“Oh…” He shrugged. “Read, I suppose. Perhaps have a drink. But I, too, am quite tired, and a good night of rest is what I need.”
“That is…” She had no idea what to say. “That sounds like a good idea.”
He rose from his seat, and Margot braced herself for him to come at her. He stepped around the table, and she prepared to slap his hand away and chastise him for breaking his promise.Iknew it was all an act. I knew that he could not control himself!Only, he did.
He walked around the table and passed her, heading for the doorway. “I will likely be busy in the morning,” he said once he reached the door. “So, I will not be here to break my fast with you.”
“Oh.” She blinked in surprise. “That is… fine.”
He laughed. “Do not sound so upset. Why, it almost sounds as if you want to spend more time with me?” He raised an eyebrow at her.
“Not even a little bit.”
“As you say,” he laughed, shaking his head before leaving the dining room.
That left Margot alone. Confused. Unsure. Wondering to herself what the hell had just happened! Yesterday evening, when they had returned from their wedding, he had been flirtatious and playful and damn handsy with her. He may have told her he was going to honor their arrangement, but she could tell immediately he had no intention of such a thing.
Only now, he was doing exactly as he had promised, and despite knowing it was for the best, she could not help but feel wronged somehow. It was all very confusing, because deep down, Margot knew that she wanted nothing to do with her husband. Yet sheremembered the feel of his hands around her, the warmth of his breath on her lips, and the look in his eyes as he drank her in, and her body trembled.
What this might mean for the future of this marriage, she had no idea. All she knew was that things would likely become more confused well before she understood any of it.
Ten
Margot did not go for a ride the following morning, even though she wanted to. For some reason, doing as Sebastian had suggested felt like a betrayal of herself – as if she was giving him some sort of victory. It was stupid, she knew, and it only further strengthened the grip he seemed to have on her.
I should not care what he thinks. Dammit, I should not think about him at all.
Determined to put the duke out of her mind, Margot decided that she needed a task to distract herself with. She contemplated deeply as she broke her fast, deciding toward the end that the day would be spent not exploring the manor but bringing life into it.
It was the previous day when she’d walked the halls that she’d realized just how empty this home seemed. Even with the dozens of staff who roamed the interior and busied themselves withwork, there was a sense that the large manor was abandoned, lived in by ghosts even. And this had everything to do with how closed off it was.
Thus, she got about opening the many closed doors, throwing back the curtains in each room, and filling the manor with so much-needed light.
Most of the rooms were merely bedrooms, covered in dust, looking as if they had not been lived in for decades. But she also found a music room with its own pianoforte. She found a small studio with an easel and paints. And there was a large library that, like the rest of the house, looked to have not been entered in longer than she’d been alive.
What does the duke do with himself? I knew him to be a loner, but it is as if even he does not want to live here.She chalked it up to his rakish ways, assuming that was how he entertained himself. But she sensed, too, that there was more to him than even she could guess.
That day, Margot must have opened well over two-dozen doors. And she had surely stalked every corner of the manor. But still, there was an hour or so before supper, which had her thinking about what to do next. That was when she found herself in a bedroom that looked to be used for storage.
It was a mass of wooden crates and various pieces of furniture covered in moldy blankets. Various pieces of art were hung on the walls and laid across the tabletops. Some of it was very beautiful, deserving of display, which again had her wonderingwhy it had been stuffed away in this room so that nobody would ever see it.
This room feels different from the others. It feels… hidden, as if on purpose.
There was a beautiful vase of blue porcelain and golden embroidery sitting alone on a stool close to the door. The sun was just now setting, casting the room in shades of dark purple and darker orange, and it reflected off that vase as if a light was shining on it. Frowning to herself, Margot approached the vase and picked it up.
She found herself staring at the vase, turning it over in her hand, deciding that such a piece as this needed to be used to effect.Yes, tomorrow I will pick some flowers and put this to good use…
“Looking for something?”
“Oh!” Margot cried out, very nearly dropping the vase as she did. She held onto it, luckily, snatching it into her chest as she caught her breath and glared daggers at Sebastian. “What are you doing?!”
He was grinning with glee. “I could ask you the same question. Although snooping seems as good a guess as any.”
“I was not snooping…” She tried to calm her breathing, feeling awkward now at having been snuck up upon. “I was just…”
“Perhaps we should go exploring?” Sebastian was standing by the open door, leaning against the frame. He did not make the entrance, however. “You have been rather busy with it today.”
“What do you mean?”
