The Lady's Disgrace Read Online Free PDF

do.”
    Her eyes snapped. “I have stayed at inns before and am familiar with their offerings. I’m sure it will be fine.”
    The censure in her voice brought a slight flush to Joseph’s face. Abigail immediately regretted her tone, but, honestly, did the man think she never traveled? And his presumption that she would somehow find the accommodations lacking vexed her. It did not bode well for this marriage if he assumed she could only survive with luxuries at her fingertips.
    She leaned her head against the back of the seat and closed her eyes. The strain of the last few weeks had taken its toll. It was not like her to snap at people, and appearing to be a shrew was not how she wanted to start off their relationship.
    Joseph’s coach was not as luxurious as her family’s conveyance. She shifted a bit to get more comfortable.
    “I’m sorry about the carriage. I do have a larger one, but generally use this one for lengthier trips. Particularly since I am almost always alone.”
    “It is fine.” Abigail tried to tamp down her rising anger. If he said one more thing to indicate he thought her to be high in the instep and unable to bear the least amount of inconvenience, she would take off her shoe and hurl it at his head. That would certainly disabuse him of this notion that she was a princess.
    She might be a duke’s daughter, but she’d spent enough of her childhood running around and playing hard just like any other urchin. And if anyone should know that, it was her husband. Wasn’t it he and her brother who’d tied her to a tree? She smiled at the memory. No, there was certainly nothing high in the instep about her family.
    …
    Joseph could have bitten off his tongue. What the devil was the matter with him? He knew quite well the Lacey family members did not think of themselves above everyone else. But now that he had Abigail sitting across from him, traveling to his home to begin their marriage, his brain seemed to be disconnected from his mouth.
    The wedding had been quick. While they’d waited for the bride to appear, he’d tried to make small talk with his father, who stood up for him, but it hadn’t worked. He still couldn’t believe he was about to marry Lady Abigail. The one woman he had put firmly from his mind years ago. Despite what he’d had her believe back then, he too had felt the attraction between the two of them, but knew it could go nowhere.
    But then, maybe it hadn’t been so impossible. Despite being a duke, her brother had married a woman who had been raised in America and was a botanist, certainly outside the strictures of ton society. Penelope also still worked at her science. During the two weeks Joseph had stayed with the family, waiting for the wedding, he’d been witness to Drake following his duchess around with a shovel to do her digging, lest she fall and hurt herself. He shook his head and grinned. One only had to spend less than a half an hour in the couple’s company to know they were very much in love, and devoted to each other.
    Perhaps one day…He shoved that idea from his mind. Abigail had made it plain when they’d formed their original arrangement that she wanted nothing more from this union than children and the opportunity to help him with his school. As much as he wanted to see his project come to fruition, it was the begetting of children that had occupied most of his thoughts the past couple of weeks.
    He slid his gaze from the gloomy exterior to his wife. Her eyes were closed, and from the peaceful expression on her face and her slightly parted lips, it was obvious she’d fallen into a deep sleep. He took the opportunity to study her closely.
    While an attractive woman, her beauty actually came from her personality, her various expressions. At rest she looked lovely, but when she was awake and being Abigail, she was stunningly beautiful. Not one to be overly impressed with a woman’s exterior, he was actually more fascinated by her person.
    During the