Page 19 of His Stolen Duchess (Stolen by the Duke #7)

Chapter Fifteen

“ G ood evening, Your Grace,” Dottie said as Lysander entered the townhouse. “Might I take your coat for you?”

“Please,” Lysander said.

Since coming to the townhouse, the maid that his wife had saved had put in more effort than any maid he’d hired before.

He was sure she was only doing it to keep her job, especially now that she was with child.

He would speak to Georgina about it. The maid didn’t need to try so hard, even if it was welcome.

He shrugged his arms out of the sleeves as the maid took his jacket from him and hung it up.

“There is food in the kitchen,” Dottie said. “I can warm it and bring it to the drawing room, your study, or anywhere you please.”

He still had some work to do. “Bring it to my study, then your work is done for the evening.”

Dottie curtsied. “Thank you, Your Grace.” She ran off to complete the task.

Lysander continued through his townhouse, happy with the sense of quiet that hummed through it. He walked the long hallway from the front door and entered the sitting room, where he found Georgina lounging on the settee with her legs folded beneath her and a book in her hands.

She looked up when she noticed him standing in the doorway.

“Is your business done for the day?” she asked.

“The meetings have concluded, but I still have some contracts to review. How was the visit with your sister?”

“I was surprised by all three of my sisters,” she replied. The smile she wore was small and tight. “Their husbands were there, too. They asked after you, Your Grace. Perhaps we could all come together sometime.”

“Perhaps,” the Duke said. “If I find a time when I’m not busy.”

“Yes, of course.”

“But it was a good visit?”

“Yes, it was nice. Although…”

“What?”

Georgina shifted in her spot, laying the book down on the cushion beside her. “I don’t know. They were all paired off, and they looked so happy together, and I suppose it felt like… like I was the odd one out.”

“The odd one out.”

“Yes,” she said quickly. “Because I was there by myself and not with you. It was fine, really.”

“Good.” Lysander looked around the room. He noticed the cage with a blanket thrown over it. Mr. Squawksby must be inside, and if he was being that quiet, he was likely sleeping. “I should go. I still have work to do.”

“Yes, of course.” Georgina didn’t move to pick up her book and watched Lysander as he turned around to leave.

“Goodnight,” he said over his shoulder.

“Goodnight,” she replied.

He could hear the disappointment in her voice.

Lysander was seated in the dining room when he heard people talking outside. It sounded as if they were in his garden.

His mind went back to an occasion a few years earlier. He had been staying at the townhouse when a drunk gentleman had climbed the back wall and was stumbling around in his garden. Lysander had managed to shepherd him out without too much trouble.

It was far too early for drunk men to be stumbling around his garden. He left his half-eaten breakfast and went outside to see what was going on.

There, he found three laborers assembling what appeared to be a folly, a useless building only meant for decoration.

“What is going on?” Lysander shouted. “Stop this instant. You have the wrong garden.”

“Beg your pardon, Your Grace. We’ve spoken to Her Grace, and she assured us the structure was to be completed.”

Lysander sighed. It was far too early to be dealing with such things.

“And might I ask what is being built in my garden?”

“An aviary pavilion, Your Grace,” the man said.

That blasted parrot. I should have known.

“It looks like a folly to me,” Lysander commented.

“It does to me, too, Your Grace. It’s like every other folly we have built around here, but we were told it could also be an aviary pavilion, though I’m not sure what that is. It’s not for me to question, Your Grace.”

“No, I suppose not.”

“So, are we to continue our work, or do you wish us to stop for now? I have another job my men can get started on in this area.”

Lysander sighed. He wanted to halt the work, but he could already hear the inevitable argument that would follow. Georgina had a way of arguing so vehemently that it was not worth his while to contest it. It wasn’t much of an addition, and he could easily afford it.

“Continue with the work,” he said solemnly.

The Duke looked around his garden and immediately rued his words. He’d been so distracted by the folly that he hadn’t noticed the other work that had been completed during his absence. They had only been there for three days, but so much had already changed.

His business meetings ran late into the evening, and when he could finally return to the townhouse, there was no reason for him to be wandering about in his darkened garden. Moreover, he was usually too tired to do so after the meetings.

“Georgina!” Lysander called.

The three laborers looked at the Duke, then got back to work.

A moment later, Georgina appeared from the house’s side entrance with the parrot perched on her extended arm.

“Look how content he is,” Georgina said. “I believe that the town agrees with him, and the garden is so much better now, don’t you think?”

“No, I don’t think so,” Lysander grumbled. After some reflection, he realized he couldn’t recall the last time he had spent time in his garden. “What is the meaning of all this? And why do we need a folly?”

Georgina was staring at the parrot on her arm, which still didn’t move.

“Even when you are angry, he is still unperturbed,” she gushed.

“This is the calmest I have ever seen him. So yes, it could be called a folly, but that is only because people are unable to think of ways to use it. In our garden, it will be an aviary enclosure. Mr. Squawksby is a tropical bird, and he is used to warmer weather. I worry that he might catch his death in the rain, and you don’t want a dead parrot on your hands, do you? ”

“You are very adept at inventing arguments where the answer is obvious. This is not about whether I want to see a parrot dead. It is about you trying to justify a building that we do not need. We are here for the week, but we will spend most of our time back at the manor.”

“I know you wouldn’t wish any ill on Mr. Squawksby, and that is why I didn’t bother you with such a trivial matter, Your Grace.

You have been so busy with work, taking care of the dukedom and your subjects within it, and you don’t have time to be authorizing purchases for the garden, so I took that off your plate. ”

The Duke shook his head again as he looked around. He didn’t know where to start. “No, I don’t have time for trivial matters, but changing the layout of the entire garden is not trivial. Yes, the garden is yours, but not yours alone. So, we have a folly that your parrot can hide in when it rains?”

Georgina raised her eyebrows and nodded at the docile bird on her arm. “I know you want him to be this quiet and calm. This is what you want, isn’t it?”

“Stop with these arguments, I beseech you,” the Duke said.

“I want you to stop justifying your changes and trying to make it about me when it is clearly about you. And it is not only a folly, is it? Do parrots have a penchant for wrought iron? A simple wooden folly would have sufficed, wouldn’t it? ”

“Yes, but the iron will catch the morning sunlight magnificently, and just think how it will look in a golden sunset!”

“And that is a consideration for parrots, is it? Is he used to a tropical climate and only metal buildings? Is it because they remind him of his cage?”

“No, he doesn’t care what material his enclosures are made from, but I thought that if I were having folly installed, it might as well be one that would look right in the garden, and it does look right, doesn’t it?”

The Duke turned away from the folly and walked over to the small, raised beds that had once held roses and tulips. “I see lavender and fuchsia. What else am I looking at?”

“Verbena,” Georgina replied. “Now, I know what you are going to say, but perhaps you have also experienced this. I know I have not, but you’ve been overseas with the military, haven’t you?”

Lysander didn’t want to discuss his time in the military. “Yes, I’ve been to France.”

“And did you ever see an English rose while you were in France?” she asked.

Lysander sighed. “I did not.”

“Still, I bet you would have loved to have seen one during your time there.” Georgina reached out and touched the leaves of the potted lemon tree.

“It would have been a reminder of home for you. That is all I want for Mr. Squawksby. He will never return to his homeland, and I find that incredibly sad. The least I can do is give him a taste of home while he is here. Don’t you think that will be beneficial for him? ”

Lysander had already moved on. He walked past the ornamental perch disguised as obelisks, and the shallow basin filled with water for birds, not only the parrot, to bathe in.

Shiny trinkets hung from the elm tree, no doubt to excite the parrot.

Lysander wanted to point them out, but he knew she would have an answer ready about how much it would help the parrot.

Well, so much for putting my foot down when it comes to my wife and her silly bird.

He stopped when he reached the pergola. He was sure that it was also a new addition, and he didn’t recognize the wrought-iron table, which matched the folly and the surrounding chairs.

He turned and looked at Georgina, his eyebrows raised.

“The chairs are not for Mr. Squawksby to sit in, of course. They are for us and anyone else who comes to visit. It is a space where we might sit and admire this beautiful creature. And it can double as a conversation corner when we entertain guests.

“On cushions embroidered with birds?” he asked.

“Well, it fits the entire aesthetic, don’t you think?”

“No, this is becoming too much,” Lysander growled.

“I can’t have you doing as you please. You knew I would be annoyed by this, but you went ahead and did it anyway.

This was all for you, wasn’t it? You did it because you wanted to annoy me, and claiming it was for the parrot’s benefit was an effortless way to achieve that goal.

Do you intend to challenge me like this constantly? ”

“Do you want to know why I’ve done all of this?” she asked.

The parrot turned its head to look at Lysander.

“I did it because when I visited my sisters in Juliana’s townhouse, I saw how happy they were with their husbands, but I won’t ever have that because I ran away from one marriage, and that would have gained me a reputation, so I agreed to an arranged marriage with you.

I know we will never be in love, that I will never truly be happy, and that I will never make you happy.

But there is one creature I can make happy, and that is my parrot.

So, yes, I went over the top, and perhaps I got a little carried away, but if I can’t live a good life, then maybe he can. ”

The Duke gritted his teeth. He was not fully annoyed at her anymore, but at himself. She knew what she was getting into when they got married, but perhaps he hadn’t considered her feelings as much as he should have.

“You don’t live a good life?” he asked.

“I didn’t mean it like that. I don’t know how I meant it. I’m sure you never dreamed of a marriage like this either.”

Lysander wasn’t sure about that. For as long as he could remember, he hadn’t thought about a marriage where he might be loved and happy. He had thought only of his duty. He looked at his wife, and she looked back at him.

Although I was content with the way things were, I shouldn’t be happy if she is unhappy and I am the reason for her discomfort.

“Please don’t look at me like that,” she said.

“I only meant that my life won’t be as normal as some other people’s.

I’ve made my decisions, and I must accept them.

You have been more than accepting of me.

However, I do admit that I did this to create some discord, because that is often the only way I can get any sort of response and emotion from you.

I know that makes me sound petty, and I’m sorry for that. ”

“We have been invited to a ball,” the Duke said. “I was about to decline the invitation, but I have now changed my mind. We shall go to it.”

“What?” Georgina asked.

“That is what a normal couple would do, isn’t it?”

“I didn’t mean to say that?—”

“You will have time to buy a new dress, and that is something I authorize. I want you to look your best for the ball, Georgina. That is, if you wish to go with me?”

Georgina’s lips parted slightly, and it took her some time to respond.

“I would like that very much,” she replied.

Good. We will certainly be the talk of the ton.