Page 19 of A Duchess for the Mysterious Duke
Marina’s cheeks burned crimson, but she did not correct him.
“So that is it, isn’t it?” Phillip mused. “I have wondered. It was something you said to your sister that first made me suspicious. I’m flattered, really.”
“You’re flattered?”
“Well, you must have gone to quite some length to get rid of the men at your door when you were younger. But you married me after very little deliberation.”
“I will remind you that it was my father who agreed to your proposal, not I. Like you said, we’recourtingnow. I have yet to approve of you as my husband in any official capacity.”
Phillip held his hands to his chest as if he had been struck by a sword, and Marina laughed. He got up and moved around the table to lean back against it next to where she sat. He reached up and tucked a stray curl behind her ear.
“Then what will it take for me to gain your approval, Your Grace?”
“I have already told you, Your Grace. I ask merely that you make more regular appearances at mealtimes so that I might get to know your delightful sense of humor better.”
“Then that I shall.”
CHAPTER 13
Phillip made good on his promise and began to show his face around the estate more and more often. It seemed that the more they interacted, the less able he became to stay away from her, despite his inhibitions. He enjoyed her company and her conversation, but he was also enthralled with the way she’d taken to becoming the Duchess of Peterborough.
It started with the staff. The lady’s maids she chose were of impeccable quality and did their job well. They fell in with the rest of his staff almost immediately, which was no small feat—the staff at Hayward Estate had remained the same these last ten years but for a departure or two. He had expected that they would not take kindly to expansion, at least at first. But they all adored Marina, so it followed that they would feel amicable toward her choice of maids as well.
The Duchess had replaced the dark curtains throughout the house with more stylish ones and had them drawn back each morning to allow the sunlight to stream in. With his permissionand under Mathilde’s guidance, the garden flourished. Marina had seasonal flowers planted and delightful stone furniture and statues added to liven it up. They began to take tea outdoors whenever the weather permitted. She was breathing new life into the place.
She was breathing new life intohim.
“You have rendered my childhood home unrecognizable,” he told her one night over dinner. “It feels…Well, in truth, Marina, it seems a place that I am more reluctant to leave than ever. I would be content to stay here and never look upon the faces of the ton again.”
Marina beamed then stifled her giggle with a napkin over her mouth. “You flatter me, Your Grace.”
“I have never uttered an embellishment in your name,” he insisted. “You are turning out to be a better duchess than I could have hoped.”
“Did you doubt it?”
“Do you mean while we were engaged?”
“I do.”
“Yes, of course.”
“You wound me, Your Grace,” she teased.
“I do not mean to,” he chuckled. “We did not know each other then, but we have come a long way since then, have we not, dear wife?”
“We have, dear husband.”
After dinner, Phillip did not retire to his study for the night. Instead, he walked around to where Marina was seated at the table and held his arm out for her to take. “I know that you have been asking to promenade, and I have been resistant.”
“You have,” she agreed, giving him a curious look.
“In lieu of being stared at by our friends in the ton, may I kindly ask that we tour your new garden? It has not escaped my notice that your plants have flourished. I can see them from my study window. I would like to hear more about the selections you have made.”
The way that Marina’s eyes lit up made Phillip’s heart skip a beat. He was wholly unprepared for how much happiness it would bring him to see her so excited. Occasionally, she even made him consider a more active social life. As a duke, he was required to attend certain events, and Marina was always eager to go along. She, like him, did not favor a place as the center of attention. She preferred to watch and to listen. He had learned from sitting with her in their theater box that her wit was swift and charming. There was never a dull moment with her.
The week prior, the Duke had asked Marina to attend a play with him. A certain parliament member wanted to converse, and Phillip had invited him to share their box for the night so they might conduct business. It was also important that they be seen together—his guest would play a prominent role in Phillip’s work and his public support would go a long way in making that easier. Marina invited her sister to sit with her as well. For the first half of the show, they spoke to their respective guests, but at intermission, they were left alone with one another.
It was the first time that Phillip had taken Marina out into society and found himself entirely alone with her, and he was originally quite nervous. But his wife was remarkably funny. She spent the entire evening whispering to him about their equals, explaining the significance of who sat in whose box. She was even able to give him an account of the previous night’s ball, courtesy of her friend Kathrin who had called on her earlier in the day. She was able to draw lines between the events of the night before and what they saw before them in that present moment. Her perception of others and her ability to find humor in the social activities of the ton, which he felt everyone else took far too seriously, warmed him to her even more.
