Page 49 of In Need of a Duke
“Why did you mention that comment about what the estate can afford?”
She shook her head, her smile dropping. “No, no we will not be doing this, Ian.”
“It’s a fine bottom, wife.”
Charlotte tossed her arms up into the air, laughing. “You give me whiplash, you know that?”
When it came to his wife, he realized he didn’t know nearly anything. That didn’t mean he didn’t wish to correct that. It was the only challenge that interested Ian at the moment.
Unfortunately, for Charlotte.
“I am here to help.”
“I don’t need help. I have managed the bees on my own for some time now.”
They walked at a quick pace now, eating up a great distance as they made their way down the large hill behind the estate, near the folly and the pond.
“I wish to fix that.”
“So, you have told me.”
It was his turn to be frustrated. “Should I not?”
“I don’t wish to argue. That’s all we ever seem to do.”
“I don’t want that to be the case either.”
“What do you want, Your Grace?”
“You keep bees now? You wear breeches?”
“Yes!”
“Bees, Lottie?”
“That smirk on your handsome face is hardly as endearing as you think it is.”
“Handsome now?”
She clucked, shaking her head. “As if you ever knew otherwise. You might be the vainest man I know. Your good looks are no surprise.”
“I haven’t heard you say so in quite some time.”
Her cheeks burned bright as she swatted away his heated stare, then moved once again, fleeing.
But he wasn’t finished yet. He felt they were close to something if only she would stop running from him.
“Bees, Charlotte?”
“Have you lost your hearing? Yes, bees.”
She reached over to unlatch a garden gate, then gestured for him to follow. A stone wall, covered thick in twisted brown vines, guarded several empty garden beds. A few patches of sleepy daffodils nodded in the breeze, and beyond, the start of the apple orchard.
There was a small shed set off to the side, where she grabbed some supplies as he remained by the wall, watching her move about in the sunlight.
“Bees seem like a specific choice,” he said at last. His heart drummed in his chest. “And when I left, there wasn’t an apiary at Stonehurst.”
He could tell by the set of her shoulders she was actively ignoring him.
