The Duke's Accidental Wife (Dukes of War Book 7) Read Online Free PDF Page B

happy?”
    Kate’s shoulders sagged as some of the tension seeped from them. Aunt Havens was perfectly herself today, thank God. Kate needed her.
    The two of them had been through so much. They’d lost homes, they’d lost all their loved ones, but they’d never lost each other.
    Since the day Kate had been orphaned, she had confided all her fears and secrets to her aunt. She wouldn’t be able to survive the upcoming changes without her aunt’s advice, support, and unconditional love. Together, they could get through anything.
    Including this.
    “He’s…respectable,” she hedged in response to her aunt’s question. Ravenwood was also handsome and self-righteous and proper and maddening. He turned her thoughts upside-down. “Or at least he was respectable, until my cousin’s buffoonery made everyone jump to completely unfounded conclusions.”
    Aunt Havens tilted her head. “Lambley merely wished to protect you.”
    “I know.” Kate leaned her head back against the chair and threw her arm over her eyes.
    For all his rakish ways, Lambley would choose dueling pistols at dawn over the thought of someone taking advantage of his innocent cousin Kate.
    And that was the jest, wasn’t it? She was innocent in that sense. The moment with Ravenwood had been disappointingly innocent. She was a “fallen” woman who had never even been kissed. And was too terrified to bear children, for fear of losing them. Even for a husband who looked like Adonis.
    She pulled herself up into a seated position. “I cannot be a duchess, Aunt. I don’t want a husband at all.”
    Aunt Havens frowned. “You have no choice.”
    “We’ll make each other miserable,” Kate insisted. The quickening of her pulse meant nothing. She could not possibly marry him, for she couldn’t perform any of her wifely duties. “He’ll expect a sweet, proper, docile wife. I’m none of those things.”
    “Then you’ll have to change. He’s a duke. He has a right to expect those qualities.”
    Aunt Havens was right. Of course she was right. But Kate couldn’t help a stab of resentment that becoming a duchess meant she had to stop being Kate .
    “Why can’t I expect things, too?” Kate’s fingers clenched in frustration. Pricks of heat stung her eyes.
    “You ought not to worry. He will take care of you.” Aunt Havens picked up her embroidery. “It is his responsibility to provide for you in every way, from this day forward. Think of all the resources you’ll have.”
    “I don’t want his money. I have my own money.” Or at least she used to. Very soon, even her museum would belong to her husband. Who would she be then? “I don’t need anything from him, and I’d prefer he didn’t require anything of me. I’d rather live in infamy than marry a man who only wants to change me.”
    Aunt Havens didn’t respond.
    Kate frowned. It wasn’t unusual for her aunt to sit in silence if she felt Kate was simply being dramatic, but the threat of not following through with the wedding should have warranted some sort of reply.
    A soft snore escaped Aunt Havens’ mouth.
    Indecision paralyzed Kate. This was the fifth time in as many months that Aunt Havens had fallen asleep during daylight hours, right in the middle of doing something else.
    Part of her wanted to let her aunt sleep. The other, more frightened part of her wanted to shake her aunt awake and make her promise she wasn’t getting ill. Or growing old. Or anything else that might take her away from Kate.
    Cold terror gripped her heart.
    What if Ravenwood didn’t want some doddering aunt wandering about his ducal estate? He hadn’t even wanted Kate. He certainly wouldn’t be pleased to discover he’d gained not one, but two unwanted dependents. What if he decided to execute his husbandly right to send Aunt Havens to some far off asylum and Kate never saw her again?
    Dizziness assailed her. She rushed over to her aunt and pulled her into her arms. Aunt Havens was Kate’s heart, her family,