Page 31 of The Duke's Second Bride
“And who are you to say what I will and will not stand for?” Ava’s voice came, firm from the other side of him. He looked at her in shock. She met his gaze unflinchingly. “He is a child,” she said quietly. “It is natural he should get bored.”
Christian paused. He did not want to get into an argument so soon into their marriage, particularly not in such close quarters, with Luke already in a bad mood.
He sighed. “Very well,” he said, and saw Ava relax at his agreement. “What do you suggest, then?”
Ava smiled. “Luke,” she said, looking out the window, “we shall be seeing a great number of animals as we get into the country. How about you look out the window, and we shall see who can count more horses, you or me?”
Luke took to the game quickly, though he soon grew bored of that, too. After a while, Ava began telling him a story.
Soon enough, he fell asleep, leaning on his father.
With the silence in the carriage, Ava and Christian had nowhere to look but each other.
After a few hours, they finally reached the estate. Christian felt himself relax as soon as the large, sprawling grounds and the building itself came into view.
He had been in London longer than he liked. Being in the city meant being around people, with all their complications. In the countryside, he had always felt more at ease—although, of course, he was not able to conduct as much business or be as productive as he liked here.
It was a trade-off with a steep cost, but his parents had left the running of the estate to him. So he generally made a practice of sacrificing his personal comfort in order to ensure the finances of the dukedom stayed not only good, but profitable tenfold.
When Luke was older, he would ensure that his son had nothing to worry about and that his son understood all the work that went into maintaining and expanding the family business.
When the carriage pulled to a stop, he gently nudged Luke awake. The boy seemed groggy, blinking and rubbing at his eyes, but awoke enough to step out of the carriage on his own, at which point his governess came to see him into the house.
Christian followed his son out of the carriage and then turned around, extending a hand to Ava.
“Welcome to your new home,” he said.
Her hand in his was a spark in dry tinder. And Christian, at last, was burning.
CHAPTER 11
Ava reached out to take Christian’s hand, hoping he didn’t notice the way her hand trembled, or the flush that rushed to her cheeks at the feeling of touch, strong and rough and steady, against hers.
It had been torturous, sitting in that carriage in silence with him. Not because it was disagreeable, exactly. But because the silence had left her with nothing really to pay notice to except for the feeling of his body pressed up against hers.
The weight of him. The heat.
And her mind had travelled other places, as well. Wondering perhaps what it would feel like to be pressed against him in other circumstances.
With every jostle of the carriage on the road, she was pushed towards him, and he towards her. After a while, it almost became too much to bear.
For hours, she stared out the window, just to avoid having to look at him. Surely, if he were to look her in the eyes, he would somehow be able to deduce the lewd and obscene thoughts she was having about him? Would be able to feel the heat of her skin, and the way her pulse raced at the nearness of him?
Could he feel it now?
If he did, he gave no indication. His gaze remained hard as stone, as always. Once she had safely descended from the carriage, he released her hand at once, then took off up the walkway towards the manor entrance with a briskness in his step. Ava felt nearly as though she had to jog to catch up.
The grounds were so much larger than anything she had been anticipating—lush green grass, speckled here and there with well-kept trees and bushes. Gardens cropped up closer to the house, also well-tended, and appeared to wrap around the back of the estate.
Ava could hardly fathom the size of everything. This was her new life, she realized. The weight of the realization settled on her twice over when she stepped inside the house.
A lineup of at least ten to twenty staff members stood at the ready when she and Christian entered. The most senior, an older woman with a no-nonsense expression, stepped forward.
“Your Grace,” she said, bowing to Christian, and then to Ava. “And Your Grace. Congratulations, and welcome to Richmond Manor. I trust you will find everything to be up to order. Yourroom has been turned over for the night, and Luke’s governess has already begun preparing him for dinner. Food will be ready shortly.”
“Thank you, Miss Grant,” Christian said.
The rest of the house staff greeted them politely and efficiently. While none of them were so brisk as to be rude, they lacked the warmth Ava had known in her previous household. While her prior staff had been much smaller, she had felt as though she truly knew and cared for them, and vice versa.
