Page 27 of Her Seven Nights with the Duke

“Good morning, Mother,” he said, going over to kiss her on the cheek.

Their relationship had never been like a proper mother-and-son relationship. There had always been a strain that he’d noticed from the moment he could understand things. His mother had never been able to accept the reality of her arranged marriage, although she’d found a way to have a respectful relationship with the former Duke.

Samuel had suffered as a result of this forced marriage. He wasn’t close to either parent and had never known love from either of them—not that he had ever expected them to love him.

Although his mother hadn’t treated him like his father did, she had always preferred to pretend like he didn’t exist, putting a wall between them that a younger Samuel had tried on multiple occasions to scale through before he finally realized that she had chosen it herself and there was nothing he could do, unless she chose to let it down. Now, he was merely polite to her.

“Do you, by any chance, have plans today?” she asked him, her voice calm and commanding, as it usually was.

Samuel looked at the young lady. She was a tiny slip of a woman. Her blonde hair and blue eyes, coupled with her height, gave her an air of innocence. He was certain it was part of the reason his mother had chosen her. Or maybe it had more to do with the fact that he had escaped every single matchmaking attempt she’d tried and this was her next best option.

He could not deny that she was a beautiful woman. However, it was of no concern to him. this was certainly another trap that he didn’t intend to be lured into.

“Yes, I was supposed to spend some time with Benedict today. There is business we have to discuss,” he said, hoping it would be enough to dissuade his mother from whatever notions she had set in her head.

“Oh, I would hate to disrupt your plans, but couldn’t you suffer a few moments to spend with your old mother?” she asked him, her eyes fixed in his direction.

“I don’t remember us ever doing something like that before,” Samuel said in a matter-of-fact tone.

The Dowager Duchess’s head reared backward, taken aback. She lookedstared at the lady beside her, who was doing her best to pretend she wasn’t there and hadn’t heard what was said.

Samuel held back a grimace as his mother’s cheeks flushed in embarrassment. He hadn’t meant to embarrass her. He merely spoke the truth. She was asking him to spend time with her now, but at the time it would have mattered more, when he was younger and in need of her time and affection, she had withheld it from him.

She had let his father do to him whatever he pleased, turning a blind eye to all of it.

He was neither vindictive nor angry at her for it. He merely couldn’t fathom how the conversation between them would go if he decided to stay, and he was in no mood to sit in awkward silence.

“Well, we could start now.” Her voice was small as she uttered her suggestion.

Samuel looked at her. This time, he was the one taken aback. Not even after his father’s death had she tried to get to know him as a mother would her son. She only ever sought him out when there was something she needed to be done.

She must be desperate to see me married.

His mother would never be so willing to suffer through this for any other cause. It amused him more than it bugged him, although there was the old sting that had remained with him as a child. The one weakness he tried to get rid of and yet hadn’t been able to fully let go of.

“Mother, I really do not think now is a good time for this,” he insisted, taking a step back as he prepared to leave the sunroom.

“Perhaps you could join us for some tea, Your Grace,” the young lady said, daring to speak to him.

Samuel stared at her with raised eyebrows, It was the first time one of the ladies that his mother had tried to introduce to him had ever spoken up. The others had played coy, turning their gazes to the floor or merely batting their eyelashes at him whenever he looked in their direction.

Well, this one is quite brave.

“Apologies. I do not believe I have spoken to you,” he said, staring straight into her eyes.

She blushed and looked away, setting her teacup on the table as her smile fell. She chanced a glance at him again. The light in her eyes had dulled, her face losing the air of innocence he’d first noticed about her.

How terrible.

“I’m sorry, Your Grace.” She stood up and curtseyed. “My name is Lady Marina, Your Grace.”

Samuel grunted. “I see.”

His mother took a sip of her tea, her face stuck in a stoic expression. She would not interfere. Not after what he had said to her.

“As you are my mother’s guest, I will leave you to your tea,” he said, turning to leave once again when he was suddenly stopped by his mother. He truly hadn’t expected her to speak another word to him.

“Samuel, don’t be like this,” she said, in what appeared to be a pleading look.

---