Chapter 7
Willow scaled down the side of her new home with little effort—it was a skill she and her sisters perfected when they were twelve years old. Her new home was built in much the same way their country house was, and the distance from this chamber to the ground was not at all different from her chamber in Derbyshire.
The only real difference in this particular house was that it housed a most suspicious, arrogant, misguided male, who would try to stop her. So for that reason, she tried to keep her grunts and heaving to a minimum.
She dropped to the ground with an easy thud, her chin lifting to gaze back up to her window. She wouldn’t be able to make it back up again. And there was no tree near her window she could climb. She would have to find another way inside or slip in when the servants woke.
If her husband learned of it, he’d be furious.
Willow shrugged.
Oh well.
What would he next threaten to deny her if he learned about this? The sour cur!
Well, he’d learn. She could live without that pleasure. In fact, she could live without a great deal many things if his seed had taken root. Indeed, if tonight had accomplished her goal, then she’d be the one to withhold rockinghisworld.
See how he enjoys that!
One thing she was not about to do was give up all her dignity and let him plow away for his own pleasure. She wasn’t that desperate. If she was not with child . . . Then she would wait until she and Ambrose were on more agreeable terms.
Nevertheless, she was curious to see just how serious he was about his declaration. She needed to take stock of his word, push the boundaries, and discover what sort of character her husband possessed and work from there.
With a resolved nod, she dashed across the lawn.
The thudding of her boots against the cold cobblestones kept her on high alert. It had been less challenging to slip out than she first thought. Right before her sister had departed, Poppy mentioned that the duke planned on stationing footman at her door, or so it was rumored, and Willow hadn’t wanted to take the chance to slip out that way. But even in choosing to go out the window, part of her had expected to be caught in the garden.
Keeping her head low and her cloak tightly wound, she spied Warton’s carriage in the distance. The footman spotted her and jumped from his perch to open the door.
She gave a curt nod in acknowledgment.
“Milady,” he nodded back, ushering her inside—all very cloak and dagger.
Willow found herself peeking through the window every two seconds, half expecting her husband to give chase on the back of a fire breathing dragon. Or God forbid, follow from a discreet distance and catch her in the act of meeting with Holly.
Luckily, the ride to Warton’s residence did not take long.
But it wasn’t until Willow stood across from Holly in Warton’s drawing room that her heart settled back into a steady rhythm.
“Holly?” Willow murmured, her voice cracking just a bit.
Then her sister was in her arms, drawing her into a tight embrace.
Tears gathered in Willow’s eyes as she fought to regain some control over her emotions, which appeared to be scattered all over the British Isles. The weight of the day’s events bore down hard on her heart, as did the fear that her sister may be angry with her and even feel betrayed by her actions.
“I thought I wouldn’t see you before we left,” Holly murmured.
“Nothing could keep me away,” Willow said, drawing back to take a good look at her sister. “However, my husband made it slightly more difficult when he supposedly stationed two footmen outside my bedchamber. To keep me in or to keep you out, who is to say? It seems he does not believe I would risk scaling down the side of a house to see you.”
“Forgive me, Willow. If I’d known you would do something so insane in an attempt to correct my imprudence, I would never have left you alone in that room. Was he furious with you?”
“Oh, he was quite beyond that, but nothing I couldn’t manage. The Dragon Duchess, as you so suitably named her, on the other hand . . .” Willow shuddered. “That woman’s wailing almost drove me through the walls. Her incessant caterwauling gave me head pains. She needs to take to the waters of Bath.”
“I am so sorry.”
Her sister appeared truly torn up by the events, as though she was to blame. When in fact, the choice had been Willow’s. And she did not regret it. Well, maybe a tiny bit after tonight. Clearly, she hadn’t understood what she was marrying into or she might have run faster than Holly had. Maybe. But she was in this marriage now and had to make the most of it. Middletons did not give up.
“Oh, hush, I would never have allowed you to marry that beast, not after what you told me. Besides, I have my own motivation for wedding the man.”
