Page 9 of The Duke’s Replacement Bride (The Wild Brides #6)

T he house felt unusually cold and quiet.

Levi’s absence at breakfast was by now to be expected, but there was something about the atmosphere that felt strange and forbidding.

Caroline could hardly bring herself to eat.

She left the table and made her way to his study, hoping she might find answers, but it was obvious that no one had been there recently.

The air was chilly, the fire extinguished, and the papers he usually had spread over his desk were put away.

She found Mr. Brown out in the hall. “Have you seen His Grace this morning?” she asked. “I need to speak with him.”

The butler looked rather uncomfortable. “I’m sorry, Your Grace—I don’t believe he’s at home.”

“He went out early?” How very like him, to disappear without so much as offering the courtesy of telling her that he was going.”

“No, Your Grace.” The butler wouldn’t meet her eyes. “I—I don’t believe he came home last night.”

Caroline’s stomach dropped.

“Thank you,” she whispered, and hurried away before the blush that threatened to rise could take her over completely.

He hadn’t come home last night? There was a likely enough explanation for that, and it wasn’t one she cared to think about.

Humiliating enough that he had sent her from his room on their first night here. Was he making a mockery of their marriage now by running around with other women?

I don’t know anything about this man , she realized.

But she thought back to the day they’d first met—the day she had dressed as a young man and found him in the tavern.

He had flirted with a young lady on that occasion, even though he had been about to marry Prudence.

Caroline remembered feeling scandalized by it.

She had forgotten all about that in the wake of everything that had followed.

I’ll bet that’s who he was with .

She felt sick at the thought of it, and sick with the knowledge that there was nothing she could do. She had no hope of controlling her husband’s behavior. If this was the way he wanted to be, he was within his rights to do so, and she was stuck—stuck married to a man who did not value her at all.

He didn’t arrive home until lunchtime, looking exhausted and worse for wear.

Caroline, waiting in the sitting room, heard him come in, but she couldn’t bring herself to go to him.

He had treated her terribly, and she had no desire to speak to him.

She had no desire for anything except to free herself from the prison that was this marriage—but that was unlikely to ever happen.

That evening, she kept to her room even when the hour for dinner arrived. He would be expecting her, but what of that? She’d expected him to return home last night, but he’d failed. He couldn’t think she owed him any sort of loyalty or obedience after that.

After ten minutes had gone by, a knock came at the door.

Caroline ignored it.

The knock came again, more persistent this time. “Your Grace—Caroline—please.”

It was Bethany. Caroline went to the door and let her lady’s maid into the room.

She looked pale and upset. “Your Grace…”

“Bethany, please. We’ve talked about this.”

“I know. I apologize…Caroline.”

“You don’t need to apologize to me. You look as if you’re about to cry.” She took Bethany’s hands, led her to a chair, and helped her sit down. “Tell me what’s the matter, for heaven’s sake.”

“The duke—he’s angry,” Bethany said. “I’m afraid he’ll have me dismissed from the house.”

“No,” Caroline said. “No, he wouldn’t do that. I’ve told him many times I’m not interested in any other maid. I’ve made that clear.”

“Yes…but it’s you he’s angry with,” Bethany whispered. “He may send me away to punish you.”

“I’m sure he wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t punish someone else for something I’ve done. Would he? She had to admit, her husband was very unpredictable. “Is this because I didn’t come to dinner?”

“He says I have to make you go down,” Bethany said. “He said if I value my position in this house, I’ll make you go to the table.”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake!” Caroline rested a hand on her maid’s shoulder. “You don’t have to worry, Bethany, I’m going.”

“You’re my friend. I don’t wish to make you do anything,” Bethany said, tears spilling over at last. “But I can’t lose my position. I need this job.”

“I understand, Bethany. And you aren’t making me do anything, don’t worry.

If my husband is determined to behave irrationally then it’s my wish to go down to dinner and confront him directly about it.

” She squeezed her maid’s hand. “Don’t worry.

You aren’t going to be sent away. I’ll make sure of it. ”

Steaming with anger, she made her way down the stairs and into the dining room.

Levi was waiting at the table. He clearly hadn’t touched his food. It didn’t look as though he had even touched the silverware. He watched as she made her way over to the table, took a seat, and began to serve herself without speaking.

“We had an agreement,” he said at last.

She hummed noncommittally.

“Our agreement was that you were to present yourself at meals each night. Look at me, Caroline.”

“I don’t believe any part of our arrangement granted you the authority to tell me where to look,” she said, keeping her eyes on her plate.

“I am you husband. Look at me.”

She wanted to illustrate the point, but at the same time, she did wish to look at him, if only to see whether he showed any regret for the way he had behaved. “You didn’t come home last night,” she said.

“I was out.”

“Oh, thank you for clearing that up. You were out . That explains everything,” she said tartly.

“Well, and what business is it of yours where I was?”

“If I have to look at you just because you’re my husband, I think it’s fair to say you ought to tell me where you were last night just because I’m your wife,” she said.

“That’s mighty demanding of you.”

“Did you threaten to dismiss Bethany if I didn’t come to the table?”

“That’s my business.”

“She’s my lady’s maid. And you were threatening her based on my actions. It’s my business,” she told him. “Is that the kind of man you are? Were you going to punish her for something I had done?”

“I wouldn’t have done it,” he said. “I just wanted to get you here.”

“And you thought it was appropriate to threaten poor Bethany in order to accomplish that?”

His expression was unrepentant. “Well, it worked, didn’t it?”

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

She rose to her feet, leaving the food untouched.

“If you try to punish the staff for things I do, I will make you regret it,” she said.

“I will make you regret ever marrying me. You can’t ruin other people’s lives as a way of keeping me under your thumb.

If you have a problem with me, address it with me . ”

She turned and walked out of the room.

“Caroline!” he called. “Come back here! We’re not finished with this meal!”

But she wasn’t going back. He was insufferable, and she wouldn’t put up with another minute of it. If he could find a way to treat her with decency, then things might change between the two of them. But until then, he could eat his dinner by himself for all she cared.

He caught up with her in the hall, his hand closing around her wrist. She gasped in indignation and pulled away from him. “What are you doing?” she demanded. “Let go of me.”

“You should know better than this,” he growled. “To go against your own husband this way—you make a mockery of me, and of our marriage.”

“Our marriage makes a mockery of itself. You never wanted me. You wanted Prudence—or did you even want her? No, you just want to be able to say you’ve got a wife. Well, if you want someone to obey your every whim, I wouldn’t go around firing my servants. They might be afraid of you, but I’m not.”

He moved closer to her, raised his eyebrows, and said nothing.

Her breath caught.

She wanted to face him with confidence. She wanted him to know that he couldn’t treat her the way he had and needed to respect her.

But she couldn’t fight the tremor of uncertainty that crawled its way up her spine.

She had meant what she’d said. She wasn’t frightened of him.

Though she didn’t know him well, she was confident he wouldn’t harm her, no matter how angry he might be in the moment.

He simply wasn’t that sort of man. If there was anything she could say with certainty about Levi, it was that he valued control—not just of those around him, but of himself.

He wouldn’t lose his grip on that control and lash at her.

But there was something about the way he was looking at her.

The way his gaze had dipped from her eyes to her lips.

The way she now found herself biting her lower lip in response to the knowledge that he was looking—what had compelled her to do that?

She felt in the grip of a power beyond her understanding.

And she didn’t know whether Levi was the source of that power—or whether he was held captive by it every bit as much as she was.

For a moment, his eyes searched her face. She felt her breath come faster, her heart pound. What was he looking for? What would he find?

“I was out with a friend,” he said at last. “We had some drinks at the tavern, and I stayed the night at his home.”

He hadn’t had to tell her that. In spite of how much she had insisted otherwise, she knew he hadn’t had to. She wasn’t owed an explanation. He had given her one anyway.

And there was no proof it was true, of course. But there was no reason for him to lie.

She believed him.

“I’ll come to dinner tomorrow,” she said softly.

She thought he might respond in anger and tell her that she had no choice, but instead, he nodded gruffly, “See that you do.”

She straightened slightly. “I meant what I said about Bethany,” she said. “About all of the staff. If you have something to address with me then address it with me. Do not punish them for my misdeeds.”

“It’s not for you to say what I do with my staff.”

“You won’t compel my obedience that way,” she told him. “It’s a tactic that will never work. So, think of another one.”

He stared at her.

“You think I’m docile,” she said. “You think that Prudence was the wild one, and that you married the easy sister. I’m here to tell you that it isn’t the case. I can be every bit as vociferous as she can when I’m roused, and I will not have my lady’s maid living in fear of you.”

He moved even further into her space. Her heart hammered as that fear licked its way up her spine again, and she wished she knew what she was so afraid of.

“Very well,” he said. “Next time I will come to you directly, then.”

She nodded, heart beating too fast to speak properly.

He lingered before her for a moment, then turned and walked away.

Caroline was left standing alone in the hall, feeling as if she had just run a great distance or evaded a fearsome predator. It was a very long time before she was able to collect herself and make her way back to her room.