Page 82 of A Necessary Wife

“You’ve been listening to my brother’s nonsense. He refuses to believe he deserves love again.”

Amelia’s heart sank like a stone. “Yes.”

“But you can change that.”

“No, I can’t.”

“My dear, the change has already begun. If he had not begun to care more deeply for you, he would never have accused you of flirting with Dunstan the other night. He was blinded by jealousy, and likely is still afraid to trust.”

“He was in his cups but I would never betray him.”

“His first wife tried to seduce me,” Samuel blurted out. “Right here at Stapleton. Under his very nose.”

Amelia gasped. “What did you do? Does he know?”

“I threw her out of my bed, and I told my brother to keep her away from me,” Samuel assured her. “We avoided each other for a few weeks. He was humiliated. My wife was still alive then but away visiting a friend. I told her as soon as she returned. It is one of the reasons we never visited them in Devon.”

“Poor Milo.”

Samuel squinted at her.

Amelia nodded. “He told me about how things were the night his first wife died. The argument. His thoughts of divorce. He blamed himself for not preventing her fall all this time but he was too far away.”

“I never thought he’d tell you but I’m glad he did,” Samuel said.

“I couldn’t bear to see him suffering,” she admitted. “Even if talking about her is the last thing I want to do.”

“I doubt he’s suffering still, not with you warming his bed every night. He hasn’t spoken well of a woman since his first wife lived, but with you, his respect is obvious.”

Amelia blushed and rubbed her hands on her arms again. Yes, he might respect her but that was all.

She glanced at the cottage. “Will you live here once you finish the rebuilding?”

“I doubt it. I am starting to think the place better suited to my brother and you.”

She looked at him in surprise. “But I thought…”

“It is too quiet. I dwell on the past too much here, and you saw that immediately, didn’t you? But I will finish what I’ve started. Finish it for the family at large, and who knows, perhaps you and Milo might spend some of your summers here, repairing the garden.”

“I would love that. But I likely cannot, since this is not my home.”

“Our father will come around as soon as he understands why Milo thought he’d be happier being married to you than anyone else. That’s all he wants—our happiness, that and endless grandbabies to steal away.”

Amelia laughed softly. “I have to chase Adam and Lucy all over the manor because he keeps doing that.”

“It’s not about you, and he won’t ever stop, I’m afraid,” Samuel warned with a laugh, and stood. “Not unless they’re as restless as my sons. My boys have grown used to unlimited freedom, and I will have difficulty changing them back into the well-behaved boys their mother expected them to be.”

Amelia nodded.

Samuel dusted himself off. “Well, I’d best get on with it. The cottage won’t finish itself. Spend as much time as you like in the garden here to soothe your soul. But do stay out of the cottage until it is finished. Milo would never forgive me if anything ever happened to you. There are still floorboards to be replaced.”

“I will,” she promised.

Samuel tipped his hat and strode off around the building. A short time later, she heard sounds of industry, hammering and such from that direction.

Amelia sighed. If she could have stayed here with the children instead of living at the manor, she and Lucy might have found common ground. But as it was, too much interfered with her attempts to befriend the child to leave her much hope.

The tip of a rose branch, bereft of a bloom, caught her eye, and she bent down to examine where it came from. With a little effort, and careful weeding, she discovered a sturdy old rose vine grew wild under the weeds.