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The gardener seemed pleased, a broad grin spreading across his face. “Just give me a week, Your Grace. And if you should need anything particular, I can get almost anything.”

“I shall bear that in mind,” she said, sighing with relief. “Indeed, I shall hold you to that, for some of my remedies require more… exotic plants.”

He nodded. “Whatever you need; I’ll find a way to get it.”

She did not know if she should be worried about that statement, but she decided not to question it. If there was a black market for foreign, exotic plants, she did not need to know about it.

After thanking the gardener profusely, she wandered back through the pretty rose gardens that he was so proud of, feeling that much lighter, that much more hopeful. Of course, she had understood that there would be an adjustment after arriving at Knotgill, but, thus far, it had been much harder than she thought it would be.

How can someone just vanish inside a house?

She glanced at the winking windows and wondered where Anthony was. He had to be in there somewhere, but short of searching every room for him, she did not know how to find him without seeming desperate.

It was not even him that she wanted to see, or so she told herself, it was just that she dearly wanted to have a conversation, to have some company. The maids were lovely—all of the staff, in fact—but there was a perpetual distance there that made friendship impossible.

In this manor, the servants were not treated as family. Another adjustment that she was finding difficult, for most of them refused to call her by her name, and seemed unnerved when she would ask questions about their lives or just how they were doing on any given day.

She had just passed through the gate that led into the orchards, when a great cry startled the life out of her.

“Miss Longman!”

She whipped around to find a blur racing toward her, chased by a somewhat slower, but no less familiar, figure.

“William!” Marina called back, laughing as the boy sprinted up to her. “Well, you certainly seem recovered.”

He skidded to a halt, breathless and grinning. “I am. Doctor Longman fixed me.”

Her heart swelled, a lump forming in her throat as she crouched down to his level. “Has it been a week already?” she asked, as much to herself as to him. “I have been looking forward to your arrival, Master William.”

“I have looked forward to it the most,” he insisted, brushing hair out of his face. “Mayfair is no fun. My great-grandmama doesn’t let me do anything.”

He took Marina’s hand and helped to pull her up. “I’m going to show you everything,” he told her proudly. “All of the secret places where I play. And you can tell me all about doctor things. I want to know how to heal people, like you. Maybe I’ll even be a doctor!”

She laughed, rather comforted by his small hand holding hers. “I am not sure your father will like that.”

“My father doesn’t like me, so it hardly matters,” the boy replied with a shrug, just as Mrs. Havers, the housekeeper, caught up.

Marina’s brow furrowed as she observed the child. There had been no pain in his voice, just a matter-of-fact statement, declared with all the emotion of commenting on the weather.

What an awful thing for a boy to believe, much less say… Her heart twinged for him.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

William peered up at her. “Exactly what I said.”

She might have pressed him more, but the housekeeper’s presence held her tongue. There would be time enough to figure out why such a sweet boy would say something like that.

“You are looking well, Your Grace,” Mrs. Havers said, bobbing her head. “Are you settling in? I am sorry I was not here to help until now. I trust your rooms are to your liking?”

Marina smiled politely. “My rooms are very pleasant. I have been spending a great deal of time there, so it is fortuitous that they are so nice.” She mustered a stiff laugh. “How was your journey?”

“Pleasant enough, Your Grace.” The housekeeper wrung her hands. “But you are being well taken care of? You are finding your place? All is well?”

Marina was not certain what Mrs. Havers was actually asking, but she did not have the heart to mention that she had not seen Anthony all week. Not everyone knew what the arrangement was, and were likely expecting a couple who were more involved with one another.

“I confess, I do not know how to be a duchess,” Marina said, holding William’s hand a little tighter. “I do not even know how to be a lady. But I am managing.”

William scoffed. “You’re a doctor, Miss Longman. What do you need to be a duchess for?”