Page 26 of Duke in Darkness

“There you go. I’ve helped you to the street. Aren’t I nice? Oh, look! I’m sure those are your people right over there,” said the shop assistant, gesturing at a group of strangers. “Good day to you, sir.”

And with that, Gabriel was discreetly shoved outside, hard enough to make him stumble and plant his foot right in the middle of a fresh pile of horseshit.

That bloody well did it.

He was never leaving the townhouse again.

LILIAN STARED at her looking glass and smoothed both her coiled braid and her jonquil-striped tea gown for the thousandth time, her stomach swirling with anticipation. She’d changed her mind on which gown to wear for the meeting with Exton and the steward Mr. Fairlie so many times already Dawn might well be ready to strangle her, but today was too important.

She wanted to look just right. To make Exton proud. It was so kind of him to indulge her unusual interest in the practical aspects of growing plants and crops, especially in permitting her the opportunity to ask questions of a steward when these were very much men’s matters.

“You look lovely, Your Grace. Really lovely.”

Lilian smiled ruefully at Dawn. “I do apologize for my indecisiveness.”

Her maid shrugged, her arms laden with discarded gowns. “A duchess must look the part for each occasion. You’ve chosen well. Formal, but not too formal. Pretty, with that lace on the hem, but not fussy. And beg pardon, ma’am, but it fits you much better in the bodice than your other gowns. I’m sure His Grace will appreciate it.”

A blush heated her cheeks. In a single, petty act of rebellion the previous year, she had discreetly slipped their seamstress a shilling and asked that one gown not be quite as modest as the others. She’d hidden it right at the back of her armoire so Grandmother didn’t find it, and hadn’t ever worn it. But for some reason this afternoon, the gown, with its tighter bodice that cupped her full breasts and scandalously left her neck and the tops of her shoulders bare, called her name like a Siren. “We’ll see.”

With one last pat to her hair, Lilian made her way downstairs. Her clock had said half-past one, still another half hour until Mr. Fairlie’s visit, but she wanted to speak with Exton first and see if he had any instructions for her, or if there were any topics he wished to discuss with the steward on his own. She certainly didn’t want a repeat of the previous evening, when she inadvertently stumbled onto something that strained the fragile understanding between them.

When she arrived outside his library door, Lilian took a deep breath and knocked on the door. “Exton?”

She waited for a call of ‘enter’ as proper, and frowned when it didn’t come. “Exton?” she tried again, rapping her knuckles harder against the heavy oak. Perhaps he hadn’t heard her.

Still no reply.

Lilian bit her lip. Had he changed his mind? Did he not want her to take part in the meeting after all? A voice of reason chastised her immediate disappointment. Perhaps he merely prepared elsewhere. His bedchamber did have a large desk in the corner, one obviously used regularly.

Returning to the entrance hall, she reluctantly approached their butler. Norris made her hackles rise, and she’d reprimanded him twice already about the laxness of some footmen. In all honesty she would happily dismiss him, but couldn’t do that without Exton’s permission. “Norris, have you seen His Grace?”

The gray-haired, pinch-lipped man’s gaze slid away from her. “No, madam.”

Affront made her breath catch. Liar! “How odd. Most butlers know where their master is at all times.”

Norris went rigid. Then a slight sneer curled his lips. “Are you insisting I tell you?”

She frowned in annoyance. “I am.”

“Very well. His Grace left some hours ago for an appointment in town.”

“Oh really?” she said, her tone cooling further. Yet another lie? Even before their marriage, Exton had apparently rarely left the townhouse. “I am unaware of any appointment.”

The butler’s sneer became a smirk. “His Grace did not mention the particulars. I would hazard a guess that it is a private appointment. The kind not mentioned to wives.”

Mortification stabbed her to the heart. “I see. Thank you,” she choked out, forcing her legs to continue on to the smaller blue parlor where she might be alone.

Exton had gone to be with his mistress.

It shouldn’t sting so much, not when theirs wasn’t a love match, and nearly all peers did the same. Mistresses were a perfectly unexceptional ton practice, even heartily encouraged by some wives. But it did hurt, like a nasty pinch to the arm, and explained why he hadn’t visited her bedchamber the past three nights. Getting her with child was a duty. Yet manly appetites stretched far beyond that, and he would want the pleasure that only an experienced and familiar lover could provide.

Walking over to the parlor window, Lilian stared dully out into Grosvenor Square. The earlier rain had cleared away, and grand carriages and prime horseflesh now made their way around the wide, pale cobblestone road. In amongst them darted small groups of laughing, well-dressed young men. Further away was the jewel of the square, the central large expanse of emerald green lawn, symmetrical shrubbery, and elm trees, surrounded by iron railings, for the garden could only be enjoyed by residents. There she could see governesses and their charges, and matrons walking arm in arm, most probably sharing the latest on dits. Unhappily for her current mood, both in the central garden and on the road, she could also see couples. Ladies and gentlemen walking with their heads tilted toward each other, gloved fingers curled around arms, both smiling as they spoke or exchanged quick glances that spoke of shared secrets and a longing for privacy so they might steal a kiss.

Envy overwhelmed her, and she pressed her forehead to the cool glass of the large, high window. The ladies walking outside might well give anything to be a duchess, but at this moment, she would happily swap her coronet for a man to look at her with real love and affection in his eyes.

“Lilian! There you are.”

She nearly jumped a foot in the air at Exton’s voice behind her, and tried to turn calmly toward him instead of jerking around guiltily at his irritable tone. “Good afternoon.”