Page 54 of Two Blessings For His Duchess
“Iam Thaddeus, Duke of Stonehaven,” Thaddeus said, offering an impeccably executed bow that managed to be entirely respectful while carrying an undercurrent of playfulness. “It seems as though His Grace here has been keeping you away from me.”
Nathaniel let out a loud breath.
Do not look at her. Do not look at her.
Euphemia smiled as she took in his appearance. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Your Grace,” she replied. “It is also the first time I am meeting any of Nathaniel’s friends.”
Nathaniel looked away, a sharp prickle catching him entirely off guard. He cleared his throat forcefully after Thaddeus took his place in front of them.
Across the drawing room, near a sunlit corner, Cordelia and Georgianna were comfortably seated with Leonora and Seraphina, the sound of the girls’ laughter carrying easily over the space as they played together.
Nathaniel kept his gaze fixed firmly on the mantelpiece, his jaw tightening.
Euphemia stood directly by his side, her posture perfectly composed, radiating the very distance he had spent the last week enforcing. It was exactly what he had wanted, what he had intended when he retreated behind a wall of absolute formality.
He had established the rules of this marriage long before they stood at the altar. He could not afford to make mistakes now. He could not let himself get attached, nor could he allow the ordered boundaries of his life to dissolve into something unpredictable. Distance was safety. It was the only way to keep things as they were.
Thaddeus, entirely unbothered by the tension, turned his full, charming attention toward Euphemia, asking her a series of light, polite questions about her transition to the estate and her impression of the grounds. Euphemia answered him, smiling.
He forced himself to stare straight ahead, his mind a battleground of forced indifference.
‘Do not look at her,’ he repeated, a mantra against the ridiculous urge to interject himself between his wife and his best friend.
“—though I suppose it is a marvel he has managed to keep a secret this lovely for so long,” Thaddeus was saying, his laugh rich as he turned a knowing look back toward Nathaniel. “Then again, Nathaniel has always been a creature of tight locks and closed doors. Has he told you about the former duchess?”
The casual words struck the room, instantly withdrawing Nathaniel from the dark cage of his own thoughts.
The blood in his veins seemed to turn to ice. His eyes snapped over to Thaddeus, flashing with a dangerous intensity.
“Perhaps...” Nathaniel said. “... we should let Euphemia return to keep her sisters’ company.”
Euphemia froze, her eyes darting between the two men. “What about the former duchess?” Euphemia asked.
Nathaniel said nothing. He did not offer an explanation, nor did he look her in the eye. Instead, he abruptly turned away from her, his hand gripping Thaddeus’s shoulder.
“Excuse us,” Nathaniel murmured, his voice clipped and entirely devoid of warmth as he steered his friend toward the drawing room doors.
He didn’t wait for a response from Euphemia. He escorted Thaddeus out of the room, keeping his pace brisk as they walked down the long hallway toward the privacy of his study.
The moment they crossed the threshold into the room, Nathaniel closed the door and turned on his heel. He walked straight to the tall window, staring out at the manicured grounds with his jaw locked tight.
“What is the matter with you, Thaddeus?” he asked, turned to look at him. “Of all the things to talk about, why was Eleanor the very first thing that had come to your mind? This is precisely why I never introduce you to anyone. You possess absolutely no filter, no sense of discretion. What could possibly have brought that particular conversation about?”
“You have not talked to her about Eleanor?” Thaddeus asked, as he stepped further into the study. He shook his head. “You have been married for months, Nathaniel. It is a conversation the two of you should have had and had out of the way long before now.”
“The only reason I even brought her up...” Thaddeus continued, defending himself as he crossed his arms. “...was because she was the stark opposite of Euphemia. Eleanor was so incredibly rigid. It was obvious to anyone with eyes that I did not like the late Duchess. I only brought her up to make a light joke, to point out that I clearly prefer Euphemia’s company. I had no idea I was actually right, or that you had kept her completely in the dark about Eleanor.”
“It is absolutely none of your business,” Nathaniel snapped. “You should never have brought it up. Never.”
“I did not know that,” Thaddeus clapped back.
Thaddeus sighed, running a hand through his hair as the tension in the room remained thick enough to cut. “Nathaniel, you have been different. Entirely different. The only reason I was so insistent on coming to visit today was because I wanted to figure out what was going on with you, and why I have not seen you in a while.”
He stepped closer to the desk, his expression softening. “Also, I wanted to make friends with your wife. You and I spend a great deal of time together, which means she and I will likely cross paths more often than not. I simply wanted to make peace, to build a friendship with the woman who shares your life. I had no idea that I was stepping directly into what looks like a complete minefield.”
Thaddeus went quiet for a moment. “If it is not entirely obvious to you, Nathaniel, it is glaringly obvious to me that you are being cold toward your wife. Are you doing that on purpose, or are things truly that strained between you and Euphemia?”
Nathaniel shut his eyes tightly, the muscles in his jaw working as he swallowed hard.
