Matthew looked at her sharply, still uncertain just how he felt about her saying his name. Though, of course, he had been the one to give her leave to do so.
“I am, Duchess,” he replied.
Diana looked startled for a moment, still not used to the title, before she gave him a smile.
“If I am allowed to use your Christian name, then you may use mine as well.”
“Very well… Diana,” he managed to get out, though her name felt… strange on his lips.
Still, it was not an unpleasant feeling. The intimacy of it felt… good. But he tried again to crush those feelings and return his attention to the matter at hand. Which right now was simply getting through the wedding breakfast. And then… the ball.
But he didn’t allow himself to think beyond that. To ponder on the idea of taking her back to his home. Of sharing that home with her from now on. Of what having a wife would entail. And especiallyhiswife, who even her own brother called ‘headstrong,’ and Matthew had seen that for himself.
Chapter Seven
She was married.
Officially married.
Diana Benson, the Duchess of Cardan.
The thought of it was… overwhelming. And yet here she was, sitting beside herhusbandas they enjoyed their wedding breakfast. And just like that, this was no longer her home.
Rather, it was her parents’ home. Her sisters’ home. Her brother’s home. But no longer her own.
The Duke—Matthew, she reminded herself—glanced over at her with a strange look on his face. One of almost… concern? Was he concerned about her?
Philip, certainly, was concerned. He had not voiced anything about the match, or about Matthew himself, but the looks he had given her and Matthew seemed to suggest… well, they seemed to suggest that perhaps he had heard news about the Duke at university as well.
The entire breakfast seemed to pass in a blur. There were people all around her. Many of them talking, trying to monopolize her attention. Smiling and laughing about the ceremony, about the breakfast, about the ball that was to come. But none of that seemed to register. All she could think about was… well, nothing at all.
Every thought that came to her mind seemed to flit away just as quickly, and she couldn’t seem to focus on anything… save for one thing. That she was married.
“Diana?”
Diana looked up sharply at the voice, into the concerned eyes of her sister. Marigold was holding out a hand to her, and everyone was watching her now. She wondered if Marigold had said something and how long she’d been standing there.
But she forced a quick smile, took her sister’s hand in her own, and allowed herself to be led away from the table and upstairs to her room.
No. Not her room, she reminded herself. Not anymore. Now it was just a spare room, she supposed.
All of the personal things she was taking with her had already been packed away. Save for the gown she would now change into for the ball.
“It’s so… strange to be sending you away. For you to be going to a new home,” Marigold admitted.
“This is the way it is supposed to be,” Diana replied. “Sisters getting married and going to live in their husbands’ houses. It’s just the way of the world.”
Not that she had to like it. And she didn’t. In fact, she was very much unhappy about it. But it wouldn’t do to let Marigold know that. Especially when the poor girl already felt guilty enough for her role in the whole mess.
“You know that I don’t blame you for anything, right?” Diana asked firmly, clutching her sisters’ shoulders.
Marigold looked away from her, staring at the ground, but Diana wasn’t about to let up.
“Do you understand that?”
“If it weren’t for me behaving like a child, you wouldn’t be in this mess.”
“Perhaps not,” Diana acknowledged. “But thenyouwould be the one in this mess. And, really, it’s not so bad for me. I’ll manage well enough.”
