The Duke's Mother Had His Wife Sign the Annulment — She Asked for One Thing, and He Learned Why

The Dowager Duchess of Wolverton laid the annulment on the chapel table in front of the whole household. "Sign it, pill-roller's girl," she said. A year had passed, and her son had never once called Eleanor his wife. Lady Sibella Darnell smiled at the altar. Eleanor signed without a word, and then she asked for one thing. She wanted the walled garden behind the chapel, and its key, for as long as she lived. The household laughed, and the Dowager called it a weed bed. The Duke, Cyprian Holcombe, stood by the pew and said only that it was the least of what they owed her, and he would not look at her when he said it. Cyprian watched that lantern from his window until his hands began to shake. He has been cold to her for a whole year, and Michaelmas is five weeks away. What does a duke who says nothing know that his wife does not, and why did she ask for a garden? A Regency romance about an apothecary's daughter, a duke who gives her nothing, and a garden nobody wanted. This is original fiction: every person in it is invented and a grown adult. Subscribe to The Overlooked Duchess for more Regency stories.