Entangled With The Duke Bonus Scene

The Duchess of Raven took her first steps on dry ground in over three months. Surprisingly she wobbled in place and almost lost her balance if it were not for the strong arms of her husband to support her.

“Sea legs,” Raven said to her as he held her steady.

The had walked down the plank of the Isadora and onto the hard dirt ground of Fork Ferry Crossing. Two weeks earlier they had sighted land from the side of their ship and turned into the safety of the Chesapeake Bay before any winter storms could catch them.

The captain had been adamant that womenfolk were bad luck on a sea voyage, even a duchess, and was sure that they would be caught in early squalls as they made their journey across the Atlantic.

In contrast, the voyage had seen unprecedented fine weather and steady wind. By the time they had reached the large Virginia bay, Captain Radcliff was assuring the Duchess of Raven that she was welcome to sail with him any time she wished.

They left behind Captain Radcliff for a much smaller vessel, something Raven called a schooner. It was a merchant ship headed down the Fork River. Along with its packages of goods, letters, and dry supplies it would also be taking the duke and duchess to their final destination.

The Isadora gave them a steady, though slow at times, passing of the Virginia countryside as they went down the river. Alexandra hadn’t minded the pace in the least. Though she was not exactly enjoying life on a ship, she wasn’t sure anyone could truly say they enjoyed such things. She was mesmerized by all the beauty that surrounded her.

“It will be much more breathtaking come spring,” Raven informed her one cold morning. “Why not come below before you catch your death.”

“I would like to stay here a bit longer if that is all right with you,” Alexandra responded, looking up at her husband through her own puff of breath.

Raven smiled down at his wife with a twinkle in his black eyes. He had first worried that his wife would detest the journey across the sea. Then knowing that they would arrive at the newly formed country just as winter was beginning only left him to fear she would hate the seemingly barren wasteland.

It had all been quite the contrary. Though he was sure Alexandra had been sick the first few weeks at sea, she had born it all spectacularly. She had spent her days on the deck of the ship alight with curiosity. Every aspect was a new revelation to her. Raven couldn’t help but be caught up in her wonder as she asked various questions on seafaring vessels and how they worked.

When they had come in sight of the harbor, just as Raven had expected, the trees had all but lost their colorful leaves, and a light dusting of snow had already touched the ground. They had exchanged ships without even setting foot on dry land and begin their journey down the river.

He knew this trip of the Isadora would be one of the last carrying goods to the settlements more inland. Many families would be waiting for its arrival anxiously and so the Isadora set off without a moments delay.

As they made the relatively silent journey down the river, Raven had wondered if his wife would cringe at the sights. Nothing but thick forest lined the river for miles at a time. Stripped bare of their foliage they were ominous forms of ghosts petrified along the banks.

The first morning they awoke and arose from their private cabin, they found the landscape had been covered in a silent blanket of white crystals. In Raven’s eyes everything glittered with the freshly fallen snow, but he was not sure his wife would see it the same.

“I never thought I would behold something as beautiful as the flowers in the greenhouse,” she gasped as she stood at the stern looking over the landscape. “It is so silent and peaceful. It looks more like a portrait then real life.”

Raven relaxed with the reassurance that his wife too saw the beauty in this untamed land as he did.

“Though it looks still, you can see movement all around. Look there,” he said pointing out with his gloved hand. “Those small holes in the ground are from a deer. You can see on the trees how she has stripped the bark for her early morning breakfast. A doe I would guess.”

“How do you know,” Alexandra asked fascinated.

“If you look just beyond the tree line, you will see the second pair of steps closer to the first. That was her fawn, to be sure.”

“Raven, what is that creature,” she said pointing at the banks later that afternoon.

“The natives call it a raccoon.”

“It looks so funny. What is it doing? Washing his hands?” Alexandra said with a laugh.

“Actually yes. They are mischievous little things that seem to get into everything. Little night bandits if you ask me. But despite their aversion to considering thievery a sin, they have high moral standards when it comes to cleanliness. They even like to wash all their food before they eat it.”

“Like little Robin Hoods,” Alexandra said with a smile. “They may steal but they still have very good moral standards.”

“Yes, well when they get into the winter storage shed and take all the apples and cheeses remember that you thought of them like good little creatures,” Raven added with a chuckle.

The duchess didn’t have to ask to know that Raven was speaking from past experience. Though she did enjoy the dried apple tarts they had received as part of their dining on the Isadora she didn’t think she would mind at all sharing such delectable treats with such a cute creature.

Now they were at Forks Ferry, the last stop for the Isadora before she made her way back down to the harbor. Raven explained that this far upriver the water often froze over. The Isadora would have to make her journey quickly to beat the freezing cold or else be trapped till spring.

“Soon it will be so thick that we can take a ride down the river on a sleigh carriage,” Raven told her.

“But where would we go?” Alexandra asked.

“Upriver. Just beyond the small village here at Fork Ferry is my plantation, Hugo Estate, but actually all of this, including the ferry dock, is part of my property. I lease out these shops. That way we have just about everything we need here from a blacksmith to a cooper. But up the river are two more plantations and a few farm settlements. You’ll enjoy calling on them as the winter months drag on. You will find there isn’t much to do beyond that when the snow settles in.”

“But it already has snowed,” Alexandra said looking at the half a foot covering on the side of the dirt road.

“There will be much more, my dear,” Raven explained with a knowing smile. “So much you could dig a house out of it if you wanted.”

“I don’t know anyone who would want to do such a thing,” Alexandra giggled.

“The natives do. I’ve seen it. A family might pick up their things and move till they find a moose or bear. It will be enough meat to see them through the winter. So, they will settle there, making a small snow house around the carcass to keep the other animals away from it.”

“Yes well I am sure a dead animal won’t mind a snow house much,” Alexandra said with a giggle, “but I should think that anyone else might find it quite uncomfortable.”

“Oh, I don’t know. I once met a French fur trader from far up north. He said the natives there live in ice houses because the snow almost never melts away,” Raven said, happy to spin his tales for his wife.

They waited at the only inn and tavern at Fork Ferry while a man was sent up to the plantation. Soon Alexandra heard the sound of tinkling bells. Though there wasn’t much snow on the roads, they had already frozen solid, making a sleigh carriage the ideal mode of travel.

Alexandra couldn’t help but beam up at her husband in a splitting smile from the moment they stepped off the Isadora. Raven seemed to know every person here in the small village. He inquired on family members and the news since his last visit. If she had ever considered Raven to look at home in a place, it was more likely to be here than ever it was in London.

Once in the sleigh the trip up to Hugo Estates was a fairly short one. Be as it may, it was also the most agonizing stint of the journey for the duchess. She sat comfortingly enough with fir blankets and hot stones tucked at their feet for warmth. The journey was much smoother then the carriage rides down London streets. Alexandra was so excited to see her new home, however, not even flying horses could have made the trip fast enough in her mind.

When they arrived, several rows of servants, workers, and farmhands stood ready to greet them at the doors of the large white house.

The house itself was something that Alexandra couldn’t have even imaged possible. It stood three stories high with the main section boasting pillars that went up to the second floor. A walkway with pretty white railings sat on the second floor with a matching one, minus the fence, on the first floor. On either side of the main building were additions to the house with more windows then Alexandra had ever seen before in her life.

“This is so much. I don’t even know how I could explain such a thing when I write to my sisters,” Alexandra exclaimed.

“Do you not like it,” Raven asked, his brows coming to a furrow as he handed off the reigns to a waiting man and helped his bride down.

“I love it,” she assured him. “It is just far too much for just you and me. I believe I could walk all day and still not see every inch of this place.”

“This is only the Virginia house, my dear,” Raven said with a chuckle. “I can only imagine what you will think when you see our country estate back home.”

Alexandra was still adjusting to taking in all that she had seen thus far. She couldn’t even begin to imagine that they also had a country home, outside of the little cottage she had already visited with Raven. That one little cottage, as Raven had fondly called it, had looked a mansion to her at the time. Now she knew why Raven had given it such a name. It was nothing compared to the vastness of Hugo Estates.

“Come, let us get you in and warmed up. I am sure it won’t take long at all for word of my arrival with my new bride to reach the other plantations. We will be having several visitors calling by week’s end if I am not wrong. You will need to rest from our journeys and get your strength up before then.”

“I am not a wilting flower,” Alexandra scolded Raven once they were alone in a large drawing room, warm fire already blazing to melt their numbed fingers. “I can assure you I am not the least bit exhausted from our journey. If anything, it has been most rejuvenating.”

Raven crossed the room from in front of the hearth to the seat next to his wife. He smiled at the added winged back chair. The last time he had left Hugo Estate, there was only one winged chair placed in front of the fire for his use. No doubt the housekeeper had quickly added the extra seating when news of his arrival and new wife had come from the village.

He reached across his chair and took his wife’s hand. Already the cold from the outside had melted away, and her touch was soft and warm. He again marveled at the miracle it was that he had found himself such a woman.

She had faired the journey much better than he had ever expected. Alexandra may have been a proper lady, but she wasn’t without her tenacity.

It was here in America that the duke had felt most at home. Here he could be a hard-working man alongside his employees. His title held far less weight and even fewer restrictions. He was free to be the person he wanted to be and he wanted free men paid to work with him rather than slaves work for him.

He had always known the time would come that he would need to marry. Even more than that, he knew that he would have to marry a lady from a well-established, titled British family. The idea had always been so at odds with who he was within his heart, the man he could be here.

In his mind, he had dreaded the day of marriage, knowing he would either be forced to stay in London by her side, confined like a caged animal, or leave her to her own devices while he enjoyed his freedom here. Neither idea had ever sat well with him, and he was sure the latter would have never been acceptable to his Aunt Rebecca.

The prospect of finding a wife who not only had a love for adventure but also the constitution for it was nothing short of an impossibility to Raven. That was, however, until he had found his miracle.

Raven knew now that no matter where he went, or what adventure lay before them, they would do it side by side. She would not settle to being left behind in fine houses in London society, and now he could not imagine ever being in a place without her.

Tugging gently on his wife’s hand, he urged Alexandra out of her seat. She hesitated for a moment already knowing his mind and what he wanted, despite still being newly married. Rising from her chair, she came to stand before her husband.

He smiled up at her lovingly as she sat down on his lap resting her head against his chest. She could still smell the salt air on his coat, having not yet changed since their arrival. She closed her eyes and breathed in the scent of fresh dirt, salt, and the masculine smell that could only be described as Raven himself.

“What if someone comes in?” she murmured against his chest. “This is most improper.”

Raven wrapped both arms tightly around his wife as if she would leave his embrace at any moment. They both know she was merely speaking the words with little desire actually to remove herself.

“You are saying it is improper to hold my own wife seated in my chair in my house. Well then, pray tell, my dear, when would it be proper to do such a thing?” he asked with a chuckle.

Alexandra thought for a moment before looking up at her husband, her own eyes twinkling with merriment.

“I don’t believe it is proper for a duke and duchess to behave in such a way no matter whose house or whose chair they find themselves in. I am quite sure Aunt Rebecca would say as much, anyway.”

Though she had claimed to be full of energy, now sitting in the safety of her husband’s arms, with the warmth of the fire seeping into every bone, she was beginning to feel herself doze a bit.

Raven looked into her heavy-lidded eyes, leaning his head down to press his forehead against hers.

“Good thing we didn’t bring Aunt Rebecca along with us then,” he said with that trickster gleam in his eyes.

He rested his lips on Alexandra’s kissing her softly. Instinctively Alexandra raised her hand letting her fingers brush against the soft stubble beginning to grow on Raven’s jawline. She tilted her head up making sure he kissed her properly before she released her head back to his shoulder and shut her eyes.

“You will find, my love,” he said resting his cheek against the top of her head. “I am right about most things.”

“Oh, are you?” she chucked though she didn’t open her eyes.

“Mm. Just like I knew you loved me before you did. Just like I know that I am quite within my right to hold you in my arms here in my house without a single word spoken against us, and most importantly just like I know you are far more exhausted then you thought.”

Alexandra laughed again against his chest before snuggling in closer to him. She felt the vibration of his own laughter as his arms tightened around her.

Lifting Alexandra up in one smooth motion, Raven walked the length of the room and carried his beloved, now sleeping, bride up the stairs and to their bed.

 The End...

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