The Duchess

by Bertrice Small

  “I shall miss you,” he admitted. “I have become used to your presence. I have even grown to like your company.”

  “Have you? How nice,” Allegra replied.

  He wanted to strangle her where she stood. Could she not see that he was in love with her? Did she see him at all except as the Duke of Sedgwick? Had she no emotions? No feelings? My God, he thought, I am behaving like my brother, or Ocky. But at least their wives reciprocated their affections. Allegra is as cold as a marble statue. No. When I touched her body she melted like ice in the summer’s sun. I can make her love me in spite of herself. If I have fallen in love, then surely she can fall in love, too.

  “I shall look forward to your return with much anticipation, my dear,” he told her. “And I shall look forward to our wedding day … and night even more.”

  She had the grace to blush, then said, “Honor and I will depart tomorrow, sir, the sooner to return.”

  Home at Morgan Court again Allegra was horrified at the number of wedding gifts that had already arrived. “But the wedding is to be held at Hunter’s Lair and will be most private,” she said to her father’s secretary, Charles Trent. “Must we keep them? Or can they be returned, Charles?”

  “I fear you must keep them, Miss Allegra, even the ones in questionable taste. Remember that the duke’s family is an ancient and revered one. Now that he is to have the power and prestige that being wealthy again will bring him, there are those who will want to keep, or gain his favor. I have listed everything that has arrived so far, along with the names of the donors. The thank you notes are written. You have but to sign your name to each one.”

  “It is astounding,” Allegra said, shaking her head. “Neither the duke nor I intend joining London society. We are both agreed that we prefer the country life. We can be of little influence for anyone.”

  “Ahh, but who is to know that, Miss Allegra?” Charles Trent said with a small smile. “I’m certain Hunter’s Lair has storage rooms where much of this may be put away from the light of day.”

  “Gracious! What are these?” she demanded, pointing.

  Mr. Trent chuckled. “They are from a gentleman nabob who does business with your papa. I believe the elephant with his trunk upraised is a symbol of good fortune, Miss Allegra. The pair are a third life-size, overlaid with gold leaf, and decorated with semiprecious gemstones. Their tusks are genuine ivory. Perhaps if the duke would consider it, they could be installed outside his library doors.”

  “Never!” Allegra said emphatically. “Our home is both classic and elegant, but certainly not gaudy. What could this man have been thinking?”

  “Most likely of impressing your papa with his generosity. It is a most expensive gift,” Mr. Trent said dryly. “These nabobs, Miss Allegra, have great wealth, but many are self-made men of little or no background.”

  Sirena came shortly after Allegra had arrived home. The cousins greeted each other happily. Octavian Baird saluted his wife’s relation warmly.

  “How did you leave Quint?” he asked her.

  “Strangely not happy to be left alone, although I thought he should enjoy a bit of peace and quiet after the uproar of the last few months. The house is finished at last.”

  “I shall pay him a visit then while Sirena stays with you,” Viscount Pickford said.

  “Not fair,” Sirena cried. “Then you shall get to see the improvements to Hunter’s Lair before I do.”

  “As you have never been to Hunter’s Lair, it should make no difference at all,” her husband said sensibly. “Enjoy your visit with Allegra and your parents, my darling.”

  The two young women had been placed back in their girlhood bedchamber. Allegra suddenly found the room old-fashioned after her beautiful and spacious apartment at Hunter’s Lair, but she and Sirena were soon gossiping away as if they had never been parted.

  “I see what you mean about Mama and Steppapa,” Sirena told her cousin. “They are behaving quite like April and May.”

  “More like September and October,” Allegra replied. “I had hoped that after a few months away they would have become more dignified again, but they are worse than ever.”

  “They are in love,” Sirena said softly. “Is it not wonderful that your papa and my mama were able to find love again at their time of life? I am so happy for them.”

  “You sound like Charlotte,” Allegra teased Sirena.

  “Ohh, speaking of my sister-in-law,” Sirena said, “she is at last with child! Gussie is over the moon and nothing is too good for his darling girl. About time she produced for the line. Why Ocky and I were married in June, and I shall have my baby in March. Charlotte and Gussie have been married forever.”

  “Tell me about it,” Allegra begged her cousin. “What is it like when your husband … makes love to you?”

  “Haven’t you and the duke …,” Sirena began. “Well, I thought with your being at Hunter’s Lair all summer you might have …” Her voice trailed off. “Didn’t you even consider it? Not even once? Lord, Allegra, you must be a saint. He is so handsome!”

  “Do you think so?” Allegra asked.

  “Don’t you?” Sirena responded.

  “We do kiss,” Allegra said.

  “And?” Sirena demanded.

  “I have let him touch my breasts,” Allegra admitted.

  “Nothing more?” Sirena was disappointed. “You really are a backward child, I fear, cousin. Why before I met Ocky I had been kissed and cuddled by half a dozen young men.” She sighed. “You do know what a manhood looks like, don’t you?”

  “Of course!” Allegra said. “They are long and thin appendages that dangle between a man’s legs, though for the life of me I do not understand how they can enter a woman’s belly.”

  Sirena giggled. “Women have an opening in the secret place,” she explained. “That’s where they put it.”

  “How can that be, Sirena? That floppy thing?” Allegra was most disbelieving.

  “It doesn’t stay floppy, or thin,” Sirena told her cousin. “They get hard and thick. It hurts the first time and you’ll bleed, but after that …” Sirena’s eyes grew dreamy.

  “After what?” Allegra demanded impatiently.

  “After the first time, it’s just wonderful! Sometimes I even think I’m flying among the stars,” Sirena admitted. “Of course now with the baby coming we must be very careful, and eventually Ocky and I will not be able to do it, but until then, it’s wonderful. Marvelous!”

  “But how do you do it?” Allegra wanted to know.

  “Oh, the duke will tell you,” Sirena said.

  “No! You will tell me, Sirena. You cannot leave me in abject ignorance. I need to know what to expect,” Allegra said.

  “Mama will kill me if she learns I have told you,” Sirena fretted.

  “I will kill you if you don’t. Besides, Aunt Mama will not tell me what I need to know. She will make some pronouncement about yielding myself, despite my delicate sensibilities, to my husband’s wishes.”

  Sirena giggled. “Yes,” she agreed, “that is exactly the kind of twaddle she will utter despite the fact that she and your papa have been fucking like rabbits ever since they were wed.… ”

  “Sirena!” Allegra half shrieked.

  “Well they have, and you know it,” Sirena said. “Why do you think you have been so uncomfortable around them. It is horrifying to think of one’s parents behaving with such abandon, although now that I know what fun it is, I cannot say that I blame them.”

  “Tell me what I have to do,” Allegra said.

  “You’ll be on your back,” Sirena said. “The duke will lie atop you. He will want you to open your legs. Wait until he asks else you look like a wanton. Then he will put his manhood into your entry. That’s all there is to it.”

  “There must be more,” Allegra determined.

  “There is,” her cousin agreed, “but that is the part you must find out for yourself because, Ocky says, it is different with each partner. You will be in excellent han
ds. Ocky says the duke is considered an excellent lover. Men know about these things, as they certainly should.”

  “Well,” Allegra said, “I suppose I must content myself with what you have told me. I hope I do not prove a perfect fool on my wedding night, Sirena. You know how I dislike being ignorant.”

  “You are a virgin, Allegra,” Sirena said, suddenly sounding very wise. “Virgins are supposed to be unschooled and backward. Men like it that way. Ocky never knew, nor will he ever know of the boys I kissed and cuddled with before I came to London.” She giggled. “He thinks he was my very first kiss. I hope he never runs into Jeremy Carstairs.”

  “Best to hope Jeremy Carstairs remains a gentleman,” Allegra laughed. “You make yourself sound so worldly-wise, Sirena, but you were as big a virgin then as I am now.”

  Sirena nodded. “Of course I was,” she agreed with a smile. “I love Ocky so much that I could not deceive him that way, and I didn’t.”

  “What is it like to be in love?” Allegra asked her cousin.

  “Are you in love with the duke?” came the question.

  “I don’t know,” Allegra said. “I like him except when he becomes pompous; and I actually find that I miss him now that I am back at Morgan’s Court. I have never thought I should fall in love, whatever that may be, but I should like to know what it is like. It would seem to me that the emotion called love isn’t very practicable, or particularly sensible. I shall not expound my views as you have heard them often enough, but I am still curious.”

  “Love,” Sirena said slowly, “is caring for someone even more than you care for yourself. It is wanting that person happy. It is the ability to give of yourself totally without losing yourself. I don’t know if that makes any sense to you, Allegra, but it is the best explanation I can give you.”

  “I understand, or I think I do, and yet I don’t,” came the reply. “Perhaps it is better that I remain in ignorance. The duke feels as I do, and does not love me, nor will he ever love me.”

  “And yet you will marry him,” Sirena said sadly.

  “He is handsome and charming,” Allegra said. “He respects me, and will make an excellent mate, Sirena.”

  “And you can give yourself body and soul to him without love?” It seemed so cold, and yet she well knew that most marriages among those of their class were made for reasons other than love. She loved Allegra. She wanted her to have the happiness that she now possessed.

  “Oh, Sirena,” Allegra comforted her cousin. “I am content with everything. Quinton is kind. Hunter’s Lair is beautiful. What more is there to life than that?”

  “I suppose you are right, Allegra, even if it troubles me,” Sirena said, and she gave her cousin a little smile.

  “You were ever the romantic, Sirena dearest,” Allegra teased.

  “And you were ever the sensible one,” Sirena replied.

  “Madame Paul will be here tomorrow,” Allegra said. “Your gown is to be pale blue to match your eyes, and my wedding dress will be white and silver lace. I can hardly wait to see it!”

  “You always loved new clothes,” Sirena laughed. “I vow you will leave instructions about what to bury yourself in one day.”

  “I certainly will!” Allegra agreed, and then she laughed, too. “Can you imagine us as old ladies, Sirena? You will still be the romantic, I suspect, and I shall be quite crotchety, waving my cane about.”

  “What cane?”

  “The one with the silver dragon’s head I intend having when I am a dowager. It will be polished black ebony with its silver dragon. Perhaps I shall have a whole dragon, and not just its head. Its silver body and tail could curl about my walking stick. I shall wave it at everyone who displeases me.”

  Sirena laughed harder. “Ohh, Allegra,” she said, “you can be so amusing when you choose to be.”

  “I am quite serious, cousin,” came the answer.

  “You wouldn’t wave that cane at the duke, would you?” she asked, her blue eyes twinkling mischievously.

  “Particularly at the duke,” Allegra said. “He can be very aggravating at times. But on the whole he has been quite nice to me.”

  “All husbands can be difficult on occasion,” Sirena said.

  “You speak with such authority,” Allegra teased her.

  “Well I have been married almost four months,” Sirena replied.

  It was as if they had never been apart. The next few weeks sped by. Madame Paul arrived with her assistant, Mademoiselle Francine, to do the final fittings for the wedding. She clucked with disapproval when she found Allegra had lost almost a full inch in her waistline. She purred with pleasure that Sirena, despite her delicate condition, fit perfectly into her gown.

  “Another month, however, chérie,” she told Viscountess Pickford, “and it would be another story, I fear.”

  Three days before the wedding Viscount Pickford arrived with the duke to escort the bride and her family back to Hunter’s Lair. Allegra found her heart beating a bit faster at just the sight of Quinton Hunter. Still, they greeted each other with restraint; she curtseying, he bowing and kissing her hand.

  “What is the matter with them?” Sirena whispered to her husband.

  Octavian Baird smiled mysteriously. “Can’t you tell?” he asked her, and when Sirena shook her blond head, puzzled, he continued. “They are in love with each other, but neither will tell the other, or admit to it, my adorable angel.”

  “Why on earth not?” Sirena squealed, excited.

  “Because each fears the other will reject such overtures. Neither has any reason to believe in love, given their family history, but love, as you know, my darling, makes no allowances for such things. Quinton is horrified to find that he actually cares for Allegra. He feels it would be off-putting to tell her of his emotions toward her. He believes she will never reciprocate such feelings, and if there is one thing Quinton Hunter is, it is overproud. To be spurned or dismissed by the girl he loves would be an insult he could never forgive. So he will remain silent, and so, my darling girl, must you.”

  Sirena nodded. “Yes, I will,” she told her husband. “I believe that Allegra likes the duke very much, but I do not think she is in love with him despite what you think. Not yet.”

  “Do you actually believe she will admit to loving him one day?” her husband asked hopefully. “God, how happy Quint would be if that occurred! He cannot believe what has happened to him, or the delicious turmoil this duchess-to-be of his has caused with his heart.”

  “She seems to get on with him, and as I have said, she likes him. They have become friends, and friendship is the best basis for a lasting love, Ocky,” Sirena said wisely. “Ohh, how I would like it if my cousin really fell in love, and was as happy with her duke as I am with you!” The knowledge that the duke loved her cousin reassured Sirena. Now she was not as fearful of the marriage as she previously had been.

  Hunter’s Lair welcomed back its mistress. To Allegra’s delight everything she had ordered done in her absence had been completed. Her father was well pleased with the renovations to the house, and her stepmother admired the décor, pronouncing it “exquisite.” Sirena was delighted with its homey quality.

  “I was so afraid it would be one of those huge grand houses that can never quite be a home,” she said, “but this is wonderful!”

  Lord Morgan took the duke aside. “Mr. Trent has seen to it that a deposit has been made to your account, sir. He will make those deposits quarterly, both for you, and for Allegra.”

  “Thank you, sir,” the duke replied.

  “And the architect and workmen have been settled with so you need have no worry on that account,” Lord Morgan continued.

  “You have been more than generous, my lord,” the duke said.

  Lord Morgan smiled dryly. “Treat her well, Quinton. I am not a man to marry off his daughter and then be done with her. She is my flesh, and I love her.”

  “Allegra is a delight, sir,” the duke answered. Then he smiled a wry smile. “As we
ll as being willful and stubborn, but I believe that we suit despite it all.”

  “Yes,” Lord Morgan said, “I think this bargain that we have made will turn out quite well for all of us. Give me grandchildren as soon as you can, Quinton. Nothing settles a woman quite like a family of her own to care for and worry over.”

  The guests began arriving the next day. Lady Bellingham, her good husband in tow, came first. Her jaw fell as she entered the house. “God bless me, I have never seen Hunter’s Lair look so fine!” she pronounced. “Have my bags taken up. I must have a tour this moment!” Lord and Lady Walworth came shortly afterward, followed by the Earl and Countess of Aston. The Marquess of Rowley came, but without his wife. Lady Charlotte would not travel in her delicate condition, but Gussie refused to miss his favorite cousin’s wedding. Allegra had also asked her father’s secretary, Charles Trent, to be their guest.

  That evening Allegra received her first inkling of what it was going to be like being the Duchess of Sedgwick as she presided over her twelve guests at the dinner table. It was the first time the new dining room had been used. Its great black marble fireplace blazed with enormous logs that had been set across the silver andirons. The table was set with pristine Irish linen. The silver candelabra glittered with the reflected light of the candles. To Allegra’s delight the chandeliers from Waterford had arrived earlier than expected. Two of them now hung over the table, the crystal sparkling with their many candles. Blue and white bowls of flowers from the greenhouse decorated the table. The servants were resplendent in their hunter’s green with silver braid livery. Footmen stood behind each guest’s chair as the lavish meal was served. Still in all it was a happy gathering of friends, and not quite as formal as it would have been in London.

  Afterward when the dessert had been cleared away, the ladies retired to the drawing room next to the ballroom to gossip while the gentlemen were left to their port. The gentlemen would join them shortly, and they would play cards among themselves.

  “I am so glad you decided to have your wedding here rather than return to London,” Lady Walworth said.