Page 19 of His Highland Duchess
He glanced over Miss Pinpoint’s shoulder and caught Margaret looking at him. His eyes flashed with mischief, likely because of how awkwardly Margaret was behaving. “Might I have a few moments alone with my wife?”
“Yes, yes,” Miss. Pinpoint agreed. “We will not be needing her for at least another…” She looked back into the room, clicking her tongue. “Ten minutes or so. If that suits?”
“More than enough, thank you.”
Miss Pinpoint was quick to shuffle the women from the room, chasing them out like a sheep herder would their flock. Within a minute of the duke’s arrival, Margaret and he were alone in the bedroom, and the change in atmosphere was noticeable.
She was still on the stool, still covering herself, facing away from him with modesty. She could feel his eyes on her, and she could sense the smile on his lips.Again, that sense that he enjoys seeing me undone. But why?
“How is everything?” he asked her, walking into the room. “I trust Miss Pinpoint is taking care of you?”
“She is,” Margaret said awkwardly. “Although her arrival was unexpected. For many reasons…”
“Oh?”
Margaret considered what to say. She had been antagonistic toward the duke thus far and did not want to set a precedent. But she also did not want to come across as meek and controllable, as if she was happy to be walked all over.
“When we last spoke, the implication ye left with me was that this marriage was…” She considered further. “To be a convenience. That come the end of the Season, I would be free to return to Scotland.”
“That is right.”
“Which is why I am surprised,” she continued. “Seeing as ye expect to hide me in your home as if I dae nae exist –”
“I never said that,” he cut her off.
She spun around without thinking, nearly losing her balance again. Hands still covering herself, her eyes widened at him. “It was implied in what ye told me! How else was I supposed to take it?”
He eyed her curiously, a smirk still on his lips. “You will remember what else I told you. That you are to act as the perfect wife to me.” A raised eyebrow. “The entire point of this marriage is to squash any rumors that might rear their heads, meaning we cannot afford for people to think that we married for any reason other than it was our own choice.”
“Then why this?” She indicated to the room and the chaos of the scene that Miss Pinpoint had left behind. “Da I need to dress in accordance with what ye perceive as necessary? Was me own wardrobe so off-putting that ye –”
“You do not like the new outfits?”
She sighed. “That is nae the point.”
“Then what is the point?”
Margaret didn’t have an answer for that. She supposed that all this was yet another example of her feeling powerless. Being treated as a mere object with no will of her own. She appreciated what the duke had done; she just wished she had been given a say or been told in advance.
“I might have liked to have kent ahead of time,” she said, albeit without any real enthusiasm because saying it out loud sounded immature.
“I am sorry,” he said, sounding like he meant it. “It won’t happen again.”
She frowned, not certain if he was in fact being genuine. “And it still daesnae answer why ye have bothered? If I am nae ta leave the house –”
“I never said that.”
“Oh… I just thought –”
“As I explained…” He approached where she was standing on the stool, putting himself only a few feet away. And even though he was looking up at her, there was still that sense that he stood over her. “We are to present a front that suggests to the ton that we are a happily married couple. That this was a planned affair. Meaning that while you are staying here, you and I are to attend the expected social events. Balls. Galas. Promenades, and the like.”
“We… we are?”
“Yes,” he chuckled. “You are not a prisoner here, Your Grace –”
“Please,” she cut him off. “Call me Margaret.”
“Margaret,” he said with a smile. “As I was saying, you are not a prisoner. I hope you realize that.”
