He noticed her gaze flitting to his chest and cleared his throat awkwardly as he pulled on the sodden fabric of his shirt, freeing the stuck parts from his wet skin. He knew he should have thrown on his riding jacket too, but he had been too shocked by her presence to think properly. Everything that could cover his indecency more thoroughly was still down on the beach.
“I swim most mornings,” he hastened to add. “When I’m here, I mean. I like being in the water. It makes me feel… at ease,especiallyhere.”
She tilted her head, eyeing him thoughtfully. “You do not feel at ease at your home?”
He paused before answering, trying to find the other question in her words. Was she asking ifshemade him feel uneasy, or was she truly asking if the house made him uncomfortable? He supposed it did not matter, for the answer was the same.
“I don’t like to be indoors too much,” he replied carefully.
She nodded. “I suppose it must be an adjustment. If you do not mind me asking, how long were you away on the Continent?”
“Years.”
“You must have slept in a tent more often than you slept in a house,” she continued, her eyes lighting up as if something now made sense to her. “Even the walls probably feel restrictive if you have grownunaccustomed to houses and manors and whatnot.”
He smiled tightly. “I just like to swim, that’s all.”
“Well, how about this—if you teach me to swim, I shall teach you how to integrate back into society,” she said, surprising him. “I shall teach you how to be a duke, at least in presentation. I could even look at your estate accounts and ledgers if you would like? I used to do it for my father, and I tended to estate matters for my cousin who is utterly useless at such things, so I rather know what I am doing.”
He cleared his throat. “Teach you to swim? You don’t know how? That seems ill-advised.”
“Unlike you, I have never lived by the sea,” she replied. “There is a river near to my home, but I was never allowed to swim there for the current was too swift. As such, there was no real necessity in teaching me to swim though do not misunderstand me—Icansee the value. If I could not, I would not be asking for an education.”
Near to my home…A home far away fromhis.Guilt pinched his stomach, fully aware that he had shown uncharacteristic cowardice over the past few days. Hehadbeen tending to business, but it was business that could have waited until the end of their honeymoon.
“Of course, if you would rather keep the secrets of buoyancy and not drowning to yourself, I shall not press you,” Matilda added, as if regretting that she had even asked. “I can study shells and sea creatures instead, resigned to the rock pools and the shallows. But I will be enjoying the beach in my own way. It looks to be a very pretty sort of beach. Sheltered, too.”
Albion observed her, watching a sort of battle take place upon her unusual, beautiful face. He had seen similar expressions before when all seemed dire and doomed upon a battlefield, and a soldier was mustering all the courage they had left to keep going. He had probably worn that same expression a few times himself.
I should have facedherwith the same courage she has shown in staying, alone, in that house. She has not even tried to run.Perhaps it was the warming sunlight or the relaxed feeling in his muscles after his morning swim, perhaps it was that look of fortitude on her face, perhaps it was just common decency, but he knew he could not refuse her.
“I’ll instruct you when I have some time,” he said. “Right now, I have none of it. Lomax is coming to the manor this morning to say farewell, and I wouldn’t miss him.”
Matilda frowned up at him. “I thought he left days ago? Was that not the entire reason we departed our wedding as if we had done something awful and needed to go into hiding as soon as possible?”
“His sister just had her first child,” Albion replied, that irksome guilt pinching his stomach for a second time. “He extended his leave by a few days, so he could meet his nephew. I wasn’t deceiving you. I truly thought he was leaving when he said he was. Indeed, he’ll be in trouble when he gets back for staying longer than intended.”
Matilda plucked a daisy from the ground, twirling it between her fingertips. “Do I get to make rules for you, too?”
“Pardon?”
“It is a simple enough question.” She popped the head off the daisy in a mildly threatening manner. “Do I get to make rules for you, too?”
He shrugged, feeling suddenly hot despite the slight chill of the water cooling on his skin. “If you want to. I suppose that’s only fair.”
“Then, I want honesty,” she said. “Brutal honesty if needs be. That is my first rule. My second is that I am not to be disturbed whileIam working, for I am in the midst of something very important. And my third… my third is that you are to share at least one meal with me while you are in residence, and that you must be in residence for the remainder of our honeymoon.”
He tried to loosen his shirt from his body, but it kept sticking. “That is four rules.”
“It is three and an extension of one,” she countered. “If you are to teach me to swim, Iwillteach you how to be a proper duke. That begins with abiding by the ridiculous customs and expectations of society for marriage and honeymoons.”
Flapping his shirt out, he was not entirely convinced that it was sticking to his sweat andnotthe saltwater. Surely, she was not talking about heirs and… the making of heirs again, was she? He did not know how to get clarification without embarrassing himself though if shewasreferring to that, then it would mean she had broken his third rule.
“You do not have to speak with me,” she went on, “aside from during our one meal together. You do not have to keep me entertained for, as I said, I am also exceedingly busy. However, youmustbe present at the manor if you want thetonto believe that we are a successful match.”
He took a breath, realizing she was clarifying for him.
“If they hear of you gallivanting all over the place to attend to business matters,” she said, “they will see our union for what it is—a fraudulent thing. That will not serve you well in future businessafterthe duration of our honeymoon. Men of commerce and industry like to envy other men when it comes to their private lives. It gives them something to talk about when everyone is tired of contracts and accounts and finances. So, ensure you have something to talk about.”
