Not likely.
“You should not accept flowers from other gentlemen.” Stephen grabbed the bouquet of roses and tossed them in the hearth. When the blossoms scattered with a soft thump, he felt better.
She sighed. “I told him I had married you. But I’ve known Freddie for years, and he’s not a man who abandons a courtship easily. I suppose you don’t remember him from when we grew up together.”
“I remember him well enough, and if he doesn’t cease this nonsense, I’ll shove the damned roses down his throat.”
Emily shrugged. “It’s harmless, really. He told me…what was it? He is adoring me from afar.”
“What utter rubbish.”
“I think it is rather flattering, actually. Like an unrequited lover, pining for me.” She picked up another bloom and adjusted it in the vase. “And I suppose I should keep my options open.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“In case you divorce me and I decide to remarry.”
“Absolutely not.”
She broke the head off one of the roses and laughed, reaching up to tuck it behind his ear. “Jealous?”
“Not at all.” It was then that he realized she’d been teasing him. Though it eased him to know it, the idea still disgruntled him.
Hecould certainly buy nicer flowers. And the poetry…Good God. Shakespeare or Tennyson would be far better.
Stephen removed the offensive flower and threw it onto the fire. He took savage pleasure in watching it wither up into flames. “I could do far better than him at courting.”
“I wouldn’t know.” She went back to arranging the flowers while he tried to make sense of that remark.
“I courted you before I wed you, didn’t I?”
She shook her head. “Not really. You escorted me home, and we talked. I made you ginger biscuits.”
He fell silent at that, still not understanding. “I must have brought you a gift.”
She held up her wedding ring. “You gave me this.”
It didn’t seem possible that he’d made such a momentous decision without even courting the woman he’d married. “In all the time I spent with you after I returned to Falkirk, I never gave you anything?”
Her face held pity. “It wasn’t that long, Stephen. Only a week before you proposed. Then after we got married, you left me for London.”
Her words sobered him, for it wasn’t the sort of man he was. “I don’t understand. Why did you marry me if I gave you nothing except the ring?”
She lifted her shoulders in a shrug. “You rescued me from the life I had. And we were friends, once.”
“Once?” She spoke as if that were no longer the case.
“It’s been a long time, Whitmore.” Her voice held a heaviness, as if she expected nothing at all from him.
Her brown eyes held a hint of sadness, and he was starting to wonder if he’d been too harsh. It was clear that she had truly fallen into poverty and had struggled to keep her family together. Regardless of what had happened in the past, perhaps there was a way forward for them.
He took her hand and raised it to his lips. Pressing a kiss against her skin, he held her fingers far longer than was proper. And when he glanced at her face, he saw the flush upon her cheeks. “W-what re you doing, Whitmore?”
He gave her a wicked smile. “Courting you.”
Victoria grasped Emily’s fingers and, with a determined look, trod her first wobbly steps around the parlor. Emily helped the baby balance, unable to stop her smile when her niece reached out to clutch the sofa. There was something magical about watching a child learn to walk.
A light knock sounded at the door. “Yes?” Emily turned just as the door opened.
