She trailed off, but Leah knew what she had been about to say:that way there’s less of a chance that Dubois will find out about it and show up.
This was certainly one of the prospects that was making her nervous. But she was even more nervous about the thought of the wedding to come and the wedding night to follow. Especially considering that the Duke of Nottington hadn’t shown her any warmth or consideration since he’d showed up in her bedroom in the middle of the night.
“Vivian, do you think you could find the duke and ask him to come speak to me?” she asked, turning to her friend. “I haven’t seen him since before we were engaged, and I would like to speak to him before we say our vows.”
“Yes of course,” Vivian said, frowning slightly. The ceremony was supposed to begin in just a few minutes, but she didn’t question Leah or say anything. She simply hurried off in the direction of the parlor, where the wedding was going to take place.
For a minute, Leah and Celeste stood silently in the hallway. Leah was so nervous at the prospect of speaking to the Duke that she was actually shaking. At last, the door to the parlor opened, and Vivian came out, followed by the Duke of Nottington.
The sight of him nearly took Leah’s breath away. He looked so unbelievably handsome with his dark hair long and rakish and his smoldering green-blue eyes. But where Leah was used to seeing the Duke smiling, and the dimples in his cheeks, today he looked deadly serious. Even when his eyes met hers, he did not offer her a smile. Instead, his jaw tightened, and his eyes seemed to narrow.
Heart in her throat, Leah stepped forward.
“Your Grace,” she said, sweeping into a curtsy. “Thank you for agreeing to speak to me.”
“What is going on, Lady Leah?” he demanded. “We need to start the ceremony. We don’t want any unwanted guests catching wind of this and showing up.” His eyes darted to the door. “Can’t this wait until after?”
Leah felt her stomach drop.Why is he acting so cold to me?“No, it cannot,” she said, and she heard the angry sharpness in her tone. “I demand a moment of your time.” She glanced at her sister and friend. “Can you please give us some privacy?”
Vivian and Celeste nodded, then hurried down the hall and around the corner, leaving Leah alone with the Duke. He folded his arms and glared down at her. It had never occurred to her before just how tall and formidable he was. If she wasn’t so angry, she might have felt intimidated by him.
“What is going on?” she said, taking a step toward him. “One moment, you climb up the lattice into my bedroom in the middle of the night, acting like a madman, and the next, I am informed by my brother that we are engaged, but you refuse to see me. Why would you do that to me? I thought you were my friend!”
“Why would I do what to you? A gree to marry you when I had already said I would, if you could not find a husband?” The Duke raised his eyebrows as if she were being very dim indeed. “I was just honoring my side of the bargain.”
“But you did so a day early! And you didn’t speak to me about it! Even though you were in my bedroom--” she lowered her voice. “Even though you had the opportunity to speak to me about it, you didn’t. Instead, you went behind my back and treated me with the same contemptuousness that Lord Dubois did.”
“I am simply doing my duty,” the Duke said, and his tone was so cold that she actually shivered. His eyes were completely lifeless as well, and when she stared into them, she didn’t see any of the flirtatious warmth that usually lit them. “This is what you wanted, Lady Leah. Now, I think it’s better we return to the ceremony before we are interrupted.”
“But--” The Duke turned away, but Leah hurried after him. “You have changed!” She cried. “You are not acting like yourself, and I know it’s my fault! I forced you into this, and I am so sorry.” She grabbed his arm and forced him to turn back and face her. Pleadingly, she stared up into his eyes. “Please, just tell me if you really want this,” she murmured. “And if you don’t, we can call it off, and we will fight Lord Dubois in court and I will end my days as a spinster. My sisters may suffer, but I cannot force you to marry me if you do not wish it.”
The Duke merely backed away, pulling his arm from her grasp. “We really ought to get back to the ceremony,” he snapped, his tone devoid of all emotion. She didn’t understand what had happened, how he could have changed so much, except if he had come to resent and hate her because of how she had trapped him in this marriage.
But I apologized! I tried to tell him I would not hold him to that!
She wanted to yell at him, but also to beg him to tell her the truth of his feelings. Anger and worry and hurt all roiled inside her so confusingly that she could not find the words to speak. He nodded at her, then turned and went back into the parlor. Moments later, Vivian and Celeste returned. From the frozen expressions on their faces, she knew they had heard everything.
“It will be okay,” Vivian said, taking her arm. “All will be well. I promise.”
She led Leah to the door of the parlor. Moments later, the music began to play. That was their cue. Vivian and Celeste pushed open the doors and led Leah into the parlor.
Lucien was waiting by the door. He smiled at Leah, but she couldn’t smile back, then took his arm, freeing Vivian and Celeste to take their seats among the guests. Not that there were many of them. The whole guest list consisted only of Celeste, Eve, Emery, Lucien, and the Duke of Creswell. And of course, the Archbishop, who was standing at the altar that had been erected. Next to him stood the Duke of Nottington, his expression grim and his eyes resolutely ahead of him, not on Leah.
It all passed in a blur. Leah barely had any memory of walking down the aisle on Lucien’s arm, or standing in front of the Duke of Nottington, listening to the ceremony, or of repeating her vows, or of the moment when the Archbishop declared them husband and wife and the Duke slipped a ring on her finger.
All she was certain of was that Lord Dubois hadn’t interrupted them. At least she wasn’t marrying him.
Then there was the wedding breakfast. This was also a blur. There were so few of them that it was a very quiet affair. Leah was silent throughout it, and her husband sat so stiffly next to her, that everyone else seemed to take their cue from them and said very little. It was certainly not the festive celebration that Leah had always dreamed of.
And then she was saying goodbye to her brother, her sister-in-law, and her sisters. Eve was crying. Emery looked grim. Lucien was trying to smile, but even he looked as if it had just occurred to him what a disaster this marriage would be. Then Leah was being loaded into a carriage, and it was setting off--presumably to the Duke’s country estate.
He didn’t even ride with her. On their wedding day, he took a separate carriage. As the hours slipped by, Leah came to see that this was how she was going to spend much of her marriage: alone.
Chapter Twelve
“Welcome to Nottington Castle, Your Grace.”
The words took Leah by shock, even though they shouldn’t have. After hours in the carriage, they had finally arrived at their destination, and Leah had stiffly stepped down from the carriage and followed the footman up the steps to the front door, where the butler had greeted her. He was not bowing low, a warm smile on his face.
