Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11

S imon clenched his jaw in frustration as he sat at breakfast the next morning. He had hoped that Octavia would take her breakfast in her chambers, yet she had shown up on time and now sat beside him at the table.

The fact that he had dreamed of her in his bed didn’t help matters at all. He’d woken up with a burning desire to visit her chambers but decided that staying away from her was a better course of action.

“I trust your chambers are to your liking,” he grumbled under his breath and accepted a fresh cup of tea from one of the footmen.

Octavia held her head high and ate a few bites of her toast before replying.

“They are, thank you. Mrs. Farley and I will be going through the house today. There are a few things that I may want to change. You need not worry. None of the changes will involve any of the servants playing their instruments.”

The sarcasm in her voice still cut through the air, despite her politeness. She raised her head and gave him a genuine smile, making his heart skip a beat.

“What kind of things?” Simon speared a piece of kipper with his fork and shoveled it into his mouth out of frustration. He recognized the fact that he had been unfair to her the day before, yet he couldn’t bring himself to apologize to her.

Why does she feel the need to be so polite about things?

She held his gaze with her piercing blue eyes. “I’m not sure, Your Grace. Perhaps I would like to change the curtains or even some of the furniture. You did state I would be able to choose where I reside. What if I choose to take up residence here? Surely, I should have a say in what my house looks like.”

“Then I should start having breakfast in my study,” he shot back and glared at her, despising his brother again for getting him into such a difficult situation.

Wherever Augustus was in the world, he hoped that things were just as difficult for him as they were for Simon.

“Perhaps I would like to turn your study into a parlor; maybe then we could spend more time together.”

She speared a piece of fruit onto her fork and popped it into her mouth without so much as blinking, guiding his eyes towards her mouth and luscious lips.

He gulped.

Is she teasing me?

“We had an understanding about how this marriage would work.”

He wanted to be left alone, could she not see that?

“I just thought that it may be nice if we spent a little more time together. We are married after all, even if it is in name alone.”

There was something in her eyes that made him wonder if she didn’t want more from him than just their initial arrangement.

Simon strummed his fingers on the table beside his plate, losing his appetite. A strange feeling of uncertainty rose in his chest.

The legs of his chair scraped across the wooden floor as he pushed his chair back and stood.

“Try and stay away from affairs that do not concern you. Change things in the house and help Mrs. Farley until your heart is content, but the gardens and the running of the estate are not to be meddled with. I like things to be run in a very particular manner. The gardens are an extravagance that I cannot justify. Whatever changes you do decide to make, I expect them to be minimal.”

Octavia stared at him without blinking in such an unnerving manner that he wasn’t sure how to respond.

What game is she trying to play with me?

“The estate is well-off, but I do not spend a lot of money on frivolous things. I warn you that any kind of changes you make will have to adhere to the household budget. I will not give you anything extra to buy items of furniture and vases that will only serve to gather dust.”

He continued to glare at her from across the table, feeling his anger rise when she stood with her hands on either side of her plate.

“Very well, Your Grace; I may have been born into a wealthy family, but I am no stranger to frugal. I accept your challenge and will work within the confines that you have so graciously presented me with.” Her tone was even and reasonable as she stared back at him.

Is this her form of revenge?

Simon sighed heavily and shook his head before pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and finger. “It wasn’t a challenge.”

He fought with the idea of apologizing to her about the incident in the garden if only to get her off the path she had chosen.

His pride won the battle when she retorted again in a snarky tone, “Let us not quibble over wording, Your Grace. I understood your meaning.” She turned away from him with a curtsy and left the room.

Simon felt his irritation rising again as he stormed after her. He wanted to give her a piece of his mind and let her know on no uncertain terms that he was the one who would be making all of the decisions. How had she even managed to talk him into allowing changes?

He was about to stop her when his attention was drawn to the open front doors.

“Forgive me, Your Grace. I was waiting for Mrs. Farley when I heard your voice.”

A kind old man with white hair and sun-kissed skin stood in the doorway with his hat in his hands. The fabric of his tweed hat was worn and frayed on the edges from many years of working in the sun.

Octavia stopped halfway up the stairs and smiled down at the old man.

“There is no need to apologize, Mr. Brown. Is something the matter?” The Duke recognized one of his oldest tenants who ran the largest farm on his estate.

Mr. Brown cleared his throat and bowed respectfully to both Simon and Octavia, who had begun to descend the stairs.

“It is not terribly urgent, Your Grace. I only wanted to address the matter of my old farmhouse where the roof has begun to sag. The problem has gotten worse to the point where a cat fell through the ceiling last night. Gave me and Mrs. Brown quite a fright. There was turnip soup as far as the eye could see.” He chuckled under his breath despite the seriousness of the matter.

Simon could see that Octavia had taken an instant liking to the old man as she came to his side.

“That sounds like quite an urgent matter to me. We must do all that we can to remedy the matter. I wouldn’t want any animals falling in my soup while I ate, would you, Your Grace?” She turned to Simon expectantly.

“Certainly not. I will send some of the men this afternoon with poles. We will secure the ceiling so that the matter does not worsen. Pushing the rafters up from the inside will ensure no more animals fall through.”

He made a few calculations in his mind and realized how much it would cost to have the roof of the cottage repaired

“Wouldn’t it be better to do a more permanent fix? I do not claim to know too much about running an estate or farming, but a sagging roof seems to me like a problem that should be dealt with as soon as possible.” Octavia looked from the farmer to Simon.

. “I am aware that the solution is only temporary. There are quite a few costs that need to be dealt with before a permanent solution can be reached. The farm cottage is far older than either of us.”

Farmer brown nodded in agreement. “I was born in that cottage.” His lips hooked into a smile around his wrinkled mouth as if he was seeing his past flash before his eyes.

“We can’t just leave the problem as is, Your Grace; we must see to it at once. Mr. Brown seems to have rather fond recollections of the cottage. I shall oversee all of the work if it is time away from your other duties that burdens you.” She placed her hand on the old man’s arm and pleaded with Simon.

Realizing that she cared deeply for the well-being of others, Simon relented. There was something intriguing to him in the way she cared so deeply, even if they weren’t seeing eye to eye.

“Very well, I will have the men assess the damage and report back to me by this evening. We will secure the problem and come up with a more permanent solution as soon as we can.”

Octavia perked up considerably as she turned to the old man. “There now, Mr. Brown, I knew we could come up with a better solution. I’m sure that you and Mrs. Brown will be eating in peace before you know it. The turnip soup will be cat-free from here on out.”

Mr. Brown chuckled. “Thank you, Your Grace. It’s an honor to be the first of the tenants to meet you. I can see that His Grace has chosen a fine wife, and we will all be lucky to have you with us.”

He bowed politely to them both and excused himself.

Simon waited for the man to be out of earshot before rounding on Octavia. “The running of the estate which, I will remind you, involves the tenants and their affairs, is my affair. I am not professing to be an expert when it comes to housing, but I do not need to be one when cats are falling into people’s food.”

He felt the need to maintain control over the situation despite how caring she had been.

“You cannot interfere in matters that do not concern you,” Simon called up the stairs.

There was something almost playful between them now as he watched how defensive she was whenever he reprimanded her.

The woman was more vexing than any problem he had ever faced in his life. He was beginning to think that not wanting to get married had been one of his smarter decisions. Augustus would certainly pay for what he was putting Simon through.

Stopping at the top of the landing, Octavia looked over her shoulder and allowed the corner of her mouth to lift into an alluring smile.

Is she flirting with me?

His heart skipped a beat when she raised her eyebrows suggestively and laughed before turning away from him and walking off.

What exactly was she trying to prove? That she could gain the upper hand with him by using her womanly wiles?

He suddenly felt a wave of irritation toward her behavior.

“And I will thank you to stop being so na?ve when it comes to matters of money!” he called up the stairs one last time as she rounded a corner.

Octavia suddenly reappeared around the corner with a fiery look in her eyes.

“And I will thank you if you stop being such a heartless ice beast!” Her cheeks turned red from yelling before she withdrew once again.

This woman is going to be the death of me.

Simon shook his head and grumbled under his breath as he set out to find some of his workers on the estate.