Chapter 16

Marie laced her fingers behind her neck as she stared at the pile of cancelations in front of her. Her books had been filled for weeks, yet now, she was struggling to book even a single appointment. The notes of cancelation and regret had come in droves almost as soon as she had opened her doors the following morning.

How is it possible?

Her sigh shook her lungs as she sat up straight. It had only been one day. Was Lady Arrindell that hell-bent on ending her career? She began to fear that her only course of action was paying the woman a visit.

"Would you like a cup of tea, miss?" Janey came into the room. Dark bags hung beneath her eyes, making her appear several years older than she was. Her apron was wrinkled to a point where it was hardly recognizable as a garment.

"Thank you, that would be lovely, and if you have a minute, would you take a seat?" She let go of her neck and sat up straight, gesturing to one of the empty chairs in front of her desk.

Janey seemed to pale considerably as she hesitated at first but came forward nonetheless and took a seat.

"I wanted to have a word with you. Please don't worry; you aren't in any kind of trouble. I just wanted to check in with you. You seem pretty tired. Have you been sleeping well or even at all?" Her brow wrinkled into a frown as she gave the girl a sympathetic look. She had been worried that her maid would walk in on her and Dominic the night before, but Janey hadn't come back until well after midnight.

"I'm grateful for your concerns, miss; the truth is that I haven't been sleeping at all. I stayed out late last night trying to set things right. The situation with… everything that has happened. I've been trying my hardest to get any kind of gossip, but none of the maids want to be seen with me. Not after…" Her voice trailed off as she shut her eyes and shook her head. The pain on her face was clearly evident to Marie.

"Janey, nothing that has happened is your fault. Lady Arrindell is mad at me for advising her daughter without thinking. And to be honest, I'm not convinced that James McFunnugh doesn't have anything to do with the situation either." Her anger rose a little when she thought of how threatening he had been when she denied his proposal.

The girl opened her mouth to speak again but was silenced when Marie shook her head.

"I know how hard you work, and how hard you try to keep things together. It's the reason I gave you a raise, but none of that will do us any good if you collapse. Now, judging by the bags under your eyes, I suggest you go home and get some rest. You know where my grandmother keeps her sleeping drafts. Make yourself a nice cup of tea." She smiled encouragingly.

Tears filled her eyes as Janey sniffled. "Thank you, miss. I promise I will try even harder tomorrow once I've gotten some rest."

"I'll be the judge of that. All you need to do is go home right now and sleep." Marie stood and gestured for Janey to head to the back of the shop. "I will lock up. You go home."

She reluctantly accepted the offer and stood, making her way to the back of the shop.

Marie watched her leave before letting out a heavy breath. If things carried on as they were, she would have to reconsider an arranged marriage. She wouldn't be able to survive with no work at all. Even if Dominic decided to scrap her rent altogether, she needed clients to keep her business afloat.

Dominic.

Her cheeks suddenly filled with heat as her skin began to tingle. The memory of the Duke touching her body was one of exhilaration and heat. She had dreamed of him that night, his tongue running all over her body as he kissed and nipped at her flesh. Perhaps marrying the Duke wasn't such a bad idea after all. Their marriage would certainly be one of passion, even if neither of them ever fell in love with the other.

What does he think of me?

The thought made her heart jolt as she wondered how the Duke felt about her. Was she simply the most tolerable woman in London, or were there other feelings he didn't care to admit? Having children with him would certainly fill her life if her business were to go under.

She bit back the thoughts of what ifs and possibilities. There was no use in getting ahead of herself when she didn't even know how he would react to the rest of her life. The very specific ways she spent her time when she wasn't working would certainly send a man running for the hills if he didn't share the same kind of compassion.

Shaking off these thoughts, she headed to the back door and ensured that everything was locked up before heading to the front. The grand carriage that stood on the street in front of her shop made her stop in her tracks.

"Your carriage, my lady." The footman, wearing a green livery, bowed low before opening the door for her.

People across the street stopped and stared before turning to their companions and whispering behind their hands.

"Thank you, but I am not a lady." Marie took a deep breath and composed herself as she drew closer.

"I am afraid that I am not at liberty to accept such an answer, my lady." The young man added the last part rather reluctantly with an apologetic glance. His behavior hinted at the fact that he had been roped into the entire affair.

"What do you mean you can't accept an answer like that?" Marie raised her eyebrows.

The footman cleared his throat and continued to hold the door open for her. "I am under strict instructions from His Grace, The Duke of Wiltshire, my lady. I am to ignore any kind of protests, going as far as following you personally if you refuse to enter the carriage. The second condition that I am to follow without argument is that you are to be addressed as ‘Lady' and nothing less." Droplets of sweat beaded on the young man's brow.

"Pray tell what will happen if either of these conditions are not met?" Marie sighed heavily and shook her head, glaring past the carriage at a group of women who had stopped to gawk.

The women pulled up their noses and hurried along.

The footman swallowed hard, causing his Adam's apple to bob up and down. "I'm afraid that I do not wish to think on it, my lady. You see, the instructions come from the dowager duchess as well as His Grace. And quite frankly speaking, my lady, I am more afraid of her than I am of His Grace."

Relenting to the situation and secretly liking the fact that she didn't have to chance the alleyways again, Marie approached the carriage and stepped inside. "Do you think you would lose your job if you didn't follow the instructions?" She ventured another question before the footman could shut the door.

The footman let out a heavy breath that puffed out his cheeks. "It's not the loss of my job that I fear, my lady. The dowager duchess has been known to make a person's life very difficult in the most unconventional ways if she feels that a lesson needs to be taught."

All manner of thoughts entered her mind as she wondered what kind of person the dowager duchess was. Did she torture her servants when she didn't get her way, or did she simply dock their wages? "What sort of lessons?"

"I do not wish to speak ill of the family I serve, my lady. His Grace and his grandmother are very kind to all of us. I wouldn't want to work for another family, I just don't relish disappointing them if I mess up something as important as escorting the future Duchess of Wiltshire to her home." The footman seemed to draw back his thoughts as he shut the door, putting an end to their conversation.

The future Duchess of Wiltshire?

Was the Duke so certain of their future together that he had already told his staff who she was supposed to become in the future? Her heart raced along with the sound of the horses' hooves as the carriage jolted forward.

Dominic waited patiently outside Marie's house. The people on the street frowned at him and hurried along with polite greetings. It hadn't occurred to him that seeing a grand carriage in a lower-class suburb would cause such a stir, but then again, he didn't care.

"There you are." He brightened up considerably and stood up straight when Marie opened the door to her house and stepped out.

"It is not my fault that you are early, Your Grace." She shot him a teasing smile before reaching back into the house and hauling a large sack behind her.

Hurrying forward to help her, he took the heavy sack from her hands and winced under the pressure. "What in the name of everything good do you have in here?"

A sly smile curved her lips as she narrowed her eyes conspiratorially. "That you will have to wait and see, Your Grace. I will admit that I took the liberty of bringing a little extra along since you agreed to accompany me."

"I'm beginning to regret my decision." Dominic sighed reluctantly after lifting the bag into the carriage.

"You can always back out; nobody is forcing you to come along, Your Grace." Her smile challenged him as she cheekily tilted her chin in the air.

"Don't think you will be getting rid of me that quickly. Shall we go?" He held the door open for her and stood aside, making it glaringly clear to her that he wasn't about to back down.

"Oh, we will be walking, Your Grace. Our work today requires quite a bit of footwork. I'm glad your carriage came along; it will make hauling the food around so much easier, but I'm afraid that you and I will be walking." She moved past him and reached into the giant hessian sack, retrieving two metal bowls filled with what looked like scraps of food.

Dominic wrinkled his nose at the smell after accepting one of the bowls. "I know we haven't shared a meal, but I'm afraid that my tastes are a little more refined than this." He wrinkled his nose in disgust at the slop that smelled like leftover food mixed with a good amount of farm.

Marie laughed freely, tugging at his heart once more as the delightful sound distracted him from the smell. "That is not for us, Your Grace. We will be walking the streets today and feeding the animals in need. What you have in your hands is the combined efforts of the baker, butcher, shop owner, and fishmongers. They all help me by donating their scraps to my cause."

Dominic eyed the mixture wearily as he held it further away. "Very well then, let us set forth and feed all the mongrels of the ton if that's what it takes to make you see that I am a man with a human heart beating in his chest."

Rolling her eyes, Marie attempted to push past him. "This way, Your Grace."

Catching her arm, Dominic held her back and whispered in her ear. "What will it take for you to stop calling me Your Grace? You've already admitted that you find me attractive." He noted the fine layers of bumps that ran down her neck when his breath touched her skin.

"Only time will tell, Your Grace." She looked up and met his gaze, making his heart thud in his chest as she lowered her gaze to his lips before pushing on.

It took him a moment to realize that she had been flirting with him before he hurried along and fell into step beside her. The day would prove to be quite a success if he was able to keep her open to the possibility of flirting with him.

"So where do we start?" he asked her with renewed purpose as they strode along.

"Well, there are a few regular spots that I like to frequent. After that, I usually just wander around the streets in search of any animals that may need me.

An image of an ugly dog wearing a green scarf full of holes came to mind. "Is that statue of the ugly dog in your office one of the strays that you feed, or fed? I'm assuming it may be diseased if you've taken the liberty of honoring his memory?" He tried to state his question as delicately as he could.

"Do you mean Ham?" Marie glanced at him out of the corner of her eye.

"If that is the ugly thing's name, then yes, I am talking about Ham, the statue of the dog in your office."

Marie shook her head as they walked down the empty street with the carriage trailing behind them. "Ham was not my dog; he belongs to one of the ladies I set up a match for. The Viscountess of Northfolk gave me the statue of her beloved dog as a thank you gift after her wedding."

"Thank God, you didn't own him. I suddenly began to picture my life coming home to dogs that looked as if they belonged in a barn. Why is its snout that flat? Does it spend its days chasing parked carriages, or is that what is considered charming when it comes to dogs?" Dominic teased her gently, impressed by the fact that her previous clients held her in such high regard that they saw fit to give her tokens of their appreciation.

Stopping next to an old shed that looked as if it had seen better days, Marie knelt beside the street and placed the bowl of food on the ground.

"What happens now?" Dominic asked with a frown when nothing happened at all.

"Just give it a minute." Marie laughed and shook her head, seemingly unbothered by his comments about the dog.

Mere seconds passed when an army of kittens suddenly appeared from inside the dilapidated building. The tense mewing made Dominic take a step back as the army of animals descended on the food.

"Do all of them live in there?" He gestured toward the small building before handing Marie the second bowl. He could hardly count how many kittens there were and didn't relish the thought of having one of his fingers bitten or scratched.

Marie placed the second bowl on the ground before picking up one of the stragglers and directing them to the full bowl. "They do. In an ideal world, I would like to find good homes for all of them, but you never know who you can trust. I'd rather have them here out of the elements where I can feed them than have them mistreated in a home that was supposed to be loving. I would never be able to forgive myself if anything like that was ever to happen." She seemed to swallow hard before standing up straight.

Dominic was surprised to see that she was trying to hide her tears. Marie Webster was more than just a beautiful woman with a fiery spirit and stubborn personality. Her heart was far kinder than anyone else's.

"So, where do we go from here?" He reached down and picked up the bowls when the kittens retreated into their house.

The look of surprise in her eyes made him smile. "Are you sure you wouldn't rather go home and rest, Your Grace?"

"And leave you alone to feed the armies of cats and dogs? I wouldn't be able to call myself a gentleman if I did that." He winked at her and headed back to the carriage, dipping the empty bowls in the sack of food.

"Well, then we had better get going." She accepted one of the bowls and smiled at him, causing his chest to flutter.

They fell into step beside one another as the carriage rolled into action.

"Perhaps you could tell me more about some of the other matches you've made?"