Richard could remember those as his last few words before he drifted into oblivion.
When he opened his eyes, his head was pounding. He realized that he had slept on his study desk, and he was hearing something. Something he was not used to waking up to.
“What is that infernal noise?” he muttered, as wakefulness battled with sleep.
Then, he remembered. When he did, the mere noise became clearer. It was the sound of an infant crying. Melody. Of course. He sat up, running his fingers through his dark hair. He strodeout of the study and into the hallway, following the sound into the nursery.
He pushed the nursery door without knocking. It was not locked; it was not even latched. Only a single lamp illuminated the room. In the middle of it was Victoria. She was wearing only a thin silk nightgown. Her dressing gown rested on a nearby chair.
Richard stopped and stifled a gasp so as not to disturb her. She was cradling the baby in her arms. The crying had subsided. It looked like she had managed to make it fall asleep.
“You’re holding her wrong,” he said, shocked that he actually said those words. She must have done something right; after all, the babe was asleep. “That was probably why she was crying in the first place. She woke me up.”
Richard’s jaw tensed. He was aware of the accusation in his voice, but there was something about Victoria that made him want to say those words.
He was right. Victoria did not like being told what she had done wrong, especially if the words were coming from him. Her eyes widened at him in warning.
“Shh!” she hissed, her voice low and careful, but still expressing the fury simmering within her. “Do you want to wake her up? Would you dance her to sleep after that? As you know fully well, she had just fallen asleep.”
Richard was stunned. He stared at the woman whom he had married. She was practically a stranger, and nobody talked to him like she did without getting into trouble.
“Don’t speak to me in that tone,” he growled, stepping further inside the nursery. “I am merely saying that perhaps there is a better way of handling the child so that she’d sleep earlier.”
“You’re blaming me for the baby disturbing your sleep?” Victoria asked in an angry whisper. “However, you may have been the reason we are in this mess. You have not yet shown me any evidence that this is not your child.”
Again, there was that uneasy feeling of not being trusted by his own wife. He tried to shake it off, but it clung to him the same way the silk of Victoria’s nightgown clung to her skin. It became even more noticeable after she had placed Melody in her bassinet.
The lamplight made her gown almost translucent, showing off the swell of her hips and breasts. He had maintained control for so long to have it fail under an inconvenient surge of lust. Yes, this was nothing but lust in a red-blooded man who had been celibate for too long.
“She is not my child. Don’t you think I would be more prepared if she were mine? I would have expected this,” he grumbled.
“Oh. Would you really?” she asked, giving him a sarcastic smile. “What if it were your mistress’s idea? She wants you to see that you can’t escape what you’ve done.”
Her dark blonde hair had gone loose, its soft tendrils falling to frame her face. He had always known he’d married someone beautiful, but it was the first time he had truly looked at her like this. For a time, she was merely a means to an end.
“I don’t know how to make you see that I am not the sort of man who would turn my own child away …”
“That’s why she’s here!”
Melody whimpered. Both of them turned towards the bassinet in horror. Would the baby wake up and wail once more? The little one had already begun ruling their lives, it seemed.
The baby let out a little sigh, and her hand twitched.
Victoria and Richard froze.
For a moment, nothing came out of their lips. Their anger had become shared terror. He knew that she felt it even more potently. Her lips were pale, and her eyes had dark circles around them.
Then, Melody was still once more. Richard let out a silent sigh of relief.
“We should leave her here,” Victoria suggested in a low voice. “We cannot afford to wake her again.”
Richard agreed, nodding, but his eyes lingered on the sleeping infant. No, there was no reason for him to be mad at the child. She was an innocent throughout all of this. The poor thing must have been abandoned by her own parents.
He followed Victoria out of the nursery to continue their conversation in the hallway. Candles lit the walls, but some were already dimming. Before either of them could say anything, he was again drawn to the duchess. Her face. The thin nightgown. He became even more aware of her presence.
Finally, Victoria caught the way he was looking at her. A flush spread from her chest to her neck and to her cheeks. Her eyes narrowed at him, suspicion and something else sparking from somewhere beyond them.
“We need to hire someone who can truly care for her. A nursemaid, preferably a wet nurse,” she said, her voice sounding a little strained.
