Chapter 8

Eight

“ A hh, Lady Chastity, Lady Minerva, what a pleasant surprise!” the duke said as Cherie’s friends approached down the path of the Serpentine. It was a beautiful afternoon, and everyone who was anyone seemed to be outside, promenading. Including them, although the purpose of their promenade wasn’t just for the exercise.

“Your Grace,” Lady Minerva murmured, sweeping into a curtsy. The duke took her hand, and as he kissed it, he sent Lady Minerva a wink. Cherie had to bite her lip to keep from laughing.

She kissed her friend’s cheek, shook hands with Lady Chastity, and then turned to the dour-looking fellow who was standing next to her, and whom she had been trying to engage in conversation for the last ten minutes—to no avail.

“Lady Minerva, Lady Chastity, may I introduce Lord Joshua Dawson? An old friend of my husband’s! Lord Dawson, this is my dear friend Lady Minerva Berrymoore, and her sister, Lady Chastity Berrymoore.”

If Lord Dawson suspected that this entire meeting on the Serpentine had been arranged and carefully planned down to the last detail for his sake, he gave no sign of noticing. Instead, he stepped forward and removed his hat, then bowed low to the ladies.

“Pleased to make your acquaintance,” he muttered, so quickly that Cherie almost couldn’t hear them. He straightened, and his eyes swept over Chastity again, and this time, Cherie caught the twinkle of recognition in them.

“I believe we have met before,” he said to Chastity, bowing again. “Did not we speak briefly at the Tallot ball?”

“Indeed we did,” Chastity said, lowering her eyes demurely. Although in her case, it probably wasn’t a coquettish trick. Chastity really was that shy. “I am pleased to make your acquaintance properly.”

“As am I.” The viscount held out his arm to Lady Chastity. “May I?”

Chastity nodded and took his arm, and the two of them began to walk ahead of the group. Cherie watched them with narrowed eyes. Lord Dawson walked very stiffly and did not seem to be asking Chastity many questions. He barely even looked at her as they set off ahead of them.

“He is introverted,” Minerva said, taking her arm, and sharing a meaningful look with her that said that she had noticed this as well. “Perhaps she likes that he doesn’t speak much.”

“Or perhaps,” the duke said quietly, leaning towards them, “he’s afraid of opening his mouth because he knows that everything he says is insipid!”

Cherie and Minerva both laughed, Cherie pressing a hand to her mouth to muffle the sound.

“Your Grace! That is cutting!” she whispered, and he grinned.

“Didn’t you listen to him moaning about having to give a measly portion of his farming profits to his tenants?” the duke asked, shaking his head. “You tried so hard to engage the man in conversation, and the only thing he could think to speak of was how dreadful it is to be a rich, titled viscount with pesky tenants who want to keep some of the profits of their labor!”

Cherie couldn’t help but laugh, although she sobered when she saw the look of concern on Minerva’s face.

“Fear not,” she murmured, taking her friend’s hand. “If Chastity likes him, then I am sure he is a good man. He is just shy, as you said!”

“Indeed,” the duke said, bowing to Minerva. “I shouldn’t make assumptions about a man I hardly know.” He slid a glance at Cherie. “Although any criticisms I have are simply because I think Lady Chastity deserves the best. And anyone who knows me could tell you I have a long-standing history of standing up for tenants!”

“Yes, I have read about your work with your father’s company,” Minerva said, eyeing the duke. “I must say I was rather impressed. You flew in the face of your father’s opposition, as well as his board of investors, in order to demand a higher wage for your workers.”

The duke looked suddenly embarrassed. His cheeks went pink, and he looked down at his toes. “Yes, well, it’s important to make your workers happy,” he said quickly. “They make the product, after all!”

“How did you read about His Grace’s exploits in India?” Cherie asked, turning with some surprise to her friend.

“It was in the Financial Times ,” Minerva said with a shrug. “And I found it rather interesting.”

Of course she reads the Financial Times! Cherie shook her head. Minerva was too smart for her own good.

“I’m surprised you didn’t tell me,” she said.

“Well, I thought your brother might have told you,” Minerva said with a shrug. “Since you two were such good friends back then.”

Minerva’s tone was light, but Cherie couldn’t help but wonder if her friend was trying to remind her that there was once a time when she had very much liked the duke.

Her friend’s words from the other day came back to her: you can either make the best of your situation, and try to get along with your husband, or you can keep this anger up, and doom yourself to a life of unhappiness.

Was this Minerva’s attempt at trying to encourage Cherie to get along with her husband? By reminding her of their previous friendship?

Cherie glanced at her husband, and she was surprised to see that he was already looking at her, a slightly sad look in his eyes. It seemed that Minerva’s words had also reminded him of an earlier and simpler time in their relationship.

Minerva isn’t the only one reminding me of our friendship , she thought. He is also different today: funnier; charming. He reminds me of the Casserly I used to know before he was the Duke of Wheaton.

The duke’s eyes slid from Cherie’s to her friend’s, and he smiled. “I appreciate that you have been following my career in such detail, Lady Minerva. And I hope that when it comes time for you to marry, that you will marry a man who appreciates your interest in the world.”

“I’m very interested in the world,” Minerva said seriously. “How did it go, anyway? With raising the wages? Did it lead to a higher quality of life for the workers and better productivity, as you argued?”

The duke’s smile faltered. “At first it did,” he said. “But my father decided it was too expensive and that the rate of productivity had not increased enough to justify the raise, so he fired about half the workforce. It was… a very difficult time.”

“I can imagine,” Minerva said, nodding. “It is a pity your father couldn’t compromise.”

Thomas looked away. “He was an uncompromising kind of man.”

Minerva nodded, then seemed to lose interest in the conversation, her eyes riveted to the sight of her sister walking ahead of them with Lord Dawson.

Cherie, meanwhile, fell back, and after a small hesitation, her husband also slowed his pace to walk beside her.

“It must have been very hard to work for your father,” she murmured. “I know that you never got along with him.”

“Yes,” the duke said, a little stiffly. “It was not easy. We rarely saw eye-to-eye on business… or anything else. He would probably be very disappointed if he could see the changes I’m making to his company now.”

The duke swallowed as if there were a lump in his throat, and Cherie felt a small piece of the ice that encased her heart these days melt.

“I realize that I have not been more sympathetic to the grief you must be experiencing,” she said after a moment. “In all the chaos of everything that has happened, I don’t think I have even properly offered you my condolences for his death. Everything has been such a mess these past few weeks, but I am deeply sorry for your loss.”

“It’s all right,” the duke said, very quickly. “But thank you. I appreciate it.”

Cherie bit her lip, wondering if she dared to ask more. “What happened, exactly?” she asked after a long moment. “You said it was quick, but were you able to put any of these differences behind you and say the things you wanted to say?”

The duke frowned, and his body became even more rigid. Tension seemed to be radiating from him, and Cherie knew that he was not going to tell her anymore.

“Let us not speak of such unhappy things,” he said, his voice oddly emotionless. “Not when new love is blooming around us.”

He gestured towards Chastity and Lord Dawson—who didn’t appear to be speaking—and then set off at a faster clip, catching up to Minerva and taking her arm. Cherie lingered behind, watching and wondering.

So, it is his father’s death that has led to the change in his personality . It was good to have this clue, but Cherie also felt determined to discover more.