Page 17 of To Steal a Duchess

It had always been a passion of hers, coveted and kept close to her heart; thoughts and findings spilled into a journal that had been packed into one of her trunks that should have already arrived at the mansion.

“Fine,” the duke answered, “then come in.”

He opened the door with a heavy-looking, gold key, before pushing it open, entering. Eloise followed as instructed.

Inside, a study rolled out expansively. A heavy rug decorated the hard flooring, and a tall clock stood against the far side right wall. In the center, at the back of the study, a mahogany desk was placed, adorned with papers and inkwells, quills that were stored in another container.

But Eloise’s eyes went to the liquor cabinet just beyond the desk. While the glass shelf just above the center of the cabinet was filled with whisky and brandy, the hold below was full of similar lighthouse and ship models, like the ones she had spotted in the drawing room.

The duke followed her gaze, turning to look behind him. “You are interested in the models?”

“No,” Eloise answered too quickly. “Not at all. I have just not seen anything like it. I have no interest whatsoever.” Even to her own ears, her defense was too overdone, too quick.

But her husband didn’t press it. He merely nodded once, tucked his hands behind his back, and faced her properly.

“Duchess, I have several rules for your residency here in Oldcliff Hall,” he told her, and the abruptness caught her off-guard.

Rules?

He sounded so serious, so formal.

“I will hear them out, Your⁠—”

“You may drop the affect in your voice,” he told her plainly. “I am giving you rules, but you are also freer here than back in your former home. You do not have to have a sense of propriety for every second you are here. I do not require that. I require you, in an honest sense.”

Eloise nodded, and though she knew the words were meant to relieve her of pressure, she only felt scolded.

“My rules are as such,” the duke began, when she did not say anything, “we are free to do as we please. That is, of course, with the condition of discretion. I may leave without telling you, as you may do, within reason. Assuming, naturally, that you are not leaving to cause trouble or flee.”

“Why would I flee⁠—”

“My second rule,” he interrupted without letting her speak further, or answer the question she had managed to start getting out, “is that you, as the Duchess of Oldcliff, may change whatever you wish in the mansion, so long as you stay away from the lighthouse. Do not change it, do not visit it, do not go near it.”

“Why—”

“And my final, most important one is,” he cut in once more, not letting her properly speak, “that these conditions are never to change without prior discussion. I want you to feel at home here, but I will also retain my comfort. I will not give that up for any whimsical, spontaneous desire you might have. I have structure here, and that is important to me. Do you understand?”

A little stunned, Eloise answered, “Of course I do.”

Yet her brow furrowed. She did not understand how there could be such rigid requirements alongside so much freedom. How could the two go hand-in-hand?

Her parents had taught her routine and structure in a household, that there was importance in following orders and staying within conditions she had to adhere to. She was no stranger to freedom being restricted, but the orders here, in her marriage, took her back.

“Good.” He inclined his head.

“But…”

“But nothing,” he snapped. “They are my rules.”

“And you have taken me to be your wife, so I have a right to ask about my restrictions,” she countered, finding her voice. “The lighthouse, for example. Why must I stay away from it?”

The duke’s face froze for a moment, utterly still and stoic. Then, he snapped back to life, clearing his throat.

“It is old,” he said simply, too simply. “Who knows when the ancient thing will crumble?”

There was too much nonchalance in his voice, the tone of somebody pretending not to care about something, but perhaps cared more than they’d admit. Only, Eloise didn’t know why.

“It looks rather sturdy to me,” she countered lightly.