“Oh, yes,” Caroline said, but something pinched in her heart.Prudence, where are you?
She thought back to her family’s words. Her father had said it was likely that Prudence would have gone to her aunt’s house. He meant his sister, Aunt Beatrice, Bridget’s mother. He had been saying that for Levi’s benefit, of course, but Caroline thought it could be true. That was the place it would make the most sense to go. Although Aunt Beatrice had sent her daughter to London to experience a season, she was also a believer in the idea that no one ought to be forced into living a life she didn’t want to. She herself had married for love. If Prudence had run away to her, she could feel safe in being listened to and not being immediately dispatched home. It was where Caroline herself would have gone if she had ever run away.
Yes, that was what must have happened. They would receive a letter from Prudence soon enough informing them that she was safe, and while everyone would be angry with her, at least they would know that she was all right.
She took a deep breath. “Yes,” she repeated. “I’m sure my family will want to come and visit once—once things settle down. It will be good to have this room ready for them.”
Mrs. Mays smiled. “Your things will be brought in from the carriage for you,” she said. “But we ought to choose a room for you so that the staff will know where to take them.”
“Choose a room? Do you mean that my room hasn’t already been chosen?”
“Oh, no, His Grace said you were to have your choice,” Mrs. Mays said. “You don’t need to worry—we’ve made up several of the rooms so that whichever one you decide on will be ready and waiting for you—you don’t need to fret about that.”
“I wasn’t worried about that,” Caroline said, but she was surprised. “Truly, I can have any room I like?”
“Not the duke’s room, of course,” Mrs. Mays chuckled. “But I’m sure he’ll be happy to see you in any of the others, so long asyouare happy. Would you like to tell me a little about what sort of room you might like? And then perhaps I can help guide you to the one that would be most suitable.”
Caroline hesitated.
What she would like best of all would be a moderately sized room with a comfortable chair, a cozy fire, and a big window through which she would be able to look down over the grounds.And something like that was almost certainly available, should she ask for it. But was that what she ought to ask for?
The duties of a wife.
The duke had asked so little of her.
She would have liked to put a great distance between them, to take a room on the opposite side of the manor so there would be no need to think about these things. But it couldn’t be avoided, and Caroline was nothing if not practical. What could not be avoided must be faced head-on.
“Which room is nearest to His Grace?” she asked. “I think that would be appropriate.”
Mrs. Mays eyed her. “There is an adjoining room to his,” she said at length. “Separated by a door that connects them directly. It is intended for a duchess, but you are not required to take it.”
“I am the duchess,” she said. “If that room is for the duchess, that is the room that ought to be mine.”
“Very well,” Mrs. Mays said. “That’s the one we’ll bring your things to, then. And I’ll take you to see it right now, if you’d like.”
“Yes, please,” Caroline agreed.
Feeling slightly shaky, she followed the housekeeper upstairs. The walk to the room seemed to go by in the blink of an eye, but the truth was that Caroline hadn’t been paying attention. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to find her way here again.
Well, she would learn. She would get to know the route to this room and learn to do what was expected of her in her role as duchess and wife.
She had done this—all of it—for Prudence’s sake. So that her sister wouldn’t be tracked down and forced into a marriage she so blatantly did not want to be a part of. No matter what came next, she would not allow herself to regret that choice.
So, when Mrs. Mays opened the door to a room near the end of the hall, Caroline straightened her spine, squared her shoulders, and went inside with her head held high.
CHAPTER 5
Does he come to me? Do I go to him? What’s supposed to happen?
Caroline had found it daunting to stand outside the manor itself, not knowing whether she was supposed to go in, but what she faced right now was ten times worse. She paced back and forth in front of the door that connected her room to her husband’s, the phraseduties of a wifeechoing in her mind. Had she already failed in those duties?
She knew what was supposed to happen on a wedding night, but it never occurred to her to wonder exactlyhowit happened. She couldn’t just knock on the door and tell him she was ready, could she? It seemed unfathomable. It was such a forward thing to do; besides, shewasn’tready.
But if she stayed where she was, perhaps he would see it as her shirking her responsibility, neglecting the one thing he’d asked of her. She wasn’t exactly desperate to please her rake of ahusband—what did it matter what he thought?—only she didn’t want to be a failure as a wife.
He should have come to her. Or, if he didn’t mean to do that, he should have instructed her to come to him. He shouldn’t have just left it to her. How was she to know what he wanted? She had never done this before, and surely he would know that. Did he think she had a plan in place?
No, there was nothing else for it—she was going tohaveto go to him and see if he wanted her.
