Page 32 of A Necessary Wife

CHAPTER NINE

Amelia hadn’t been particularly interested in taking breakfast in the morning room again, but her husband had sent away the servant holding a breakfast tray, insisting they start the day together as a family.

She’d been amused by that insistence, but now it was odd, having a man watch her eat as closely as he was doing. There was no one else in the room to distract him besides the children. The duke and duchess had not arrived downstairs as yet.

She was glad of that. She was still somewhat shaken by the duke’s disapproval. She could not remain at Stapleton if that was how he would act toward her every day of her marriage.

But without the duke and duchess around, she could appreciate the splendor of this room and the manor she would one day live in. It was clear this room was used often, central to the duke’s study and the drawing room, as it were. The servants had a hidden stairway just outside the chamber, leading downward to the estate kitchen.

She had not met the housekeeper yet, or anyone beyond a handful of efficient upstairs servants.

She glanced across at her husband, studying him while his attention was directed at the children sitting between them. He was fond of them, but not playful. He was good at keeping his affection evenly balanced between the boy and girl, although the girl tried hard to claim the bulk of his attention.

Lucy would be a handful when she grew up. High-spirited and used to coming first in her father’s eyes. Amelia hoped to temper her demanding ways before another sibling came along. If one ever did.

She found it hard to know how to react to her husband. He was a man of intense feeling, but the direction of those feelings was often unclear.

He had been badly burned by his late wife’s behavior, and until they’d discussed a marriage between them, he had seemed dismissive of all women.

But she found Chatham intelligent, attractive, and she’d enjoyed his kisses very much.

“A letter for you, Lord Chatham,” the butler announced, hurrying into the room.

Amelia breathed a sigh of relief that her husband’s attention would be distracted for a little while as he read it.

“There are letters for you as well, Lady Chatham,” the butler announced, startling her enough to drop her fork. Would she ever become used to being addressed as Lady Chatham?

“Thank you, Mr. Brown,” she answered, reaching for a stack of letters perched on a small silver tray.

She flicked through them, astonished to have received so many at once, and here. There was one from her brother, her sister, and from the aunt she’d never gotten along with.

She glanced across the table and found Chatham watching her closely again. “News from Devon. Your things have arrived, and I am assured everything is whole and sound.”

“That could not be true,” she told him with a sigh. “My harp was damaged long ago.”

Chatham glanced at the letter and scowled. “There is no mention of that here. Damnation.”

“Papa!”

He winced. “You did not hear that.”

“Yes, we did,” Adam said with a giggle, which made his father laugh, too.

He looked across at Amelia’s letters and his expression grew serious once more.

Amelia set her letters aside to read later in favor of finishing her breakfast. “I appear to be very popular today.”

He made an odd noise, a grumble of discontent, and she looked to him, startled.

“Go ahead, read them now,” he told her, tossing his napkin onto his empty plate and sitting back.

Amelia was still eating and did not rush to comply. “They can wait until we are done here.”

His expression grew dark, angry, and she frowned at him. He had no cause to react like that, acting as if she was wrong not to do as he said. There surely couldn’t be anything important in her letters. Unless…

Amelia closed her eyes, struck by an uncomfortable suspicion.

The late Lady Chatham had conducted many affairs behind his back…and would likely have received love letters by mail.