Page 67 of A Temporary Bride for the Duke

“I should not have spoken to you as I did.”

It took her a moment to answer. “You were distracted, I think.”

“I was,” he admitted, “but that is not an excuse.”

There was something in that—something steady, unwilling to soften itself—that made Daisy’s chest tighten in a way she did not quite want to examine.

“I accept your apology,” she said quietly.

He nodded once. “And now it is your turn.”

“My turn?” she parroted, utterly bewildered by this twist in the conversation.

“Yes,” he said softly. “You told Harry I would answer all his questions about his mother and…and…”

“Oh!” Daisy gasped. “Did I speak wrongly? Did you…”

“It is difficult,” he interrupted. “For me. I cannot…” He paused and cleared his throat. “It is not easy to talk about her.”

Daisy was seized by a sense of regret. “Forgive me,” she said at once. “I would never have encouraged Harry to ask you questions if I knew you were not prepared to answer them.”

He nodded again, then sighed.

“She would have liked you,” he said suddenly.

Daisy blinked. “Your late wife?”

“Yes.” He said it simply, but his gaze did not move from the garden. Daisy waited, and after a moment, he added, “Mary liked people who put others at ease. She was better at it than I ever was.”

“You loved her very much,” Daisy said before she could stop herself.

A long pause followed. Then, “Yes, I suppose I did. She was one of my closest friends.”

Daisy nodded slowly. “She sounds as though she was very special.”

“She was,” he said. “She was the one to ask me to marry her, you know.”

“Truly?” Reflexively, Daisy’s eyebrows shot up.

“Indeed,” he mumbled, then he looked straight at her, whispering this time. “Mary… well, she couldn’t love men. Not in the way wives love their husbands. She could only love women.”

Daisy nodded. She understood well enough. Her maid Amina was the same. “I see,” she said and then frowned. “But if that was so, why did she askyouto marry her?”

“I knew Mary from childhood and cared for her deeply. Her father was an Earl, and of course, she was expected to find a sensible match. But, like I told you, Mary had a secret to hide. And she felt like she couldn’t just wed any clueless bachelor. And more importantly, she wanted to have children. To become a mother.”

Daisy nodded. “She wanted to marry you to have children, then.”

“Yes. She proposed that we wed and have a family together. We were already close friends and understood that our temperaments were compatible. More importantly, I knew her secret and would never bring a load of expectations into the union.”

“Do you mean…?” Daisy could not bring herself to ask the next question outright, but the gentle prompt was all the Duke required.

“Yes.” He scrubbed a hand over his chin, then scratched the dry layer of stubble there. “We would be free to take lovers and fulfill our carnal desires in that way.”

“Oh…” Daisy said in wonder.

The Duke shrugged. “It was a good compromise. I wasn’t too sure I wanted children, but Mary did. I wanted to help her have them. Luckily, she fell pregnant right after our wedding night.”

His gaze moved to her then, and something in it changed—subtle, but enough that she felt it more than she saw it.