Including ensuring the Duchess of Fenwick was… Well, if not ontheirside, then at least not opposing them.
Whatever the rumors, Sebastian was still a duke, and he had a lot of money and power to throw around.
And she was a duchess. It had been quite some time since she had first startedfeelingas though she were one, and now she enjoyed the sensation of belonging in these fancy gowns and exquisite dinner parties.
That fact made the prospect of walking into this particular drawing room a far more appealing one.
When they arrived, the other guests were largely seated, and Aurelia had the pleasure of walking into the already full room and feeling everyone’s eyes on her. Several important members of thetonwere in attendance, including the lovely Miss Davenport and Miss Peterson. As far as Aurelia knew, they were both still engaged, and a wedding date had yet to be announced.
One could only assume their prospective husbands were less than enthusiastic about the idea.
Aurelia smiled graciously at them and was rewarded with Miss Davenport flushing.
“Oh, you’re here!” Mary Ann appeared before them, clearly delighted that they had arrived and that her party had already proven so popular.
Of course, part of the reason was that the company was thin on the ground in London this time of year, shortly before the Season officially began, but Aurelia would never have pointed that out to her friend for the world.
“Hullo,” Aurelia greeted, kissing both of Mary Ann’s cheeks. Sebastian bowed over her hand, being sure to make it clear that he favored her. Anything that would help her through her Season.
“Come and sit by my father,” Mary Ann chimed, ushering them forward and sending the ghost of a wink to Aurelia. “Her Grace the Duchess of Fenwick is keeping him company, and she seemed especially eager to speak with you both.”
Aurelia wascertainshe was.
Biting back her smile, she followed Mary Ann to the fireside, where the Duchess of Fenwick was indeed sitting with her gnarled hands on her stick, a smile plastered to her face. Theexpression looked positively uncomfortable, and Aurelia met it with her own.
To think, before her marriage, she had viewed the duchess as some kind of monster, practically fire-breathing, who held her fate in her hands.
And now she viewed the lady with a certain amount of pity.
Pity for the lady who had lost her grip of thetonso clearly after years of ruling it with an iron fist.
Aurelia sat on the duchess’s other side, Sebastian standing behind her back. How the tables had turned.
“Your Grace,” the duchess declared, her fingers squeezing her walking stick as she controlled her desire to, no doubt, condemn them to the world. “How… wonderful to see you here.”
Aurelia beamed, and Sebastian let his hand rest on her shoulder for a moment. They had achieved her goals in less time than she could have thought possible—the entire world had not come to support them, perhaps, but the biggest battles were won.
Aurelia had too much kindness, and Sebastian had too much charm for them not to, and more rumors were spreading of how he had been before his first marriage, and how he was now.
Not, strictly not, a man who could ever murder his wife.
“Duchess,” Aurelia said graciously, inclining her head. “I hope there are no hard-feelings between my husband and your nephew.”
The nausea hit on the way back from the soiree. Aurelia had just enough time to exit the carriage before she vomited on the verge. Until now, she had been able to manage the worst of the symptoms with some ginger, offered to her by Jane, but now her body seemed determined to betray her.
Sebastian put a hand on her back, rubbing anxiously, the worry in his voice evident. “Aurelia. What’s wrong?”
She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. Well, she had intended to tell him tonight anyway; this merely pushed the news along a little. Drawing in a deep breath, she turned to face him. “I’m all right, Sebastian.”
He arched a brow. “Then why did you empty your accounts into the grass? Did you eat something that disagreed with you? Should I call a physician?”
She laid a hand on his arm, touched by his concern. “There’s no need for that. I promise you there’s nothing wrong with me.”
“Then why—”
She took his hand and placed it on her lower belly, where the curve was just, with a small amount of imagination, making itself known. “Can you truly not guess, sweetheart? I would have thought it would be obvious.”
His eyes widened, and he stared at her with shock—and perhaps something else. Wonder. Awe. Relief.Bone-melting relief.
