“You are not describing what I expected to hear when you first arrived here.”
“Nor is it what I expected to say. I thought that I would be in misery if I am being honest. What did you expect?”
He hesitated, then answered with more honesty than calculation. “I expected you to endure it for the sake of Tempest.”
The wind softened slightly between them, carrying no immediate response.
Anne looked back out toward the horizon, her hands resting loosely at her sides. “I am pleased that you have accepted his real name.”
“It suits him,” he admitted. “I did not want him to seem off-putting to investors, but you have proven me wrong.”
“Fear not, you have proven me wrong in some ways, too.”
Dorian looked away then. She remained where she was, steady against the wind, and he became aware of how completely she occupied the space beside him without effort, as though she had always belonged there.
“What do you mean?” he asked after a moment.
“It hardly matters,” she replied with a smile. “But you are right, I am becoming aware of my place here, and it is making everything easier. I have you to thank for that.”
Alas, despite her smile, he noticed the one thing he had not expected to see.
There was sadness in her eyes.
CHAPTER 18
Anne did not know why she agreed to walk with her husband that evening after dinner, but she did.
Perhaps, she reasoned as they walked through the gardens in silence, it was because she wanted to believe that he had changed. He was not a bad man; she knew that much. But that did not make him a good husband. Then again, perhaps she simply liked his company.
“The stables are much improved,” he said after a while. “I assume you are to thank for that?”
“I was not alone in it,” she said quickly. “They are only successful because those around us wish to help. I could never have done all of this by myself.”
“I would respectfully have to disagree. I have never known the stables to function as well as they do now, and that is only because you have come in with such expertise.”
Anne did not want to feel too strongly about the compliment, but she could not help herself. It was not only because Dorian was the one giving it, although that did make it all the more lovely, but because she had been wanting to be recognized for so long.
She wanted to be more than just a young lady, and at last, she was beginning to feel that she might be able to truly make her own way.
It was good to know that she was being helpful and contributing something to their home, but then she thought about how that was all she was good for. She was not a duchess, not in the way Lady Vivian could have been.
“I do remember our promise,” she said, looking ahead rather than at him. “And I understand that Tempest winning changes nothing between us.”
Dorian slowed to a halt.
“Nothing between us?” he repeated.
“I simply mean there is still no expectation. I would not want there to be anything complicated any more than you would.”
It was a lie, of course, but at least it gave her a sense of control.
Dorian studied her, and she could only hope he believed her.
“You stopped walking to say that you want nothing complicated?”
“I stopped because you stopped,” she replied too quickly. “It does not matter. You understand what I mean.”
“I am not certain I do.” Dorian fell back into step beside her. “We made an arrangement, yes, but we did it as strangers, and it is not as though I never want to see you at all. Just us being alone together adds complications, and I cannot say I dislike it. If you wish not to?—”
