She raised her hand to her belly, seemingly unaware that she had done so. “Very well then, if that is what you wish. You are not the father. I have never lain with you.” Her voice sounded as flat as Margaret’s had lately.
“Well, then.” It made no sense at all that her words left him feeling so hollow. “Are you willing to tell me who the father is, then?” He somehow did not feel any better about this marriage. But he had told her he would. It was a rather large concession on her part, he would make one on his.
She seemed oblivious of him, in that moment, staring off into the woods, her hand splayed upon her abdomen. “You probably have no wish to hear of this, but I can feel them moving around now. They feel like crowded fish, swimming inside of me.”
His gaze dropped to her hand. “Is the man married, is that it?”
She paused and then nodded slowly. “Yes, he is.”
At last, they were getting somewhere. “Do I know him?”
“Yes.” Her voice was a mere whisper.
“Does he know you are carrying? Will he know that my heir is his child?”
Penelope looked over at him somewhat wistfully. “He knows, but he does not believe it is his.”
Ah, so she truly had been pinned into a corner.
Feeling mollified, albeit slightly, Hugh reached out and assisted her onto his curricle. Not the most auspicious beginning of a marriage, but at least he did not feel like strangling her. He picked up the reins and signaled to the horses. As the curricle jerked into motion, he felt a small hand on his arm.
She grasped onto him for safety.
It reminded him that he was no longer responsible for himself only.
No, he had a wife.
And other… obligations on the way.
Chapter 19
Margaret had insisted upon leaving to stay the night with a neighbor, rather than remain in the manor with the newlyweds on the first night of their married life. As much as Penelope had tried to convince the prim and quiet woman that such a courtesy was not necessary, she would not relent.
Hugh returned her to the house but then said he was going for a drive.
She would spend the evening of her wedding with Rose.
“Carson is spending the evening away, at a card party,” Rose said pointedly. Carson was Hugh’s valet. Did that mean Hugh did not plan on returning tonight or did it mean that he did? “Most of the staff has been told to make themselves scarce.”
“By whom?” Penelope said. She and Rose were furiously knitting. It had become something of a passion for the both of them.
“Lady Margaret.”
“Ah.” Although everyone, it seemed, knew of Penelope’s condition, it was becoming apparent that he had not shared the entirety of what he believed with his sister or anybody else. Penelope pulled at the yarn she was using so that she would have a bit more slack.
It was very quiet in the house—too quiet.
“I still cannot believe that you would tell him he was not the father.”
Penelope stilled her hands and dropped them into her lap. “He has been so cold and angry, Rose. There has been no tenderness from him, as there had been in London. It’s as though I am no longer even his friend anymore. I had to do something, say something. It seemed the right thing at the time. And it seemed as though some of his anger left him after that. Perhaps one day, somehow, he will believe the truth.”
Rose clucked her tongue in disapproval. “When will you tell your parents? What will you tell them?”
“I need to speak with Danbury about that. I thought to send out announcements, but I am uncertain as to what his reaction will be if I do.” She picked up the stitch where she’d left off. “I wrote to Abigail last night. I told her everything. I know that she, at least, will not hate me for what I’ve done.”
Abigail was her cousin and dearest friend from as long as Penelope could remember. Abigail had been ostracized from thetonthe year of her debut after a reprobate of the worst kind took advantage of her and then told tales of it. Though no fault of her own, she’d found herself unmarried and increasing. That had been almost a decade ago.
Abigail now was married to the Duke of Monfort. Theirs was a love match but it had not begun that way. The duke had compromised her and then most honorably offered her his protection in the form of marriage.
