“I...I have known you such a short time, your Grace, yet I had believed that unlike the other men in my life you were a man of honor, a man who would not force a woman to do his bidding.”#p#分页标题#e#
Daniel listened as his wife spoke, her soft words tickling his skin and seeming to soothe the ache in his chest. Lifting a handful of her hair, he buried his face in the sweet-smelling curls. “I will never be like my father.”
“As I will never be like mine,” she vowed.
Her fingers were stroking his chest, the movements light as a child’s touch, but Daniel felt the sensation through his whole body. “I lived my life believing I knew the future I had mapped out for myself,” he said, “yet in the end, as he did in my youth, my father betrayed me.” Daniel felt the small puff of his wife’s breath on his skin as he finished speaking. “My words amuse you, Duchess?”
She lifted her head to look up at him but in the darkness, her expression eluded him. “At least you had the choice of how to live your life, your Grace. Traveling here with you is the first time I have left my father’s home.”
Slowly, Daniel trailed his fingers over her face, tracing the jut of one cheekbone, the rounded tip of her nose, then the full softness of her lower lip. Everything was different here in the darkness. Inside this room, they were two people who spoke only the truth. He could not do it, could not take her against her will knowing she had been mistreated her entire life.
“No one will hurt you again,” Daniel vowed, swinging her up into his arms.
“No!” She struggled as he carried her toward the bed.
“Ssssh,” Daniel whispered, lowering her onto the mattress. Pulling the covers back, he slid her inside. Bracing his hands on either side of her head, he looked down at her.
“You are right, Duchess. I have no right to take you with so much rage inside me. I apologize for causing you more pain when the reality is that you have had more than your share for one so young.” Lifting a handful of her hair, he smoothed it on the pillow. “I must leave here now before the anger that burns deep inside forces me to do something I would regret. I will return someday under different circumstances, and then we will consummate this marriage and you will have your child, but until then, know that here at Stratton you are your own mistress, safe from the hands of your father.”
She touched the side of his face briefly, her fingers soft as they ran down his cheek.
“Goodbye, Duchess.”
“Goodbye, Duke.”
Taking her fingers in his he gave them a final squeeze and then walked from the room, closing the door quietly behind him.
CHAPTER THREE
“I have written to Reggie but have still received no reply, Betsy. I’m so worried for him.”
Eva raised her face to the sun as she handed Betsy Mulholland a sheet to hang on the line. The heat was soothing on her skin.
Betsy had arrived one week after her husband had left with an armed outrider and Eva knew the Duke had guessed correctly that her father would not give up the woman without a fight. However, of Reggie there had been no sign. Her father had refused to let him come and she knew this was because he had taken Eva’s place in the Winchcomb household.
“We will find a way to get him here, your Grace,” Betsy said, “and in the meantime he is used to your father’s ways.”
Yes, Eva had to believe that and if she could not find a solution soon, she would ask the duke for help again.
She had thought about him a lot since that morning two months ago when he had left Stratton for London. Eva had watched him walk to his carriage, his eagerness at leaving obvious in his long strides. She’d leant on the window ledge to get a final glimpse of him, and as if he sensed her presence, he had looked up and their eyes met briefly. She had raised a hand in farewell but he simply climbed inside and closed the door behind him.#p#分页标题#e#
“Your Grace!”
Eva watched Luton hurry toward her. Tomorrow, she decided, they would hire a young boy to serve as his helper. Surely it was not good for a man of his age to be running about collecting his mistress? And two new gardeners, she thought with a spurt of independence. Stratton deserved to be restored to its former glory and since her husband was not here, that task now fell to her.
“Your Grace, Miss Belmont and Mrs. Potter have called to see you.” Luton clutched his side as he drew in a deep breath.
“Oh dear.” Horrified, Eva looked down at her drab grey dress. “Who are they, Luton?”
“I believe Mrs. Potter is the reverend’s wife, your Grace, and Miss Belmont’s father owns property which borders Stratton”.