The Scandalous Secret of the Tempting Duchess by Scarlett Osborne

Author:Scarlett Osborne [Osborne, Scarlett]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-12-27T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 21

M atilda was in a conundrum. There was no going around it. She simply did not know what to do. She didn’t know how to deal with the emotions coursing within her. So she took a few days to sort it out.

She knew it was killing Timothy. She saw it in his face, the slight desperation to hear her say something that would relieve him of his guilt, an indication that she was no longer upset with him. But Matilda had only given him a curt nod and went away, a part of her knowing that she could have given him at least a smile to ease the tension between them, but the smaller yet stronger part of her was afraid of how much her defenses would fall if she had allowed even that much.

Now, she didn’t plan on there being any defenses.

She had given it some thought. Day and night, she stared at the necklace he’d given her. At times, she was taken aback by how brazen it was, and she wondered if he thought her to be no better than a prostitute. Those thoughts only lasted a moment however, because Matilda, if she didn’t know anything else, knew that Timothy was much more gentlemanly than that. Surely he had given her this out of the goodness of his heart, wanting to see her eyes dazzle the way the gemstone did.

It had taken a while for her to realize that. As she laid in bed at night, staring unseeingly up at the ceiling, watching once more as Timothy entered the drawing room, Matilda felt her heart melt into mush. A sappy smile washing over when his eyes lit up at the very sight of her, the way he had respectfully acknowledged her mother. The boldness in his move, yet not overshadowing how timid he clearly was to be there. How shy he felt.

Matilda placed a hand over her chest, a blush spreading across her cheeks.

How can one gentleman be so confident yet so shy?

In that moment, he had hardly looked like the very same person who had kissed her in her garden, in front of her maid, in broad daylight. He didn’t look like the same gentleman who held her gently against him while a brimming ball was merely a few feet away. But, then again, Matilda could hardly recognize herself either. When she looked in the mirror, she no longer saw the proper lady with the head full of curls she tried desperately to tame. More and more, she was beginning to see her former self, the one unmarred by the trauma that was yet to unfold. The one who had such high hopes for herself, who had lived her life with such wild abandon.

Matilda didn’t know when she had locked her away. She always thought she was still there, hiding under the mask of the incredibly proper lady she needed to be in order to support Elizabeth. She thought she could pull her out at any moment, allow her to explore the world the way she saw fit.

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