The Duke's Secluded Bride by Ruth Ann Nordin

Author:Ruth Ann Nordin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: mystery, bride, arranged marriage, gothic romance, virgin heroine, virgin hero, victorian romance, extremely shy heroine, heroine hidden from world
Publisher: Ruth Ann Nordin

***

Shortly after noon, Dinah sat with Baldwin on the settee he had brought over to the large window in the hallway so they could enjoy the warm sunlight.

“It’s a beautiful view,” Dinah said. “This is my favorite place to look outside.”

He drew her closer to his side and kissed her. “It is nice. You can see for miles from here. London is in that direction.”

“It is?” She followed the direction he pointed to.

“You can’t see it from here. It’s too far, but it’s there.”

“How far is London?”

“It’s three days away.”

“Do you like being in London?”

He nodded. “I do, but I like being with you more. I’ve been to three countries outside of England, and they all have something that makes them worth visiting, but if you don’t have someone to be with, it can get lonely.”

“But aren’t there a lot of people in London?”

“There are. You could get lost in the marketplace if you wanted to, and it’s easy to disappear if you’re at a ball.”

“Disappear?”

He chuckled. “I don’t mean you can actually disappear. I mean that you feel like you could. There are so many people who are busy either trying to find someone to marry, looking for a good business deal, or wanting to learn the latest gossip that you can feel invisible at times.”

She tried to imagine how many people must be at a ball for that to be possible. She hadn’t gone downstairs in years, but she recalled how large the ballroom was. When she was six or seven, she had run around that room when it was too wet or cold to go outside. One time, a maid had asked her governess why she permitted it, and the governess had told her that she paid better attention to her lessons if she wasn’t restless from sitting all the time.

Dinah wondered what happened to the governess after she came to live in this side of the manor. She’d never seen the lady again. Did she go to London? Or did she go to another country?

“I’m not lonely with you,” Baldwin said, bringing her attention back to him.

She took her gaze off of the land so she could look at him. Since he had chosen to express the sentiment first, she figured it wouldn’t hurt to be honest about her feelings. “I was lonely, too. Before you came here. It’s nice to have you here.”

“I like being here.”

He gave her a smile that made her feel warm all over. She wondered if this was what love felt like. She’d read about the emotion in books, and she’d learned that the love a gentleman and lady experienced was different from the love people experienced for family and friends.

She had so little to go by in her own life. She loved her brother, of course. He was all she had left of her family, and he’d taken care of her since she was eight. But she didn’t really know him. He would come and see her every time he visited the estate, even though she didn’t see him as often as she would have preferred.

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