His Unlikely Duchess

by Amanda McCabe

  ‘Certainly not! I need you, Doris, or I’d be lost here in this vast house. This new life, on my own,’ Lily cried. Her mother was already talking about going back to New York with the twins after the wedding. Surely Mrs Astor would have to receive them now. Lily couldn’t yet quite imagine being completely on her own at Roderick.

  Well, not completely. She would have Aidan. Her husband. Though she had seen little of him in the last few days, with all the wedding preparations rolling down upon them. She just had to hold on to the memory of his proposal in the attic, when it was just the two of them.

  ‘But perhaps I’m being too selfish,’ Lily said. ‘Perhaps you want to go back to New York?’

  ‘I’ll admit, Miss Lily, I like the idea of being maid to a duchess,’ Doris said. ‘You should see how grand it is downstairs! Two dining rooms, everyone sitting in precedence. A lovely housekeeper’s sitting room, where I’ve been invited to tea.’

  ‘I should go down and see it all,’ Lily said, suddenly struck that this would be her job now. She would be mistress of Roderick and she wasn’t even sure where to start. ‘Perhaps you could tell me if you see anything that needs to be done? Organised? I want to do so well here.’

  ‘And so you will, Miss Lily. You always do. But I’ve never seen a place as well run as that Donat’s domain, even though it’s not nearly as comfortable as the Newport house. No central heating and tiny rooms.’

  ‘I’m sure a new roof and hot water pipes will be the first things to go in here,’ she answered, though really she was not sure. How would the money work? What was the first priority? She’d been taught how to run a fine American home, but what about an ancient English castle?

  ‘You’ll make it all perfect, I’m sure. Now, it’s time we got you dressed. Everyone will be here soon, miss!’

  ‘Of course.’ Lily let Doris fasten her into the gown, thinking of the party ahead of her. The Duchess had arranged it all very quickly, declaring that Lily must meet all the neighbours. An orchestra for the dancing had arrived from London and the Roderick gardens emptied of flowers. White tents were set up on the lawn for tenants and servants to celebrate. From her window, Lily could see the lights glowing, the Chinese lanterns strung in the trees like fireflies, and hear the music and the laughter.

  Once she was dressed, she made her way through the Elizabethan gallery, stopping to say hello to the glaring suit of armour, and down the stairs, twined with ivy and jasmine. Aidan was down there in the hall, talking to a couple she hadn’t yet met. He looked up and saw her, a smile spreading like sunlight over his lips. She almost ran down the stairs to take his hand, reassured that all would be well after all.

  ‘Lily, do come and meet Sir David and Lady Orwell,’ he said, pressing a quick kiss to her palm. ‘They live not far away at Orwell Grange and David is a fellow adventurer. They’ve just returned from Egypt.’

  ‘How very grand that sounds,’ Lily said, giving them a smile. They did look friendly, young and good-looking, Lady Orwell in a very stylish gown of eau de Nil silk and tulle that went well with her red hair. She reminded Lily of the twins. ‘I’ve always wanted to visit Egypt. The pyramids, the temples... I’m so glad to meet friends of my future husband, Sir David, Lady Orwell.’

  ‘Do call me Cora. I’m sure we will be great friends,’ Lady Orwell said. ‘And Egypt is full of sand and mosquitoes—don’t be fooled by romantic rumours to the contrary!’

  ‘But surely everyone should see it at least once, my dear,’ her husband declared. ‘You should take her there on honeymoon, Aidan. I’m sure Miss Wilkins wouldn’t care for your beloved jungles so much.’

  ‘We’re just going to Brighton for a few days,’ Lily said.

  ‘Too much to do here to go away for long,’ Aidan said, though Lily thought he sounded rather wistful. Did he long to get away, really away, again?

  ‘Brighton? It’s not at all fashionable now,’ Lady Orwell said.

  ‘There’s the new Grand Hotel, which I read was quite lovely,’ Lily said. ‘I would love a glimpse of the English seaside.’

  After a few moments chatting more about travel, Aidan led her to where her parents and the Duchess waited in a receiving line as guests came up the front steps and through the open doors. Her mother blazed like a Christmas tree in a silver brocade gown and loops of diamonds and pearls, while the Duchess was elegant in mauve satin and sapphires. She caught a glimpse of Lady Rannock waiting near the drawing room door, sipping champagne as she studied the crowd with narrowed eyes, her unadorned gold satin gown a splash of austere, liquid elegance amid all the sparkling jewels. Lord Clarendon whispered in her ear and she nodded languidly.

  But Lily didn’t have long to study her, for she had to meet dozens of people in a row, struggling to remember their names, to smile and nod. And tried not to worry that the waters were climbing above her head.

  ‘Lily, this is Lady Paul, a cousin of mine,’ the Duchess said, without much enthusiasm.

  Lily turned to the next person in line, a smile aching on her cheeks, to find an ancient lady in rusty grey silk peering at her closely through a lorgnette. ‘How do you do, Lady Paul.’

  ‘So this is the American chit Aidan picked. You always were an eccentric one, my boy, but she’s pretty enough,’ Lady Paul creaked. ‘What do you think of Roderick so far, girl?’

  Lily bit her lip to keep from laughing. ‘It is very beautiful.’

  ‘Yes, and in rather a mess. But I dare say you’ll sort it out. You look capable enough.’ She flicked one gloved finger at Lily’s diamond and sapphire necklace.

  Lily felt Aidan shake next to her, as if he, too, wanted to burst into laughter. ‘I shall do my best,’ she said.

  ‘Of course, the first thing you’ll have to do is set up your nursery. You Americans do seem good at providing sons,’ Lady Paul said confidently. ‘At least two of them, mind you.’

  ‘Thank you, Cousin,’ the Duchess said firmly. ‘I know Lady Heath is quite longing to meet you again. Eleanor, darling?’ She passed Lady Paul to Lady Heath and turned back to Lily. ‘Now, Miss Wilkins, you must meet Mr Bybee, vicar of our little village.’

  Lily’s cheeks were burning at Lady Paul’s words, croaked loud enough for everyone to hear. She turned gratefully to meet the kindly-faced vicar, who wanted only to speak of committees the future Duchess might like to take on. Charitable duties she could control—having sons she could not. What if she had only daughters, like her mother? Would she be worthless to Aidan then?

  One more worry. She wished it could just be Aidan and her, alone in the moonlight again. When it was just the two of them, everything seemed so much easier.

  As the vicar moved on, she glanced up at Aidan, who seemed to sense some of her anxiety. He smiled and took her hand in his.

  ‘Do excuse us, Mama, but I feel the need for a dance with my fiancée,’ he said.

  The Duchess looked towards the door, but it was empty of newcomers. ‘Of course, darling. Mr Wilkins and I shall come in and make the announcement in a moment. Mr Wilkins, do tell me more about your yacht, it sounds like such fun...’

  Aidan swept Lily into the White Drawing Room, transformed into a lily-draped ballroom for the party, and onto the dance floor. The orchestra had just launched into a lilting waltz and she laughed as he spun her around and around. It felt just like the night they met, before she knew who he really was.

  ‘I wish it could always be like this,’ she said, as she leaned into him, holding on tight in a spinning world.

  He flashed his adorable crooked smile. ‘What, being harangued by elderly relatives and vicars?’

  Lily laughed. ‘Well—perhaps not that. Though this vicar hardly harangued, he just tried to get me to join the flower-arranging society. No, I meant this. Dancing with you, for ever and ever.’

  ‘As long as I don’t tread on your toes? I didn’t have much practice waltzing on my travels.’
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  ‘You’re a very good dancer. You’re good at everything.’ And so he was, she realised. Good at riding and dancing, kissing, talking to people. Good at just being himself.

  ‘I’m not so grand at being a duke,’ he said.

  ‘You may be new at it, but I dare say you’ll soon be the best Duke of Lennox the family has ever seen.’

  ‘Only because I have the best Duchess.’

  The music came to a flourishing end and Lily heard the burst of applause that reminded her they really weren’t alone. She glanced around, startled to see that the dancers around them had cleared a path, leaving them dancing alone on the parquet floor, and she hadn’t even noticed. It really was just Aidan and her.

  Her father and the Duchess, cosily arm in arm, climbed onto the dais in front of the orchestra and Lily knew this was it. The moment of no going back. She held tighter to Aidan’s hand and he squeezed her fingers. When she peeked up at him, though, he looked somehow doubtful.

  ‘My dear friends,’ the Duchess said, a bright smile fixed on her face as she lifted a glass of champagne. ‘Mr Coleman Wilkins and I are so pleased to make this official announcement tonight...’

  * * *

  Lily left the ladies’ withdrawing room, feeling the ache of tiredness in her shoulders. Her feet were sore from dancing with everyone and the hour grew late, but there was still music and laughter from the party. She was supposed to go out to the tents with Aidan and greet the tenants, but she craved a moment of silence.

  She noticed the door of the library was open and slipped gratefully inside. She hadn’t had the chance to spend much time there yet, among all the lovely books, but she was sure it would often be a refuge.

  It was quite unlike the rest of the house and Aidan had said his grandparents had redecorated it in the Gothic style so beloved of the Queen when she was young. It was a fantastical, medieval-looking space, with a soaring, carved beam ceiling and wine-red velvet upholstery on the fringed chairs and hassocks. More dark red covered the tall windows and even draped along the tops of the floor-to-ceiling shelves which were full of enticing leather-covered books. She sat down on one of the window seats and drew the curtain to close herself into the wonderful little alcove.

  Lily looked out the bow window, to the quiet stretch of garden beyond. It wasn’t the lawn with the brightly lit tents, but a knot garden in the old style, intricate patterns of herbs and flowers laid out around white gravel paths gleaming in the moonlight. It was not quite empty, though. She glimpsed the gleam of that moon on Lady Rannock’s gold satin gown, the train trailing over the green borders. She was strolling slowly in the distance, her arm looped through that of a tall man in black evening dress. But Lily couldn’t see who it was.

  Could it be Aidan? She remembered the two of them at the summer house and all the memories that seemed to fairly vibrate between them. She instinctively ducked behind the curtain, though they could not see her watching at all.

  The door suddenly opened, letting in a burst of music to break the silence. Lily didn’t want to be found hiding from her own party, so she drew the curtain closer around her, holding her breath.

  She peeked out to see her mother and Lady Heath, whispering together like girls as they poured out a brandy from the sideboard.

  ‘Cheers to you, Stella,’ Lady Heath said, holding up her snifter. ‘This must be such a proud night.’

  ‘Indeed it is, Eleanor,’ her mother said, with deep satisfaction in her voice. She sat down on one of the velvet sofas, her silvery skirts draped around her. ‘I’ve put all I had into my children and Lily looked so well standing up there tonight.’

  ‘She will be an excellent duchess.’

  ‘Thanks to you.’ Stella reached into her beaded evening bag and took out a slim box she handed to Lady Heath. ‘You have been such a good friend to us. This is just a small token—there will be more after the wedding.’

  Lady Heath opened it, and Lily saw the sparkle of a diamond brooch in the lamplight. A satisfied smile spread across Lady Heath’s lips. ‘You are too sweet, Stella. But making Lily a duchess has absolutely been my pleasure.’

  They laughed and clinked glasses again. Lily sat back on the window seat cushions, a cold pit forming in her stomach. The golden glow of her dance with Aidan was fading, replaced by the terrible feeling of having been...sold.

  She looked out the window to where she thought she saw Lady Rannock, but the garden was empty.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Aidan resisted the urge to tap on the desk like an impatient schoolboy. It would never do, not in a business meeting with his future father-in-law, but it was a bright, sunny day as the gardeners cleared away last night’s party and he had much work to do on the farms. He’d glimpsed Lily herself riding out early that morning, galloping away in her green habit, and he would have loved to be with her.

  But first, this terrible necessity. The reminder of what he had to do for Lily.

  Mr Wilkins sat across from him, a stack of papers in front of him that he perused slowly with a shrewd frown, lawyers to either side of them. The affable man of the party was gone, the hard-headed businessman in his place.

  Aidan wished he could match Coleman, that paperwork could hold his attention. After all, this was his future on the table, his and Lily’s. And Roderick’s. But being a man of action for years was a hard habit to shake off.

  ‘I am sure you cannot mean for the Duke to ask his wife whenever he requires funds,’ Aidan’s lawyer—or rather his mother’s lawyer—Mr Greville of the City, said with great indignation.

  ‘Women do keep control of their own fortunes in America, Mr Greville,’ Mr Wilkins said with a tight smile. ‘My daughter is an intelligent lady so I can’t see why that should be any different here. She does come with a generous dowry. Very generous. Railroad shares, mine stocks. It’s all there in the paperwork.’

  Mr Greville opened his mouth to retort, but Aidan held his hand up. ‘Mr Wilkins,’ he said, ‘I have great respect for you and for Lily. It’s true this estate is not yet as prosperous as it once was, but I want to change all that, with Lily’s help. I assure you I am no fortune hunter.’

  Coleman studied him carefully for a moment, before giving a tiny nod. ‘But I have no doubt money is needed here. Your mother has been showing me around in the last few days. This is a very large house and the agricultural downturn looks to be going on for the long term. My daughter is used to...certain comforts.’

  Aidan nodded, uncomfortable at the reminder that what he could give Lily was in many ways not as fine as what she had come from. Her fine Worth gowns, her jewels, her mother’s many remarks about heating and plumbing and artworks—he could give her none of that. And it made him angry at himself. His fiancée’s family thought him only a fortune hunter, when he agreed a lady should have her independence. He wanted Lily to be happy in her new life, that was all. If only they saw that!

  ‘I want to make her happy,’ he said simply, but he worried about whether he could really do that. Roderick was going to be a great deal of work for a very long time. For the first time, he looked beyond his own happiness at finding her and wondered if she could really be happy there. If he was doing what was right for her.

  ‘And the Duke has no wish to put the great burdens of running an estate such as this onto his wife,’ Mr Greville said. ‘Especially one not accustomed to it. Men run such things here.’

  Mr Wilkins nodded. ‘That makes sense. But I won’t leave my daughter unprotected in a country not her own. I still insist on separate settlements, but in these proportions. And Lily’s allowance, of course, is hers to do with as she wishes. My wife assures me a duchess has much need of fine clothes and such.’ He reached for a paper and scribbled a line of columns.

  * * *

  An hour later, the cold, hard facts of the money all laid out and signed, Aidan was released from the library. That sense of disquiet, of
fear that he could not give Lily all she deserved, haunted him. He needed to get outside, to blow the doubts out of his mind. His future in-laws thought ill of him, thought him a gold-digger. He left the lawyers and Mr Wilkins finishing and strode across the hall, intent on getting away, on being alone. Being free of Roderick, of money, of everything, just for a moment. The old restlessness had taken hold of him and he knew it wouldn’t be shaken away easily. That anger burned.

  ‘Oh, Aidan!’ he heard Lily call from beyond the open door of the Yellow Drawing Room where the wedding gifts were being displayed. ‘Do come and see the vase Lady Paul sent—it’s quite delightfully hideous.’

  ‘Later, Lily,’ he said brusquely, not slowing his path towards the door. He knew he couldn’t face her now, not with those doubts clouding his mind, clouding their future. He couldn’t laugh and smile and examine strange wedding gifts, not yet. He slammed out of the front door, past the impassive footmen. ‘Later.’

  * * *

  Lily stared after Aidan as the door slammed loudly behind him. Would he turn back, look at her? But he didn’t and she felt so cold all over again. Was he so angry that the money didn’t go the way he hoped? Was he thinking of calling it all off?

  ‘The lawyers were here this morning, Lily dear,’ the Duchess said. ‘Such things are bound to make anyone cross, especially a man like Aidan. He is such a doer, you know, not one for dull indoor meetings.’

  The lawyers. Of course. For the settlement. She remembered the smug satisfaction of Lady Heath and her mother at a job well done and now Aidan had to face the same thing with her father. She knew her father wouldn’t make it easy, either. Not when it came to money. He wouldn’t spare anyone’s pride.