The Duke's Love (11 page)

Sarah’s face
turned crimson at her mother’s lack of encouragement
. “You
’
r
e
wrong
, M
other
.
We
will marry, you wait and see
,
”
s
he said. Sarah hated that her mother was looking at her with such pity. "You’ll see
, M
other. I shall be a
Duchess
." Sarah was not going to have it any other way. She watched several emotions flash through her mother’s face. The sadness and pity was the more obvious emotions
that
she could read. Sarah wanted to hurl something. She would show her parents
,
and she would demand respect once she accomplished her goals. They should consider themselves lucky they had a daughter like her.
Everyone
would
learn to respect her.

The next couple of days flew by in a breeze. Ana ran around getting her errands done before the weekend. She heard a knock on the door
, so
she went to answer it
,
thinking it would be Eliza.

“My lord, this is a surprise
,
”
s
he answered
when she found it was
Lord Jordan
Trent
and not Eliza
standing before her.

“Did you get the invitation?”
h
e
asked, dispensing of the
formalities. She opened the door wider for him to come in. Nothing would
remain private,
if they were standing on her doorstep having a conversation
,
where anyone would hear.

“Yes I did
,
why?  Did Jake send you? That coward!” He was not even man enough to face her himself. She wanted to march right over
there
and tell him what she thought of him.

“It’s not what you are thinking. Jake doesn’t even know I
’
m here
,
”
h
e said as he passed her and
walked
into the foyer.

“
Then, why
are you here?
My question is not meant as rudeness
,
but we are not exactly friends
,
” Ana said, stating the obvious.

“I wanted to make sure you were coming
,
”
Jordan
bristled.

Ana wanted to lie and
say she was declining the invitation
, just to see what he would do
,
but she did not. “Unfortunately, yes
,
I will be there. Your wonderful mother made sure of it already.” She could see him visibly relax. “Why is so important to you? Your mother, I
can
somewhat
understand, but not you
,
" Ana asked confused.

“I think
you and
Jake
have some
differences
that you should work out,
since he will be remaining in
London
.
It’s
common knowledge
that
the two of you
cannot
be in the same room together without causing a stir
,
”
h
e said. Ana
wholeheartedly
agreed with him, which
was
the main reason she was going.

“I promise
that
I
will be attending
. Eliza is going with me
, so that will help me endure it,
”
s
he confessed.

Jordan
looked
a bit
sheepish at her
response and muttered,
“
Then, I guess
I’ll see you soon.”

“I suppose you will. Good
day,
my lord, I shall look forward to seeing you." She watched him as he left. Ana decided after talking with
Jordan
that
maybe it would be better
if she had
an escort. She sent two notes, one to Lady Katherine informing her of her conditions for attending
,
and the other to
Viscount
Langley
,
asking him to come along
as her escort,
if he had not already gotten an invitation.

The
D
uchess left
London
early to
prepare
for the weekend. She took about two dozen servants with her.
The needed supplies had already been purchased and she
had
dispatched them
in advanced.

No one had lived
at
the estate since her husband had died.
Going back to
a place filled with
happy memories
that
she could never have again
caused her some anguish.
However, she would do anything for
her sons. She needed to assign rooms and organize a ball and the weekend entertainment
as well
. Her sons will arrive in the next day or so. She felt
a little
guilty
about her deception of
not telling Jake about Ana being invited. Earlier in her life, she would have been happy with Miss Fairchild for a daughter
,
but not anymore.

Strict parents had raised
Lady Katherine
, and to them
society and impressions were everything.
Then she
married into
that same society, never knowing a different way of life.
S
he had
never thought
any
differently
than her parents did
.
Even though her
marriage was an arranged one
, she
was fortunate to find love in the years with her husband. When her husband died, she realized how she
had
lived her life.
After living in
the confines of rules and pedigrees,
she had come to realize that
it was not something she wanted for her children. The visit to Ana went better than she had expected.

She purposely put Ana right across the hall from Jake’s room. Normally, she would have never thought about putting a guest in the family wing
,
but she needed desperate measures. She was
certain
Jake still loved Ana
.
Why
else would he have been gone for so long? She felt
deep
down to her bones
that
it
would be
a good match. Miss Fairchild and her parents
, she assigned to the
opposite end of the house. After meeting Lady Felicia and her daughter at a ball a few years ago, she
took an instant
dislike to
them
. It was
obvious
t
hat
all they were after was a title and money. Sarah
had grown
into a beautiful woman
,
but she
appeared
quite selfish and much too superficial.
Outside beauty would only get the girl so far,
but
her inside
nature seemed
as if
made of
complete venom. 

Shaking her unpleasant thoughts away, she went to get other things done. She sent servants to stock the wine cellar and the food pantry. She had
the
servants airing out rooms, cleaning and dusting. The whole day was chaotic. There were servants scurrying everywhere.

The Ashbury estate was a huge castle. It had two wings, which held thirty rooms each. The servants even had the
ir own luxuries below stairs. The estate
was situated
on
a hundred acres of wooded land. Katherine’s favorite
place on the grounds
was the spacious garden with stepping stones leading to the pond. It was entailed to her eldest son
,
and she wanted him to make it his permanent home
there,
as
she
and her husband had once done. A dream perhaps
,
but the dower house was only down the lane and
Jordan
’s country home was on the neighboring land. It was perfect for the
close
-knit
family they
had once been
. By the time she
had completed the preparations
and
then
was
satisfied, it had been a long night
,
and she was worn out.

Ana knew she could not hold off leaving any longer. They needed to get going if they were to
arrive
at Ashbury at a decent time. How could she
have
let Eliza talk her into this? She was nervous and excited at the same time. The prospect of spending time with Jake made her feel like a girl fresh out of the schoolroom. She was thankful Eliza was with her.

“Calm down, you’ll be fine
,
” Eliza said in a soothing tone.

“Why did I let you talk me into this?
I can just foresee disaster waiting for us
. I bet he doesn’t even know I’m coming.” Ana had a bad feeling Jake had not been told.

“What is the worst that
can
happen? You can’t hide from him forever
,
”
Eliza
said.

“We need to leave. It
’
s a long journey to Ashbury
,
” Ana directed the statement to the
maids, sidestepping the statement
. It was hectic getting the luggage
into
the carriage and making
sure,
they had brought everything they needed. Eliza, Ana and the maids
,
all
climbed
into the spacious carriage and with a jerk, the horses
started out to take
them closer to
the
place
that filled her with trepidation
.

“What time
are
your parents to arrive?” Ana asked her friend.

“Oh, I’m not
sure
;
t
hey should be there before us. We did after all leave late
,
”
Eliza pointed out.

“Of course. The more people there
will
help put distance between me and the
Duke
, the better
.”
Ana said crisply.

Eliza didn’t reply. Ana sat and listened as Eliza and the maids
prattled
on
about a little of everything, from the weather to the latest gossip
.
She
smiled
thinking how she
and
Eliza
had always talked openly to the servants She never felt they were below her station
in any way
. The servants were people with feelings just like her and it also made everyone more relaxed.

Ana had no room to judge
,
after all. She was lucky
that
she was independently wealthy.
Her solicitor made excellent investments on her behalf.
It made up for not being married and having children. She often thought about adopting
,
but she was a single female
, so that
was out of the question. She had also thought about marrying someone who already had children
,
but no one
had come
close to her expectations.

“What are you thinking about
,
Ana? You’re frowning
,
” Eliza’s question brought her out of her thoughts.

“I’m just thinking
about how horribly this could
turn out,
”
she answered with a twitch of her mouth
. There was no thinking about it
; it
was going to turn out horribl
y
.