Page 61 of A Bluestocking for the Wicked Duke

William didn’t reply, his smile was reply enough.

“She left a few minutes ago. I don’t need her doting on me every time and I told her that, so she got slightly angry and left. I do expect her to return any minute now; the woman cannot do without me.”

The Duke made the last statement with a big grin on his face.

“Braggart,” William said to his father.

“If I wasn’t getting better I would make you take back that word,” his father replied playfully.

“How?” William asked. “You should be happy you have a doting wife.”

“I am happy I have a doting wife,” the Duke replied.

“She was here almost every minute of every day while you were ill and unconscious. Trust me dad, most of us couldn’t be disturbed to make two trips a day to this room,” William replied.

“Especially you,” said the Duke.

William expected to see anger, even if a little bit on his father’s face as he replied him but there was nothing of the sort. The man didn’t take offence at William’s allusion to his lackadaisical attitude to his father’s health.

The door opened behind William, the person had not knocked. Only one person would come into the Duke’s room without knocking.

Mother

“Speak of the devil and she will appear, we were just speaking about you,” his father said to his mother.

“Don’t speak to me or about me, I am not here to see or talk to you,” his mother replied.

William turned to the side to look at his mother’s face, she wore a straight face but William could see the wrinkling at the edges of her eyes. She was playing.

“Are you angry at what I said?” the Duke asked his wife.

His mother was about to respond but William was not there to be a spectator of the couples’ minor squabble.

“Good morning mother,” he said before turning to walk out of the room.

His mother drew his arm, causing him to turn back.

“You came back in the rain last night, why didn’t you leave where you were earlier?” she asked.

William looked from her face to his father’s face; both of them were concentrating on him. This was something they had discussed before.

“I was held up by some things,” William replied.

His father opened his mouth as if to reply, then closed it again. The Duchess didn’t respond.

“Is that all?” William asked.

His parents didn’t respond, they just looked from him to themselves. William knew they had something to say but he didn’t feel like going through the process of drawing it out of them.

If they want to speak, they should.

He turned back and walked out of the room, still feeling his parents’ boring gaze as he left. William walked back to his room, meeting a steward inside it as he entered.

“Prepare me a bath,” William told the steward as he finished cleaning the room. The steward nodded his head and walked out of the room.

William walked to his mirror and stared at himself in it. His hair was scattered, blond strands extended in all directions. William placed his hand in it and rubbed harder, scattering the different strands even more. He could see a shade of stubble on his chin. He went into his bathroom and looked for his blade. He would remove the stubble before bathing.

I would look much better then.