The Duke and the Lady by Clever Jessie

Author:Clever, Jessie
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-7333262-8-5
Publisher: Someday Lady Publishing, LLC
Published: 2020-11-18T16:00:00+00:00

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When they stepped through the door of Waverly House what seemed an eternity later, the silence of the slumbering household was a welcome balm against his irritated nerves. Milton silently took their things, and by the time, Sebastian had shed his gloves Louisa was already heading up the stairs.

Once more she had been quiet in the carriage ride, and he was man enough to admit the silence was beginning to grate. After a year of intermittent exposure to the force that was Louisa, her quiet attitude toward their marriage was like an alarm bell being rung consistently in his ear. It was enough to drive a lesser man mad.

He watched her now, fistfuls of skirt in each hand as she methodically took the stairs, and he wondered if denying himself the very thing he wanted was just as bad as giving in to his temptations.

He had thought he wanted this kind of separation, a parting of their lives so he could live comfortably in the distance between them. He hadn’t counted on the way it dampened her spirit, nor the way he would long to see her smile again, to hear her laugh, to kiss her. It was supposed to have been easy, but this wasn’t easy at all.

Tonight he had witnessed that fire that now hid beneath her quiet exterior. The way she had stood up to his mother even when the viscountess chose to deliver such a cutting remark as to mention Louisa’s poor, deceased mother. It was cruel by any measure, but unfortunately, quite usual when it came to Sebastian’s mother. She had no standards by which she lived, and just as his father was known to say, his mother fell prey to whatever method devised the end she desired.

Why she would want to cut down Louisa he wasn’t sure. Likely because Louisa wasn’t able to go along with the polished exterior his mother had perfected over the years: doting mother and devoted wife. She was neither of those things if one knew her truly, but she was damned good at pretending otherwise. It had never bothered him before. He was too good at packaging up his mother and pushing her to the side so she could no longer interfere in his life.

But Louisa seemed to draw his mother out no matter how carefully he packaged her away, and he was forced to consider his real feelings toward her. He had always simply dismissed her as it was easier than confronting her and involved far fewer theatrics on her part. Tonight, however, had had a different effect on him.

He didn’t like her attacking Louisa. It was as if a primal anger had surged through him at the first gambit his mother had laid down. He should have known Louisa would be more than prepared for such a battle of words, but it left him feeling unsettled. Louisa should not be expected to face such animosity and outright hostility should they need to interact with his mother in a social setting.

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