“Far be it from me to speak ill of the dead,” Ellie said, “but can I just say how unfair it is thatthisis the first man I’ve ever seen naked? Couldn’t we have found a handsome prizefighter in an alley? Or nursed a wounded soldier back to health?”
Daisy snorted. “You read too many novels, Ellie Law.” She angled her chin toward the duke’s groin. “Real life is clearly a badly stuffed sausage.”
Ellie grinned. “I should put that on a sampler.”
Together they wrestled the duke into his nightgown and maneuvered him until he lay in the bed, the covers pulled up to his chin, his hands resting peacefully on his chest.
Tess stood back with a satisfied nod. “That’ll do.”
Ellie placed the duke’s wig carefully on the stand in the corner, while Tess folded his banyan and laid it over a chair.
Back in Tess’s room, Daisy righted the table that the duke had knocked over, then turned toward the bed, but the sound of footsteps approaching along the corridor had all three of them glancing around in panic.
Daisy, wide eyed, darted around the bed, pulling Ellie down beside her to hide.
Tess froze as a tentative knock came on the door.
“Yes?” Her voice held an alarming quiver.
“Your Grace? It’s Hannah. Mrs. Jennings sent me to see if you’d like a bath?”
The servant’s tone was soft, with a trace of pity. Tess had seen the commiserating looks the girl had given her when she’d brushed out her hair in preparation for the duke’s conjugal visit earlier.
At the time, Tess had felt as if she was being readied for the guillotine. Or like Andromeda, about to be chained to the rocks as a sacrifice for some hideous sea monster. Only, unlike Andromeda, there would be no heroic Perseus coming to rescue her; Tess was going to have to save herself. Hence the pistol.
She cleared her throat and aimed for a normal tone.
“Er, no, thank you, Hannah. I’m too tired this evening. His Grace has… just retired to his own rooms.” She gave an internal wince at the suggestive inference of those words. “I’ll have a bath in the morning.” Her heart pounded as she waited for the servant’s response.
“Very good, Your Grace. Is there anything else I can get for you?”
“No, thank you. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Tess expelled a huff of relief as the girl’s footsteps retreated, and she turned to see Ellie and Daisy emerging from their hiding place.
“When one of the servants finds him in the morning, you can act surprised and dismayed,” Ellie whispered. “You can say, quite truthfully, that the last time you saw himalivewas when he came in here tonight. You certainly don’t have to mention that the last time you actuallysawhim, he was dead.”
Daisy sent her an admiring grin. “You have a fiendish brain, Ellie Law.”
Ellie bobbed a mocking curtsey. “Thank you.”
“Wait,” Daisy said, turning back to Tess. “If you and the duke neverdid the deed, is the marriage even legal? What if his relatives find out, and try to get it annulled?”
Tess sank onto a chair with a groan. “I’ll be sent back to my father—who’ll probably try to marry me off to someotherhorrible, rich old man, now he’s got the idea.”
Ellie shook her head. “That’s not going to happen. Non-consummation isnota legal reason for an annulment. As long as the marriage itself was valid, with the right names and witnesses and so on, then you’re the Duchess of Wansford. Whether you’re still a virgin or not.”
Tess’s anxiety ebbed a fraction. Ellie definitely knew what she was talking about when it came to legal matters. Her father was Sir Edward Law, Baron Ellenborough, one of England’s top barristers. He’d been Attorney General for England and Wales, and was now Lord Chief Justice. Ellie had inherited her father’s love of the law and his brilliant, incisive mind. Only the fact that she’d been born a female had stopped her from becoming a barrister herself.
“So where does this leave me?” Tess frowned.
Daisy flopped gracefully onto the bed. “As the envy of every woman in England, that’s where. A widowed duchess, with all the benefits of the position and none of the aggravation of a husband.”
“But my father—”
“—can’t force you to do anything, ever again,” Ellie finished with a smile. “In the eyes of the law, you’re independent now. Your father has no right to control what you do. And with no husband to bully you, either, you’refree, Tess.”
A heady rush of excitement filled Tess’s chest, but it was immediately quashed by her next thought. “But I don’t have any money of my own. Father didn’t even provide me with a dowry. The duke paidhimtwo thousand pounds.”
