Page 59 of Married to the Cruel Duke

She shook her head.

“It was all William’s idea. I would never have even let myself consider it on my own. I’ve lost so many people it seems almost selfish to bring anyone else into this, but he knew how important it is to me to keep my family line going. He played on that to talk me into allowing him to search for a wife on my behalf.”

“How did it go, if you don’t mind me asking.”

“I wouldn’t know. He didn’t say a word to me about it after that until he found you.”

“Oh,” she could hardly hide her surprise.

“It’s true, but I don’t imagen it went well.”

“What makes you say that.”

“Because the time between when he initially asked and he told me about you was so long I had almost forgotten the conversation had happened at all.”

“It could have just taken a while for them to hammer out the details of it all.”

He let out a half laugh. “Somehow I doubt that. I won’t lie, I was rather surprised he was able to find anyone willing. I know what is said about me. Any reasonable family would have been terrified to marry their daughter to me.”

Rebecca looked away. “Forgive me. That came out wrong.”

“We have been walking for quite sometime. Perhaps it is time we stop to eat.”

“Of course. If you like. There should be a nice clearing just up ahead. It should be the perfect place for us to take a rest.”

Sure enough, only a short walk later, they found themselves standing in a large clearing. William walked a short way ahead of her and started to set up their picnic.

The more she saw him pull out of the basket the wider Rebecca’s eyes grew.

“Were you just caring all of that our entire walk?”

“Obviously,” he laugh. “It didn't magically appear when we arrived at our chosen spot. It had to come from somewhere.”

“Still, it’s all so heavy. It couldn’t have been easy to carry all that.”

“It wasn’t that bad. Besides, now we have a nice change of scenery for lunch today.”

“I suppose that is true, but it feel rather unfair to have you do all of the work.”

“If it bothers you that much you can always carry the basket on the way home.”

She winced. “That wasn’t quite what I had in mind.”

“If you don’t want to be the one to carry it then keep your thoughts to yourself.”

She looked away “I didn’t mean anything by it. I’m sorry.”

“No, I’, sorry. That was supposed to be a joke, but clearly it wan’t a very good one.”

“No, I’m sure it was fine. I tend to take these things a bit more personally than I should.”

“That might be true, but if you aren’t laughing then I don’t consider it a good joke.”

She flushed, looking away. “There you go again, being so very kind to me. I’m hardly worth all the trouble.”

“I think you are, so let me be as kind to you as I like, all right?”

“If you insist, who am I to argue?”

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