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“I will let you decide how fruitful that might be,” he said. “Considering you have experienced what it is like dealing with her .”

“You have raised a stubborn daughter,” Penelope asserted. It felt strange to say that about someone else, considering that for most of her life, she had been regarded as such.

“This is what you are here for, is it not? To amend that,” Alexander said. “To make certain she is taught what she must before she enters society.”

Penelope opened her mouth to interject but he cut her off.

“I expect you to be a good influence on her, despite yourself,” he continued, “She’ll need an example to follow.”

“Despite myself?” Penelope repeated, appalled. It always surprised her how easily he was able to insult her.

Alexander didn’t even flinch, as expected.

“Forgive me for the assumption,” he shot her a glance. “But you do not strike me as the most traditional.”

“I beg your pardon?” she said, aghast. “I am entirely proper. I have been raised in society and upheld every expectation placed upon me. Nobody has ever questioned my manners until I stepped into your house.”

Well, that was not entirely the truth, and she knew it. But she was not about to let him smear her in an argument.

“You fled your first wedding, married me within a week,” he shrugged.

“At your insistence,” she huffed. “Let us not pretend that this arrangement was forced upon you.”

“It wasn’t forced,” he said simply. “But it was necessary for Odette. She needs guidance and discipline.”

“I am capable of being all those things,” she shot back.

“Then I expect you to act like it,” he replied. “Around her, especially.”

“I have done nothing but act with care and patience. And she will not even speak to me,” Penelope’s hands curled into fists at her sides. “I would urge you to have some faith in me, at the very least.”

“She’s not required to do anything,” Alexander reminded her. “Not until you give her reason to.”

Penelope found herself at a loss for words.

“Firstly, it was your idea to bring me into this household,” she said, annoyed. “Now, you tell me that she is not required to speak to me. Tell me, does that make any sense to you?”

“It makes perfect sense to me. I brought you here to provide structure, not to force intimacy where it isn’t welcome.”

Penelope let out a frustrated laugh. Did he even hear himself? He was being impossible.

“Structure requires communication, Your Grace,” she tried to keep her voice even. “How exactly am I to guide a child who refuses to look at me, let alone listen?”

“You were not brought here to be her friend,” he mused, almost as if he was thinking out loud.

It occurred to her then that perhaps even the duke had not thought this out well.

“No,” she snapped, “I was brought here to be her example. As you so kindly keep reminding me.”

“Then perhaps you should focus on being one.”

“And what part of my behavior has suggested otherwise?”

Alexander did not answer the question directly. “Perhaps there is a need for you to adjust your expectations with her.”

“Oh, forgive me,” she said immediately, “For thinking that perhaps a child might respond to basic human decency.”

“She responds to consistency.”

And what do you think I’ve been offering?” Penelope threw her hands in the air. She was at her wits end.

“You’ve been performing,” Alexander corrected. “And Odette knows the difference.”

“That is quite the assumption to make, Your Grace. How do you know that my intentions are not genuine?”

“I did not say that,” Alexander said. “Only reminding you that she doesn’t need another well-meaning lady with pretty words and good intentions. She needs someone who shows up and stays, whether or not it’s convenient. What you need to be is patient.”

“I am being plenty patient,” Penelope snapped. “What I would like in return is a little support from her father.”

“And what would that support entail?” Alexander argued instead of softening. “Forgive me, but I do not see the value in offering you praise for making an effort.”

That set her off.

“The least you can do,” she said, boiling over with anger now, “is to not make me feel as though I am failing entirely.”

“Then stop acting like you already have,” he said, sharply. “Being too sensitive will not fare well, if you are to survive here.”

Penelope gasped, affronted. “I argue the opposite. Perhaps you need to learn how to be a bit more sensitive. I know it seems impossible for you, but please, try. ”

She narrowed her eyes at him, tone dripping with sarcasm.

“Insulting me will not get you to where you want to be, wife,” he said, taking a step closer towards her.

“It might not,” she shrugged, holding her ground. “But at least, I draw some pleasure from doing it. That counts for something.”

“Careful,” he closed the distance between them all at once.

Penelope didn’t move at first. She refused to give him the satisfaction. But when he stopped just inches from her, she felt herself faltering. A blush crept up her neck, and her throat was suddenly dry.

Curse him for having this effect on me. But try as she might, she could not get herself to move.

“You will not get any benefit from insulting me,” he reminded her in a low voice that sounding like a warning. She shivered as his hot breath curled against her skin. “So, I suggest you change course and adjust your behavior accordingly.”

“You will find that I am not in the habit of taking orders, Your Grace,” she shot back, mustering up all the defiance that she could .

Which, granted, was not much when he was so close to her. It had a dizzying effect.

She noticed him gaze at her lip for a brief second only, then his eyes snapped back upwards.

“Stubbornness is not the way you earn respect,” he said.

“And submission won’t earn yours,” she snapped. But he did not answer this time.

Instead, he was staring at her again. There was a strange half-dazed look in his eyes that she had not seen before.

Penelope suddenly realized her hands were balled into fists at her sides, and that if she moved even an inch, she could end up in a situation that she did not wish to be in.

Abruptly, she took a step back.

“I… I must return to my chambers,” she announced, rattled by what had almost happened.

Alexander only smirked in response, which only bothered her even more.

“Finally,” he turned back to his desk. “I can return to my work now. Next time, please think a bit more before you decide to interrupt me.”

Penelope rolled her eyes and left without uttering a single word.

The nerve of him. It felt like she was trapped in a house where no one really wanted her.

But that did not deter her. If they wouldn’t make space for her, then she’d carve one out for herself.