Married Off by the Duke by Carrie Lomax

Author:Carrie Lomax
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Carrie Lomax

CHAPTER 9

“A-choo!”

Emma’s nose itched. It ached on the inside before each dust-induced sneeze. Had she known her first day at Kiefer’s Fine Books would involve climbing onto step stools, balancing while she leaned out to reach the books at the end of the shelf, and bending down to get to the bottom row, she would not have had her maid lace her corset so tightly. Not that she exactly wore her lacings tight in the first place.

Worse, her new day dress was covered in gray smudges. As much as she resisted being too invested in clothing, she was dismayed to realize what she’d done to a brand-new dress. Though she’d never gone wanting, it was a rare treat to have nice things.

“Are you ill, Miss Willis?”

Mr. Gill hovered nervously nearby, his spectacles slipping down the bridge of his narrow nose. He poked them back up.

“The dust is getting to me,” she confessed. “I might step outside for some air⁠—”

“No breaks are permitted, I’m afraid. You work such a short shift. I would have to dock your pay for the time.”

Emma scratched the side of her nose and sighed. She’d been so excited to start her new position that she’d arrived half an hour before opening, but there had been no mention of additional pay for her time, then.

She wasn’t sure what to do about the owner’s request for written permission to work from her father (impossible, as he was deceased). Admitting she was the ward of a prominent duke was out of the question. Yet, if she did not produce a signed letter of approval from her male guardian, she would not be able to continue working.

Emma knew how that conversation would go.

Max, I’d like to work in a bookshop.

Emma, be serious.

I am serious.

Commence exaggerated sighs followed by an outright refusal.

Max would never understand her reasons for wanting to work. Her pin money could be revoked. Her meager savings from teaching at the school weren’t sufficient to secure housing for more than a month or two. Without funds, she would be forever dependent upon people who were indifferent to her welfare.

A duke never had to learn the hard lesson that obligation bred resentment.

Her mother never wanted her in the first place, depositing her with Emma’s grandmother as soon as she was weaned. Gran turned increasingly resentful of having to raise a child in her declining years—despite it being Emma who did most of the chores.

Her father had promptly shipped her off to a cold, rigid finishing school without bothering to meet her first. Emma carved out a place for herself through diligent study, but she never made many friends. She’d only stayed on because she had nowhere else to go except Gracepoint, where there was nothing for her to do but rattle around trying to avoid its owner.

If she wasn’t useful, no one wanted her around.

And there was no way for her to be useful to a duke.

Max had a dizzying number of servants in his employ. She could hardly

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