Page 27 of A Highland Duke to Claim Her Heart
He noticed her staring and blinked. “What?” he asked, when she continued to stare at him.
“Oh, I have just never heard you say so many words together,” she said, laughing slightly. “You are indeed very passionate about engineering!”
“I am,” he said soberly, nodding. “And it occupied much of my time. I fear I will not be the most present husband. I am often out in the fields, or visiting tenants. I cannot even take the time away to take you on a honeymoon. There are too many projects in the works.”
“I do not mind,” Cassandra said quickly, and she meant it. “I do not want to leave the Highlands so soon after arriving here. I would rather get to know my new home.”
“By going for long walks?” he asked, the corners of his mouth quirking up.
“Yes,” she laughed. “By going for long walks.”
“Not everyone approves of women going for long walks by themselves,” he observed. “Some might say that it shows a remarkable sort of conceited independence. Or an arrogant disregard of propriety.”
She raised an eyebrow. “I hope you are not one such person, Your Grace.”
“Indeed I am not,” he said, flashing a grin. “I have never cared much for what anyone thinks.”
A ripple of understanding passed between them. Something fuzzy was happening in her stomach, something warm and pleasant, but she didn’t know what to make of that.
She cleared her throat and looked away. “Well…” she murmured. “Shall we… sleep?”
The duke’s voice, when it came, was very soft. “Yes, I suppose we shall.”
But sleep was all they did. She changed behind a screen, her fingers clumsy as they undid her gown, unused to undressing herself like this. But the lock was still on the door, and she did not want her maid coming to help her, anyway. She felt that it would disturb the subtle alliance that she had come to with the duke.
After she was changed, she slipped into her side of the bed and turned away, letting him change with her back to him. When he was ready, he blew out the candles and then lay down on the opposite side of the bed, as far from her as possible.
She closed her eyes, trying to take deep breaths, waiting for sleep to come. But it was impossible. Her heart was still beating so fast that she felt certain she would never sleep. Even her eyes seemed to be beating in time with her pulse.
“Friends first,” the duke muttered, his words filling the darkness.
Her eyes snapped open. “What did you say?” she whispered.
“We shall be friends first,” the duke repeated. “Partners in running the estate and in raising Annabelle.”
She turned over onto her side, so that she was facing him. He was still on his back, staring up at the canopy above them, but she could just make out the glint of his eyes. They were open.
“Yes,” she said. “We shall be friends and partners.”And maybe someday, something more.But she did not say this part out loud.
Somehow, she did manage to fall asleep.
***
When she woke the next morning, gray sunlight filtering in through a crack in the heavy velvet curtains, the duke was already gone. His side of the bed was smooth and perfectly made, almost as if no one had even been there.
Again, she felt disappointment bloom in her stomach. She rolled over, and something caught against her cheek. Sitting up, she saw a small sprig of heather lying on the white pillow. For a moment, she stared at it, wondering how it possibly could have gotten there.
And then she understood.
Her husband had left it there for her.
Very carefully, she picked it up, holding it gently in her fingers. Her heart was beating very quickly, and her palms were damp.
What did it mean? He must have gone out and picked it for her, then come back, and all without waking her.
She let out a long, slow breath. There would be plenty of time to mine the depths of her new husband’s mind. In the meantime, she had to begin preparing for her first day as duchess and mistress of Calder Castle.
Twenty minutes later, her maid was just putting the final touches onto her coiffure when the door of the bedchamber flew open and her mother barged in.
