Page 20 of Charming Artemis

She laughed lightly, pulling an answering chuckle from Charlie. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Mater. She watched him with a look of approval.

Try.Her advice was proving sound.

* * *

Philip had been calling His Grace “Brother Adam” through the entirety of the wedding breakfast. The odds of the Dangerous Duke murdering Charlie’s oldest brother were growing by the minute.

Artemis had retreated to a guest chamber, along with her sisters, to change for the wedding journey. They were to leave London that day to begin their trek to Cumberland. Many couples did not embark on the very day of the ceremony, but leaving Town and the whispers residing there had been deemed necessary to thwart the increasingly vicious gossip surrounding the two of them.

“I thought we would not be family until our children inevitably married one another,” Philip said to the duke, using that tone the brothers all referred to as his buffoonery voice. Did His Grace know this was a jest? “Our siblings managed the thing years ahead of schedule, Broth—”

“If you call me that one more time, we will all have to return to the chapel for a funeral.”

Philip pressed a dramatic hand to his heart. “Shocking!”

The duke’s mouth pulled tight. He turned his attention to Charlie. “A moment of your time.” It was absolutely not a request.

Charlie followed him from the drawing room and into the small adjacent sitting room, where they were alone.

“First,” the duke said, “you will discover that all of my brothers-in-law call me Adam.” His expression was stern, without a hint of familial welcome. “You, however, have not earned that right.”

“I understand,” Charlie said.

“Second,” His Grace continued, “life has been vastly unfair to your new bride. Do not add yourself to the list of reasons why.”

“You’re asking me not to mistreat her?”

He skewered Charlie with a look one generally didn’t see outside of swordfights and pugilistic bouts. “I amwarningyou not to.”

Lud, the man was terrifying. All Charlie could do was nod in silent agreement.

“Artemis will drive you absolutely mad with frustration. She will push you away and throw up walls and hide behind her air of superiority”—this was not terribly encouraging—“but that show of arrogance and her dependence on theatrics is a shield not a window.” He paused. Nothing in his expression indicated what he was thinking. When he spoke again, he was quieter. “She has lived with me since she was very young and, in that time, has never once been fully trusting of me. Her walls crumble for no one. She is independent, at times to a fault. That does not seem likely to change.”

In other words, he was going to be as unneeded and unnecessary in his own marriage as he had been in his family growing up. Fitting. Discouraging, disheartening, yes, but fitting.

“And yet, with all that,” the duke said, “do not ill-treat her, no matter the provocation. She deserves better than life has offered her thus far. Don’t hurt her further. Don’t add to that pain.”

“I do not intend to, Your Grace.”

“I have faith in you beyond what you have shown yourself to deserve,” His Grace said. “But I do believe you can live up to that unearned trust, in part because I live less than a day’s journey from where you will reside. I could arrive at your doorstep at any moment, unannounced.” The duke’s gaze had hardened once more, his tone icy. “And I have no qualms about inflicting punishments as I see fit without the slightest worry about repercussions.”

Charlie nodded once more.

“Now”—the duke pointed to the doorway—“go wait for your bride. Do not make her wonder if you’ve turned tail and run.”

Charlie deposited himself in the vestibule, waiting for Artemis to descend the stairs. While he stood watch, his family filed past.

Layton came first. “Don’t let her catch you out pretending to be listening to her whilst your mind is actually wandering,” he said. “Better yet, don’tpretendto be listening in the first place. She will always catch you when you do.”

Spoken as if from experience.

Corbin stepped up next. “Be—be kind to her.”

Charlie nodded. That was actually good advice, a shocking thing from any of his brothers. And it was an entire sentence, a rare thing from Corbin.

Jason approached, his wife at his side. “Abandon logic, ye who enter here. Logic has no place in marriage.”

Mariposa swatted at her husband. “You are terrible.” She looked to Charlie. “Don’t listen to him.”

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