“Whereas cruelty is the only thing you know how to wear,” she retorted, drawing back from his caress. “Lure the Duchess into your bed, Montague, or there will be consequences.”
“Was that a threat?”
“Not to you.”
He doubted that, but he also didn’t care. There were greater things on his mind than Juliet Stanton.
Chapter Fifteen
Theo woke to a stiff face and a tightness in her chest she couldn’t account for until she remembered the happenings of the previous night.
The way Nathanial had touched her—reverently, gently.
Furiously.
As though his caresses were beyond his control.
She dressed in a daze, her heart aching as she looked into the mirror to behold a face she barely recognised. Yesterday, she had come home with bee-stung lips and eyes that were brighter, glassier than they had ever been. Now, that brightness had dimmed.
Her plan, as it had been so often recently, was to leave the house without Nathanial seeing, but before she could do more than make her way downstairs, there was a morning caller.
“I’m so glad we’ve found you at home,” the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk said, sweeping into the drawing room and pressing a perfumed kiss on Theo’s cheek. “You look a little pale, my dear. Are you quite well?”
“Perfectly,” Theo said, unable to help casting a glance at the door in the fear Nathanial might arrive. Even in the company of his mother, she did not want to see him. “This is an early call, ma’am.”
“I wanted to bring you the news myself.” The Dowager straightened, a proud smile on her face. “Cassandra was delivered of a healthy baby boy in the night. Another boy in the family.” She looked proudly at Theo, though she’d had no hand in it. “We have almost all girls, you know.”
“Oh!” To her chagrin, Theo realised she had forgotten entirely that Cassandra was due. “How wonderful. What is his name?”
“William, after his grandfather.”
“A lovely name.” Knowing it was her duty, no matter how she hated it, she rang the bell for Jarvis. When he appeared, she said, “Please be so good as to fetch the Duke. His mother has some news for him.” To the Dowager, she added, “We’ll visit as soon as Cassandra is receiving visitors.”
“I believe that to be in the next day or so.” The Dowager beamed around the room, happy enough that she was warm even to Theo. Elinor had five children, Penelope had two, and Cassandra already had one, but the arrival of another grandchild was a joyous occasion.
Perhaps she would also expect grandchildren from Theo.
Theo dipped her head. The thought of grandchildren made her feel a little ill. Nathanial touching her knowing it was her; would he perform his duties with resignation and little enthusiasm. Could she bear it?
Could she refuse, when children and heirs were a condition of their marriage?
“Well, Mama?” Nathanial asked from the doorway. “I hear you have news for me?”
Theo started at the sound of his voice, but she didn’t dare look at him. Instead, she glanced across at the Dowager, a false smile on her face.
The Dowager held her hands out to him. “The best news! Cassandra has a boy. A little boy named William.”
“Congratulations.” Nathanial took her hands and Theo glanced up at him in time for her to see him look at her, something hard in his eyes. Or rather, it was theabsenceof everything she’d been so used to seeing; an expression that had never been directed at her before. As though she were nothing.
There was no way he could have discovered she had been at the masquerade, but there could be no other reason for that coldness. Had Mrs Stanton told him?
Yes, that must have been it. Except . . . if she had told Nathanial about Theo being there, she would also have mentioned the garden. Did . . . Did Nathanial know that the mysterious stranger he had seduced was her?
Did he think that, because she had not acknowledged him, she had allowed herself to be seduced by a stranger?
No, surely not.Surelynot. If he did think that, everything was over.
“Cassandra must be pleased,” Nathanial continued smoothly, giving no sign he had seen Theo’s start, her flush, or the stricken expression that crossed her face. “It’s time there was a son in the family.”
