Nathan couldn’t help but smile and shake his head incredulously. “You are speaking like a duchess now. You have a castle to renovate, an infinite budget, and no need to worry about where the money comes from.”
Rosalie laughed. “I suppose I am. But I was thinking about what you said, about how life is not a novel, and while I do believe novels can make life better, there is also truth to what you said. I would like to leave my mark on something, to make something and not just read the books that other people have made. Maybe renovating the castle is a way to do that.”
“I think it might be,” he said softly. They had both stopped and were now staring at each other in the darkened hallway.
Nathan was sure it was just the wine, but Rosalie had never looked as lovely as she did then, her face flushed from the wine and her eyes sparkling.
His eyes dropped to her lips. They looked so red and plump in the candlelight, slightly parted, as if waiting for him to kiss them…
“It’s not such a bad thing to want to be a heroine in a novel,” he heard himself murmur. “It just means you want your life to be an adventure, full of excitement and romance…”
He took a step toward her, and as he did so, felt himself sway slightly.The wine has made me a little tipsy as well!And it was also making him reckless and bold; it was making him want to reach out and touch those pretty lips?—
And Rosalie was also leaning toward him, her smile a little wider than usual, her eyes flashing dangerously.
He leaned forward, too.
They were married, after all, why shouldn’t he kiss her?
“Your Grace, your bath is ready.”
Nathan started and dropped his hand. He took a step back from Rosalie and stared around, his eyes settling on her lady’s maid, who was poking her head out of the bedroom door farther down the corridor.
“Oh! Right…” Rosalie blinked and looked around as well, a dazed look on her face. “Thank you, Clara.”
The maid disappeared back into the room, and Rosalie turned to look up at him. Her expression had become cold and reserved, but Nathan took a step back, frustration and anger flickering through him.
What were you thinking?he snarled at himself.She still thinks of you as a loathsome beast.
And Nathan couldn’t bear that thought.
Chapter Nine
“So, this is Carramere Castle,” Rosalie said to herself the next evening as she stood outside of the carriage looking up at the impressive facade of the building in front of her.
“Is it everything you hoped for?” Clara asked as she stepped down from the carriage and came to stand next to Rosalie.
“Everything and more,” Rosalie breathed. “Now we are truly in a Gothic novel, Clara.”
“A romantic Gothic novel?” Clara asked, and Rosalie saw her maid’s eyes dart to the Duke, who was standing a little farther away, also glaring up at the castle.
“No,” Rosalie forced herself to say as she took in the dark, angry look on her husband’s face. “I think a haunted one.”
But haunted by what, I cannot be sure.
It had been a long day of traveling, during which her husband had barely spoken a word to her. He was avoiding her, she knew, and it made her angry. Something had felt as if it might happen last night—a kiss, perhaps—and she was furious at him for initiating that before she had told him she was ready—if she ever became ready!
More than that, she was furious at herself. How could she allow herself to get so swept up in the moment with a man who had trapped her in a marriage she had never wanted?
“He has barely spoken to me in days,” she’d complained to Clara in the carriage. “I am a woman, not a piece of furniture, and he has to acknowledge my existence.”
“But you have always craved to be alone,” Clara had replied, her nose wrinkling in confusion. “Alone with your books—isn’t that what you’ve dreamed of?”
“I am used to being alone when surrounded by people,” Rosalie had corrected her, “but now the emptiness and calmness is starting to make me restless…”
Perhaps things would improve now that they had arrived at their destination and could begin this honeymoon the Duke had promised.
Carramere Castle really was magnificent. It was huge and not at all like the typical stone castle that populated England. This one appeared to have been built in the style of Versailles with a facade of honey-colored bricks and large, French windows thatseemed to reach from floor to ceiling. It stood three stories high and stretched out around them, closing them into a courtyard filled with fountains, hedges, and marble statues.
