Her Stepmother Sent Her to the Duke as a Joke – He Offered Her a Chair Before He Said a Word

was in the architecture of their days. Alistair no longer barked when she corrected his math; he merely grunted and pushed the inkwell toward her. Norah stopped wearing her heavy shawl, fully trusting that Bates would keep the study fire roaring—precisely because Alistair had threatened the man’s life if Miss Hawthorne was ever allowed to shiver.

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