The duke sighed and shook his head.
“You are a duchess now, Rose,” he added. “It is not the place of Mrs. Jennings or anyone else to scold or supervise you. If you are to be mistress here, you must learn to assert your will.”
“Yet you are scolding me now, are you not?” Rose pointed out to him, unsure why she should find it easier and more tempting to challenge Dorian Voss than Mrs. Jennings, her own family or anyone else. “Ought I to allow that or not?”
The Duke of Ravenhill laughed at this burst of spirit.
“Scolding? Hardly. It is not in my nature, Rose. But if I were taking you to task, it would be as my wife, not merely a duchess. Surely a husband has that right. Or do you disagree?”
Rose frowned and shrugged. She had promised to obey him in the wedding service, even if she could not remember saying the exact words.
“I do not know how to be a wife yet, any more than a duchess, but I hope I am learning both.”
Dorian Voss nodded, his dark eyes twinkling with some unspoken humor.
“As my wife, did you not find it necessary to knock before you came into the library earlier? I assume it was you who opened the door.”
“I did knock!” Rose protested defensively. “I knocked twice but you didn’t answer so I opened the door a little and looked inside. You were too busy to notice me so I went away again. Anyway, you told Mrs. Jennings I could go wherever I want in the house.”
“So you may,” the duke agreed. “I only like to know when I have company. That is all. But why come in here at all? Did you want a book to read with dinner? You may certainly choose one now.”
“I did not want a book,” Rose answered crossly, wanting to be taken more seriously rather than teased at this moment. “I came to find you, Your Grace.”
“Dorian,” he corrected her, with that smile that made butterflies flutter in her stomach. “My name is Dorian.”
“Dorian,” Rose made herself say, hearing the name emerge rather defiantly. “I came to find you, Dorian.”
With a sigh, the Duke of Ravenhill folded his arms and fixed those dark eyes upon her once more. He was still only in his shirt sleeves and utterly unselfconscious with it. The smudges of charcoal on her husband’s face only enhanced the handsome cast of his high-cheekboned features.
“Why?” he said, and left the word hanging there.
Flustered by this question and the intent nature of his gaze, Rose turned away briefly.
“You’ve been avoiding me,” she told him after a few moments’ thought. “I know you have. It seems to me that is no good thing. As we are married, should we not be together more? The last Duchess of Ravenhill, Duchess Juliana, had five children, you know. If we do not eat dinner together, how will I ever have any?”
The duke was unable to hold back a loud guffaw of laughter and this both frustrated and annoyed Rose. Had he not understood her? She had done her very best to speak clearly.
“I cannot see what is so funny,” remarked Rose with dignity.
Without further ado, the duke crossed the small distance between them and drew her into his arms. Before Rose could do more than gasp, his mouth was on hers again and she wasmelting into his kisses. This time, her hands were at Dorian’s face of their own accord, stroking his jaw and fastening in his hair.
Rose did not know why he should embrace her so, but it felt wonderful.
“My beautiful, innocent Rose,” he said softly as he pulled back. “I shall eat dinner with you whenever you request it. However, do not be disappointed if it does not produce the result you seem to expect. Children do not come from eating roast meat and vegetables, nor even apple pie and custard.”
There was a peculiar ache inside her now, a longing to be held closer by this man rather than released from his grasp. Dorian’s knowing eyes and handsome smile provoked both this longing and a simultaneous urge to slap his charming face for not taking her words more seriously.
“Do you not want children, Dorian?” Rose asked him directly, although still breathless and dazed from his embrace. “I should take care of them, you know. You need not worry yourself with that.”
“You are not ready to have children, Rose,” the duke said bluntly, a touch of laughter still in his eyes. “Everything you have said tonight only confirms it.”
Tears filled Rose’s eyes.
“What can you mean by that?” she said. “I want to have a child someday, and we are married.”
“When you have the understanding to ask me knowingly for what you want, I shall give it to you,” he promised solemnly. “Not before then. You will understand one day.”
Baffled and frustrated, Rose bit her lip and backed towards the door. Why did everyone say things like this to her? She was tired of not understanding now.
