“I’m not sure how else I could have arranged it.”
“I am not blaming you. Truly, I am not. But after that day, when we met in the reading room, when…” She broke off abruptly, but Tristan knew what she was going to say.
When we kissed.
“It was a mistake,” she said at last, her voice growing stronger. “I imagine you had had something to drink. I had some champagne. Too much, I imagine. Neither of us was in our right minds, and we were about to break our rule of keeping our distance. So, I thought it would be best if I kept myself out of the way. I thought you’d be grateful.”
He pursed his lips. “You know, I can’t make you out at all, Madeline.”
There was another silence. Adam sighed in his sleep, waving one arm in the air.
“What do you mean?” Madeline managed.
Tristan sighed, twisting around to face her. “You like babies, don’t you?”
Whatever question she had been expecting to hear, it was not that. Madeline flinched, eyes widening.
“What?” she stammered.
He gave a wry smile. “You heard me. You like babies. You clearly love Adam and have a knack with him, which makes me think you are used to looking after children and good at it. You don’t just love him for his mother’s sake, but for his own, yes?”
“Yes, I suppose so.”
“In that case, why are you so adamant that you donotwant a baby? Why not have a baby of your own? And the quickest way to get a baby of your very own is, of course,me.”
Madeline eyed him for a long moment. He held her gaze and found, to his horror, that he was holding his breath.
“You’ve changed your mind already, have you,Your Grace?” she remarked at last.
Tristan blinked. That was a surprisingly even answer, considering what an invasive question he had asked.
“I have notchanged my mind,” he responded tartly. “I am merely curious.”
Madeline abruptly rose to her feet, shaking out her skirts. For a moment, he was sure that she was about to storm out, or perhaps to kick him, or something like that. Instead, she walked over to the fire and began prodding it with a poker, reviving the blaze.
“Now, I don’t recall that being curious about each other was part of our deal,” she responded calmly, straightening up.
Tristan grinned. “Well, well, my duchess, I don’t recall you being so feisty before we were married. Marriage suits you, it seems. Interesting.”
He jumped to his feet, pausing only to press a kiss to Adam’s sleeping forehead.
“I shall leave the baby with you, if I may,” he added. “I’ll be leaving now, and I shall spend the day at my club.”
She said nothing, not even goodbye, but Tristan felt her eyes on him all the way out of the room.
CHAPTER 14
Madeline told herself repeatedly how glad she was that Tristan was at his club all day. She took Adam back to Joan when he began to cry, and Joan assured her that ‘the little master’ only wanted his luncheon and would nap for a few hours afterward.
That left Madeline free to wander around the house. If only she had something to do.
To begin with, she went down to the library once more and tried to readMuch Ado About Nothing.The familiar words would not soothe her, however. She only heard Tristan’s mocking voice echoing the familiar refrain:God keep your ladyship still in that mind; so some gentleman or other shall ’scape a predestinate scratched face.
Oh, the man wasfrustrating. She put the play aside with a growl of annoyance and set herself to find a new book. Despite all the exciting-looking books on the shelves, Madeline found that none of them intrigued her. She could not seem toconcentrate.
She moved from the library, full of books, which seemed totaunther, to the large, fancy parlor at the front of the house. She threw herself down on a wide sofa and slumped back.
Now what?She thought miserably. At home, there was always something to do. The house did not run itself, after all. There was always Papa, or her books, orsomething. The duke’s house ran like a well-oiled machine, without any need for her help. She wouldn’t even know where to begin if she wanted to help.
