Page 72 of A Necessary Wife

Her breath caught as Lady Ashcroft fluttered her lashes at Chatham. Amelia was not unwell, but she might cast up her accounts at any moment if the woman continued playing with her neckline to draw Chatham’s eyes to her larger bosom.

She might also want to scratch out her eyes soon.

She wet her lips. “I am perfectly well I assure you.”

Chatham glanced her way at last, frowning, and she lowered her gaze immediately as her cheeks warmed with a blush. She hated drawing attention to herself in front of others. She had spent her life since the scandal trying to be as unobtrusive as possible.

Today she was failing.

A servant took her plate, but she kept her teacup. Toying with it as she wondered about her earlier queasiness and lack of appetite this morning. There were reasons for queasiness besides jealousy.

Her heart lurched in hope at the idea of what could ail her. She highly doubted she could be increasing already, and yet, she had to wonder. And wonder led to hope and unbearable excitement.

They had made love frequently since the day they wed. Amelia had only had a few weeks to imagine motherhood and a pregnancy. She glanced across the table discreetly and exhaled. She admired her husband more and more. He had truly dedicated himself to the task of fathering her first child.

She caught his gaze and smiled at him. She was truly satisfied with the marriage she’d made with Chatham…unless Lady Ashcroft happened to be flirting with him.

If she was pregnant with his child, they would truly be a family.

She would have the love she’d always dreamed of.

Chatham would give her everything her heart desired one day soon.

He looked away and suddenly laughed at something Lady Ashcroft told him.

Amelia frowned down at her cup, troubled by their long friendship. She remembered all too well the deception played against her by her own sister, flirting with her beau Norris. But with the benefit of distance and time, she hardly felt the sting anymore. She had fallen in love with Norris slowly, seeing him in secret, and not seeing what else he was doing. And now…

She raised her gaze to look at Chatham and Lady Ashcroft talking together, and dread filled her that he might leave her for the woman one day. But how could Chatham betray her when he was so passionate when they were alone?

Attraction and commitment were not the same thing, though. She’d learned that lesson the hard way.

The first time, she’d been foolishly unprepared for the betrayal. But this is how it started. Little flirtations, shared laughter and a closeness mistaken for harmless friendship…then came the hardest fall of all.

Love hurts when it isn’t returned.

She turned her attention to Lucy and Adam across the table. Her children were all she needed to love. Lucy would like her one day. She was sure of that. Adam liked her already.

And Chatham? He depended on her. He had completely changed her life.

“We shall have a very busy morning,” the duchess said abruptly, oblivious to the longing that filled her. “A few of the guests will be leaving soon. But the house will remain quite full, and of course, Lady Ashcroft will remain as our guest.”

“Yes, of course,” Chatham replied, though his gaze flickered toward Amelia, then Lady Ashcroft, again and again, as though he had started to compare them.

Her belly flipped alarmingly, feeling as if each glance diminished her importance to him. What was he thinking? What was he feeling?

She couldn’t ask. He did not want to feel anything for her.

The butler entered with a small stack of letters on a silver tray.

“For the duchess, and this one is for Lady Chatham.”

Brown handed it over with a stately nod. “My lady.”

“Thank you, Brown.” Amelia blinked at receiving another letter from her sister.

Since the duchess opened her letter, Amelia felt obliged to open her sister’s.

But the words made her stomach twist.