Page 34 of The Duke’s Caught Bride

Freddie reached for a paper and knocked a pencil to the floor. Alice bent to retrieve it, and the motion pulled her gown taut across her back, outlining the curve of her spine and the generous swell of her hips beneath the fabric.

Kenneth felt his breath shorten, and he stepped back from the door.

This was not what he had bargained for. He had bargained for stability. For a wife who would monitor his children’s well-being as much as he did and keep the household accounts in order while he attended to the estate.

He had not bargained for whatever it was she awakened within him.

Discipline. Order. Control. These were the principles upon which he had built his life. They were the architecture that had kept Bearmoor functioning. Alice had arrived with a sledgehammer and begun knocking holes in that architecture with ease.

Kenneth let his hand drop to his side. Then he lifted his chin and opened the door.

All three faces turned toward him. Alice with expectation, Charlie with trepidation, and Freddie… Freddie’s face was unreadable.

“What do we have here?”

Alice rose, her eyes searching his. “Your Grace, we… The boys were helping me.”

“Helping you?”

She lifted her chin and faced him head-on, her eyes not leaving his. “Yes, helping me. We are planning a fair, and they have been rather reliable.”

“Well, I must admit…” He moved to where the boys sat frozen. “It has been rather quiet lately. The garden and ponds have all gone without an ambush from you for longer than ever before.”

Freddie regarded him with dark eyes. Charlie kept his eyes on his hands.

“You have been well-behaved, boys. Thus, I decided to… reduce your punishment.”

This time, both sets of eyes flickered toward him.

“A week,” he clarified. “But I do expect the good behavior to continue.”

Kenneth did not wait for a response. Instead, he walked away, his boots striking the runner with a cadence that sounded like retreat, even to his own ears.

In his study, he closed the door. The estate accounts waited on his desk. He picked up his pen and stared at the figures until they blurred into shapes that conveyed no meaning.

He would not think of his wife, or the gradual softening that tugged at his heart.

Harcourt Hall drowned in opulence. Kenneth handed Alice down from the carriage gently.

“You needn’t look so terrified,” he said, keeping his voice low as the footman accepted their outer garments. “Harcourt is a bore. His wife is worse. The food will be adequate, and the conversation will revolve around drainage systems and the comparative merits of various root vegetables. I assure you, by the second course, you will be counting the minutes until we return home.”

“I am not terrified.” Alice straightened her spine and adjusted her gloves with a precision that suggested she had rehearsed the gesture in front of a mirror. “I am merely apprehensive. This is my first appearance as your wife in company that extends beyond Bearmoor’s staff. I would prefer not to disgrace you.”

“You will not disgrace me. I have no doubt about that.” The words emerged before he could recall them, and he saw her eyes widen slightly. He cleared his throat. “Shall we?”

Lord Harcourt emerged from the drawing room with an enthusiastic grin. He was stout, pink-cheeked, and dressed in a waistcoat that looked as though it was about to burst at the seams.

“Your Grace! At last. And the new Duchess.” He bowed over Alice’s hand with a flourish. “A pleasure, Your Grace. A very great pleasure. The county has been agog with anticipation. Agog, I tell you.”

“How kind.” Alice’s smile achieved the remarkable feat of being both warm and entirely noncommittal.

Kenneth glanced at her, unable to suppress the pride swelling in his chest.

The drawing room held perhaps fifteen people. Local gentry, mostly.

They turned as one when Kenneth and Alice entered, and the conversation paused.

Kenneth guided Alice through introductions with the efficiency of a man navigating familiar terrain. She curtsied where curtsies were due, offered her hand where hands were expected, and replied to questions about Bearmoor and the twins with a grace that suggested she had prepared for this interrogation and found it less daunting than anticipated.