Page 31 of Duke of Storme (Braving the Elements #4)

“ D iana! Diana, where are you hiding?”

The familiar voice echoed through the castle corridors, and Diana felt her heart leap with sudden joy. She dropped her embroidery hoop and rushed to the window of her sitting room, pressing her face to the glass like a child at Christmas.

Below in the courtyard, Jane was stepping down from a travel-worn carriage. Her dark hair escaped its pins after the long journey from London. Lydia followed more slowly, stretching her back with the careful movements of someone who’d endured hours of bumpy roads.

“Jane! Lydia!” Diana called from the window, waving enthusiastically.

Both sisters looked up. Their faces broke into similar grins that made Diana’s chest tight with emotion. How long had it been since she’d seen them? Weeks that felt like years, during which she’d changed in ways she was barely beginning to understand.

She lifted her skirts and ran down the corridors, her slippers echoing against the cold, hard stone floors. Mrs. Glenwright emerged from the kitchens, shaking her head with fond exasperation.

“Your Grace! A Duchess doesn’t run through–”

“Today she does!” Diana called over her shoulder.

The old Diana would never have interrupted the housekeeper, would never have claimed such bold disregard for propriety.

But something had shifted inside her during her time at Storme Castle.

Some fundamental understanding of her own worth now made her feel less apologetic about doing what she wished.

She burst through the front doors just as her sisters reached the top of the stone steps, and suddenly she was enveloped in familiar warm embraces that smelled of lavender and home.

“Oh, how I’ve missed you both!” Diana said, squeezing them tightly. “But where’s Marian? I thought she was coming too.”

“Too heavy with child to travel comfortably,” Lydia explained with a fond smile.

“She sends her love and about seventeen different pieces of advice for Highland living, along with threats of dire consequences if we don’t report back every single detail of your transformation.

The men are settling our things with your staff.

Richard insisted on inspecting your library, and Elias is probably interrogating your stable master about Highland horses by now. ”

“My transformation?” Diana asked, stepping back to look between them.

“Well, yes! Look at you,” Jane said, pulling back to study Diana’s face with sharp, assessing eyes. “You look… different.”

“Different how?” Diana asked, though she was smiling too broadly to feel defensive.

“Not in a bad way,” Jane added quickly. “Just… steadier. Like you’ve finally stopped shrinking.”

Lydia nodded in agreement as her own gaze catalogued the changes in her youngest sister. “There’s something in your eyes that wasn’t there before, dearest… a confidence. You’re standing differently too.”

“Am I?” Diana glanced down at herself, then straightened her spine with the automatic response Finn had drilled into her through countless lessons. “I suppose I have been working on that. My husband has very particular opinions about how a duchess should carry herself.”

“Did I hear you interrupt the housekeeper?” Jane asked with amusement. “The old Diana would have apologized for breathing too loudly in her presence.”

“Mrs. Glenwright isn’t so fearsome once you get to know her,” Diana replied, then paused at her own words. When has she become someone who ‘got to know’ people instead of simply enduring their presence?

“Well,” Lydia said, linking arms with both her sisters. “We want to hear everything ! Starting with how you’ve managed to transform from our shy little sister into someone who looks like she could command an army.”

“Hardly an army,” Diana laughed, but she felt a flutter of pride at the observation. “Though I am planning a formal dinner for twenty-four Highland landowners by the end of the week!”

“You what?” Jane’s eyebrows shot up. “Diana, you once hid behind potted plants to avoid conversing with Lady Ashford at tea.”

“Lady Ashford is insufferable,” Diana replied with a firmness that surprised all three of them. “Highland society is… different. More direct. They say what they mean instead of wrapping everything in pretty lies. It’s most refreshing, really.”

The sisters exchanged a meaningful look over Diana’s head as they climbed the castle steps together.

“And how is the Duke treating you?” Lydia asked gently. “We’ve heard such conflicting reports about his… temperament.”

Diana felt heat rise to her cheeks at the mention of Finn. “He is… complicated. Not what I expected.”

“Complicated how?” Jane pressed with the persistence that had always made her the most formidable of the Brandon sisters.

“He challenges me,” Diana said carefully. “Expects more from me than I thought I was capable of giving. But he also…” She paused, searching for the right words. “He sees me. Really sees me.”

“And do you like being seen?” Lydia asked carefully.

The question hit deeper than Diana expected. “I think… I’m beginning to like who I am when he’s looking.”

They reached the great hall, and Diana gestured for her sisters to follow her toward the more intimate drawing room where they could speak freely.

The castle servants bobbed curtsies as they passed, and Diana noticed how naturally she acknowledged them, how comfortable she’d become moving amongst them through these corridors.

“Tea, Your Grace?” Mrs. Glenwright appeared as if summoned.

“Please, Mrs. Glenwright. And perhaps some of those exceptional shortbread biscuits? My sisters have traveled a long way.”

“Of course, Your Grace. Welcome to Storme Castle, Your Graces.” The housekeeper’s tone was warm and respectful without being servile.

After she’d gone, Jane settled into a chair by the fire and fixed her attention on Diana with an intent stare. “She likes you.”

“Who?”

“The housekeeper, silly. She was watching you like a mother hen protecting her chick. Servants don’t develop that kind of loyalty overnight, Diana. What have you done to earn it?”

Diana considered the question. “I merely… listen to them. Ask their opinions about the household. Agnes told me about the castle’s history, and Cook showed me how they prepare proper Scottish Bannocks. They’re not just… servants. They’re not invisible to me anymore.”

“They never should have been invisible,” Lydia said gently, though her eyes were proud.

“No,” Diana agreed. “But I was so focused on being invisible myself that I never thought to truly see anyone else.”

Jane leaned forward in her chair. “And what of the Duke? Does he see the staff as people, or does he treat them like furniture?”

“From what I can gather, he’s always been fair to them,” Diana said carefully. “But distant. Military in his approach. I think…” She paused. “I think he’s been protecting himself for so long that he’s forgotten how to simply… connect with people.”

“Protecting himself from what?” Lydia asked.

Diana thought of Finn’s confession about never being meant to inherit the title, about barely being tolerated rather than welcomed, and about every mistake being used as proof he didn’t belong.

“From being seen as inadequate,” she said, choosing her words carefully.

“Highland society and London society are very different worlds. I think he’s had to work harder than most to find his footing.

He wasn’t raised to be the Duke of Storme.

The title came to him unexpectedly, and he’s spent years fighting to prove he deserves it.

I think… he’s as much of an outsider as I always felt myself to be. ”

The sisters fell silent for a moment, absorbing the revelation.

“And how does that make you feel?” Lydia asked finally. “Knowing you married another outsider?”

Diana smiled, the expression surprising her with its certainty. “Like maybe we can figure out how to belong somewhere together.”

Mrs. Glenwright returned with tea service, and the conversation shifted to lighter topics while they ate. Diana found herself sharing stories about Highland customs, and the upcoming formal dinner. She enthused over the beautiful but wild landscape that surrounded the castle.

“You sound… happy,” Jane observed, setting down her teacup. “Not content, not resigned, but actually happy.”

“I think I might be,” Diana said truthfully.

“Not all the time, though. The Duke can be infuriatingly stubborn and sometimes I feel like I want to grab him by his broad shoulders and shake him until his teeth rattle!” She smiled softly.

“But I’m not just existing anymore. I’m not just… waiting for my life to start.”

“What changed?” Lydia asked.

Diana considered the question seriously. “I stopped waiting for permission to have opinions. Stopped apologizing for taking up space. Started believing that maybe my thoughts and feelings matter just as much as anyone else’s.”

“And the Duke encouraged this transformation?”

“Sometimes. Other times he seems terrified by it.” Diana laughed. “I think he married me expecting a quiet, biddable wife who would smile and nod and never ever challenge him about anything.”

“Poor man,” Jane said with mock sympathy. “He clearly didn’t understand what he was getting when he chose a Brandon sister.”

“Even the quietest Brandon sister has hidden depths,” Lydia added with a smile.

“Hidden even from myself, apparently,” Diana admitted.

As the afternoon wore on, Diana found herself observing her sisters with new eyes. She admired Jane’s fierce intelligence, Lydia’s warm wisdom, and the way they both moved through the world with confidence born of knowing their own worth. Had she always been blind to her own similarities to them?

“We should probably dress for dinner,” Diana said finally. “The Duke will want to meet you properly.”

“Is he formidable?” Lydia asked as they rose from their chairs.

“Extremely. But in an oddly appealing way,” Diana said, and instantly felt her cheeks warm at the admission.