Page 17 of Captured By the Cold Duke
“All right. I’ll show you to your bedroom.”
“Mrs. Mallow can do that,” she said. She pulled off her gloves and moved away from him. “I shall see you tomorrow morning, although perhaps not until the afternoon, as I plan to sleep late.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Thomas saw the butler and Mrs. Mallow exchange a surprised expression.
They’re not spending their wedding night together?!It seemed to say.
“Of course,” Thomas said, unsticking his throat. “Whatever you prefer. It’s your home now, and I want you to be comfortable.”
Without looking at him, Cherie followed Mrs. Mallow up the stairs and disappeared from view. Thomas had no choice but to follow the butler to the dining room, where he ate supper alone.
When Cherie entered the duchess’s bedroom, which had been prepared for her ahead of her arrival, her first thought was that the late duchess must have had remarkably good taste. She was surprised, in fact, that the late duchess’s taste had been so modern. The bedroom wasn’t wrapped in the usual heavy fabrics that the older members of the ton preferred.
Instead, the curtains on the four-poster bed were light and airy, and an eggshell blue that was remarkably similar to the color of her bedspread when she was a girl. And the room, instead of being dark and wood-paneled, had been painted a soft cream color, with blue wainscotting that matched the drapes on the bed. Even the vanity was in a modern style.
While the rest of the house looked like a museum of the Far East, this room alone felt as if she could have decorated it herself. The style was very similar to the way she’d decorated her brother’s townhouse, and she had to admire the effort that had gone into ensuring this room would be comfortable and feminine.
“The late duchess must have defied her husband to decorate this room so,” she murmured to her lady’s maid, who had come withher from Vaston House, as she undressed her. “It’s not at all like the rest of the house.”
“It reminds me of home,” the lady’s maid murmured in agreement.
The reminder of home was helpful as Cherie got into bed later and twitched the curtains closed around her. Because other than the similar decorations, this place felt completely foreign, and as she stared at the canopy above her, she let the tears once more flow down her cheeks.
I’m completely alone. Trapped in a loveless, passionless marriage for the rest of my life.
Seven
“Do you like running your own estate, Your Grace?”
Lady Chastity Berrymoore, Minerva’s younger sister, rarely spoke, so Cherie took it as a great compliment when the young lady asked the question. She looked up from the tea set, which she had just been pouring, to smile at her best friend’s sister.
Lady Chastity was sitting opposite her on the settee, next to Minerva, and went pink in the face when Cherie looked at her. She was so painfully shy that even though Cherie had known her for most of her life, she was still embarrassed to speak to her.
Chastity was only two years younger than Minerva and had just come out this Season. She and her sister looked almost identical, but their personalities were so different that they almost didn’t seem related.
Where Minerva was smart, exacting, opinionated, and unafraid to tell a man when he was wrong, Chastity was quiet, easygoing, and quick to agree with others. She was a pleasant girl, and Cherie had always been fond of her, but she was difficult to get to know. Her shyness was a barrier for most people, and Cherie wasn’t sure how well she would fare on the marriage mart.
However, as Cherie set her teapot down on the coffee table, she was determined to make Chastity feel comfortable.
“I do enjoy running my own estate,” she said. “It is nice to have responsibility after so many years of having nothing to do but decorate cushions and play the pianoforte. It’s challenging, to say the least, but I like a challenge.”
Chastity nodded as if she understood. “And the duke?” she asked, her cheeks still pink. “What is he like? Do you enjoy being married?”
Cherie hesitated. She had been married for two weeks now, and while there were many things she could tell Chastity, she wasn’t sure that she wanted to disillusion the young lady. She had just come out and probably excitedly looked forward to marriage. Cherie didn’t want to ruin that for her.
“The duke is a wonderful husband,” Minerva finally rushed to say, filling the awkward silence that had begun to grow between them. “Weren’t you just telling me how hard he works at maintaining his businesses?”
Cherie smiled quickly at her old friend, a current of understanding passing between them. Minerva was so good at reading Cherie that she always knew when to jump in and say the right thing when Cherie was at a loss for words.
“Yes, he works very hard,” Cherie said, forcing a smile as she turned back to Chastity. “It is wonderful to have a husband who provides for me and all my needs.”
Except my need for love.
“Now, shall we start our tour?”
Chastity nodded eagerly, and the three ladies stood and took their cups of tea with them as they began to wander through the house. It really was a sight to take in, and Cherie knew that it would keep Chastity occupied with all its splendors from the Far East.
And she was right: the young lady was soon busy walking quickly from one statue to the next, gasping in admiration over the colors and exotic artistry that she had never seen before.
