The Duke's Masked Wife

"They got the plates wrong. Are they serious? Be careful with those dresses! All of you are giving me a headache," Kate sighed, touching her head to calm her anger. The servants seemed hellbent on ruining her dresses.

Four weeks after her engagement, Kate went straight into planning her wedding and now was the time to start moving all that she owned into Simon's home.  It was a painful process for Kate as the servants kept dropping her belongings. She would prefer if James was present to lead Simon's servants.

"Take the dresses to the closet and everything else to the empty bedroom for now," Kate repeated the same order for the third time.

"Kate," Simon called to her from the stairs. He pushed himself against the wall to avoid getting squeezed by servants walking with a big box full of who knows what. "Wasn't today supposed to be a light move-in? It seems like you packed everything. Do you still have clothes at your mother's house?"

Kate's face lit up now that Simon was present. "You underestimate how many clothes I have. I will need to give away some of the ones I have now to make room for new ones. I should send them to the church."

"That is an excellent idea. I remember you were giving away some a long time ago," said Simon.

Kate could only nod her head as the time Simon was referring to was when she was actually planning on selling her clothes so she could buy more. "I would like to use this time to make others as happy as I am. I'm sorry if the noise interrupted you. This would have been quicker if you let me bring servants from my mother's home to help. I don't see why they could not come."

"I am not used to people that I am not familiar with coming in and out of this house and there are more than enough servants here. The noise did not bother me. I enjoy the loud noise since it blocks out everything," Simon smiled.

Kate did not believe him. "You say that now but I feel like you will get angry with me about this later. That is why I suggested we go out while the servants bring in my things. We should see if the plates I wanted are ready and there are so much more wedding details I want to show you. I don't want to prepare anything you would not enjoy."

"I trust your judgment, Kate. I am sure whatever you have planned will be wonderful," Simon replied, not the slightest bit interested in wedding details. He did not care for the wedding in general.

Kate, on the other hand, enjoyed that Simon was going along with what she wanted and paying for all of it. He already annoyed her by asking for a spring wedding but then he decided on when there would be less snow than there was now. Simon would not change his mind about it so Kate had to wait.

It was annoying considering many of the young ladies who were proposed to at the ball were either already married or their weddings were soon while Kate had to wait one more week. She wanted to be married now and be called Marchioness. It was frustrating that Grace had somehow managed to get proposed to and was boosting about her upcoming wedding. Kate wanted to silence everyone by showing off the grand wedding she was planning.

"Simon," Kate pretended to fix his shirt. "Can I start changing up the house to my liking? It is wonderful as it is now but there are a few things I would like to add to show that a lady now lives here. This house screams bachelor."

Simon looked at another stack of dresses coming into his home. "Aren't the dresses enough to show that a lady is here? Unless the town will assume I am trying them on?" He joked.

"That is not funny," Kate playfully tapped his chest. "You cannot be like that guard. I still cannot forget how shocking it was to learn the captain of the town guards had been seeing a man. It was bold of Emma to expose him."

Lockwood received a big wave of the news one week ago when Emma exposed her fiance Oliver for being with a man.

"Now we all know why he never accepted her love. How she still shows her face is beyond me. It creeps me out to think she might have kissed a man who rolled around in bed with another man. Disgusting," Kate's skin tingled now that she thought about it.  "Don't joke around about wearing dresses even when it is at our home. I don't want your name to be sullied. I love you so much to let anyone ruin you."

Simon held Kate's hand and touched the ring on her finger with his thumb. "No one can ruin me," he replied.

'He didn't say it back,' Kate realized. It wasn't the first or second time he ignored her when she said she loved him. It bothered her but at the same time, Kate also did not love Simon. She only said it because it would fit the moment. Kate liked to believe he was someone he didn't like having to repeat it all the time. Simon would not be marrying her if he did not love her.

Kate forced a smile to not let it show that it bothered her. "Of course, no one can ruin you. Who would be so foolish to go up against a Marquess like yourself? If there is such a fool, I will deal with them for you," she said.

"Is that so? Then I have a few people I would love for you to take care of," Simon joked.

"After the wedding, I will get rid of them for you. Right now, I am swamped with looking over this wedding. The invitations have been sent out to the relatives you care for. It is unfortunate that I never met your parents and you could not ask for my hand in marriage from my father. I would like to go to your parent's graves to introduce myself before we are married and you shall visit my father. I want your parent's to know about me."

"They do," Simon responded but had to explain himself further when Kate seemed confused. "You don't need to go to their graves to speak with them. They are all around us now. My parents are present in this room and have known about you long before I proposed to you. I frequently speak to them and have told them about you. How perfect you are," he tapped her nose.

"You are right. My father's soul must be with us now. Still, we should go to the graves to put down fresh flowers," Kate stuck to her plan.

Simon fought the urge to not let his annoyance show. He had no interest in visiting empty graves.

"Kate!" The sound of Katrina's voice annoyed him more. The mother and daughter put on a good show out he was tired of Katrina's constant visits like Kate was a child she needed to look after.