The Grace of a Duke (29 page)

Chapter 30

Lady Charlotte and His Grace Share a Spat

“Did you have a good ride, Your Grace?” Charlotte wondered as she met Joshua near the front door. He had shed his riding coat and hat and was giving them to Gates when she came down the stairs from the west wing.

Joshua nodded, his mood somewhat somber. At the use of his title, his spine stiffened. “What did I tell you to call me?” he asked in a hushed voice, a hint of venom lurking beneath the question.

Charlotte swallowed, but hooked her arm into his and led him toward the dining room. “Did you mean for me to address you as ‘Joshua’ in front of the servants?” she wondered quietly, her manner suddenly very guarded.

Joshua sighed and shook his head. “Wainwright,” he countered, his impatience quite evident. “Call me ‘Wainwright’ while in the company of others and ‘Joshua’ when we are in private,” his words sounding clipped.

Suddenly afraid of him, Charlotte nodded and said, “Of course, Wainwright.” They walked in silence, but before they reached the dining room, Joshua steered them into the library. He shoved her hand off of his arm and moved to stand near the window, an elbow propping him up as rage suddenly filled him again.

“Joshua, what is it?” Charlotte whispered, moving to join him. She halted, though, when the duke turned and aimed a threatening look in her direction.

“Don’t you think I have heard the
on dit
from London?” he asked suddenly, a finger pointing at his good ear. Startled by his anger, Charlotte stepped back, one hand going to her bosom. “How long would it be, Lady Charlotte, before you decided that life with ‘His Grace with half a face’ was not what you wanted?”

Charlotte inhaled sharply. “Joshua!” spoke hoarsely. “What ..?”

“How long before you seek a lover because you cannot stand the thought of sharing a bed with a man who is so scarred, the
ton
thinks of him as an abomination?” he spat out. “They’re saying you’ll take a lover before the first heir is born!” He heard her gasp again, saw her eyes widen in shock and her hands move to her belly as if she’d been kicked. He knew he’d surprised her with his venomous words. He could scarcely believe he was saying them.

“Well, I will not be cuckolded!” he yelled, a fist coming down so hard on the window sill that nearby books shook on their shelves and the window pane vibrated.

“How
dare
you!” Charlotte replied in disbelief, her voice kept as low as possible lest the footman outside the door hear them. What had Joshua heard, she wondered, to make him say such things? Where had he been all morning?

“How dare
I
?” he repeated in astonishment. “
I
am the one being forced into a marriage with a woman from a disgraced family who has no dowry!”

Charlotte took a step back. And then another, the shock of his anger sinking in, the words finally penetrating her brain to where she could understand what he was really saying.
He truly believes I will cuckold him!
And now her lack of a dowry and her family’s situation seemed to matter when just days ago he had said he
didn’t care.

To think, she had wanted this stubborn oaf for a husband, and
not
because he was a duke. She thought herself in love with him, thought she could make a life with him, bear his children, be his duchess despite his burns and the fickle
ton
who shunned him. She struggled to catch her breath, suddenly conscious of just how tight her corset had become; not having worn one for several days, she’d forgotten just how restricting the garment could be. And she’d only had Parma put it on her after the doctor’s visit because there were so many servants and village women milling about, all busy with the preparations for the wedding breakfast.

Charlotte’s cheeks flamed with anger.

“And you have the audacity to ask how dare
I
?” Joshua retorted, not bothering to keep his voice down. “
I
wasn’t the one who showed up and expected a marriage ceremony and a happily ever after when my father had nearly died a week ago!”

Charlotte recoiled at the pronouncement, her vision graying at the edges. “I showed up because it was my
duty
to do so,” she spat out, realizing just how shrill she must sound to any servants who were no doubt eavesdropping. “I’m almost ...” She paused as she tried in vain to get air into her lungs, “One and twe ..” The gray had filled her vision and she felt herself falling. “Twenty,” she managed to get out before the world went black.

Joshua watched in horror as Lady Charlotte’s head rolled backwards and her knees went out from beneath her. Without thinking, he lunged forward, catching her around one shoulder and under one arm. He winced as her dead weight was suddenly supported by his left shoulder and arm. Gently lowering her so that he could get an arm under her knees, he cursed himself. Cursed his aching arm. Cursed the situation he suddenly found himself in. And cursed just because it seemed like the only thing to do at that moment.

“Good God, man, whatever happened?”

Joshua jerked his head around to the see Garrett just inside the open door. He shook his head and lifted Charlotte from the floor, ignoring his complaining shoulder. “She fainted,” he replied quietly, his anger dissipating as quickly as it had come.
What have I done?
he wondered suddenly, his gaze falling to her face. It was serene but pale as it rested against the white linen of his shirt sleeve. He imagined her sleeping in his arms, in his bed, and suddenly felt as if there was nothing he wanted more in the world that very moment.

Garrett hurried over, knowing his friend would be having trouble with his left arm. “Allow me,” he offered as he held out his arms.

But Joshua shook his head and moved to the velvet settee, settling himself into the middle of it so that he could hold her across his lap. “Come undo these blasted buttons, will you?” he whispered, bending her so she was sitting up, slumped against the front of his body.

Furrowing his brows, Garrett kept his place. “I’ve known you long enough to know you’re not a libertine ...” he started to say in protest.

“She needs air!” the duke replied in a voice that dared his friend to argue. “We need to loosen her corset. Or ... whatever contraption women wear under their gowns these days.”  

Having just spent the last few nights in the company of his fiancée, Garrett knew exactly what contraptions women were wearing under their gowns. He moved quickly to deftly undo the row of jet buttons. “I am jealous,” he remarked with a cocked eyebrow. At Joshua’s questioning glance, Garrett added lightly, “I must have known Jane for several months before she fainted dead away on me.” The implication that Jane had deliberately fainted in order to afford Garrett the opportunity to hold her was lost on Joshua.

“We were exchanging ... words,” Joshua murmured, his eyes closing as he allowed himself to sniff the light scent of jasmine that wafted from Charlotte’s hair.

Grunting as he undid the ties of the corset and noticing the light bandage that covered her scar, Garrett regarded his friend for a moment. “I heard,” he replied coarsely. “I think everyone on this floor heard.” He took a moment to admire the tiny blue ribbon bows that adorned each grommet of the corset and wondered where he might find such a corset for Jane. “Being a bit hard on her, don’t you suppose? And the day before the wedding, no less?” He stood up, making a showing of trying to avoid seeing Lady Charlotte in such a compromising position. It was not everyday a woman was draped against her intended with her dress undone. “Joshua, what’s really bothering you?” Garrett finally asked, thinking that if any servants walked in and saw what he was trying hard to ignore, Charlotte would be ruined and Joshua would have to marry her anyway. “Do you have a case of cold feet? Or is it something more serious?”

Joshua unconsciously hugged Charlotte closer to his body, positioning her head so that it rested against his chest. He could feel her gentle breathing through the linen of his shirt.
Why am I having second thoughts?
he asked himself for the tenth time. “I want the kind of marriage my parents had,” he finally answered quietly, smoothing a hand down the length of her sleeve so that it ended up covering one of her hands as it rested limply at her side.

Garrett took a seat across from them and considered his friend’s words. “I take it theirs was not a marriage of convenience?” he ventured. Although he had visited Wisborough Oaks with Joshua during their tenure as gambling men, he had not known the duke and duchess well enough to know what kind of marriage they shared.

“At first, I am sure that it was,” Joshua replied with a long sigh. “But ... after a time, it was a love match,” he spoke quietly, absently kissing the curls of Charlotte’s coiffure as he sniffed the scent of jasmine and citrus. He thought of planting his entire face into her silken hair just so that he might breathe deeply and get drunk on the scent of her.

Leaning forward so that his elbows rested on his knees, Garrett finally allowed himself to take in the entire sight before him. “And you don’t think a marriage to Lady Charlotte will be?” he countered, his tone suggesting disbelief. He remembered what Charlotte had done for his friend, remembered the fright in her eyes as she realized how close her betrothed had come to dying, remembered how she spent countless hours at his bedside as he recovered in hospital. Remembered seeing her lean over his friend to kiss his forehead and eyelids as he slept, despite the ugliness of his raw scars. Remembered how she defended him to her friends when they insisted she could not marry such an abomination.

Charlotte Bingham loved Joshua Wainwright, he was sure of it.

Joshua heard the tone of Garrett’s voice. “I’m sure you heard her say she will marry me because it is her
duty
to do so. That doesn’t sound like the basis of a love match to me,” he countered defensively.

“It takes two to make a love match, I should think,” Garrett replied in the same tone. “Are you saying you don’t feel affection for Lady Charlotte?”

As if caught with his hand in the candy jar, Joshua jerked his head upright. “Of course, I do,” Joshua answered too quickly. After a pause, he added, “I believe I have made my feelings for her quite clear to you.”

“But you never did so to me,” Charlotte spoke quietly and slowly, her eyes still closed.

Having regained consciousness about the time she felt her corset loosen from around her bodice, Charlotte had willed herself to remain quiet and limp against what she slowly realized was the front of Joshua Wainwright. She was aware she should have felt a modicum of ... well,
alarm
at being in such a position. The back of her dress was obviously open, her corset was untied to some degree. But there was something comforting about being held like this, her nose taking in the scent of citrus laundry soap and sandalwood and musk. She overheard their words as if they were spoken from very far away, listened with a sense of detachment, as if the conversation was about someone other than her. And she would have been quite happy to remain in her semi-conscious state, comfortably resting against a rather warm and solid body, except that the discussion was suddenly about feelings of affection and marriage and
her
.

Joshua stilled himself and watched as Garrett rose and nodded in his direction. “I believe I will leave you two to discuss your lack of affection for one another,” he said dryly. “While I go spend some time with the woman I love. The woman who loves me. The woman who will be giving birth to my child in seven months or so ...” He shut the door behind him and, suddenly, there was total silence in room.

Although Joshua heard Garrett’s words, he did not realize their meaning right away, his attention on the woman he held against his body. “You have me at a disadvantage, I daresay,” Joshua whispered, his face dropping into her curls. He felt her body vibrate as a giggle bubbled up.

“Since I am the one with an open gown, I would dare to disagree, Your Grace,” Charlotte countered in a whisper to match his.

“Joshua,” he said in a scolding tone. “And what the devil are you doing wearing a corset?” he wondered, his tone not changing a whit. “The doctor said no corsets. I have a mind to take you to my room and ...” He stopped and let out a breath of air, allowing some anger to go with it. “Make you love me,” he whispered in exasperation.

Charlotte was quiet for several moments. “You would not have to try very hard,” she murmured. “Perhaps not at all, but I would be very willing to let you think I needed persuading.” She was resting her head in his shoulder again, her fingers playing in the folds of his cravat.

“Can you at least say that you feel affection for me?” he wondered, a hand moving to cup her face.

“I have been able to say that since the first time we danced,” Charlotte replied with a wry smile, the words coming easily. “These days, I would have to say ... that I love you.” She made the comment quietly, aware that she might be admitting she loved a man who might never feel that way about her. But something in the way he was holding her ...

Joshua stared at her, wanting ever so much to undress her that very moment and pleasure her until she sobbed for him to stop.
How long has she felt this way?
he wondered.

“Can you say that you feel affection for me?” she countered, her hand coming up to cup the masked side of his face.

“I, too, have been able to say that since the first time we danced,” Joshua answered with a nod, knowing he spoke the truth. He sighed rather long and loudly. “I am very sorry for what I said a few moments ago.” He sighed again, the last of his anger leaving his body. “I was in the Foresters Arms in Kirdford and overhead an old woman saying you would ... you would take a lover. Before the first heir was born.”

Charlotte gasped in shock. “I will do no such thing!” she whispered with conviction as her head shook from side to side. “Why ever would she make such a claim?”

Joshua regarded her a moment and shrugged. “I am ‘His Grace with half a face’, and apparently I have an ugly puss,” he explained with a cocked eyebrow.

Her face taking on a quizzical expression, Charlotte examined the part of Joshua’s face she could see. “Actually, you are rather handsome, and the mask gives you an air of intrigue. Of mystery, I suppose,” she responded. “If I were a damsel in distress, I should want my rescuer to be you. But I am not. I am simply the daughter of a poor earl. And I find myself hopelessly in love with you,” she whispered.

“I love you, Charlotte,” Joshua murmured, his lips capturing hers in a kiss that was possessive and yet restrained.
Our marriage will be a love match,
he thought with a great deal of relief. But as his lips continued to hold onto hers, his tongue to plunder her mouth, he felt his loins stir and knew that if he did not release her at that moment, he would be having his way with her right there in the library. He ended the kiss as quickly as he’d begun it. “Charlotte,” he whispered, his breathing labored. “If we do not stop this right now, I shall be taking your maidenhood a day earlier than is my right.” His words sounded harsh, but Charlotte thought it was more due to his attempt to remain in control of himself than a scolding of her.