Page 34 of His Arranged Duchess
Once he was dressed and washed, Lucien stood in front of his bedroom door and stared at it.
Don’t be a fool. Go out and face the day.
No, that wasn’t it. Scenes from last night played before Lucien’s eyes. Frances, her eyes closed and her head tilted back, her fingers gripping his shoulders. The scent of her skin, the softness of her throat at his lips. The startled little gasp she’d given the first time he let his teeth brush her skin.
Lucien closed his eyes.
Enough. Stop. You must remain in control. She is a nervous young woman learning to grow into her new role. Both of you have a great deal to adjust to. This is not love. This is not courtship. This is business, plain and simple.
If he played his cards correctly, they could both get what they wanted without compromising or enduring any discomfort. Assuming, of course, that he remained composed and in control.
Come, now. You’ve had a lifetime of being in control.
He pushed open the bedroom door and strode down the hallway.
Almost at once, he was greeted by commotion. A trio of young women, dressed in crisply starched maid’s uniforms, scuttled past him in the Great Hall, casting nervous glances up at him. An unfamiliar footman stood at attention in the foyer, eyes riveted firmly ahead of himself.
The front door was open, and a couple of men entered, carrying buckets of flowers. One man he recognised as a gardener, recently hired, but the other two were unfamiliar.
Lucien stopped, confused, as the three men hurried around him.
What is going on? Where is Gray?
Voices drifted from the open drawing room door, and he hurried towards it.
“Frances?” he called. “Is that you? What’s going on?”
He stepped through the door and paused. There was a woman in the middle of the drawing room, talking to Mrs. Gray. Frances was nowhere to be seen.
“Your Grace,” Lucien murmured. “I had no idea I would be entertaining the Duchess of Clapton so early in the morning.”
The Duchess of Clapton turned to face him, her eyes sharp and missing nothing.
“I’m sorry to disturb you,” she murmured coolly. “I don’t believe that we were able to talk much at Frances’s wedding. You must call me Emily, please. We are close friends of the family.”
He nodded slowly. “Then you must call me Lucien.”
The duchess smiled faintly but said nothing. Lucien wondered whether she would call him that or not.
“I had hoped to meet you immediately,” Emily continued, choosing her words carefully, “but I was told you were asleep.”
Lucien grimaced. It was just his luck that on the one day he accidentally slept in, he was made to look like an absolute fool in front of a woman who clearly meant a lot to Frances.
He knew of the Duchess of Clapton, of course. She had once been Miss Emily Belmont, one of the famous Belmont girls, all of whom had snagged dukes in one way or another. They were known for their scandals, especially when it came to marriage and engagements. Emily Belmont, too, was the famousAnon, the painter that everybody in London knew. Lucien privately coveted one of her paintings; it didn’t matter which one.
Lucien did not know the Duke of Clapton personally, but he’d heard of the man’s reputation. He sounded like a man Lucien would prefer to be friends with. He had come back to England to set matters straight, not to cause trouble and start fights.
Although trouble seems to follow me regardless,Lucien thought belatedly, as Emily took a careful step towards him, eyes narrowed.
“Are you making a study of me, Emily?” he managed at last, trying to sound light-hearted.
“Well, of course I am,” Emily responded coolly. “You have married our dear Frances. She’s like a niece to my husband and me. We adore her. I am glad she had married a duke; although, I would have preferred a less impoverished one.”
He shrugged. “And I would have preferred not to snatch my bride away from the altar and the arms of another man.”
To his surprise, Emily’s face relaxed into a smile. “I shouldn’t worry. Lord Easton was never to be her soulmate. Whether youwill make a better husband remains to be seen. And Iwillbe watching, Duke. Make no mistake.”
He swallowed. “I see. Thank you for your candour, Emily.”
