Page 12 of The Duke’s Spinster Bride (A Duke’s Game #2)

Chapter Twelve

“O ooof!” Frederick collided with someone as he was walking through the corridor.

Papers flew into the air, scattering across the floor. The dull thunk of books hitting the ground reverberated in the hall around them. Several small objects skittered across the stone, and Frederick heard someone cursing. He darted after one of the small bottles of ink, impressed that it had not broken. He scooped it up and knelt down to help gather the papers.

“I am terribly sorry, my mind was several million miles away, and I did not see you.” Frederick tried to tidy the papers into a neat pile.

“No really, it is fine. You need not apologise, it was my fault.” A familiar voice said, and Frederick looked up to see his wife bending down, fervently sweeping up the loose stacks of papers and books and bottles.

Their eyes met. He expected her to scowl at him, to tell him that he should pay better attention to where he was going, but to his surprise, she simply looked down at the pile of objects around her, faint spots of colour appearing on her cheeks.

“I fear I have made a terrible mess.” She swallowed but did not look at him. “But I will fix it, do not worry.”

“Allow me to help you.” Frederick leaned forwards.

“No, I can manage alone. I really do not need… I will be fine.” She pulled things into her arms.

A part of Frederick was tempted to leave her be. After all, if she wanted to carry too many things about the castle, that was her business. Besides, he knew how prickly she could get when they were around each other.

“Please, it is the least I can do after running into you like that.” He moved gestured to the scattered bits and pieces around them.

“I should have been paying better attention.” She waved him away.

It was all he could do not to gape at her. Where is her usual anger? Wait, why do I want that? Do I want that? He shook his head. There was something in the way Andrea was behaving that he had not seen in her before, a sort of frazzled energy. He pursed his lips as she tried and failed to get the rest of the things in her arms. She still was not looking at him.

“You will get nowhere like that, just let me help you.” He grabbed a sheet of paper that had fallen off the top of the pile in her arms. “Where were you going to with all of this anyway?”

She scowled as the objects in her arms fell to the floor, but did not look at him with accusation. “The library. I wanted to familiarise myself with the accounts and found a few errors that I wanted to check against some of the ledgers I found.”

She tucked her hair away from her face and scooped the pile of papers and ink bottles. It swayed dangerously and Frederick stepped forward to grab things without thinking, taking them into his own arms and smiling at her. “Let me help. You will be furious if you get ink over the accounts.”

“I suppose so. But if you are busy, I really do not want to keep you from your work.” She jerked her head in the direction of his study.

“Oh, you know me, any excuse not to work.” He grinned at her, expecting Andrea to roll her eyes, and make some cutting comment.

Instead she behaved as if she had not heard him, nodding to herself as they began to split the pile of things between them. His heart twisted as he noticed the dark circles under her eyes. Her muscles were tense and she moved with frenetic energy rather than her usual self-contained control.

She was also talking faster than he had ever known her speak, seeming to leap from one thought to the next faster than a bullet. “I have rather a lot to do, I still have not finalised the menus for the week and I need to speak to the housekeeper about the servants livery and finding a new maid to replace the one who has just left.”

He hefted his own bundle of things into his arms and fell into step beside her as they made their way towards the library. What happened to keeping your distance?

He pushed the voice away. He was only being helpful. If the accounts were ruined or if she hurt herself then it would only create more work. “Surely some of that can wait. I had not realised we even had a maid who had left, it was not Miss Geraldine was it?”

“It was Greta. She has found a beau in the village, and they are to be married.” She sighed.

He nodded to himself, adjusting the stack in his arms as he did. “We should arrange for some sort of wedding gift.”

“Oh goodness, I knew I was forgetting something! Drat, if I just...” Andrea seemed torn between wanting to put the papers down and perhaps make a note, and not trusting that her precarious pile would not completely fall to pieces if she did so. “I will just have to try and remember it.”

“I would be happy to arrange it. You seem like you have more than enough on your plate for the moment.” He studied her closely.

“I am the Duchess. It is simply a part of my duties.” She blew at one of the strands of hair that had worked its way out of her messy bun.

Frederick was grateful for the things in his arms that prevented him from moving the hair for her. No doubt she would bite my hand off if I even tried.

“And how are you finding your duties?” he asked, keeping his voice as neutral as possible.

Her colour deepened and she stumbled. Frederick darted towards her, though what he would have done, he could not say – after all, he had no hands to spare. She caught herself and continued, speeding up.

Andrea was practically jogging towards the library, and Frederick sped up to keep up with her.

“Fine. They are… Well… Fine.” Andrea paused and then added in rush. “I know it has taken me a little while to start taking them seriously and I still have so much to learn and of course, there was that mistake with the butcher- but I fixed it, so not to worry. And then there was that incident with the baker, but I have learned from that and will of course double check the order in future. And I still need to understand the accounts, I am not convinced my own notes are up to scratch.”

“I am sure they are more than adequate.” Frederick strode towards the desk in the library and carefully placed his pile of things on it, watching as Andrea hesitated in the doorway.

He studied the tightness in her face, her shoulders were practically level with her ears. An urge to place his hands on them and gently lower them rose within him, but he shoved his hands into his pockets and stayed rooted to the spot.

“Adequate is not good enough. They need to be worthy of the station. I cannot… I do not want to… There is just so much to learn, and I know I keep making mistakes, but I promise I will get better. That is why I am trying to get up to date with as much of the estate as possible. And I will get there. Oh goodness, that reminds me, I completely forgot about the stables and the horses due to arrive and –” She was about to go on, but Frederick’s control snapped at her deluge.

It is as though she expects me to tell her off, to reprimand her for not being perfect. His chest twisted violently and he remembered her reaction at their wedding ball. Clearly she was expecting such a thing.

He cut her off, grabbing her arms gently and looking into her eyes as he said, “- Andrea, please take a breath.”

The softness of her skin reminded him of silk. The warmth of it beneath his fingers spread through them. Her eyes met his, lips parting as she froze.

He swallowed, making his gaze as soft as possible, relaxing his tense muscles to appear nonthreatening and approachable. He did not want her to dance on eggshells around him. This is her home, and she should feel safe.

Gently he took the pile of things from her into his own arms, placing them on the table behind them. “You do not need to justify anything to me, I was only asking how you were finding everything. I wanted to know your feelings, Andrea. Not your accomplishments, though they are rather impressive.”

“Oh. Well, I feel fine.” She was hugging her arms around herself, fingers running up and down her upper arms absently.

“Are you sure?” He canted his head towards her. “You are not tired? Overwhelmed?”

As soon as he said the words, he realised his mistake. She straightened, bristling like a cat who has just been flicked with water.

“Of course, I am sure. I am fine.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “Why? Do you not think I can manage?”

“I have no doubt of your capability, but I have no wish for you to overwhelm yourself. If you need any extra help, please just ask.” He gestured around them. “I know that the duties of a duchess are rather a lot, and you have only very recently come into the station, so if we need to hire extra staff to support you, I will make the arrangements. Very few women do everything themselves.”

“Oh.” Her cheeks flushed a deep shade of scarlet. “I… I think I should be perfectly able to manage on my own. I just need a little time to become accustomed to things and get everything sorted. You need not worry about the estate, I mean to take my duties seriously from now on.”

“I am not worried about the estate.” I am worried about you. He swallowed the words with difficulty. “You have nothing to prove to me.”

Their eyes met, and she stumbled as she crossed the room towards the desk. He caught her. Warmth flooded through him as his skin brushed hers. Frederick steadied her, and she moved away from him, her cheeks flushing furiously.

It reminded him of the few times he had seen his nieces in front of a boy they had had some kind of passing affection for. It cannot be.

“You know, if I did not know any better, I would say you are rather flustered.” He knew he should not poke a sleeping bear, but the thought was so ridiculous he could not help it.

She stopped fidgeting almost as soon as the words left his mouth, her eyes narrowing as she looked at him. “And why would you say that?”

“You are practically jumping from foot to foot, your cheeks are scarlet and I do not think I have ever heard someone reel off so much information so quickly.” He perched on the end of the desk, his hands crossed as he leaned back to look at her. “It is rather flattering.”

She crossed her arms, tapping one foot on the ground. “And why would it be flattering? It has nothing to do with you.”

“Really? I find that hard to believe.”

“Of course you do.” She shook her head, but there were definitely still spots of colour on her cheeks as she moved to the other side of the desk and hovered by the chair. “I am not flustered, just busy.”

“If you say so.” He leaned back across the desk, shrugging as he did.

“Just because every other woman in the ton goes weak at the knees whenever you so much as breathe near them, does not mean that I am about to take leave of my senses just because you are near.” She quickly repositioned a few ornaments so that his movement would not upset them. “That is just wishful thinking on your part.”

He chuckled to himself and leapt off the desk onto his feet. “Come now, you are warming to me a little, admit it.”

She arched an eyebrow at him, her eyes tracing his body. “I suppose you are slightly less irritating.”

“Oh, be still my heart. Such compliments!” He clutched a hand over his chest, and made a warding gesture with the other.

The franticness of her movements had faded somewhat. She seemed more like herself. She was even standing straighter as she looked at him, her shoulders in their normal place which only drew attention to the length of her neck.

Focus Frederick, what is wrong with you? His heart stumbled as their eyes met, but he kept his smile on his face, shaking out his hair as he did.

“You are utterly ridiculous.” He caught sight of a small smile quirking the corner of her mouth upwards. “It is a wonder anyone gets anything done with you around.”

“Oh really?” he leaned towards her, the smell of her jasmine perfume filling his nose as he did.

Her eyes widened and she shook her head, making a gesture as though to push him away then clutching her hand to her chest. “Not like that. I mean… You are a distraction.”

“You flirt.” He winked at her and made a motion with his wrist he had seen young ladies make during stage plays when they were teasing an errant rake.

Andrea arched an eyebrow at him, her voice brisk as a hand twitched in his direction. “You are a distraction in much the same way that a bee buzzing around one’s head is a distraction.”

“So what you are saying is that you simply cannot ignore my presence?” He watched as more of her usual spark seemed to filter back into her.

“Your presence is rather hard to ignore when you insist on being so loud.” She made a dismissive gesture with one hand, even as the other gently brushed against her upper arm.

“Would you rather me silent?” He mimed sewing his lips shut.

She gave him a frank look. “Are you capable of such a thing?”

“When I am in the mood, but that seldom occurs.” He winked at her again. “Besides, I would hate to deprive you of my dulcet tones, I have no doubt you would miss them something fierce.”

“Yes, until you knocked into me I was practically wasting away.” She said sardonically, but he could not help but notice that her cheeks were still flushed with colour. “Now, if you are quite done distracting me, I have some accounts to read.”

She made a shooing motion with her hand, and he swept into a mocking bow. “Of course, I know how hard it is for you to have me near.”

She rolled her eyes, but Frederick was certain he saw a small smile half hidden by her hand. Her shoulders had relaxed, and her familiar grace and calmness had returned. Her movements were confident, the frenetic momentum from earlier had disappeared.

His heart settled back into his chest, and a wave of relief washed over him. Whatever mood she had been in before, he had managed to shift.

A prickle of fear ran through him, his father’s eyes filling his mind. To love is to lose. Love had nothing to do with any of this. It was perfectly natural to want to help his wife; the fact that lightening her mood sent a rush of warmth through his chest was natural.

I like being helpful, that is it. He found himself watching Andrea intently as he thought about it, taking in how much longer her next seemed when her shoulders were relaxed.

“I can feel your eyes on me. Surely you have more important things to do.” She muttered without looking up from

“Perhaps, though you are a rather pleasant sight.” He ducked as she flung a ball of paper at him. “Very well, I can tell when I am not wanted.”

She laughed softly and shook her head. “If that is true, then I expect to see pigs flying any day now.”

“Never say never, dear Duchess.” He inclined his head towards her and left the room.

He ran his thumb across each of his fingers absently, a warmth spreading over his body. He smiled and whistled to himself, the smell of jasmine following him as he went.