The Inconvenient Duchess

be faulted.’
    Her back stiffened and she looked away from him. ‘Expediency.’ The word was harsh as she said it, and she paused. When she began again, her voice was controlled. ‘Of course. And I will do my best to be your helpmeet in all things and be a fit wife to you.’ Her gaze was riveted on the plate before her and she began cutting her kipper with more violence than necessary.
    He reached across the table to her, touching her hand, and felt her flinch before the rigid control dropped into place again and her hand was still under his. ‘I think you lie to me, Miranda. You had hopes, right enough, though you won’t admit it. Is your heart promised elsewhere, or did you enter into the marriage freely?’
    He stared at her, looking for any hesitance. ‘Truth, madam. There is still time, you know, if you are drawn elsewhere.’
    ‘Time?’ She looked at him curiously.
    He reached into his pocket. ‘Here is the reason for my trip. When I was in London, I took pains to get the licence that our marriage lacked. For it to truly be legal…’
    She leaned back in alarm. ‘And all this time we were not truly wed.’
    ‘In the eyes of God, certainly, Miranda. I swore to you before God. I do not give oath lightly. But, in the eyes of thelaw, our names must be on the paper for the union to be real. I wanted to know that you understood that, should you have wanted to, you could have demanded a settlement at least.
    ‘It would have been impossible to obtain a licence so quickly unless I had been expecting you and arranged it in advance. And, considering the circumstances, I felt that it would be better to act quickly and smooth the legalities later.’
    ‘And that is what you went to London to get?’
    ‘It was not quite the way I’d planned, but it was better, was it not, to get the licence before coming to your chamber? And the two weeks alone has given you time to think. To decide if you might be happy here.’
    ‘Happy?’ She looked puzzled, as though the thought had never entered her head that she was entitled to happiness, and his heart tightened in his chest. ‘Why should I not be happy, your Grace? You have honoured me with your name and—’
    He waved his hand. ‘And you mean to be a good and dutiful wife to me. Yes, yes. We’ve been through all that. You are succeeding admirably. But I do not want you to feel coerced or trapped into this union. I’m sure, should you wish to leave now that you have seen the way of things here, that there are other men—’
    ‘There are no other men,’ she said hurriedly and he looked sharply into her eyes. Was she afraid of something? Of revealing something that he was not supposed to know?
    ‘I meant only,’ he stated, ‘that you are an attractive woman.’ He sucked in his breath and said, with sincerity, ‘A damn attractive woman. And should you not wish to sign the paper that will bind you irrevocably to me, there might be other suitors in your future.’
    She thought for a moment before speaking. ‘When I entered the chapel, I went intending to keep the promises I made. It would be wrong to break them now, because of a lack of paperwork. If you wish to keep me, I wish to stay.’
    He tried not to feel disappointed at the way she spoke. She stressed loyalty, above all else, but there was nothing in her tone to make him believe that he could ever expect more of her.
    ‘Very well,’ he said. ‘Let us go to my study and finish this.’
    She followed him out of the room.
    When they reached his desk he sat down before it and spread the licence on the blotter in front of him. Dipping a quill in the ink well, he signed with a flourish. Then he offered the chair to her.
    She sat on the edge, looking for all the world like she expected him to throw her bodily out of it, and took the quill in a shaking hand and wrote her name.
    He scattered sand over the ink and they watched the licence dry.
    ‘There. It is done. I will send it to the vicar, so that he may sign it as well.’
    She sighed in what he hoped was relief.
    He reached into his pocket. ‘In the hurry, I forgot. There was an additional purchase I made while in London. I needed to correct an oversight.’ He pulled the small square box from his pocket. ‘In the hurry of the ceremony, I never thought to find you a proper ring. There must be many in the house, my mother’s jewel box is full to bursting.’
    ‘Really. It was—is not necessary,’ she said, but her eyes were downcast.
    ‘It