Page 72 of The Lady Who Said No to the Duke
‘Amen,’ she said.
Please let this marriage be happy for both of us.Please let me love him and not betray myself.
Hal helped her to her feet and they followed the chaplain into the vestry to sign the register.As the best man and her own attendants signed as witnesses, he kissed her.
‘My duchess,’ Hal murmured against her lips.‘My most beautiful duchess.I swear I will do all in my power to make you happy.’
When he lifted his head, she went on tiptoe to kiss him back.‘I know you will,’ she whispered.‘I trust you.’
I love you.
The words he would not want to hear, the words that would be like a shackle.
Chapter Twenty-Two
The sea-green silk of the nightgown slithered over her skin like a caress.Thea shivered.
‘Are you cold, my—I mean, Your Grace?Best wear this as well.’Eames held up the matching peignoir.‘I can put some more coals on the fire.’
‘No, the room is warm enough, thank you, Jennie.It was just that the silk was cool and my skin was rather warm.’
‘I watched some of the dancing from the little balcony high up.The minstrels’ gallery, they call it.It looked lovely.’
‘It was,’ Thea said, determinedly cheerful.She had been wracked with nerves, but it wouldn’t do to say so.‘We must hold a Servants’ Ball very soon to celebrate all the hard work everyone has done.’
Ithadbeen lovely, she told herself.Everyone had been so happy for them, the castle had looked wonderful, the food and the music better than any London ball she had ever attended.
Hal had been attentive and clearly proud of her and he seemed pleased, if, sometimes, a little distracted.Perhaps he, too, had been thinking of what was to happen next.
In the dressing table mirror she could see the reflection of the room behind.The Duchess’s bedchamber.And The Bed.This one, thankfully, was not draped in virginalwhite or covered in frills, but had elegant pale green and white side curtains and coverlet, heaps of pillows, a prettily inlaid headboard.
The entire suite, what she had taken in of it, seemed fresh and pretty and…comfortable.She had been dreading either an overly feminine boudoir or an imposing chamber with heavy furniture and massive paintings.
‘It’s a lovely room, isn’t it, Your Grace?’Eames’s chatter began to cut through her thoughts again.‘Mrs Abel told me that His Grace had it redecorated especially for you.’
‘Lovely,’ Thea echoed.How thoughtful.How like Hal.
‘There now.’Eames stood back.‘You look perfect, Your Grace.Is there anything else?I’ll just turn the bed down.’
‘Thank you.No, there is nothing else.Good night, Jennie.’
Now what was she supposed to do?Get into bed or sit by the fire?Bed, Thea decided.She slipped off the peignoir and climbed into the bed, which now seemed enormous.
Lie down?But that might look as though she had just gone to sleep.Sit up?Read?
With her eyes on the door that apparently led directly into the ducal bedchamber, Thea sat and listened.Absolutely no sound penetrated the heavy oak panels.Perhaps he was still downstairs with the guests?Perhaps he had gone to his own bed and was asleep…
The door opened and Hal stood there.‘May I come in?’
‘Yes, please do.’That sounded calm and pleasant.
Hal closed the door behind him and she saw his gaze flick to the peignoir, draped across the fireside chair, then back to her.‘You look very lovely, but rather lonely in that big bed.’
‘There is certainly room for two.’
He was wearing a heavy robe in a dark green, and hishands went to the cord tying it as he approached.‘Would you prefer it if I snuffed out all the candles?’As he spoke, he pinched the flame of the one on the dressing table beside him.That left the flickering firelight and three two-branch candelabra around the room.
‘No,’ Thea said.‘No, I want to…to see you.’
