“No doubt he would insist on hanging them for all the world to see and tell me I am brilliant or some such nonsense.” She had meant to sound scathing, but her words came out with a distinct note of pride in them. “Would he be just as kind if I played the violin properly? What am I saying?”
She swallowed. “He is entirely too charming. And I am too much of a fool to keep away.”
She hastily packed up her things and began to make her way to the castle. Every time she tried to annoy the duke, it seemed to slide off him, like water off a duck’s back.
She took the stairs two at a time, chewing on her bottom lip. “I need something that he will not be able to forgive. What do men hate?”
She thought of her father, remembering a time when she had made the mistake of tidying a few papers on his desk. He had screamed at her for hours.
“A man’s study is his sanctum!” her father had yelled, spittle flying from his mouth. “Do not ever touch it without permission. Who knows what you might have ruined?”
Andrea swallowed.His sanctum. She tried not to imagine how it would feel if the anger she had glimpsed in Frederick was directed at her.I have to do this.
She made her way to his study, her paints and easel still tucked under her arm.This will definitely put an end to any dangerous warmth between us.
She slipped inside, glancing over her shoulders as she did. The room before her was simple, with a mahogany desk placed in a corner. The desk was covered in papers arranged in slapdash piles. The walls of the study were lined with bookshelves from top to ceiling. There were a few spaces here and there for art.
She frowned at the pictures. They seemed so lifeless and dull compared to what she had seen of Frederick. She pulled a book down from the shelf at random, frowning at the title.
“The Iliad.” She had meant to put the book in a random location, but when she scanned the bookshelves, she realised that would be pointless. “Greek poetry next to economics. History beside farming. Goodness, it is a wonder the man can find anything in here.”
Do you really think you know better than me?Her father’s voice sounded in her head as she began plotting out a cataloguing system for Frederick’s chaos. She faltered.The point is to annoy him. If he takes this as a critique, all the better.
The study was small, and she decided that rough organisation of books would be good enough. Though she itched to alphabetise them within the subgenres.
“I am trying to annoy him – if I focus too much on the books I will not be able to do anything else.” She forced herself away from the bookcases, glancing at the grandfather clock.
She had been there for several hours.
“What about these papers?” she began to leaf through the piles on his desk. “Invoices, correspondence, letters of credit, contracts.”
She began to sort them in separate piles, filing away contracts that had been signed in an appropriate place. She looked at the window and then back at the Duke’s desk.
“I think. Yes.” She looked for some sort of material she could slide under the thing so she could push it across the floor without it damaging the wood.
A bead of sweat dripped down her neck as she stood back to survey her work. The books were organised, as were his papers and files. She had changed the must dull painting on the wall to something livelier. But the desk, that was her crowning achievement.
The door behind her opened and she turned to find herself face to face with the Duke. His eyes were wide, his jaw slack as he stared around the room.
“What is all this?” he was running his hands along the bookcase, his voice quiet, but his face turned from her so that she could not see his expression.
In for a penny, in for a pound.She fixed a smile on her face. “I wanted to thank you. For what you did with my father. The way you defended me, I appreciated it.” Her words came out more sincere than bright and airy. “No one has ever stood up for me before.”
With a start, she realised that she meant it. She did appreciate what he had done.
“When I saw the chaos of your study, well… It seemed like the perfect way to thank you. This way you will be able to find things whenever you wish. Whoever organised it before was a madman.” She added the last bit, surveying the Duke’s back, watching for a telltale sign of irritation.
He was still looking around the room, his hands behind his back. He moved to the desk, and she heard a soft exhale of breath. Her shoulders tensed. She knew what came next.
It was time for a storm.
ChapterTen
“You did this tothankme? For what happened with your father?” Frederick frowned, glancing back to look at Andrea.
He could have sworn he saw her eyes widen slightly, brow creased as though she herself was surprised, but the expression vanished too quickly for him to be sure.
Instead, she smiled at him, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as she gestured to the room. “It seemed the least I could do.”
