“Thank you,” Elizabeth said and gingerly got out of bed.
Her legs felt shaky and sore from having been wrapped around her husband’s body the night before. Her insides felt tender as well, so she walked slowly and carefully to the copper tub, where her lavender soap was already waiting for her. Colin watched her like a hawk the entire time, turning away only to let her disrobe and step into the tub.
“I’ve heard that some discomfort is to be expected the first time,” he said after what felt like twenty minutes. “But I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
“Not at all.” Lizzie smiled at him, wanting to say something else, but not having the words.
“Good,” he smiled back.
When Lizzie was done with her bath, Talbot left the room to allow her to dress and perform her toilette in peace. She had just finished using the chamberpot and decided to straighten the bed when she saw the state their sheets were in.
When her husband came back, she was pacing the room with the bundled-up sheets in her hand, mortified.
He laughed when she told him about the problem.
“Bloody wedding night sheets used to be displayed once upon a time, I don't think we should be ashamed of anything. Let them see,” he grinned.
Elizabeth felt her lips go cold.
“Is that why you did this?”
“Did what, exactly?” Talbot frowned.
“Consummated our marriage here, so you would have witnesses that I was untouched?” she asked with tears in her eyes.
“Good Lord, no! How can you even accuse me of that?” It was Talbot’s turn to be horrified.
“How can I not? I know what everyone must be saying about me and my character now,” Elizabeth sniffled, the tears running down her face freely now.
Talbot was pressing his lips together, his face pale.
“Are you truly so worried about that?”
“Of course!” she threw her hands up. “All this time, I’ve been trying to prove to everyone I was not like my mother, only to be caught in a compromising situation with a man who was then forced to marry me!”
Talbot’s face darkened dangerously. He grabbed the sheets from her hand and threw them into the fire. They both stared wordlessly as the room filled with black smoke. Elizabeth went to open a window, but Colin took her by the elbow, so she turned back to him.
“You are the Duchess of Norwich now. No one shall dare say anything about your reputation.”
“I no longer have a reputation,” Elizabeth said sadly, and, for the first time since their wedding, her husband began to understand just how much his actions had affected his wife.
Chapter 19
The second day of their journey resembled the first – after three hours, they stopped to bait the horses, then they stopped to change the horses, and then, after one more stop, they were finally at the gates of Norwich manor.
Elizabeth was relieved, not only because two days in a carriage was a taxing ordeal, but also because conversation with her husband today had been more taxing and more unnatural than the day before.
She was excited to go over the events of the past two days with Mary, who was supposed to have already arrived that morning, together with Robert, Talbot’s cook, and his valet. Elizabeth wondered how tired they all had to be, since they drove through the night, stopping only to bait or change horses.
Upon exiting the carriage, Elizabeth felt awed and dwarfed by the enormous house that was now her home. She’d never seen a building as grandiose as this one, or with this many windows.The window tax must be insupportable! Not even Ashbury cancompete with this,she thought, feeling no loyalty to what was supposed to be her heritage.
Somewhere, grass had recently been cut, and the clean air combined with the pleasant smell was a shock for Elizabeth’s senses, which had been accustomed to the polluted and unpleasant London air.
She glanced at her husband, who somehow seemed to stand even taller here, his whole attitude that of the rightful heir to all this opulence.
Elizabeth was once more struck by the difference between them.
His steward was the first to greet them: a blond, charming man with a jaunty grin who was introduced to her as Mister Edward Brandon. He shook her husband’s hand, and they patted each other on the shoulder, and Elizabeth quickly deduced that they were very good friends. She’d never seen her husband be that jovial with anyone, or so quick to laugh.
