It wouldn’t do.
“I’ll rest awhile,” she whispered. “Just until dinner. And then I’ll attend. I’ll tell him all the things I need to say.” When he had laid down the law in that autocratic way, she had been so shocked, she hadn’t been able to formulate a response.
And how crass to suggest that they would not be married in name only because he intended to bed her!
Well, he would find himself sorely disappointed. She had even awokenexcitedto give him that privilege—but he no longer deserved it.
“Now then,” Jane began kindly, sliding a silken nightgown over her head. It moved so pleasantly against her damp, overheated skin that Aurelia didn’t think to question it. “We’ll see how you’re feeling later, Your Grace. It’s my belief that you won’t be feeling up to seeing His Grace immediately.”
“I will,” Aurelia insisted.
Jane fetched a cold cloth, dipping it into the copper bowl on the dressing table, then laid it across Aurelia’s burning forehead. The chilliness over the heat made her teeth chatter. “You have a fever, Your Grace.”
“It’ll pass.”
The maid made a dismissive noise, but Aurelia ignored her. She would not be bested by this. When it came time for dinner, she would rise, and she would give Sebastian a piece of her mind!
“I can’t let him win…” she chattered.
Jane patted her hand. “Of course not.”
“He thinks he rules the roost, but I won’t answer to him as my master. He doesn’t pay my wages; I am a duchess.”
“That you are, Your Grace.”
“And I won’t. Iwon’t.” Her head spun, everything ached, and she tossed and turned against the pillow as Jane piled more wood on the fire. “Don’t. It’s so warm.”
“I think it will freeze tonight,” was all she heard.
“Wake me in time for dinner, please.” Aurelia’s hand shot out. Jane was as much of a stranger here as she was, and she felt an odd need to protect her maid. “Are they treating you well downstairs?”
“As well as can be expected, ma’am. Don’t you worry about me, if you please.” Jane smiled down at her, taking one of Aurelia’s hands in her own. “I’ll stay with you, never you fear.”
“And you’ll wake me?”
“If you are capable of being woken, Your Grace.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Sebastian scowled at the empty place setting opposite him. After their confrontation earlier, he had half expected her to avoid him by skipping dinner, but now that she had, he found he couldn’t abide it.
After all, he was the duke. She should not ignore his request that they eat dinner together.
He didn’t even know why he was so insistent on this point. But he had passed the point of reason, and her defiance infuriated him.
He nodded toward the footman stationed by the wall.Jones? Devil, he really ought to learn their names—impossible, when they seemed to rotate out of the household like playing cards. “Send for Her Grace.”
“At once, Your Grace.” He peeled away like a poorly-tacked ornament and opened the door to find the butler standing behind it.
“Fellows,” Sebastian said, finding himself increasingly irritated with this rigmarole. “What is the matter? Where is my wife?”
“She is in her rooms, sir.” Fellows pronounced each word as though it personally offended him.
“And doth she intend toexither rooms?”
“That, I’m afraid, I cannot say.”
Sebastian pushed his chair back. “Then I suppose I will have to see for myself.”
