Page 37 of The Duke's Spinster Bride
“I should have been paying better attention.” She waved him away.
It was all he could do not to gape at her.Where is her usual anger? Wait, why do I want that? Do I want that?He shook his head. There was something in the way Andrea was behaving that he had not seen in her before, a sort of frazzled energy. He pursed his lips as she tried and failed to get the rest of the things in her arms. She still was not looking at him.
“You will get nowhere like that, just let me help you.” He grabbed a sheet of paper that had fallen off the top of the pile in her arms. “Where were you going to with all of this anyway?”
She scowled as the objects in her arms fell to the floor, but did not look at him with accusation. “The library. I wanted to familiarise myself with the accounts and found a few errors that I wanted to check against some of the ledgers I found.”
She tucked her hair away from her face and scooped the pile of papers and ink bottles. It swayed dangerously and Frederick stepped forward to grab things without thinking, taking them into his own arms and smiling at her. “Let me help. You will be furious if you get ink over the accounts.”
“I suppose so. But if you are busy, I really do not want to keep you from your work.” She jerked her head in the direction of his study.
“Oh, you know me, any excuse not to work.” He grinned at her, expecting Andrea to roll her eyes, and make some cutting comment.
Instead she behaved as if she had not heard him, nodding to herself as they began to split the pile of things between them. His heart twisted as he noticed the dark circles under her eyes. Her muscles were tense and she moved with frenetic energy rather than her usual self-contained control.
She was also talking faster than he had ever known her speak, seeming to leap from one thought to the next faster than a bullet. “I have rather a lot to do, I still have not finalised the menus for the week and I need to speak to the housekeeper about the servants livery and finding a new maid to replace the one who has just left.”
He hefted his own bundle of things into his arms and fell into step beside her as they made their way towards the library.What happened to keeping your distance?
He pushed the voice away. He was only being helpful. If the accounts were ruined or if she hurt herself then it would only create more work. “Surely some of that can wait. I had not realised we even had a maid who had left, it was not Miss Geraldine was it?”
“It was Greta. She has found a beau in the village, and they are to be married.” She sighed.
He nodded to himself, adjusting the stack in his arms as he did. “We should arrange for some sort of wedding gift.”
“Oh goodness, I knew I was forgetting something! Drat, if I just...” Andrea seemed torn between wanting to put the papers down and perhaps make a note, and not trusting that her precarious pile would not completely fall to pieces if she did so. “I will just have to try and remember it.”
“I would be happy to arrange it. You seem like you have more than enough on your plate for the moment.” He studied her closely.
“I am the Duchess. It is simply a part of my duties.” She blew at one of the strands of hair that had worked its way out of her messy bun.
Frederick was grateful for the things in his arms that prevented him from moving the hair for her.No doubt she would bite my hand off if I even tried.
“And how are you finding your duties?” he asked, keeping his voice as neutral as possible.
Her colour deepened and she stumbled. Frederick darted towards her, though what he would have done, he could not say – after all, he had no hands to spare. She caught herself and continued, speeding up.
Andrea was practically jogging towards the library, and Frederick sped up to keep up with her.
“Fine. They are… Well… Fine.” Andrea paused and then added in rush. “I know it has taken me a little while to start taking them seriously and I still have so much to learn and of course, there was that mistake with the butcher- but I fixed it, so not to worry. And then there was that incident with the baker, but I have learned from that and will of course double check the order in future. And I still need to understand the accounts, I am not convinced my own notes are up to scratch.”
“I am sure they are more than adequate.” Frederick strode towards the desk in the library and carefully placed his pile of things on it, watching as Andrea hesitated in the doorway.
He studied the tightness in her face, her shoulders were practically level with her ears. An urge to place his hands on them and gently lower them rose within him, but he shoved his hands into his pockets and stayed rooted to the spot.
“Adequate is not good enough. They need to be worthy of the station. I cannot… I do not want to… There is just so much to learn, and I know I keep making mistakes, but I promise I will get better. That is why I am trying to get up to date with as much of the estate as possible. And I will get there. Oh goodness, that reminds me, I completely forgot about the stables and the horses due to arrive and –” She was about to go on, but Frederick’s control snapped at her deluge.
It is as though she expects me to tell her off, to reprimand her for not being perfect.His chest twisted violently and he remembered her reaction at their wedding ball. Clearly she was expecting such a thing.
He cut her off, grabbing her arms gently and looking into her eyes as he said, “- Andrea, please take a breath.”
The softness of her skin reminded him of silk. The warmth of it beneath his fingers spread through them. Her eyes met his, lips parting as she froze.
He swallowed, making his gaze as soft as possible, relaxing his tense muscles to appear nonthreatening and approachable. He did not want her to dance on eggshells around him.This is her home, and she should feel safe.
Gently he took the pile of things from her into his own arms, placing them on the table behind them. “You do not need to justify anything to me, I was only asking how you were finding everything. I wanted to know your feelings, Andrea. Not your accomplishments, though they are rather impressive.”
“Oh. Well, I feel fine.” She was hugging her arms around herself, fingers running up and down her upper arms absently.
