‘That is not true. You have never treated me the same as my sisters. I have always been a disappointment.’
‘Well, you never…’
‘Ialways...’ Whatever her mother had been about to accuse her of, none of it would be a reflection of Emily’s behaviour. Her manners, her deportment, her actions had all been impeccable and she had never received anything but criticism in response. She had only defied her mother once and that had been to go into the duke’s garden. On everything else she had been a dutiful daughter. ‘It is not my fault I was born a girl and not the son that you and Father wanted.’
‘Now you are being absurd. I have always treated you the same as the other two. If I have ever been harder on you, it was not because of the circumstances of your birth but rather because you never did what I told you. No matter how many times I tried to help you at balls, you would hide yourself away, showing the world just how strange you are.’
‘Your help was nothing but a litany of my failings.’
‘Well, if you cannot accept the truth that you are a strange little thing who needs correcting, then I cannot be held responsible for…’
‘You do not get to speak to my wife like that.’ Emily jumped; she had no idea that Freddie had been let into the room, but he was standing just inside the door, his eyes narrowed, his jaw taut. ‘Emily is the most beautiful woman in this room. In any room in fact. But she is more than that. She is fiercely intelligent, more talented than anyone I have ever met and she is loyal and kind. She is the best of all women and you could not hope for a better daughter. Yet you continue to put her down at every opportunity. Despite your petty mean-mouthed comments, she has thrived and I, for one, am proud to call her my wife.’
All colour had left her mother’s face, but Emily did not spare her more than a glance. She could only see Freddie. She had alwaysthought him handsome, but standing in her mother’s lounge, his eyes full of fire on her behalf, she thought him the best-looking man in all the world. No one had ever spoken out for her like that before. No one had made her feel the way Freddie did and she loved him with everything that she had. It didn’t matter if he wanted to go to balls and if he wanted to be surrounded by people who loved him. He deserved that because he was loveable. And when he came home, she would always be waiting for him. She would love him and cherish him and he would know that he was the best thing to ever happen to her.
‘Mother’ she moved towards the sitting room door and came to a stop at Freddie’s side ‘—I do appreciate everything you have done for me.’ Next to her, Freddie growled softly. ‘But my husband is right; you seem to have decided that I am not worthy of kind words from you and I think that, until this changes, we should see less of each other.’ Freddie’s fingers slipped into hers and she squeezed them tightly. He returned the gesture and her heart soared. Everything would be all right. ‘We will take our leave now, Mama. You may call on me at any time, but from now on you will speak to both my husband and me with kind words and if anyone should suggest or hint that I married Freddie because I was increasing, you can tell them that our marriage is a love match.’
She and Freddie turned, as if they had spent time coordinating their moves to perfection, and marched out of the sitting room together.
Chapter Thirty-one
Freddie didn’t speak as they left her parents’ house, or when they entered Glanmore House, or as he tugged her through the building and up the stairs to her room. She thought he might say something when he firmly shut the door, but instead, he pulled her tightly into his arms and kissed her until she was breathless.
After an age, he lifted his head and asked, his words slurred, ‘Did you mean what you said?’
‘We have not said anything in a while.’ Her brain was muddled; that’s what Freddie did to her. ‘To what exactly are you referring?’
His lips tilted. ‘In your mother’s house.’
‘Oh yes.’ It had been difficult to say but she was glad that she had. ‘I think it would be better if I do not see her for a while. She makes me miserable.’
‘I agree, but that was not to what I was referring.’
‘Oh.’ Emily frowned. ‘Which bit did you mean?’
Slight pinkness touched his cheekbones. ‘The bit where you were singing my praises. I understand that you were defending yourself to your mother and I know that I have spent the better part of our acquaintance deliberately annoying you, but I was wondering whether…’
‘Oh, Freddie.’ She brushed a lock of his hair from his forehead. ‘Everything I said about you was true. You seem to think of yourself as not clever, but in only six weeks, you have done so much work at Berferd. The garden is already a completely different place and I am excited to see your other plans come to life and I want to help in every way that I can.’
‘Of course,’ he said instantly.
‘You will let me do the accounts and read the contracts?’ Married women were not supposed to work, but she sensed that Freddie would not hold to such standards.
He lifted his head slightly. ‘You already do that, but if you want to carry on doing so for the rest of our lives together, you will make me a happy man.’
‘Thank you. I have always wanted to work.’
He rolled his eyes. ‘Only you would say such a thing. I want what makes you happy.’ He lightly brushed his lips against hers but she hadn’t finished.
‘You are incredibly funny. Even when I thought you were the most annoying man in England, I could still see that, and since we have been married you have made me laugh every day.’ The next pass of his lips was firmer, but she still had more to say. ‘And you have been so very kind to me.’
He lifted his head, a slight frown on his forehead. ‘I have?’
‘You have. I love the bench.’
‘Ah.’ He began to trail his lips along her jaw. ‘I love the bench too; just think, if I had not thought to make it, I would not be able to do this.’ He began to press kisses all along her neckline, but she wouldn’t be distracted, no matter how much she might want to be.
She had promised herself that Freddie would know exactly how much she cherished him, that she did not want to change him, even if she was the odd person at every ball. She would support whateverlife he wanted to live, so long as she could be by his side at the times when he was happy to be quiet. ‘Also, you have been kind in marrying me. I know that I am not what you would have wanted but…’
