“Why would that be a problem?” he asked her.
“I don’t know. Maybe you don’t want the staff to think of me as more generous than you. Maybe you don’t want them to like me more than they do you.”
He snorted. “Ridiculous. Many of these people have been with me for years. They’ve only just met you. And besides, they aren’t fools. You may have added a bit on to their pay, but they know the majority of what they receive still comes from me. What you gave them was a token, nothing more.”
“Then why do you object to them having it?” Prudence asked, her voice cool.
Because I think you only did it to vex me.
He restrained himself from answering the question. That couldn’t possibly be all this was, could it? Was he really making a production out of this simply because he thought she had done it to irritate him?
Hadshe done it to irritate him?
Well, if that was her motive, he was taking the wrong tact, and he knew it. “Very well,” he said, immediately switching course. “You’re correct.”
Her eyes widened. “I—I am?”
“You are.”
“What… precisely am I correct about?”
“You’re right to say that you should be able to decide how to spend your own money,” he clarified. “You may make your own decisions. I won’t interfere. Give it all to the staff if that is what you’d like to do—theydoserve you more than they will me once I’m gone, so whatever you want to do is fine. But don’t come to me and ask for more money if you blow through what I’ve given you.”
“I won’t do that,” she promised. “I won’t disrespect your decision. And… thank you, Leonard.”
He hadn’t expected that. “For what? For admitting you were right?”
“No, I don’t care about being right,” she said. “I just appreciate when people…” She bit her lip and hesitated as though trying to figure out what she wanted to say. “I like having my freedom,” she finished at last. “I like it when people recognize that I’m capable of fending for myself. I didn’t like the idea of a situation in which I would have to ask you about everything I wanted to do. I’m grateful for the fact that you don’t intend to make me live that way.”
“Oh,” Leonard said. “Well—no, I suppose that wouldn’t make sense. Youareclever and capable, Prudence. I can admit to that much.”
“Thank you,” she said quietly.
“But I do want you to be mindful,” he warned her, wondering how this conversation had shifted so rapidly. When he had sat down at the breakfast table, he’d been determined that he was going to take her to task for the way she was spending her money, and now, he was telling her that she could do whatever she wanted? He cleared his throat. “Just make sure that whatever you choose to do—both with your time and your money—that it doesn’t reflect badly on our name or this household. Remember, you are Duchess of Desford now, and whether we like it or not, peoplewillbe judging you. People will look at you as an indicator of the well-being of my dukedom. You must remain clear of scandal. So do whatever you would like, just as long as it doesn’t tarnish our reputation.”
Was it his imagination, or did her lips press together ever so slightly more at that request? Was she upset about it? He couldn’t tell, but something in her expression seemed off.
No, I must be imagining it. What is there in that for her to be upset about? All I did was tell her not to cause a scandal, and that’s a perfectly reasonable request. My wife is strong-willed, to be sure, but she isn’t the sort of person to go looking for trouble. She wouldn’t do something like that.
He hoped he was right. He didn’t want things to become even more difficult between the two of them than they already had been, and he certainly didn’t want to have to find out that she had been doing things to bring shame upon him. The whole reason he’d married her was to avoid shame coming to his family.
Soon enough, she would acclimate to her place in this household. He would have to believe in that. And once that happened, there would be no more trouble. He’d leave for the country, and she would be here, and there wouldn’t be any conflicts or anything to worry about.
She was right. He’d overreacted about the news that she was paying the staff a little extra. That had no implications for the future. She would fall in line.
There was nothing to worry about.
He turned his attention back to his breakfast and ate with gusto, doing his best to ignore the fact that, even though she hadn’t argued, she had given him no confirmation that she would comply with his instruction to avoid scandal at all costs.
She would.
Of course, she would.
CHAPTER 12
“So, Peter still hasn’t emerged from wherever he’s hiding?” Gabriel Cely, Duke of Castletown and Leonard’s only true friend, asked.
Leonard leaned back in his chair and surveyed the scene. The two men were in their favorite gentlemen’s club having a few drinks together. Gabriel had insisted on it when Leonard had told him that he would soon be leaving town. They had been friends since their school days, and a long parting really did feel momentous.
