“I find that a bit difficult to believe,” she admitted. “You can’t be saying that you won’t ask me to do anything—that there won’t be any expectations of me as your Duchess.”
“You forget that I haven’t had my title for very long.” He moved a knight. “I don’t think of myself as a duke most of the time. I still think of myself as a common man. And it’s difficult to frame my own choices in terms of that title. So I certainly couldn’t ask you to change anything about your life. I’ll have your father as a business partner. I’ll have the evidence I need to show thetonthat I’m assimilating into nobility, and that I can be trusted. That’s all I care about. And as for you—you’ll be married, as per your father’s wishes, and he will be able to turn his focus to your sister. Everything will be in order.”
“And you don’t think anything about our lives will change?” she shot back. “You think two people can enter into something as serious and significant as a marriage and not be impacted by it?” She captured his knight. “You’re a fool, if that’s true.”
He stared at the board. He hadn’t seen that move coming.
But he was no slouch at this game, and he knew it. He brought out his queen. “You’ll have all the resources of the Dukedom at your disposal,” he reminded her. “Your life will change. You’re right about your life changing—but you can choose the shape it’s going to take. You can be in charge of what it looks like. Have you ever possessed that freedom before?”
She hadn’t, he was sure.
She hesitated, then moved her rook to one side, leaving his path clear.
“Checkmate,” he said, shifting a rook of his own.
She looked up at him, eyes narrowed in suspicion.
He couldn’t blame her for that. Before he’d sat down, she had been winning this game. Playing with her had given him enough insight to realize that. The fact that she had met her match seemed to have come as a surprise.
Well, she had been a surprise to Norman, too. She continued to surprise him.
And for that, if nothing else, he was determined to make sure that life as his Duchess wasn’t too much of a burden to her.
CHAPTER 16
“Ihave to say,” Father said, “this has all gone more smoothly than I ever could have predicted it would.
“I told you Gilbert would propose,” Marina said calmly. “I don’t think anything could have kept him from doing so—and, as you saw, he was horrified by what the scandal sheets printed. He thinks it’s all his fault.”
“It isn’t all his fault,” Father said. “It’s his fault and your fault in equal measure. There are plenty who believe ladies are too foolish to be entrusted with their own well-being, and thus are not to blame for their actions, but you won’t find me among that number, Marina. I believe you should have the wits to take care of yourself, at least to a degree. And I think you’re very lucky that your young man was still willing to marry you. Goodness knows he was under no obligation to do so.”
Gilbert had appeared over breakfast that very morning to ask for Marina’s hand, a mere three days after Susan’s engagement hadgone from being a pretense to being reality. Susan couldn’t help noticing the difference between herself and her sister. Marina danced about the house, her face shining with joy, but Susan felt as if she was carrying a rock around with her everywhere she went.
It had occurred to her, of course, that now that Marina was to be married, she might stall her own wedding once more and eventually find a way out of it. But it seemed impossible. Every other word out of her father’s mouth seemed to have something to do with Susan or the Duke. Even now, he was watching her shrewdly, as though trying to sort something out in his mind.
“I think perhaps we’ll have the weddings a week apart,” he said. “But Susan’s will have to come first, of course.”
Marina clearly hadn’t given up on the idea of trying to rectify her mistakes. “Father, I’d like my wedding to be first,” she said boldly. “I know that isn’t the tradition, but… you see, I’m justsoeager to be married to Gilbert that I can’t bear the thought of waiting even one more moment! Susan won’t mind letting me go first, will you, Sue?” She looked at her sister with wide eyes, as if willing her to understand the attempt she was making.
The wall would have understood.
Susan managed a small smile, but it was their father who spoke. “That isn’t going to work, Marina,” he said. “You two have very nearly ruined your prospects already this season, and I’ve learned my lesson about allowing either one of you to take matters into your own hands. No, from now on, we’re going todo things my way—at least until the matter of your respective marriages are settled. Then, I suppose, it will be for your husbands to sort out your behavior.” He nodded firmly.
Susan sighed. She appreciated what her sister was trying to do. “Marina, why don’t you come up to the library with me for a few hours?” She glanced at their father. “Since we are both to be married soon, it would be a good opportunity to spend some time daydreaming together about our weddings. I’d love to have a few hours to talk to you about what I hope those days are going to be like.”
Marina hesitated. Susan was sure her sister understood that she didn’t really care what the wedding was like. But she eventually nodded. “Yes, I think that would be lovely,” she said.
Susan led the way up to the library in silence. There was no giggling or gossiping about the men they were about to wed, and even the dance had gone out of Marina’s steps. Susan felt ashamed. Her sister was so attuned to Susan’s unhappiness that she couldn’t even hold onto her own joy.
In the library, they sat down, the door tightly shut. At once, Marina reached out and took Susan’s hand. “Susan… I’m so sorry. For everything. I’ll spend the rest of my life feeling sorry for having put you in this position, truly.”
“You don’t need to do that,” Susan said. It was time for her sister to know that she was forgiven. “It wasn’t that big of a mistake, Marina. It’s not your fault that society is full of gossips. It’s not your fault that people will seek any excuse to talk aboutsomeone. What you did… at the end of the day, you’re right. Itwasharmless. You spent a few moments hand in hand with the man you intended to marry. There was nothing improper there, really, and in a kinder world, people would look at that with indulgence. In a kinder world, people would remember what it was like to be young and to think yourself in love.”
Marina frowned. “Do you doubt my love for Gilbert? You saidthinkyourself in love. Do you believe our love is not real?”
Susan sighed. “You know what I think, Marina.”
“I don’t know if I do,” Marina countered. “I have always thought you supported me in my dream of marrying Gilbert. I have always believed that you wanted to see us married. Isn’t that why you’ve gone along with Father’s plans to getyoumarried?”
