Ten Rules for Marrying a Duke by Michelle McLean

Author:Michelle McLean
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical Regency Fiction; Regency Romances; Women's Historical Fiction; Historical Romances; Historical Romance; Regency Historical Romance; Coming of Age Fiction; Romantic Heroes Royalty & Aristocrats; Humor & Satire Fiction; 10 rules for marrying a duke; Entangled Publishing; Category Romance; Stand Alone Romance; Funny historical romance; sexy historical romance; regency historical romance; duke romance; arranged marriage romance; marriage of convenience romance; blackmail; rules of love; Michelle McLean; Scandalous; Proper Lady; london ton; humorous historical romance; humorous romance; funny romance;
Publisher: Entangled Publishing, LLC (Scandalous)
Published: 2022-01-27T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Silas sat across from his bride, silent for probably the first time in his life.

He hadn’t known what to make of her sudden disappearance after their interlude in the alcove. She had certainly seemed to enjoy his attentions. Right up until the moment she’d pushed him away and run off, that is.

Perhaps it was nerves. After all, she was a young, newly married woman. She thankfully didn’t seem averse to his advances, and a few nerves were to be expected, he supposed. He actually had no experience with virgins whatsoever, and he found himself suffering a few nerves himself.

It only took a few minutes to arrive at Whittsley House. He stepped down from the carriage and took Arabella’s steady hand in his own to help her down. She smiled up at him, no hint of whatever worries might be roiling about inside her.

In fact, she seemed the picture of poise, greeting the staff with a confident smile and following his housekeeper, Mrs. Stewart, to his mother’s old suite. Her chambers now. Separated from his by a common sitting room.

She inspected everything with a serene smile that told him nothing of what she might be thinking or feeling. By the time Mrs. Stewart left them in their sitting room with a bottle of wine and a plate of bread, fruit, and cheese in case they were hungry, Silas was about to pull his hair out.

The moment the door closed behind Mrs. Stewart, Silas rounded on Arabella.

“What are you thinking?”

She blinked up at him. “About what?”

“Everything. You’ve hardly said a word to me since you left me in that alcove, and since you’ve never been short of words, I’m in a bit of a quandary as to what is going on in that mind of yours. Are you happy? Tired? Hungry? Do you like your chambers?”

She glanced over her shoulder toward her new room. “Everything is lovely, Silas, thank you.”

“That, right there,” he said, waving a finger at her. “You’re being too polite. Stop it.”

She raised a brow. “You would prefer I was less polite?”

“Yes! At least then I’d know what you were truly thinking.”

She shook her head with a short laugh. “I’m not thinking anything, Silas. It’s been a very long day. A bit overwhelming at times. I’m simply trying to…take it all in, I suppose.”

He watched her warily. “Are you sure that’s it?”

“Of course. What else would it be?”

He shrugged. “You could be changing your mind about our arrangement.”

She laughed. “A bit late for that, isn’t it?”

“No.” He took her hands and drew her down to sit beside him on the sofa. “No, it’s not.”

He ran an agitated hand through his hair and tried to calm the riot of emotions rushing through him. A few weeks ago, the only thought in his mind had been what he could get out of this arrangement. Now…that just didn’t seem like enough. He didn’t want her to be there because she signed some contract. Agreed to some rules. He wanted her to be…happy.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.