Page 1 of Her Tiger of a Duke
CHAPTER 1
Three Summers had passed since her final friend had married, and Beatrice was convinced that she had turned mad.
As she pulled a dark brown curl loose, she tried to convince herself once again that she was perfectly happy, and that there was no need to think about being a spinster in the way that she so often did. There was no shame in living as she did. While Beatrice had never had the good fortune to fall in love, she’d also avoided, being sent off to live with a stranger—as if she were a prized pig. Her friend Cecilia had been the most forthcoming about it, but that was easy to say when she was a beloved wife and mother of two brilliant little children.
She sighed, fixing her own rouge. She had lost her lady’s maid a week prior, her father deciding instead to send the young woman to a cousin of theirs. The family did not need to be thrifty, but there was no harm in saving what they could, and if Beatrice was no longer searching for a husband, there was no need for her to be perfectly preened. Not only that, but she wasnot attending a ball or anything of the sort. She was going to tea with a friend.
Helena had been there for her during the last summer, and she was the only one who Beatrice could count on completely. That was through no fault of her other friends, and Beatrice did not extend any blame to them. They were all wives and mothers, and so their lives were different to hers. They had other priorities, ones that did not involve her, and she was resigned to the fact that they had stopped making the extra effort to make her feel included. It was precisely what she had asked of them. All the same, it was nice to have a friend who understood her.
“I do not know what to do with myself,” Helena sighed as she poured tea later that afternoon.
“The same as always, I presume,” Beatrice replied, handing her a carefully wrapped cake. “You will paint in the morning and dance at night. Perhaps you will find a suitor, perhaps not, but you do not need one either way.”
Helena tensed, hazel eyes widening slightly.
“Yes,” she agreed, “of course.”
Beatrice could tell that something was amiss with her friend, but it was not like her to keep it to herself. Beatrice remained quiet for a moment, hoping that Helena would soon speak of her own accord.
“I mean,” she continued, “suppose the matter was settled for me, and I had no need to attend events to find a man anymore.”
“But you do not want that. You have also wanted to marry for love.”
“And that was childish of me.” Helena laughed sadly. “It is all well and good when you are nineteen and believe you have all the time in the world, but I am two and twenty now, and I have very little to show for it. I am without suitors and gentlemen callers.”
“And I have never understood that.”
This was true. With her blonde ringlets and perfect complexion, not to mention her many talents, Beatrice had expected her friend to find a match very soon after they met, but she had not. For reasons unbeknownst to her, it seemed that she was off limits to any man who glanced in her direction.
“I came to know the reason last night,” Helena whispered. “It transpires that I… I have a fiancé already.”
Beatrice narrowed her eyes, waiting for the laugh to come, the admission that it was a joke, but nothing came. When Helena looked around the room helplessly, then focused on Beatrice, her eyes were damp with tears.
“Oh, Helena, what do you mean? Your parents cannot do that to you, surely?”
“Well, they have. They had a Duke lined up for me the day that I was born, an agreement between friends, and there is nothing that I can do to change it. I have no say in the matter.”
“Have you met him, at least…this Duke?”
Helena shook her head, taking a bite of her cake.
“My father will not allow it. He says that it presents too great a risk, and that he fears I may do something to stop the wedding. Therefore, I shall meet my husband on my wedding day. It is frightening, but I am not the only lady who has been forced into such an alliance.”
Beatrice thought back to Dorothy, who had her own husband chosen for her. The couple were very happy now, with four beautiful children. She gave Helena a weak smile, trying to encourage her to think positively.
“The Duke and Duchess of Urkinshire had the same arrangement made. They are blissfully happy. Perhaps you may have the same?”
Helena shook her head again, smiling despondently.
“Your friend is fortunate. A love like that does not typically come from a decision one has not made for themself. I do not see it happening for me, and though I have had some time to think about it, and I understand the reason for it, I do not want to be in this predicament. I do not want any ofthis.”
Beatrice sighed, for she agreed with Helena. Dorothy had a love that was impossible to replicate.
“Is thetonaware of your engagement?” she asked.
“Not as yet. The banns will be posted next week, and so I shall have one final ball and then that is it. I will be a wife.”
“Then we shall enjoy it thoroughly. You shall dance and laugh and spend the night exactly as it pleases you. One final party for the both of us. Would that help, even a little?”
