feels like she has been in the room before.”

Diana sighed in thought, placing the curtains between her fingertips and playing with them again.

“What color did you choose for these?”

“Powder blue. It was his mother’s favorite.”

At that, Diana smiled.

“So you have chosen things that his mother would have loved?”

“Yes. The housekeeper and I decided on it all together. She knew the late Duchess well.”

“Then you and I have some work to do today.”

“Diana, no. You are my guest, not to mention a duchess. It is not right that I put you to work when you visit me.”

“What is not right is that you insist on forcing me to languish in here when we could make it so much prettier. Not only that, but it would be a wonderful surprise for your husband, would it not?”

“Well, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to try.”

“Wonderful. We can do it right now.”

Mary was quickly summoned, and the three of them began working. Mary gave Diana a look of surprise, but she seemed to understand soon enough that they had been raised in the same manner, and so the work ethic that Samantha had was also instilled in her older sister.

---