Harlequin Historical: April 2022 Box Set 1 of 2 by Madeline Martin

Author:Madeline Martin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2022-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

Why, oh, why had she agreed to this? It must have been a moment of madness in that attic at Pryde Abbey, the insanity Jamie’s kisses always brought over her.

Rose stared out the carriage window as town turned to countryside, hedgerows and stone walls, the distant smoke of farmhouse chimneys. She’d only seen Greensted Castle once, from a distance, on their way to a honeymoon cottage on the estate, long before Jamie had so unexpectedly inherited the dukedom. It had seemed quite forbidding and she was glad then it would never be her home.

Now—well, now it still wasn’t her home. She was a duchess who wasn’t really a duchess. And Jamie would be there.

She would be all alone with Jamie.

Rose sat back on the tufted velvet seat with a sigh. It was true she longed to get away from London for a while. Her latest visit from the doctor had left her with the same advice from him—she needed fresh air, a change of scene, a rest. And places like Pryde, wonderful as they were, always proved as noisy as town. As filled with people following, watching. Talking. And Baden would be filled with royal etiquette, even if her dear Lily was there. A time of quiet was prescribed. And Greensted had a vast park where no one could trespass.

Yet what peace would she find with her husband? What would happen between them? After their kisses at Pryde...

She closed her eyes, thinking of being in his arms, laughing together in the lake, the silence and temptation of being with him in the quiet attic. He had been her old, wonderful Jamie then, the man who she had once thought understood her so well, who’d tempted her to every wickedness. Maybe that was really why she had agreed to visit Greensted.

The carriage jolted and slowed. She opened her eyes to see that they had turned into the imposing gates of the ducal estate, the ancient crest high above the stone and iron, the rows of trees darkening the drive.

Rose sighed as the house came into view. It hadn’t improved much from her memory. All cold grey stone, vast and lonely, set in a rolling park, not softened by any bright flowers. A medieval tower loomed at one end, the remnants of the original house, and she wondered if an unruly princess had once been imprisoned there.

But maybe, even in the short time she would be there, she could do something with it. Make it all a bit less gloomy, a bit less duke-ish, a bit more like Pryde. And maybe, maybe, beyond that, she could help Jamie, too. Help them both move into the future, even if it was, in the end, apart.

The carriage rolled to a stop and two footmen hurried to open the door and lower the steps. As Rose climbed down to the gravelled driveway, peering up from beneath the brim of her hat to examine the acres of staring windows and towering chimneys, Jamie himself rushed down the curving stone steps to greet her.

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