Page 17 of The Duchess' Ultimatum
“I have.”
“I wonder…” Dorian’s eyes flicked over her, curious and assessing. “Just how much you have actually considered what you ask?”
Penelope frowned. “I… quite a bit, I will have you know. I wish for a child and –”
“And I am the only one capable of providing it, yes.” He seemed to stand a little taller, more confident than he had been. “Clearly, you do not hate me as I thought. If you did, surely you would not be willing to go through with such a thing.”
“Having a child?”
“What is needed to have one…”
It took Penelope a moment to understand what he meant. She was frowning… only for her eyes to widen. At the same time her skin flushed with warmth, her stomach dropped, her breathing turned heavy. Even the room seemed to spin a little.
“I… I… I…” she stammered as the implication became clear.
“Something for you to consider,” he said simply, no emotion, no sense that he was trying to bully her or call her bluff. No sense that he cared one way or the other, truth be told. “I wonder if it will change anything.”
He held her stare. Penelope, eyes still wide, found she could not look away. She was reminded suddenly of the first time she saw him, the way his eyes pulled her, trapped her, made the world around her vanish because all she could do was look into those deep eyes as if the world existed in them only.
For three years, Penelope had done well to not think about her husband. Now, it was all she could do to think of anything else.
She wanted a child, and that would not change. But what she would need to do to have one… that was a new consideration that had not struck at her until now. And now that it had, it was hard to fathom how she felt and if this idea was nearly as sound as she had assumed.
What was worse, the duke seemed to realize this. Just as he seemed to enjoy it.
“I’ll have the staff come find you.” He broke their stare and Penelope gasped. “If you need anything…” He turned and started across the foyer. “I believe I said it best the last time we spoke. Anything you need, the staff can help. And if I need you…” Reaching the staircase, he turned back to look at her a final time. “I will send for you. Other than that, assume I wish to be left alone.” With that he started up the steps, leaving Penelope where she was, still gawking stupidly.
It was done. A plan made, acted on, and achieved. And for that, Penelope was glad.
However, the way her body was shaking, how flushed her skin felt, and how she struggled to control herself whenever she pictured the duke’s eyes trapping her, suggested that this little plan of hers was not nearly so clever as she once thought.
And this was only the beginning.
CHAPTER FIVE
“Will His Grace be joining me for supper?” Penelope asked the butler, one Mr. Reginald.
“I am not sure, Your Grace,” Reginald said.
She considered. “Well… might you check? I do not wish to start without him.”
“Forgive me, Your Grace, but I am to understand that His Grace is busy at the moment. As is often the case, he will tell us in advance if he is to dine or not. In instances such as this one, we are to assume that he will not.”
“Busy with what?”
Reginald considered the question, and Penelope noticed a shadow pass behind his eyes. A lie forming, it looked like to her, the desire to not tell her the truth without appearing as if that is what he was doing.
“I cannot say,” Reginald answered eventually. “His Grace is a private man.”
Penelope scrunched her face with annoyance but chose not to press the issue. She was new to this house and did not want to accuse the staff of lying to her. Somehow, she got the sense that in the coming weeks they would be her only source of companionship.
“As you say,” she sighed. “If that is the case, I will dine alone.”
“Wonderful, Your Grace. I will inform the kitchen.” Reginald bowed once and hurried from the dining room.
Penelope was thus left alone, a state that she was used to. And one that she had come to expect.
To be fair to me, I also wondered if things might be different this time.
