Adam sat beside the duke, and on Adam’s left was Lord Bleddyn, a middle–aged, portly man. Next to him were Stephen and Annabelle, Annabelle holding her squirming son. In this room full of powerful men, it was comforting to have Annabelle there with me. Just like the duke, she offered a warm smile.
“Welcome, Miss Ackerman,” the duke said. “Thank you for coming.”
“It is a pleasure to be here, your grace,” I said, fighting hard to maintain eye contact.
“And Adam brought you?” he asked, looking between Adam and me.
“Yes, your grace.”
“Please, call me Jasper.”
“Of course.”
Jasper turned to Adam. “You have known Hazel for a long time?”
“Yes, since we were children,” Adam said, his green eyes flickering uncertainly toward me. I maintained a passive smile.
“You are neighbors, is that right?” This question was directed at me.
“Our houses are separated by a small forest, but we’re not too far apart,” I answered.
“I spend a lot of time with Hazel’s brother,” Adam explained.
Jasper looked at me a moment. “Harry, right? I’ve met him.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Really? He never mentioned.”
“I’m afraid I’m not as exciting as people make me out to be,” he said, shooting me a smile. Somehow, I doubted his words very much.
“Harry and I have been good friends for a while,” Adam added. “Hazel often joined us as children.”
“I’m afraid I must have been impossibly annoying,” I said.
Adam chuckled and shook his head. “Never.”
The duke looked between Adam and me again. “I see,” he murmured to himself. Then he turned back to me. “I’m glad you’re here,” he said. “Let’s begin with our questions.”
I thought we’d already begun the questions, but these took on a slightly different tone.
“What do you like to do in your free time?” asked Lord Bleddyn.
“I do enjoy reading,” I said to him, allowing my eyes to wander the stacks of books as if to prove it. “You have a marvelous library.”
“I enjoy reading as well,” said the duke.
“Any other hobbies?” Lord Bleddyn asked. “We haven’t got all day.”
“Peter,” Jasper said, exasperated, but motioned for me to continue.
“I do enjoy art. I’m not so good at it myself, but I like to look at it. I can play piano reasonably well.”
“Can you?” asked the duke. “I have a piano in my ballroom. You might enjoy playing it.”
“I’m sure I would,” I said with a smile, keeping my gaze locked on Jasper. From the corner of my eye, I saw Adam shift.
“I can sew as well, and I’m decent at croquet.”
Adam laughed. “Decent? She’s better than anyone I’ve ever met.”
“How are you with children?” Lord Udolf asked.
“Oh, I adore them,” I said. In reality, I hadn’t spent much time around children, but I knew this was the right answer.
“What is your experience running a household?” asked Lord Randolph.
“My mother is fantastic at it. Granted, our household is not nearly as large as I would assume the one here is, but she runs things smoothly and efficiently. Everything I’ve learned, I’ve learned from her.”
“Very good,” said the duke. At the very least, he seemed impressed, and Adam was getting more and more uncomfortable.
“Have you ever been ill?” Lord Udolf asked me.
“I’m assuming you mean deathly ill, more than just a cold? I have not.”
“No smallpox, influenza?”
“No, my lord.”
Lord Melle delivered perhaps the most difficult question of all. “Why do you want to marry the duke?”
None of the first answers that came to my head seemed appropriate. I couldn’t say that I was here because my parents wanted it. I couldn’t tell them that I was here because I’d given up on love after Adam, and that I was trying to do what was best for me while simultaneously trying to make Adam jealous. None of those were proper answers, but I didn’t really have a good one that wouldn’t make me sound uninterested. Finally, I spoke, choosing my words carefully.
“I have known Adam for a long time,” I said. “I trust him implicitly. He knows me well. Jasper, I had never really met you before, but when Adam says he thinks we would be compatible, I believe him. He knows you well, and he knows me well. If he believes that we can make each other happy, then I believe him.”
Jasper paused for a moment, searching my face. I hoped I had sold my words, because I wasn’t sure if they were true or not. I didn’t know why Adam had brought me here.
Jasper turned to Adam. “Adam, why did you choose Hazel?” he asked.
Lord Melle rolled his eyes. “Is this necessary?”
“I’m curious,” said Jasper. “Why was Hazel your choice?”
Adam looked down at the tabletop for a moment before turning to me. “I’ve never met a woman like her,” he said. “She is compassionate and kind, but also wickedly smart. Every day with her is an adventure. She makes me a better person.”
My heart thumped in my chest as he spoke his last words, and I blinked away tears from my eyes. Perhaps this had been a bad idea after all. Perhaps it wasn’t as easy to move on from Adam as I would have liked.
“I see,” Jasper murmured again. “Thank you for coming, Miss Ackerman. I will see you at dinner tonight.”
I took that as the cue that I was dismissed, and I bowed my head to him.
“Thank you,” I said, before standing.
I was followed by Lord Udolf, who held the door open for me. We walked together in silence down the hallway, and he motioned toward the stairs as he started into the parlor. I offered him a brief nod before we turned apart, and I set my hand on the carved wooden banister as I began to climb up the stairs. I hadn’t been paying much attention, and when I looked up, I saw Susie and Mabel peeking from the top of the banister.
“What on earth are you doing?” I asked.
“We’re trying to keep track of how long each girl is in there,” Mabel said.
They had piqued my curiosity, and as my feet hit the landing, I asked, “How did I do?”
“Best of any of us,” Susie said begrudgingly. “Twenty minutes.”
Excitement ran through me, but I tried not to let it show. “Oh, that’s nice.”
“For you,” she said.
I knelt down next to the girls, peering through the rails to the archway to the parlor. “Who went after me?”
“Hattie,” Mabel answered.
We waited breathlessly, my eyes flickering to the gilded clock above the door. “How did your interviews go?” I asked.
“Oh, fine,” Susie said.
“I thought mine was awkward. I don’t like talking about myself so much,” Mabel admitted.
“I can understand that,” I said. “It did feel odd.”
About twenty minutes had passed when we saw Hattie, her head held high, march from the hallway toward the stairs. As she climbed up, Lillian left for her turn. It didn’t take long for Hattie to notice us hovering.
“What are you doing?” she sneered.
“Keeping track of who’s in there the longest,” Mabel said.
“Who’s winning so far?” Hattie asked, suddenly interested.
“You and Hazel are tied.”
Hattie looked at me and burst out laughing. “Seriously? What, did they ask if you wanted to be a chambermaid?”
“Laugh if you want,” I said with a shrug.
Only a few more minutes passed before Lillian came out and Stella took her place.
“Ha! You hardly lasted ten minutes!” Hattie told her.
“That’s because that’s all he needed to make his decision,” Lillian told her, nose in the air. I rolled my eyes.
“Whatever,” Hattie said.
Stella lasted about the same, and soon w
e were all crowded as we watched Christine follow Annabelle to the library.
“Who is she?” asked Hattie. “Where did she come from? Really?”
I shrugged. I knew as much as she did.
The minute hand ticked around the clock, ten minutes, twenty minutes. By the time twenty–five had passed, Hattie got huffy.
“I’m going to my room,” she muttered, and her girls followed suit. Mabel and Susie and I stayed to wait, and a few minutes later we heard shouting as the door slammed and the duke strode, fists clenched, across the entry hall and into the hallway on the opposite side.
“What on earth?” Mabel asked.
“I’m going to go back to my room,” Susie said, looking nervous. “I’ll see you all later.”
“Right behind you,” Mabel said, leaving me alone as Christine appeared and started up the steps. As she reached the landing, I stood up.
Christine gave a small shriek and jump; she hadn’t seen me there. I reached out to steady her before she went falling backward down the stairs.
“Sorry, I just wanted to know how it went,” I told her, still holding her arm.
Her face fell. “Terribly.”
I cocked my head at her. “Really? You were in there longer than any of us.”
“Really? There was no clock in there. Wait, were you spying?”
The two of us started down the hall. “We all were, on everyone, trying to figure out who got the most time with the duke. You won, by far.” She had looked so downhearted, but this seemed to lift her spirits.
She paused at the door just beside mine. “Would you like to come in? We’ve got time until dinner.”
“I would love that,” I said with a smile.
She pushed open the door. Her room was laid out much the same as mine, with a fireplace and wardrobe on the left and the door to the bathroom on the right. The head of the four–poster bed rested against the right wall, and across the room was a set of arched windows that overlooked the courtyard below. I moved toward the chairs by the window while Christine lingered by the bed. Unlike my room, her room was papered in a pretty silver and lavender pattern. She wouldn’t be having nightmares about vegetables.
“Your room is much nicer than mine is,” I told her.
“Is it? I can’t imagine any of these rooms aren’t nice.”
“Oh, my room is nice. It’s just that yours is much bigger than mine. And I like the colors better. Mine is this terrible olive shade.” I looked down at the fountain in the gardens.
“Annabelle chose this room for me. She seems to favor me a bit,” Christine admitted.
“Of course,” I murmured, thinking of Annabelle’s motherly attitude toward her. “So, you said your interview went poorly. What happened?”
“Oh God.” She sat down on the bed, rubbing her temples. “Things were fine at first, although a bit awkward. Jasper was asking what he said were the usual questions. Then he started asking about my father.”
I tilted my head at her.
“My father passed away only a week ago.”
My heart ached for her. “My condolences.”
“Thank you. And he and the other men got into a bit of an argument, and so my interview ended with Jasper stomping off.”
“We wondered what had happened. We saw the duke storming down the hallway, but we weren’t sure why.”
“I’m sure the others are having a field day speculating.”
“Oh, never mind them,” I told her with a wave of my hand.
We fell quiet for a moment before Christine spoke up. “So, Hattie said we are the only two who aren’t aristocracy. How did you end up here?”
I debated how much to tell her, but she seemed sincere, and had been honest about her experience. “Adam,” I finally sighed.
“Adam, the young one? The one with the peach fuzz–looking mustache?”
I laughed. So she had noticed. “It’s awful, isn’t it? He really should just shave it. Anyway, he and my brother are friends. My family isn’t aristocracy, but they are quite wealthy. We live near Adam’s family, and he and my brother are best friends. I’ve gotten to know him well over the last few years. When he proposed a marriage to the duke, of course my parents were ecstatic at the suggestion.”
“Not you?” She wasn’t judgmental, just curious.
I thought for a minute, not sure how to proceed. I fiddled with the collar of my dress as I tried to form my thoughts. “It’s not the worst thing, I guess.”
“You’re in love with Adam, aren’t you?”
My eyes widened and face flushed. How did she guess? “What? I’m not… what makes you—”
“Hazel,” she said gently.
Mortification filled me from head to toe. “It’s so silly. Just ridiculous. I’m so embarrassed.”
“Don’t be. I think it’s sweet.”
“Really?” I scoffed. “I think it’s foolish.”
“He’d be lucky to have you.”
“He doesn’t want me,” I pointed out. “He’s trying to set me up with the duke!”
She didn’t seem to have an answer for that.
Chapter Six
Christine and I helped each other dress for dinner. Her wardrobe was sparse, the dresses too long and too big for her. I had so many questions about where she was from, but it didn’t seem polite to remark about her clothes. I even considered offering her one of my dresses; they’d still be too big, but not as long, but I didn’t want to offend her, so I stayed quiet. She chose a navy blue gown that made her creamy skin almost glow, while I chose the green gown Adam liked so much. When I returned to her room, we helped each other with our hair. It was almost like having a sister. I’d always wanted one, but had to rely on bonding with cousins and my brother instead.
“You look stunning,” I told her, wrapping a strand of her hair around my finger to give it a bit of curl before releasing it to frame her face.
“As do you,” she said. “Adam won’t be able to take his eyes off of you.”
I flushed. “I very much doubt that. He can’t seem to make eye contact with me anymore.”
We heard a knock on the door and Christine went over to answer it. The same maid from the morning, Daisy, stood there.
“It’s about time for dinner. Would you please follow me?” she asked.
Christine and I took a final look at ourselves in the mirror, then squared our shoulders as we went to face the next part of our trials. As we left the room, Christine looped her arm through mine. I wasn’t sure if it was to steady nerves or to give us a united front of camaraderie, but I appreciated it either way.
“Are you all right?” Christine whispered to me as our feet hit the stairs. “I didn’t mean to make you feel awkward earlier.”
I chuckled. “I always feel awkward,” I admitted.
Instead of going down the hallway by the parlor, Daisy led us down the hallway that opened up underneath the stairs. The house had so many doors and hallways, it was as if it had been built to be a labyrinth. I was sure I’d get lost here if left alone.
After a few twists and turns, Daisy led us into the dining room. Like my room, this room was overwhelmingly green, but it was a rich, deep green, like emeralds. The walls were papered in it, and underneath the dining room table, stretching from one end of the floor to the other, was a rug in the same shade woven with gold and silver threads. Hanging from the ceiling was a chandelier, just as massive and stunning as all the others in the house. It picked up the light from the stained glass windows along the walls, rainbows upon rainbows refracting endlessly.
Jasper was positioned at the head of the table with his men on either side of him. Annabelle sat to Stephen’s right, and we took the two open seats to the right of her. Across the table from Stephen sat Adam, and he smiled when he saw me. My heart began to beat faster, and I took deep breaths to steady it, knowing if he wanted, he could hear my heartbeat.
He was about to say something to me when the trio of terribleness flounced into the dining room. B
oth Lillian and Hattie fought for the seat nearest the duke, but eventually, Lillian won out, sitting down next to Adam. He gave her a tight smile, and I averted my gaze to the empty gold–edged plate.
We were in a wide room with a high ceiling, but my chest was tight, like I was being cloistered. Being so close to Adam yet in such a public place was maddening. If I’d wanted, I could have reached out and kicked him. In fact, I did want to, but I wasn’t foolish enough to believe that was a good idea. My thoughts seethed anger and confusion, but there was nothing I could do about it now. Someday, perhaps, we’d have a conversation, a real conversation about what had happened between us, but today was not that day. I had to focus on winning the duke’s affection.
Did I want this? Did I want the duke’s affection? I enjoyed the promise that a life with him would have, and he seemed a nice enough man. Would I ever be in love with him?
Did I want this? I didn’t know, but everyone else seemed to. Except, perhaps, Christine, but I hadn’t gotten a read on her yet.
Someday. Someday I’d confront Adam. Maybe that day I would be the duchess, and maybe not.
Once all the women had filed into the room, Jasper stood up. He raised his glass to the table. “Thank you for coming, everyone.”
I wasn’t watching him. My eyes flickered from my plate to Adam, whose gaze was still on me. I clenched my hands in my lap, trying to keep them from shaking.
“We’re happy to be here,” said Hattie, her voice dripping with honey.
“Yes, well,” Jasper continued, a touch of annoyance in his voice. “Although there are far too many people involved in finding me a wife—”
Adam turned his attention back to Jasper and chuckled nervously.
“I do appreciate everyone’s efforts.”
“You’ve been alone too long!” Hattie cried with a jester’s smile.
Lord Udolf cleared his throat.. “Lady Thorn, I think you’d do well to hold your tongue for a bit.”
Jasper nodded at Lord Udolf. “Thank you, Lester. For this meal, at least, I don’t want you to be concerned with impressing me. Just relax and be yourselves.”
The Wolf's Choice (The Wolf's Peak Saga Book 4) Page 5