Page 16 of A Duchess to Reclaim

Eleven Months Later

“It has been a while since we have spoken, Dominic,” Tristan stated. “How goes your new life as a husband?”

“I would not know,” Dominic replied, his tone dismissive as he signed his signature for the hundredth time in the last hour, “I have been traveling up until yesterday, I only just arrived back.”

While it was true that his trade ventures had taken him out of the country for several months, what he left out was that he had received constant updates from his staff regarding the status of his new wife. According to them, she seemed to be doing well. Mrs. Morbate wrote flattering words regarding Amelia accepting the duties as Duchess. That she and her friends hosted dignitaries and his associates with grace and a welcoming air. He also knew that the conversation he had with Felton before departing was well taken and understood, for her sisters remained on a dedicated schedule of visiting Amelia on the weekends without fail.

Dominic pulled the next contract from the pile as he sat at his desk in the office of his London home, and read over the contents. There was much to do since his return. Work to catch up on, new deals to make. Word had reached him that Seraphina’s estranged father, the Duke of Caldermere, had passed, and that a relative of his would be taking the title.

The former Duke had refused to do business with him; cutting him out of trade deals that would be most lucrative to his territory. With the new heir in place, he hoped to remedy that. He was about to make his one-hundred-and-first signature when the contract was pulled beneath him, forcing him to scratch a long, black line of ink down the paper and onto the top of his desk.

His eyes shot up in a warning glare at Tristan, and a low growl of displeasure rumbled in his chest.

“Do you mind? I am trying to work. I have missed much while away on business,” he grit out.

“I do not mind, actually,” Tristan retorted, looking completely unbothered by Dominic’s warning glare. “Are you telling me that you have not seen your wife for a year?”

“I fail to see how that isanybusiness of yours, Tristan,” Dominic stated, “She is well taken care of and that is all you need to know.”

“People are not pets or plants you just accrue and abandon, Dominic,” Tristan replied, his brows creasing. “Especiallywomen. They have needs, both physical and emotional!”

“And Amelia has the freedom to tend to those needs as desired as long as she uses discretion,” Dominic said as he rose to his feet and snatched the contract from Tristan’s hands.

“I cannot believe this,” Tristan sighed. “A year. You’ve been gone nearlya yearthis whole time? I thought you’d just been busy with work. I thought Theo would have told me that you had been absent from all those visits she pays to Amelia.”

“She probably didn’t tell you because you’ve become rather emotional for a man,” Dominic muttered, making his signature. Then in a clearer voice added, “And Ihavebeen busy with work. The deals I made in Italy, Spain, and France? I have contracts for exports from my Dukedom for a full decade. Contracts that will keep my people employed, with the ability to keep their coffersandtheir bellies full. I have gotten my percentage of destitutes in Ellsworth down to three percent because of what I have done. Are you saying that is not worthy work?”

Tristan’s brows rose as he muttered, “Three percent? Truly?”

“Shall I fetch my overseer for you?” Dominic asked sarcastically. “Have him bring in the numbers of last year’s census?”

Tristan gave him a look that screamed for him to be more sensible, only serving to further darken Dominic’s mood.

“What has become of you, Tristan?” He asked. “Your emotions are all over the place. Putting your nose in other’s people’s business has become worse than ever.”

Tristan sighed, suddenly looking weary, and sank into the chair across from Dominic.

“It is my mother,” he explained. “Her health continues to hang on by a thread. Theo is home even less now, and Seraphina, who used to come and help us often, is now at Vanderbilt with Hugo, her hands full with her own children.”

Dominic took a calming breath. Yes, he’d known about Lady Briarwood’s failing health. One of his many little spies had collected and sent the information to him while he was away. She’d been plagued by an unknown disease that affected not just the body, but the mind.

“I met a new type of physician in Milan. I will send for him if you wish,” Dominic offered.

Tristan’s shoulders slumped.

“Thank you,” his friend said quietly. “This…diseased, ailment- whatever, is tearing her apart. There are days when she screams at the servants to leave her be. Believes I am Father. Or does not recognize me at all. I want to be there for her, to help her, but taking over his responsibilities since he’s passed has kept me far too busy. I can’t seem to gain a proper hold on either and I- I feel like I’m slipping away too.”

Dominic let loose a sigh, and finally put down his pen, willing to put his work on pause for the first time. Yes, he’d heard that, too. His friend was not doing well. At all. His mother’s health was failing with some strange illness, and his father had passed before Seraphina’s twins were born of a burst appendix.

“Tristan that sounds horrible,” he conceded. “I am sorry to hear this.”

Tristan rubbed a hand over his face, looking more tired than ever.

“It is not just that. It is Theo. I fear she is traversing into dangerous territory.”

Dominic’s body suddenly grew rigid.Thatwas something he had not heard. And certainly something he should have if Theo was staying consistently at Ellsworth.

“If she is constantly with my wife I do not understand how that could be true,” Dominic murmured, feeling his anger tick up once more.

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