The wide lawn behind the neighboring estate had been arranged with careful elegance, hedges framing the space while small tables were scattered among the flowers as guests moved through the summer afternoon.
Lady Salford stood near the center of the gathering like a general observing a battlefield she had personally arranged.
The afternoon progressed easily enough for a time. Alexander greeted guests with calm courtesy, answering questions about the estate and his health while keeping careful awareness of Diana beside him.
It had been three days since that night. Three days in which Diana had behaved with careful composure, polite conversation, and a very deliberate effort not to linger too close to him when others were present.
For the past three days, she had been… nervous.
He understood it. The realization had come to him gradually that Diana had spent much of their marriage carefully protecting herself from him. The man she had married had left her alone too often, disappeared into his work, and expected her to endure it without complaint.
She relaxed gradually. He could feel it in the way her shoulders loosened, in the way she began speaking more easily with the guests who approached them.
Then he heard the whispering.
Two women standing just beyond the rose hedge glanced toward Diana while speaking in low voices that were not quite low enough. Alexander listened.
“It must have been something dreadful,” one of them murmured.
“Men do not abandon their wives for months without reason.”
The other woman nodded slowly. “Perhaps the Duchess proved… difficult.”
The quiet warmth of the afternoon evaporated almost instantly.
A moment earlier, the garden had been filled with the pleasant murmur of conversation and the gentle clink of porcelain cups. Now the air seemed to sharpen around him as the whispering reached his ears.
He did not need to turn to know who they were speaking about.
Diana’s hand rested lightly on his arm, but he felt the faint tightening of her fingers before the women even approached.
They arrived a moment later with carefully arranged smiles.
“Your Grace,” the first said sweetly, dipping into a polite curtsy.
“And Your Grace,” the second added toward Diana.
Their eyes lingered just slightly too long.
Alexander recognized that look immediately: curiosity sharpened into something far less kind, politeness polished carefully over the edge of quiet judgment.
“We were just saying,” the first woman continued pleasantly, “how unfortunate it must have been for the Duke to remain away from his estate for so long.”
“Business matters can be terribly inconvenient,” the second added lightly.
Alexander regarded them calmly.
Outwardly, he did not move. But inside, something cold settled into place with quiet certainty. He knew this tone. Polite cruelty disguised as curiosity.
Beside him, Diana remained perfectly composed. Her posture did not change, her expression still carrying that elegant calm she had worn all afternoon.
Alexander admired that, but he had no intention of allowing it.
“Indeed,” he said mildly.
Both women turned their attention fully toward him now.
“Business,” Alexander continued, his tone perfectly even, “does require a certain degree of intelligence to understand.”
