The Duke Didn't Want Love — He Wanted a Practical Wife. Then Her Carriage Arrived 40 Minutes Late
Chapter 2
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Marian coughed into her glove. Avery wondered whether his irritation had been quite so obvious.Inside, a private waiting room had been reserved, though its door remained open to the room where Marian ordered tea. Helena accepted a cup before asking the question Avery had expected to address next week:"May I see the proposed articles, Your Grace, before we discuss whether we suit one another?"He drew a folded draft from his coat. "They are no more than an outline of expectations.""That is why I should like to read them before they become anything else."He watched her eyes move over the cream-colored writing paper. Her expression did not change until she reached the third paragraph."'Supervision of menus, reception of guests, oversight of household order,'" she read quietly. "'And here: discretion regarding the steward's decisions in financial matters.'" She looked up. "What does discretion mean?""That financial business remains with Mr. Vane. He has administered Briarcombe for 24 years.""If a bill for a leaking roof were marked paid, but the roof continued to leak, would I be permitted to ask about it?""I should expect you to bring household matters to my attention.""And if your steward disagreed?""I should naturally consult him.""Before consulting me?" Avery hesitated. "He would have the greater experience of the property.""Then I should be responsible for a household without being allowed to question what makes it function." She refolded the draft with precise fingers. "That is not partnership, Your Grace. It is employment without wages."In his 36 years, Avery had been accused of sternness, arrogance, and occasionally an excessive devotion to lists. He had never been accused of offering unpaid employment while proposing marriage. More disconcerting was that he could not immediately prove her wrong."You are free to decline," he said."I know. I should prefer to know whether we can agree.""Why?"She took a moment. "Because your letters suggest that you are fair, even when you are difficult. I may have misread them.""And yours suggest that you are practical.""I am practical enough not to place myself where my word will never count."He heard Marian's voice beyond the door, speaking pleasantly to the innkeeper. The normal sounds of the world continued while his carefully constructed arrangement loosened before his eyes."Three weeks," he said at last. "You will remain at my aunt's house. We shall meet properly with no understanding binding either of us, and I shall reconsider this paragraph."Helena studied him as if testing whether the offer concealed a price. "And if we discover that we do not suit?""Then neither of us will be compelled to pretend that we do.""Very well."She returned the papers. Her fingers touched the edge he held—a moment too brief to be called intimacy, yet it seemed to Avery that he had agreed to something much less controllable than a courtship.Forty minutes earlier, he had been waiting for a woman who would fit neatly into his life. By the time Helena Morland left the posting house with Lady Marian, he was wondering whether his life would have to change its shape instead.