Page 15 of Married to the Icy Duke (Duke Wars #3)

“ W ell, this all looks delicious,” Tristan said, with the sort of cheery determination one might see in a single soldier about to face down an entire cavalry charge. “How pleasant it is to sit down to dinner with friends, eh?”

Isaac didn’t bother to respond. Nor did Charlotte, who appeared to be seething in her seat, set directly across from him.

The poor Duchess of Stonewell—who had very gamely asked Isaac to call her Thalia —looked distinctly uncomfortable and ventured only a wobbly smile and vague mutter of agreement.

Isaac could not stop replaying the events in his room over and over in his head.

He could still feel the residual thuds of desire in the pit of his stomach.

In his mind’s eye, he picked up the wretched woman in his arms, threw her down on the bed—which was a bare ten feet away—and kissed her thoroughly.

That would quieten her down, wouldn’t it?

He’d wanted nothing more than to take her in his arms, touch her, make her breath stutter in her throat as he touched her …

Stop! Heavens, the woman can’t stand you. I wanted a spirited wife, he reminded himself grimly, pouring yet another glass of wine for himself. She’ll be good for Tommy.

Tommy had been brought to the grown-ups' table, sitting on a chair pushed close to the table and padded with several cushions so that he could reach his food. Poor Mary sat beside him, looking deeply uncomfortable.

Isaac’s dinner table could seat sixty or seventy people at a stretch. The six of them were huddled at one end, the rest of the table shrouded in darkness. There was something sad about the whole situation, somehow.

He was glad he’d invited Tristan. As the soup course was served, Tristan kept up a grimly determined stream of small talk, trying and failing to draw first Charlotte and then Isaac into conversation.

Thalia did her best to help him along, but the woman looked rather pale and tired and had steadfastly refused any wine.

Charlotte would not look at Isaac. It was quite a feat, considering that they were seated directly opposite each other. Tommy and his nursemaid squeezed in at the head of the table, with Tristan beside Isaac and Thalia beside Charlotte.

She hates me, he realized, with a dull thudding feeling in his chest. Well, why should he care?

He didn’t require her to love him, or even like him.

She only needed to love Tommy. He had agreed to her rule easily enough, hadn’t he?

There were other women in the world, and anyway, Isaac had not been a man who was motivated by lust. He didn’t need to share his wife’s bed, certainly not if he wasn’t wanted.

When yet another awkward silence had set in, the distant slam of the front door was clearly heard, making them all flinch. There were muffled voices out in the hall, and clacking heels echoed, getting closer.

The gentlemen rose uncertainly to their feet as the door flung open. A woman stood there, tall and curvaceous in rich black silk, diamonds glittering at her neck and ears. She tossed back dark hair, eyes raking along everyone.

“Evening, all,” she said smoothly. “Thank you for waiting.”

“Sybella, thank God,” Tristan muttered fervently. “Come and join us. Tell us about your journey. Tell us anything, really.”

“May I introduce my sister?” Isaac spoke. “You can simply call her Sybella. Syb, I had no idea you were arriving tonight.”

“Well, the second you wrote to tell me you were getting married, I came at once,” Sybella responded smoothly. She came gliding into the room, eyes finding Charlotte. “I look forward to meeting your bride-to-be.”

“That will be me,” Charlotte spoke up. It was the first thing she’d said all evening. “It is a pleasure to meet you.”

“Likewise. Well, hello, my sweet boy!”

This, of course, was directed to Tommy. Tommy sat up in his seat, beaming. Isaac’s bad humor receded a little.

Remember what all of this is for.

With Sybella’s cool, confident presence, conversation began to pick up a little. Charlotte still did not speak to him, but turned to talk to Tommy. Isaac sipped his wine, watching her carefully.

Charlotte did not seem to have superhuman powers of connecting with children.

She spoke of nothing much that others had not tried with Tommy, but the little boy listened to her eagerly.

She asked him lots of easy questions, all requiring yes or no answers, to which he shook his head or nodded.

At one point, she took out a neat little book—her journal, perhaps—to show Tommy a selection of pressed flowers.

“This flower is a daisy,” Charlotte explained, letting him run his small fingers over the page. “That is my favorite flower.”

It’s almost like a conversation, Isaac thought, draining his glass. Is it progress? I can only hope so.

The courses came and went, and at long last the dishes were cleared away altogether. Sybella, falling neatly into her role as the lady of the house, rose to signal that the ladies would retire.

“Instead of going back to the drawing room,” she suggested pleasantly, “I thought that we could take a tour of the house and bring Tommy with us. What do you say, Lady Charlotte?”

“I should like that,” Charlotte answered, smiling.

“If nobody minds,” Thalia ventured hesitantly, “I should like to retire early. I am so very tired.”

Isaac’s gaze dropped to her belly, over which she rested one protective hand.

“Of course,” he said reassuringly. “Make yourself entirely at home, Your Gr—Thalia.”

She smiled at him gratefully and got carefully to her feet.

They all rose, and there was a short commotion as the ladies collected themselves and moved towards the door.

Charlotte was obliged to walk around the table, behind Isaac.

Abruptly, he caught her by the wrist and whispered briefly in her ear.

“Freedom, my dear. Think of that. You’ll be free from my company too, so don’t worry yourself on that score.”

She shot a quick, unreadable glance up at him, then tugged her wrist free without another word and walked away.

After the ladies were gone, Tristan sat down with a sigh, leaving Isaac standing alone.

“Don’t you dare ever invite me to a dinner that awkward again,” Tristan said darkly. “I shall have nightmares about tonight.”

Isaac gave a wry smile. “We both know, Tristan, that you’ll come to whatever functions I invite you to.”

Isaac had not been able to settle down to port and cigars as usual. Tristan had some gossip about a mutual friend, which generally would have interested Isaac a good deal, but tonight he simply could not concentrate.

At last, he had made his excuses, leaving Tristan to finish a bottle of port by himself in the dining room and set off in search of the woman.

It was easy enough to convince himself that he was going in search of his sister and Tommy, and not searching for Charlotte. After all, she had made it abundantly clear that she did not crave his company.

He found them at last in one of the morning-rooms, standing by a wide picture window which overlooked the gardens. They were dark at this time of night, however, but moonlight and a few strategically placed torches lit up a small terrace and a path winding through the shrubberies.

Mary was standing back from the window, while Charlotte and Sybella stood in front of it.

Charlotte had Tommy in her arms, resting on her hip.

They were talking in low voices, and Sybella said something which made Charlotte chuckle.

Tommy giggled too, a low, tentative sound that Isaac had not heard in far too long.

His chest ached. He paused in the doorway, hesitating.

They are happy enough without me. Perhaps it is me who’s poisoning the family after all. Well, was it not always me?

Swallowing hard, he turned to leave. At that moment, however, Mary glanced his way.

“Oh, Your Grace, we didn’t see you there!”

They all turned to look at him. Isaac froze, his escape ruined.

“We were just talking about the garden, brother,” Sybella said, smiling easily. “Tommy seems interested in looking at the flowers. Do you take him outside often?”

“Not often enough,” he responded. “Well, if you would like, we can go out now.”

He could feel Charlotte’s eyes on him like a weight. It wasn’t she who responded, however. It was Sybella.

“Why, how lovely! What do you say, Charlotte? There’s not much of a chill in the air tonight.”

Moments later, they were at the large French doors downstairs. Charlotte and Sybella were pulling on shawls while Mary wrapped a scarf around Tommy’s neck, pushing a large, floppy hat on his head.

“You’ll be cold,” she said reprovingly, when he wriggled a little. He stopped wriggling at once, offering her a sweet smile.

Isaac’s chest tightened once more.

He’s such a sweet boy. Why should he be saddled with a man like me as his guardian? I have failed him so badly already.

There was no time to endure such maudlin thoughts, because at that moment the doors were open and Isaac stepped out onto the cool terrace with the others.

Tommy seemed thrilled, running forward to inspect the shrubberies with Mary in tow. Laughing, Sybella hurried after him, and that left Charlotte and Isaac standing together.

He glanced at his bride-to-be out of the corner of his eye. She was smiling, watching Tommy with real affection.

No doubt my presence will drain the joy from her face, too, Isaac thought, swallowing hard. I’m a blight on those around me, I suppose.

Charlotte glanced up at him, and her expression changed.

“Neither of us was particularly gracious at dinner,” she remarked suddenly. “Your poor friend was quite struggling at times.”

Isaac allowed him a faint grin at the memory of Tristan trying desperately to keep the conversation afloat.

“Oh, I shouldn’t worry about Tristan. He’s good at talking.”

“I noticed.”

He pursed his lips, eyeing her narrowly. “Well, seeing as we are both fully clothed this time, perhaps we could discuss the subject of what your role will be here.”

Her cheeks colored, and he allowed himself a brief smile.

“I suppose that would be sensible,” she responded coolly, her gaze fixed straight ahead of him.

At the moment, Tommy reached forward, plucking a small flower from the shrubbery. Beaming, holding aloft his find, he came running back to his uncle. He held up the flower for inspection.

“Very pretty,” Isaac said, smiling. Tommy gave a little smile at that, and Isaac felt a rush of satisfaction. So, he could make his nephew smile. Well, what was that, if not progress?

Beside him, Charlotte dropped into a neat crouch, inspecting the flower.

“It’s beautiful,” she said, smiling. “Tommy, you are going to be a botanist when you grow up, I’m sure of it.”

“He was very keen to pick that flower in particular,” Sybella explained, wandering back from the shrubbery. She had a soft smile on her face when she looked at her nephew. Her smile was tinged with sadness, much like Isaac assumed his own smile would be.

Tommy held up the flower with a little more urgency, and Isaac realized with a smile that he was offering it to Charlotte. She took it, flushed with pleasure.

“Thank you, Tommy. What a beautiful gift. And look, it’s my favorite type of flower! How clever of you to remember, and how kind of you to give it to me.”

Tommy nodded eagerly. Then, in the silence that followed, he leaned forward, tapping Charlotte on the arm. Then he opened his mouth and quite clearly spoke a single word.

“Daisy,” he said, and nodded happily.