Page 7 of The Duke’s Replacement Bride (The Wild Brides #6)

C aroline had written at least seven letters to her parents inquiring about Prudence and her well-being before she finally received one in return.

It came in with a large pile of invitations, all of which were delivered to her over breakfast. There had been invitations every day of the past three—the season was about to begin, and it was time to plan which balls they would be attending.

Caroline reminded herself that Levi had promised to attend with her—she would have to hold him to it.

But for now, the letter from her parents was more important. She tore into it eagerly, thrilled that they had finally taken the time to write back.

The message, however, was very brief.

Caroline,

I hope you are doing well in your marriage, and that you are doing all you can to reflect positively on our family and on your father’s name. In your sister’s unfortunate absence, we are very glad to know that you, at least, can be counted upon.

You asked in your most recent letter whether or not we had heard anything from Prudence.

Caroline had to stop reading for a moment, so absurd had that sentence been.

Asked in her last letter! She’d asked in every letter.

It had been the sole subject of her correspondence with her parents ever since her wedding day—not that they had bothered to answer the question, of course. They didn’t seem to care.

But there would be an answer at last. She returned her attention to the letter.

We have received word from her, and she assures us that she is well, though she hasn’t seen fit to tell us where she is.

If she had done so, we would of course send for her and do whatever we could to bring her back.

At the very least, we would let her know that you had married in her place—understanding that her actions have consequences might compel her to stop being so flighty and to return to her responsibilities. One may certainly hope.

Make us proud of you, just as you always have .

There was no signature. The letter had unmistakably come from Caroline’s mother, but just as obviously, she had grown tired of writing and had chosen to end things in a hurry.

Caroline sighed, folded the paper up, and put it away to keep.

At least she knew her sister was all right, which was the most important thing. Everything else could be managed.

She turned her attention to the invitations.

There were a great many of them—it seemed as though invitations were going out for the whole season all at once.

She sorted them according to date and was pleased to see that they still had a few weeks to go before the first one.

That meant there would be plenty of time to prepare, plenty of time to acquire a fine gown—and time, too, to persuade her husband.

She had a sense that even though he had agreed to attend functions with her, things might not actually be that straightforward.

If there was one thing she had come to realize, it was that this new husband of hers spoke out of both sides of his mouth. She could not count on him.

She looked at the invitation for the upcoming ball.

It was to be thrown by Viscount Marston and his wife, and she felt a flutter of excitement in her chest at the thought of it—the first she’d experienced in a good while, truth be told.

How different it would be to attend a ball now that she was properly married!

She would no longer worry about being perceived as the most hopeless of her sisters, as the one who would never marry and who could only be relied upon to care for her parents in their old age.

No longer would she be looked at with sympathy or scorn.

Instead, people would see a duchess, and there would be no looks of pity or disdain.

Perhaps, for the first time, she would be able to get through one of these affairs without counting down the minutes until she was able to return home and feel at ease once more.

She left the breakfast table and went to find her husband.

He had taken to breakfasting in his study.

Though they ate dinner together each night as he had told her he would insist upon, there had been no breakfasts together, and Caroline had begun to believe there never would be.

Again and again, she told herself to accept it.

She didn’t need to have breakfast with him.

He was keeping to the agreement they’d made, and that was what mattered.

And yet, it felt like another rejection in the wake of the first one.

Bad enough that he had sent her so humiliatingly from his room on the first night of their marriage.

Now he was making it abundantly clear that all he wanted from her was one meal each day.

It was hardly a marriage at all—why had he bothered to take a wife?

She knocked on the door to his study.

“Not now,” his voice called from within.

“I need to see you, Levi. I need to speak with you about something.”

He was quiet for a moment, and Caroline was sure he had expected one of the servants.

After all, she had never come here to speak to him before.

She steeled herself for more rejection, vowing she would not leave without speaking to him.

If he tried to dismiss her, she’d just go in anyway—he couldn’t stop her from doing that.

“Come in,” he called eventually.

Shock thrilled her. So, he did want to see her! Or, at the very least, he recognized that he ought to, which was good enough for now. She went into the study.

He didn’t look up as she entered. He was sitting at his desk with his head bent over whatever he was working on. She waited a moment to see if he would give her his attention. Eventually, he did, raising his head to look at her. “Is there a problem?”

“Not a problem, no.”

“Perhaps it can wait, then,” he suggested.

“We’ve received some invitations.” She held up the Marston one, having stowed the others in her pockets. “You did say that you would attend functions with me now that we’re married.”

“Ah,” he said. “Well, I’ll leave it to you to make those arrangements.”

“You mean to come with me, then?”

“Didn’t we agree to that? It was your sole request on entering into this marriage, as I recall. Surely you don’t think me a man of such low integrity that I would promise one thing and then immediately turn my back on that promise?”

“Don’t act as if I ought to know what to expect from you,” Caroline said.

“I know what was promised. I also know that every time I’ve believed I understood you, without fail, I have been wrong.

I don’t believe I have any particular knowledge of you now, but I do hope that you mean to keep your promise.

I hope you plan to accompany me to the first ball of the season. ”

“As I said I would.”

“I’ll need something to wear.” She swallowed. “In the past, I’ve depended on my sister’s husband to provide for me in this way, and he has always been very generous, but now that I’m married myself, it seems inappropriate to allow the Duke of Redmayne to provide for me.”

“No, I wouldn’t have another man outfitting my wife,” Levi agreed wryly. “Arrangements can be made for you to go into town and have something made for you. I’m sure you’ll be able to find something suitable.”

“You won’t accompany me shopping?”

“You don’t need me for that. Bring your lady’s maid along—or doesn’t she suit you? I can have her replaced if you don’t care for her.”

“That’s the second time someone has made me that offer, and I haven’t complained about Bethany once,” Caroline snapped. “I don’t want her replaced and I’ll be angry if you do it.”

“All right, all right.” Levi shook his head, a smile lifting the corners of his mouth.

“It’s beginning to seem as though you’ll be angry no matter what I do, though.

I told you I would accompany you to this ball, whatever it is—that’s all you want from me, isn’t it?

Go and buy yourself a dress and send word to the hosts that we will be in attendance.

I think that’s all that needs to be done—and presumably you will be able to leave me in peace so that I’ll be able to focus on my work. ”

“I’m so sorry for bothering you,” Caroline said, wondering why she felt so annoyed with him.

He was being rude, it was true, but she knew she’d been rude as well.

And it wasn’t as though he was saying anything that wasn’t perfectly true.

He had promised to accompany her to social events, and now he was following through. She had nothing to complain about.

But she had to admit that it would have been a bit of a relief to see him make a mistake for once.

She couldn’t stand the way he had been in such control of every single interaction between the two of them since this had all begun.

It made her feel as if she couldn’t find her footing.

If he’d done something that she could point to and say without doubt that he had been in the wrong, she knew she would have felt more sure of herself.

I just wish we understood one another a little better, that’s all. I wish things didn’t always feel so fractious between us. That’s what I really hope for.

Caroline made her way up to her bedroom, ready to spend the day on her own again. She had taken a couple of books out of Levi’s library, and maybe she would make a start on them—that would be a good way to pass the day. And it would give her something to focus on besides her maddening husband.

Bethany was in the bedroom, lighting a fire. She looked up with a smile as Caroline came in. “Another day of reading, Your Grace?”

“Bethany, we discussed this. Please call me Caroline.”

Bethany flushed. “It’s difficult, Your Grace—I mean, Caroline,” she amended. “It goes against the way I was always taught to speak to my betters.”

“I’m not your better,” Caroline told her.

“I don’t want you to think of me that way.

You and I have rules we need to follow in front of other people.

But here, behind closed doors, what I want is for the two of us to be friends.

I hope the roles in life that we were born into won’t prevent that from being possible. ”

“No…Caroline,” Bethany said with a small smile. “It’s possible. It will take some adjusting on my part, I think, but you have a friend in me, I promise you that much.”

For the first time that day, Caroline was able to smile. Married life was going to take some getting used to, that much was clear, but as long as she had one person she knew she could talk to, she would be able to make it through. Everything was going to be all right.

She would just have to make sure she was always on guard when Levi was around, because it was obvious to her now that their relationship—such as it was—was a game to him. And it was a game she did not intend to let him win.