Duchess by Deception

by Marie Force

  He didn’t know, and the not knowing was driving him toward insanity. Sighing, he took another sip of whiskey and let the amber liquid burn its way through him, warming the parts of him that’d gone cold in the face of her rejection.

  A rustling sound outside the door that joined their rooms had him looking up in time to see her step through the door, seeming tentative and uncertain of her welcome.

  That would never do. He put down his glass and stood to draw her into the room, closing the door behind her.

  Derek took a moment to simply look at the glorious creature who was his wife. Her blond hair, like spun gold after being brushed, fell down her back, while her big navy-blue eyes looked at him with something new and different in them that was at once familiar, too.

  His heart lurched from the surge of hope he experienced at realizing the chill between them had thawed at some point. While she retained an aura of reserve in his presence, he no longer sensed disdain.

  “How was your bath, my love?”

  “It was very nice. Thank you. What a luxury to have a bathing room.”

  “People said I was crazy to spend the money on such a newfangled invention, but I haven’t regretted the investment.”

  “You are ahead of your peers on such things, are you not?”

  “My uncle would tell you I’m a frivolous risk taker.”

  “Have those risks not paid off handsomely?”

  “They have,” he said, smiling warmly.

  “Then it sounds to me as if your uncle is envious of your successes.”

  “My uncle is infused with many of the seven deadly sins—envy, greed, lust.”

  Catherine cringed. “And this man is now my sister’s father-in-law.”

  “Don’t worry. Simon will keep her far away from Anthony and his many vices. We go out of our way to avoid him whenever possible.” Derek stepped closer to Catherine and looped a finger through the belt of her silk robe. From what he could tell, she’d worn nothing under it. “My uncle is the very last thing I wish to discuss tonight when there are so many other things I’d rather talk to you about.”

  “Such as?” she asked, looking up at him with the eyes that had owned him from the start.

  “We can talk about anything you’d like to.”

  “I would like to know more about what you expect of me as your duchess.”

  He slid his arms around her and brought her body in snug against his. “As I have said, my only desire is your happiness.”

  “That is overly simple, Your Grace. Surely, you expect me to run your household—”

  “Only if you wish to. Mrs. Langingham has done a capable job of seeing to my needs for many years now. If you would like for her to continue in that role, all you have to do is say so. If you wish to be involved, that is fine, too.”

  She gazed up at him, her expression unreadable.

  “What are you thinking?”

  “That I keep expecting you to be a certain way, and then you surprise me.”

  “I shall endeavor to continue to surprise you for the rest of our lives. If you are waiting for me to be typical and boorish and overbearing, I fear I will disappoint you.”

  She shook her head.

  “No?” he asked.

  “I am not disappointed. I am relieved.”

  Derek’s chest eased as it became clear that she believed him. “I swear to you, Catherine,” he said fiercely. “I am exactly the same man you fell in love with in the cottage.”

  “You are far more than my Jack Bancroft ever dreamed of being.”

  “I cannot help the fate I was born into, nor can I turn my back on the obligations that were foisted upon me by my father’s untimely death. Not even for you.”

  “I wouldn’t ask you to.”

  “Does that mean you are willing to accept me for who and what I am?”

  “It means I want to try.”

  He hugged her as close to him as he could get her. “You have made me so happy, Catherine, happier than I’ve ever been in my life. The thought of losing you after what we shared has been unbearable to me. I hope you will accept my sincere apology for the deception.”

  “Seeing Lindsey again today reminded me of the fate that awaited me had I not been under your protection. I would like for us to start fresh.”

  “I want nothing more than another chance to prove my love to you.”

  She curled her hand around the back of his neck and brought him down for a kiss, her mouth opening under his and her tongue sliding along his bottom lip.

  Her show of passion made Derek feel light-headed with relief and love and desire so fierce it took his breath away. Without breaking the kiss, he walked her backward to the bed and encouraged her to lie back. When she was settled, he raised his head and gazed down at her, dazzled by the sight of her lips swollen from their kisses. He wanted to worship her and show her how much she meant to him. Tugging on the belt to her robe, he untied it and pushed the two sides apart to reveal his beautiful wife.

  “I always knew that I would have to marry,” he whispered as he placed a kiss between her breasts. “But I never imagined I’d find the perfect wife for me.”

  Her fingers slid through his hair in a loving gesture reminiscent of their first days together.

  He left a path of kisses from her breasts to her midsection and below.

  Catherine gasped as he opened her to his tongue, squirming under him until he laid an arm across her hips to keep her still.

  Derek did everything he could think of to please her—touching, caressing, stroking, kissing and loving. As he made love to her, his every thought was on her pleasure. He would never stop trying to please her or hoping to hear his name—his real name—uttered from her lips in the throes of passion.

  But though she actively participated and experienced fulfillment that he felt and heard in her gasps and sighs, she didn’t give him the one thing he wanted most.

  Not yet, anyway.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  In the morning, Derek kept his promise to Catherine by taking her to meet the tenant families, many of whom were hard at work tending to the land entrusted to their care. They were shocked speechless to be visited in the middle of a workday by the duke and his new duchess.

  Catherine charmed everyone she met with her down-to-earth warmth and graciousness, making her husband proud with each stop they made.

  The Flanagan family invited them inside their home for refreshments, and Derek nodded to Catherine to go on ahead. Though he had many tasks awaiting his attention at home, nothing was more important than furthering the bond with his wife. This was what she wanted, and as such, he wanted it, too.

  With a baby tied to the front of her, Mrs. Flanagan bustled around the tiny kitchen, preparing tea while three other little ones, paralyzed with shyness, clung to their father.

  “Might I hold the baby for you, Mrs. Flanagan?” Catherine asked.

  “Oh, I wouldn’t want her to dirty your pretty dress.”

  “I don’t mind at all.” Catherine held out her arms, smiling warmly at the other woman while Derek watched, overcome with pride and love for his wife.

  Mrs. Flanagan handed over baby Rosie, who stared up at Catherine with a look of befuddlement.

  “Hello there, little one,” Catherine said, charming the baby the same way she did everyone else. “Aren’t you a sweet thing?”

  The baby gurgled and blew spit bubbles that made Catherine laugh with delight.

  “She likes to spit,” one of the little girls said.

  “She can do whatever she likes before she knows better,” Catherine said. “Wouldn’t it be nice if we could remember a time before we were supposed to have manners?”

  The little girl giggled and moved closer to Catherine, who drew her in with an arm around her waist. “Do you help to care for your baby sister?” she asked the girl, who couldn’t have been more than five.

  She nodded gravely. “I watch her and play with her.”

  “And what’
s your name?”

  “I’m Dalia, and that’s Tommy and Lizzie,” she said of the younger siblings who were still on their father’s lap.

  “I’m sure you’re a big help to your mama.”

  “She is,” Mrs. Flanagan said, pouring tea for the adults. She placed a tin of shortbread cookies on the table, which the children eyed with obvious interest.

  To Mrs. Flanagan, Catherine said, “May I offer the children a cookie?”

  “One each, Your Grace,” their mother said. “Or they will spoil their dinner.”

  Neither Catherine nor Derek took any so there would be more for the family.

  “Do you like books?” Catherine asked Dalia, who nodded enthusiastically.

  “We have a small library in the village,” Mrs. Flanagan said, her hand on Dalia’s shoulder. “We’re frequent visitors, but this one would go every day if she could. I read to her every night before bed.”

  “Would you like to learn how to read them yourself ?” Catherine asked.

  Dalia glanced at her mother before nodding, in awe of the duchess who took such an interest in her.

  “In the village where I used to live, I taught the children how to read and write. I would love nothing more than to do the same here.”

  “Your Grace,” Mrs. Flanagan said, flabbergasted by the offer that would open a world of opportunity to the children that many of them wouldn’t have had otherwise. She looked to her husband. “I don’t know what to say!”

  “I believe we should say thank you to Her Grace,” Mr. Flanagan said, smiling warmly at his wife.

  “Yes,” his wife said, tears filling her eyes. “Thank you so much.”

  “It’ll be my pleasure to work with the children. If there’s ever anything I can do for you, please ask.”

  “You have already done so much, and we’ve only just met,” Mrs. Flanagan said.

  The baby had fallen asleep in Catherine’s arms.

  When Catherine looked over at Derek, he saw joy and satisfaction in her bright smile.

  * * *

  On the walk home, Catherine held his hand as she talked to him about her plans to teach the village children.

  “Why don’t they have shoes?” she asked him.

  “Who?”

  “The children.”

  “They didn’t have shoes?” He was ashamed that he hadn’t noticed.

  “No, they didn’t. I’ll want to order shoes for every child. I can use my household allowance.”

  He stopped walking and turned to her. “Catherine, if you want to buy shoes for the children, buy shoes for the children. You’re their duchess now. If you see a need that must be addressed, address it.”

  “I don’t have to ask you first?”

  “Not unless you are planning to buy an island or a small nation.”

  She let loose with a genuine laugh that made him realize that he hadn’t heard her laugh since the night of his birthday, before Lindsey had come and ruined everything.

  “I’ve missed your laugh, my love.”

  “It feels good to laugh with you again.”

  “May I ask you something?” he said as they began to walk again.

  “I suppose.”

  “You may not believe me, but the morning after my birthday, I was going to tell you the truth over breakfast. Would it have made a difference in how you reacted if you’d heard it from me rather than Lindsey?”

  She appeared to give that significant thought. “I’m not sure it would’ve mattered. It’s the deception that upset me more than how it was uncovered.”

  Derek took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to be patient as they fumbled their way back to each other. If only it could be as simple outside the bedchamber as it was inside where everything between them still made perfect sense. “I hope that someday, the deception will be a distant memory, perhaps something that makes us laugh when we remember it.”

  “Perhaps, but not yet.”

  He took heart in the fact that she held his hand all the way home, where they encountered the real Jack Bancroft outside the stable. He had only now returned from the visit with his mother.

  “Mr. Bancroft,” Derek said as they approached the other man.

  He looked from Derek to Catherine and then back to Derek, seeming uncertain of what he should say.

  “Her Grace has been made aware of my true identity.”

  “Ah,” Jack said, smiling as he nodded to Catherine. “It is an honor to meet you, Your Grace.”

  “You as well, Mr. Bancroft,” Catherine said.

  “I trust you had a good visit with your mother and family?” Derek asked the younger man.

  “A very good visit indeed. But it’s nice to be home.”

  “We won’t keep you. Welcome back.”

  “Thank you, Your Grace.”

  Derek tucked Catherine’s hand into the crook of his arm as they strolled toward the kitchen entrance.

  “He is very handsome,” Catherine said when they were out of earshot.

  Derek had always liked Jack Bancroft and relied heavily upon his expertise in the areas of farming, logging and animal husbandry. But hearing his wife call the man handsome, Derek wanted to run him through with the sharpest sword he could find. “I suppose,” he said, uncertain of how he should reply.

  “You are more so,” she said softly.

  Four little words. That was all it took to make what was wrong right again. “Am I?”

  She glanced up at him and nodded.

  That small nod moved him more than almost anything ever had. He wanted to be the only man she ever noticed, the only one she ever wanted or needed. They weren’t quite back to where they’d been before it all went wrong, but they were closer than they’d been in days. He would take the small victories where he could find them. “Would you like to work at the dig site this afternoon?”

  “I’m sure you have other things to attend to.”

  “I cleared my schedule to spend the day with my wife.”

  “In that case, I’d much rather swim than dig. It’s so warm.”

  “Then we shall have a picnic and a swim.”

  * * *

  Stretched out on a blanket beside the lake, with the warm sunshine beaming down upon her naked limbs, Catherine felt more settled than she had since discovering the secrets her husband had kept from her.

  Derek.

  He wanted her to call him Derek.

  Like he had on the day of his birthday, he’d made love to her in the water, with her face down on the warm rock.

  In that one way, it was as if nothing had changed between them, even as everything else had changed, but when she thought of that night at the cottage when Lindsey had given her the truth that her husband had withheld from her, the memory still had the power to make her heart ache.

  Despite the heartache, she couldn’t deny the efforts he made to make her happy—taking her to meet the tenants, encouraging her desire to teach the children, allowing her free rein in any areas in which she showed interest and making himself available to spend time with her when he had many other things that required his attention.

  “What would you be doing today if I had never come here?”

  “I’d be sad because I didn’t have you.”

  “You wouldn’t have known me in this scenario.”

  He took her hand and brought it to his lips. “I’d been looking for you all my life. I just didn’t know it.”

  “You’re sweet to say so, but I still want to know how you spent your time before you met me.”

  “I worked a lot. Probably too much, because I didn’t have anything better to do.”

  “There’s more to life than work.”

  “I know that now,” he said with a meaningful smile. Keeping his hold on her hand, he said, “It’s always been important to me to make my parents proud and to protect what was left to me by my father.”

  “They would be proud of you. How could they not be?”

  “I hope they would be. It’s
not possible to know for sure. I lost them when I was so young I barely remember them.”

  “I’m sorry that you lost them.”

  “I’m sorry, too. I miss them every day as well as the brother I never knew. He was born first. If he’d lived, he would’ve been the duke. I’d be a second son, free to do whatever I wanted. Sometimes I try to imagine that life with my brother here overseeing the duchy and me off to pursue my own interests.”

  “Where would you go?”

  “I’d be on my way to Africa with Sir Walter Green.”

  Her eyes widened with surprise and delight. “The archaeologist?”

  “You know of him?”

  “Oh, yes! I’ve read every word that’s been printed about his plans to uncover the ancient civilization.”

  “You’ll get the chance to meet him in person when he comes for a visit before his trip. He’ll be arriving any day.”

  She gasped. “You know him?”

  “I do,” he said, laughing at her reaction. “I’m one of the sponsors of his trip. Since I’m not able to go myself, I do what I can to support him and others who are doing exciting things.”

  “I can’t believe he’s actually coming here.”

  “Marriage to a duke does have its advantages, my love.”

  She smiled. “As I’m beginning to see.”

  * * *

  Catherine’s days were full of exciting activity. She spent each morning working with the village children on their reading and writing skills while assisting Mrs. Langingham with the running of the household as needed. She deferred to the other woman on most things, ceding to her experience and wisdom while learning from her. In between commitments, Catherine spent time in the duke’s library, making long lists of titles that she’d like to add to their collection while devouring at least one new book every day or two. Having experienced her excitement over the evening they’d spent with Sir Walter Green, Derek began consulting with Catherine on his investment decisions. They spent hours poring over the various prospectuses that were sent to him on a daily basis.