As he had always been.
“Gosh, if that was not a chore worthy of a drink.”
It was the first thing the Duke said to her once the carriage doors were closed.
He collapsed onto his seat, spread his arms wide, kicked up his legs, and allowed his body to sag. “Perhaps two, as nothing has been better earned.”
He then turned away from her, his attention falling on the window.
“What was that?” Helena demanded hotly.
The Duke frowned and looked at her. “What was what?”
“Back there? The way you were acting—what you said! About how we met, that ridiculous story you spun. What was that?”
“I would have thought it was obvious.”
“Is it supposed to be!”
“Helena…” He looked rather confused by her outburst. “I told you that if this is going to work, we need to sell it. Did I not? I think you forgot how much trouble you were in, so the only way our sudden marriage would make sense is if people believed we were in love. Personally, I think I did rather well.”
“Do you, now?” she scoffed.
“You could have done better,” he said with a casual shrug. “Let us hope that it was simply read as a smitten bride unable to believe how lucky she was. Yes, stunned speechless because she was marrying the man of her dreams.” He winked at her. “That is how I chose to read it.”
She found herself growing annoyed by how dismissive he was being. “So, everything you said about…” Cheeks flushed pink, she looked away with embarrassment. “About how we met. It was a lie.”
“You know it was.”
“And the night in the library…”
“I should have been a poet.”
Helena cursed herself inwardly. Not even sure what she expected to hear, or what she wanted to hear for that matter. For some reason that she was not willing to consider, the truth stung more than it should have.
“Is that a problem?” he asked.
“No,” she said quickly, jerking her head up and fixing him with a glare. “I just wish you had warned me first. I do not appreciate being made to look so foolish,” she scoffed. “You made me sound like some bumbling lady. A lovesick maiden without any agency of her own.”
He laughed. “Very unlike the independent heroines you are so fond of writing in your tales.”
“Very,” she said darkly.
He shrugged and went back to looking out the window. “Now you know the way of it. And just to be clear, it will be this way for the foreseeable future. So, I suggest you get used to it. And if you wish to contribute next time, all the better.”
Helena glared at the Duke, wanting him to see how annoyed she was. And her glare darkened because he paid her no attention whatsoever, content with watching the countryside roll by as they made their way slowly to his estate.
I do not understand why I am so angry. Just a reflex because this entire situation is… it is beyond abhorrent! Yes, that is why. Nothing to do with the Duke.
The journey to the Duke’s estate passed in silence. The Duke acted as if he did not even know that Helena was there, and Helena tried her best to do the same. But her eyes continued tofind him, lingering on his muscular frame, his broad shoulders, his square jawline, and his full lips. Still, she felt a tingle on her cheek from where he kissed her.
What annoyed her the most, she slowly came to realize, had nothing to do with how the Duke was treating her, but how she had allowed herself to be treated.
This entire marriage came about under the Duke’s orders and wishes. He made the rules, was in complete control, and she was little more than a boat in a storm, being pushed and pulled without any say.
It was so unlike her and, as the Duke had pointed out, not at all how she would have written this story, had she come up with it. Something needed to change.
Thus, she started to plan those changes.
