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He turned away and dressed himself, but he could not find his cravat. He would have to leave without it.

A soft whine drew his attention to his feet. Snowdrop must have woken up after their…activities, and now the puppy was looking at him expectantly, almost accusingly.

“I am afraid I have to leave,” he told the loyal animal. “I cannot stay here with her. I just can’t. Butyoucan.”

The dog gave a slight bark, and Hudson pressed a finger to his lips in warning. Snowdrop immediately quieted down as if he understood his meaning, dark eyes regarding him with uncanny intelligence.

“Watch over her for me, Snowdrop.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

Scarlett woke up to a delicious ache all over her body, but mostly between her legs. Heat crept up her cheeks when she recalled what transpired last night, how she begged Hudson to stay.

And how he did as she asked and more.

I am his wife now.In name and truth.

She rolled onto her side and found the space beside her empty and cold. Her eyebrows knitted together as she felt the distinct desolation of his absence.

Just one night and you cannot wake up without him.

She shook her head. “Mama will think me the neediest wife in all of existence and probably reproach me for it.”

For most of her childhood, she had heeded—or thought to heed—her mother’s instruction on the relations between men and women. It was only when she started having her monthly courses and saw the dynamics between her parents that she realized she wanted none of that—that she wanted it all or nothing.

She would not settle for the sham Society insisted was a ‘good and suitable match.’

She rang for her maid and was surprised yet again when a parade of servants came in bearing pitchers of hot water for her bath.

“His Grace’s instructions? Again?”

The maid nodded, although she seemed less enthusiastic this time. Scarlett paid her no heed, however, and sank into the bath with a soft sigh. The hot water proved wonderful in easing her aches and the soreness between her legs. She should thank Hudson later for his consideration.

I married a better husband than my father, she thought to herself happily.

Her fears had been unfounded, after all. She would not become like her mother—a spirited woman cowed by her husband.

Because Hudson was different.

Or so she thought.

By midday, she had yet to see neither hide nor hair of the man she had been smiling about the entire morning.

Scarlett applied herself most diligently to her tasks as the Lady of Wolverton Estate, but when she had to sit for tea with only Snowdrop at her feet, she was beginning to feel…forlorn.

She set her cup on the saucer with an irritatedclink. “His Grace?” she asked the maid by her side.

The maid bowed and kept her head down. “He went into his study as soon as he arrived, Your Grace.”

Scarlett’s frown was as dark as the clouds roiling in her heart.

Oh, did he, now?

“Then I suppose I should just see him in his study,” she decided coolly.

The maid turned three shades paler. “His Grace said that he did not want to be disturbed.”

“Well, I am his Duchess—one he chose himself. He can afford the disruption in his well-ordered existence.”