Read Compromised by Christmas for Free Online

are for mine." He grimaced and turned on heel
to enter the posting inn.
    Was he being pressured to marry too? He did not look
as if he liked the idea much.
    *~*~*
    Two days later, Roxana had been enlisted to act as
secretary. Her pencil poised above the paper, she trailed after the
duchess. Her grace threw open the doors of a room along the
passageway containing Roxana's bedchamber. "I shall have to install
the Breedons here. Sir William will expect the very best."
    Roxana peeked over the Duchess of Trent's shoulder
into a cozy pale-green sitting room. Four-poster beds were visible
beyond the two interior doors. Shimmery drapes extended from the
floor to the high ceilings.
    "Mark down the green suite for the Breedons," said
the duchess with a sniff. "The carpets are new. I should hope they
will consider it grand enough."
    The Duchess of Trent marched out of the room, as
Roxana looked down at the apple-green and yellow Aubusson carpet on
the floor. The rooms were fit for royalty, but then this manse was
far beyond her experience. Her grandfather's hall paled in
comparison to the grandeur of this ducal estate. And the cottage
had nothing more than a few worn straw mats over the bare wood
floors. Roxana felt guilty surrounded by all this luxury while her
mother, sisters and brother were undoubtedly huddled in the cottage
kitchen, struggling to stay warm.
    Roxana finished writing and trailed after her
hostess. They stood at the doorway of a spacious room, the room
that was across a servants' passageway from Roxana's room. A
fireplace flanked by bookcases dominated the outside wall and two
high-backed chairs faced the empty grate. The cherry poster bed
stood to the right side of the door on the interior wall, just as
Roxana's bed was in her room.
    "Room assignments?" asked the Duke of Trent from the
doorway.
    The duchess stepped into the room and ran a gloved
finger over the table. "Just so."
    "Whom do you plan to install in the blue room beside
mine?"
    The Duchess of Trent turned and studied her stepson.
"I should not install Lady Malmsbury"—she stole a covert look at
Roxana—"in the blue room?"
    "That would not do. I can remove to another room, so
that you might be able to use the suite for a couple."
    "No, Max, we are not so crunched as that. I am having
the children move to rooms in the old part of the house, so that I
might use their rooms on the nursery floor for guests. They are
still young enough that they think sleeping in drafty old rooms a
grand adventure."
    Roxana smiled. Julia had been bouncing up and down
when she told Roxy that she would sleep in the chamber where Queen
Anne had once slept.
    "I thought I would put all the unmarried gentlemen on
the nursery floor."
    "Except I shall still be here on this floor. And you
cannot put a man in Julia's room. It is too pink," said Max.
    Remembering the primrose chintz curtains, the
flowered wallpaper and ruffled bedcurtains of Lady Julia's
bedchamber, Roxana silently agreed.
    "Oh dear, I had planned to put Mr. Breedon
there."
    "Put Lady Malmsbury in Julia's room. Put Mr. Breedon
here. He will complain if he has to traverse all those stairs
daily. Put Scully in the blue room."
    The Duchess of Trent dropped her chin and ran a
finger along the dresser, looking for dust that clearly wasn't
there, judging by the smooth patina of the wood.
    Roxana had the impression they were talking in a
veiled code. Was the blue room part of the master suite of rooms?
Who was Scully? "Would you like me to write this down, your
grace?"
    The Duchess of Trent nodded and stalked toward the
side door.
    Roxana scribbled furiously. "Lady Malmsbury in
Julia's room. Mr. Breedon in—what do you call this room?"
    "Just put down my former room," said the duke.
    Roxana looked up to see him staring at her as if he
could see through her dress. She looked down at the white muslin
gown, still only basted together on the side seams.
    Lord knew she was trying to appear as she should. The
gown was very plain