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Proper comportment above all else.
Unblemished virtue.
Modesty.
Kindness to those less fortunate.
Condemnation on all others below their rank.
Every action was a reflection on the Hawthorne name, which must be upheld with honor, dignity, and pride. After all, no scandal had touched their name in years.
Her husband had changed all of that.
Hawthorne had been a severe disappointment to his parents after his marriage to Anne. They blamed her, of course, for what they claimed were his unnatural tendencies, and she became skilled at biting her tongue in her anger at their callousness. It had taken years of patient toadying to win them over to her, as she spent hours demonstrating for them the qualities they loved. It was only natural that she was just as careful at every Society function, and soon she gained a reputation for impeccable behavior and formidable censure.
At the top of the second floor, the duke’s and duchess’s suites were the first rooms to the left. Anne had always found her bedchamber to be far too big for one woman. If it wouldn’t cause a lifetime of disapproving stares from the staff, she would have chosen another suite after moving into the house. Something far less grand. Instead, there was a four-poster bed that could likely sleep six people in it, more sofas and chairs than she knew what to do with in a room only meant for sleeping, and the room was overstuffed with bric-a-brac.
And all of it was gold. Gold leaf, gold curtains, gold paint, gilt trim, shining at her from every angle. Anne hated it, but her mother-in-law had loved its pomp and circumstance. She remembered when the dowager duchess had put a hand on her shoulder and told her that all of this would be hers, and to sleep among such riches meant that they were blessed indeed.
Anne supposed she had the power all along to change what she didn’t like, but she had been told over and over that it was her duty to maintain the building as it was. A symbol of their power, and their prestige. Eternal and everlasting. This building, which had been graced by monarchs, was the heart of their ducal status.
Could someone like Miss Barrow, who from her accent and manners appeared to have been born to the gentry but who had no experience among thehaut ton, ever really understand how to imprint the importance of the duchy onto her work?
Anne sat on the edge of the bed and looked around again at the room that didn’t suit her in the least. Since the duke’s proclamation that he was returning to Hawthorne House and taking back control of the dukedom, and since the disastrous dinner party at Edward’s, Anne had come to the realization that the endless work she had poured into the dukedom had only ever benefited Hawthorne and his vision. Or his father’s vision and outdated values.
Her own suggestions for improving the estates had fallen on barren ground time and time again, with no possibility of planting even the seeds of ideas that could eventually grow.
Maybe it was time to change all that.
It felt like treason—going against her husband, his family, and everything she had been raised to stand for. Perhaps this renovation was an excuse to prevent Hawthorne from moving in, but she was awash in petty delight to think of erasing the heart of the dukedom in the same way that she herself felt erased.
It would feelgoodto disrupt the duchy, she realized, and that was a strange feeling indeed for she had always intended to uphold it.
Anne smiled. She couldn’t wait to begin.
Chapter Four
Robert stomped around the sitting room, scowling into every corner as he sought his hat from its hook and then retreated to his bedchamber, muttering to himself along the way. He wasn’t often in foul tempers, and Letty’s heart sank as she watched him stalk about the rooms from the corner of her eye. There was only one thing they argued about these days, and it was clear Robert was spoiling to start it up again.
Best to get it over with, then. She leaned against the doorjamb. “Robert, is there something the matter?”
He was staring into his meager collection of cravats and starched collars. “I have been invited to take dinner with Mr. Selkirk after work is finished. It is a mark of high favor.”
“That’s marvelous news.” But that didn’t explain his pallor, or the crease between his eyebrows.
He cleared his throat. “Could you loan me a guinea or two?”
Letty was glad she was leaning against the door or she would have been at risk of falling on the floor. “Guineas? What kind of dinner are you attending? It shouldn’t be more than ashillingor two.”
Robert’s hands tightened on the edge of the dresser as he stared into the drawer. “I don’t have a choice of the location, Mum. I can’t very well suggest something less expensive, when I may be beholden to this man for my education.”
“Is the opportunity worth the cost? You are under constant stress these days. You know, Fraser always has need of apprentice carpenters.”
He swung around to face her, his eyes bright. “Do you think I am good enough to work with my hands, but not with my mind?”
“I am surprised to hear such snobbery from you. I thought I had raised you better than that. Fraser and his employees make a good wage.”
“Oh, what a choice you present me!” he cried. “To give up my dreams, so I can apprentice for your friend. I want aprofession. Woodwork would get me no more than I earn now, and my future would be much more precarious as I develop a hunchback and sore eyes with no chance to earn my way up unless I open my own shop.”
