The Grace of a Duke Read Online Free PDF Page A

and it’s snug fitting bodice showed off just a hint of décolletage. “Your scars do not offend me.”
    Surprised by her suggestion and even more so by her statement, Joshua shook his head. “I could not,” he replied sternly. “Certainly not in the company of such a beautiful woman as yourself.”
    Stunned by the comment, both by the compliment and by the realization that he seemed to have forgotten that she had already seen him in a much worse state, Charlotte stilled herself. Perhaps he doesn’t remember, she thought suddenly. “As I recall, Your Grace, you were in hospital for nearly a month,” she said quietly, not wanting the footman near the door to overhear her comment.
    Joshua turned his head slightly, eyeing her with a bit of suspicion and wondering when a footman had come into the study. Or is he always there? he thought absently. Like he’s turned to stone and become part of the furniture. “Twenty-nine days,” he affirmed with a nod, his lips forming a straight line that suggested he was not the least bit pleased she knew anything about his time in hospital. To remember those days was to relive a kind of torture he couldn’t wish on his worst enemies. To remember those days meant he had to admit that, whenever he had been conscious, he had wished he could simply die. The pain had been excruciating. Death would have been a welcome respite. “And from whom did you learn this information?”
    Charlotte lowered her gaze, wondering if she should admit her part in those first few hellish days of his hospitalization and the even worse days that followed. “I was ... I visited, of course,” she said in a whisper, forcing Joshua to lean in closer. He caught the familiar scent of jasmine, and as much as he wanted to inhale deeply, he forced himself to remain still. “I was already volunteering in the children’s ward several days a week. Once you were brought in, I made it clear to your physician that you were to receive the very best care.”
    Joshua’s brows knitted together, the implication of her statement slowly sinking into his brain. Christ, did she see me  without the bandages? Had she seen every last gruesome burn and the raw wounds he sported for so many weeks after the fire? He thought not, for here she sat, as if he had only been in hospital recovering from a fever. “But, why?” he wondered aloud.
    Lady Charlotte’s eyebrows shot up. “We were ... we are betrothed now.”
    Although he heard the words, Joshua didn’t immediately comprehend them.
    “You had to survive. You are the sole heir to the duchy. I had to be sure you were treated well. Sometimes those with burns are ...” Charlotte paused, not wanting to say, “Treated horribly,” but knowing that’s what she had witnessed while volunteering at hospital. “... Poorly,” she finally finished, trying to hide the awkwardness of her statement with a shrug.
    Suddenly very self-conscious, Joshua shifted in his chair. “So, you are aware of the ... extent of my injuries,” he countered in almost a question, his eyes not making contact with hers. Betrothed?  Matrimony? Given the events of six months ago and the subsequent work he’d had to do to recover and then see to the recovery of the Chichester duchy, the very last thing he was considering was marriage.
    I cannot allow this woman to think she must marry me!
    It was Charlotte’s turn to furrow her brows, thinking at the time that Joshua had been spared from the truly gruesome burns that resulted in the deaths of three others and the debilitating injury and burns suffered by a groom who had lost an arm to amputation. “I am, but Your Grace ..,” she started to reply uncertainly, wondering why he made his wounds sound worse than they were. He had lost no limbs, the burns were on the side of his chest and shoulder and the top of his hip and ... his face. Can he be that vain?
    “Then you know why I cannot take you as my wife,” he interrupted, the tone of his voice making