Page 30 of If the Duke Demands

But Miranda wasn’t certain she’d make a good wife for Sebastian.

“And she knows how to run a large household like that at Blackwood Hall,” he continued.

“Chestnut Hill, you mean,” she corrected in surprise, her gaze swinging to him.

“Once we’re married, we’ll reside at Blackwood Hall,” he explained. “Chestnut Hill will become the dower house.”

“Oh.”Thattook her completely by surprise.

Blackwood Hall was the grand manor house given to the family when Richard Carlisle received the title. It was currently closed up, the family preferring their smaller home of Chestnut Hill, where they’d lived for over thirty years. But of course Sebastian would live in the larger house with his duchess. How had that realization never occurred to her before, that he would be moving away from Chestnut Hill? But it hadn’t, and a stab of unexpected loss struck her. Now he would be with a newlywed bride he might not love, in another house that wasn’t his home, in a place where Miranda couldn’t picture himeverbeing happy.

Her chest tightened with a sudden, fierce urge to argue with him, to tell him how mistaken he was, that he had all his priorities hopelessly mixed up in his search for a wife. But it wasn’t her place to question his choice, or insist that he put his own happiness first. They were only childhood friends—

He deserved so much better!

“Lady Jane is all wrong for you,” she blurted out, the words spilling forth before she could stop them.

“Oh?” His gaze flicked curiously to her. “What kind of woman should I settle on, then?”

“The kind you won’t tire of in six months,” she answered, a bit too boldly. “One you love.”

“A lack of boredom has nothing to do with my choice in duchess,” he commented as he looked away again. “Or love.”

“Perhaps not.” She rose as gracefully to her feet as possible and brushed her hands down the front of her yellow skirt to smooth out any wrinkles. Most likely, Lady Jane had never experienced a wrinkle in her life. Like freckles, they were simply not allowed into her world. “Although I think you should reconsider.”

“And why is that?” He pushed himself to his feet as she rose. Always the perfect gentleman, she thought with chagrin. Even when she didn’t want him to be.

“Because I know you, Sebastian, and your life will never be as simple as you’d like it to be.” As an afterthought, she reached down for her bonnet and gloves. “Why complicate it even more by choosing the wrong wife?”

She set her bonnet in place over her hair, although the afternoon’s freckle damage had already been done. Still, putting on her bonnet seemed like something a lady of the quality would do when leaving her companion for a stroll around the park, and she wanted him to know, no matter how mix-matched the comparison, that she could be just as refined as Lady Jane Sheridan.

His lips tightened as his mother and Quinn finished their turn about the lawn and returned to their picnic. “My life isnotwhat—”

“Who would you rather be, Sebastian?” she pressed quietly, just low enough that his family couldn’t overhear as they reached the blanket, and right at the last moment so that he couldn’t answer. “A duke with a duchess whom everyone respects…or happy?”

CHAPTERSIX

Curtsy to anyone who’s a peer,” Elizabeth Carlisle instructed to a raptly listening Miranda as the carriage rolled through Mayfair. “Address them as your lordship or your ladyship, but only the first time when you’re introduced. Too many ‘your lordships’ makes you sound like a servant.”

Sebastian rolled his eyes. As the ladies’ escort to the Countess of St James’s annual ball, he’d been subjected by proximity to last-minute lessons on proper etiquette all the way from Audley House. He should have ridden with Josie and Chesney, he supposed, and forced Robert to ride with the ladies, to give Miranda more time with him since her pursuit of his brother so far had been fruitless.

His gaze once more drifted across the compartment to Miranda, once more noting how beautiful she looked tonight.

No. He was happy to be right here.

Confusion wrinkled her pretty forehead. “But I don’t curtsy to you and Trent.”

“Certainly not!” His mother looked affronted by the idea, then she softened, giving Miranda’s hand an affectionate squeeze. “Except for tonight, of course, when you do.”

“Oh.” Her confusion deepened. “But if I’m supposed to curtsy to peers, how do I know if they’re peers if no one addresses them as your lordship or ladyship?”

Sebastian bit his tongue to keep from laughing. Leave it to Miranda to point out the illogical pomposity that was the English aristocracy.

His mother blinked, completely unprepared for that earnest question. “Well…just curtsy to anyone who looks important.”

Miranda nodded gravely at that sage bit of wisdom.

“Oh, and I must introduce you to the Duke of Wembley. A most interesting man. He’s had four sons, three daughters, two wives—”