Page 23

Dear Sarah,

I shall be meeting with your aunt’s solicitor this afternoon at three o’clock in Berkeley Square to finalize the settlements for your family, Lady Holbrook, and your dowry.

I would very much appreciate your attendance at the meeting to oversee and agree to the settlements.

I will naturally apprize your father by letter of what is agreed upon for his approval also.

I will send my carriage for you just before three.

Yours sincerely,

Robert Layne

Sarah read the note with wide eyes. She had not expected such consideration, and it somewhat disarmed her anger, which had not abated in the five days since their betrothal was announced to the world.

She had kept to the house for the duration of that time and declined every one of his invitations to attend a social function in his company, claiming a feminine weakness that forced her to remain sequestered.

It galled her to do so, but she simply couldn’t face him.

The note jolted her out of her self-pity and anger to think of the people for whom she was doing this. So, she put on her best bonnet and a new walking dress and was ready for the duke’s carriage when it appeared.

Arriving at Berkeley Square for the first time, she mounted the steps of the four-story mansion with trepidation. The door was opened to her by a middle-aged butler of very superior bearing. However, as soon as he clapped eyes on her, he unbent considerably, smiling and bowing.

“Miss Watson, welcome to Layne House, Mr. Creighton at your service. May I convey the sentiments of the whole staff, how glad we are to welcome you to the house and family. I and the entire staff look forward very much to serving you as the new duchess.”

Sarah blushed, taken aback by such a fulsome welcome. “Th-thank you, Creighton. I believe the duke is expecting me?”

“He is. Let me take your bonnet and cloak, and I will take you to him straightaway.”

Divested of bonnet and cloak, she followed Creighton to a door on the left side of the house. He opened the door and announced, “Miss Watson, Your Grace.”

Sarah stepped over the threshold and caught her breath in surprise.

The room was of generous proportions and was lined floor to ceiling with books on three of the walls.

The front wall had two window embrasures flanked by red velvet curtains, and a fireplace with the generous fire splitting the bookcases was on the far wall.

There was a huge desk at the other end of the room and between were strewn several comfortable looking leather couches and chairs.

The floor was covered in an expensive looking carpet of eastern design.

The whole effect was both sumptuous and cozy.

The duke stood before the fire, dressed as always with taste and elegance.

Today he wore a bottle-green jacket and buff-colored pantaloons which showed his excellent legs to advantage.

As always, his cravat and waistcoat were of impeccable taste.

It made her glad she had chosen to wear the new walking dress in Pomona green.

“Your Grace,” she curtsied as the door closed behind her and the duke came toward her. She had expected the solicitors to be here, but they were alone.

“Sarah, thank you for coming,” he said, taking her hand and kissing it formally.

She retracted her hand, trying to ignore the little tingle that ran up her arm from his touch. “Where are the solicitors?” she asked, unable to keep the note of accusation out of her voice.

“They will join us shortly. I wanted to allow you time to peruse what is being proposed. If you will sit?” He indicated the desk where some papers were spread out. She moved to take the seat behind the desk and looked over the papers there.

“You will see your aunt’s will, which you should be familiar with,” he said, indicating one multi-page document. “Here you will see set out the amounts I propose for settlements on your family, for Lady Holbrook, and your dowry. Please review them and make any amendments you see fit.”

With a fast-beating heart, she ran her eyes over the amounts laid out.

Allowances and dowries for her sisters, annuities for the boys’ education and larger, individual sums to be paid on their reaching majority.

An income supplement for her parents with a significant sum held in reserve for her father’s retirement or payable to her mother should he die before then.

The amount for Daphne was likewise generous and practical, payable for her lifetime or payable in a sum to the value of twenty years should she choose to marry again, as her dowry.

And for herself a very generous dowry and allowance.

He waited by the fire in silence while she read through the paper and made a couple of minor changes.

“You are most generous, Your Grace,” she said stiffly, feeling quite awkward and uncomfortable in the circumstances. She handed him her amendments, and he took them with a glance.

“You should know also that I intend to use part of the principle to revive the estate at The Castle, my primary seat. It has been sorely neglected and requires an input of funds to restore it to working order so that it may begin to pay for itself and the family’s other expenses.

I intend also to divert some of the income to members of my family in the interim and use a portion of the principle to clear an accumulation of debt.

“Once The Castle is in good heart I will look to improve the condition of my other assets. I will keep you fully informed of the financial status of each property, and when I am able, I will transfer ownership for life of one of the houses to you. I can’t will it to you outright, as everything is entailed.

Everything will go to our eldest son upon my death, but this arrangement will ensure that you are never without a home or income should something happen to me. ”

“You are very practical, Your Grace. Thank you.”

He nodded and seemed to be about to say something else when the door opened and Creighton announced, “Mr. Benson and Mr. Harley, Your Grace.”

Mr. Benson was short and round and Mr. Harley tall and thin.

With the introductions out of the way, the gentlemen sat down to business and Sarah listened.

At each point a decision was made and committed to paper, the duke asked her directly for her assent.

At the end of the process, her signature was requested alongside the duke’s.

Through the execution clauses of the new contract, he had ensured that he could not spend the principle, nor redirect the income from her fortune, without her written approval.

Furthermore, he had no control over the monies settled upon her outright, which she could spend as she saw fit, and he could not take them back should he wish to.

The solicitors had looked at him very oddly when he insisted on this clause, and Sarah suspected that if she hadn’t been present, they would have argued strongly against it.

As it was, they didn’t dare with the duke looking at them grimly and herself sitting there with her hands in her lap feeling quite overwhelmed.

The business concluded, Messrs. Benson and Harley left, and she prepared to do the same, but inevitably the duke stayed her with a hand on her arm.

“Sarah, please, we need to talk.”

“You have been exceedingly generous, Your Grace, I don’t know what to say,” she said, looking anywhere but at him.

“You could look at me to begin with,” he said, touching her chin lightly to bring her face round to his.

She glanced up at him and away, her heart clenching in her chest. His generosity to herself and her family had gone a considerable way toward puncturing the ball of anger in her stomach, but she felt the gulf between them keenly.

“Sarah, I felt that you needed to understand that I would not abuse the financial advantage that you bring to our marriage and to reassure you that you will not be left unprotected should something happen to me. Having got that out of the way, we need to address the other aspects of this union.”

“Indeed, Your Grace.”

“Will you please call me Robert?”

She compressed her lips. “You cannot buy my affection, Your Grace.”

He sighed with a tinge of frustration. “I wasn’t trying to.”

She looked at him run a hand through his hair, a gesture she had noticed before that expressed agitation.

“Sarah, what can I say? I am at a loss.”

“You could try starting with an apology!” she blurted, her anger flaring up again.

“You believe me complicit in Lady Holbrook’s deception?”

She nodded, her back ramrod straight and her hands clenched tightly before her.

“I wasn’t,” he said baldly.

“How can I believe that when you stood to gain everything from it?”

“If you can believe I would stoop to such tactics as that, you know nothing of my character. I don’t know what else I can do to demonstrate to you that I am a man of honor and integrity, two traits that I thought would weigh with you.”

His words pierced her angry defenses, yet she turned them off.

For if she weren’t at outs with him, she would fall victim to his charm again, and it would hurt!

Gathering her anger around her again, she was about to reply that she didn’t know what to think of him when he said stiffly, “Very well, if it is an apology you require, you shall have one.” He cleared his throat.

“I do most sincerely apologize if anything I have done or said has caused you distress.”

She listened to these words with her heart beating fast. They were obviously uttered reluctantly and did little to assuage her anger.

He must have seen that in her demeanor for his stiff posture collapsed and he reached out a hand toward her, saying with far more sincerity, “I’m sorry, Sarah.

Please, I cannot bear it if you’re angry with me. ”