And so, they’d soldiered on…
She would have thought that after being married to a person for nearly eight years, there would have been nothing that could make them uncomfortable with one another. She had been quite wrong.
“And if you must, you could always use your mouth.”
Margaret frowned as Penelope finished her monologue. “My what? Penelope!”
“All of this depends on how motivated you are.”
“I’ll manage quite well without doing any such thing.” Margaret stiffened her spine and drew back her shoulders. She’d never! Long ago, she’d considered it but…
Climbing into bed with her prospective husband ought to be quite enough to obtain the answers she required.
Penelope merely shrugged. “Don’t dismiss something you’ve never tried.”
Margaret resisted the urge to cover her ears. “Will you remember that you are referencing my brother?” Determined to change the subject, she glanced toward the clock sitting atop the mantle. “How long do you think I ought to wait?” It was already a quarter past midnight.
“Half an hour.”
Margaret let out a long breath, causing Penelope to rush forward and give her a quick hug. “I have every faith in you. Have you considered that you might even conceive tonight? I would be so very happy for you!”
Margaret had, of course, considered this. She blinked away tears at the possibility.
“When you’ve finished, come knock on Hugh’s chamber to tell me all the details. I doubt I’ll sleep until I know how this turns out.”
Margaret raised her brows. She most definitively would not be giving her sister-in-law the details she wanted. “Don’t be ridiculous, Penelope. And please, please will you refrain from sharing any of this with my brother?”
Penelope shifted her gaze toward the corner. “Well, about that…”
Margaret’s heart dropped. Even talking to Penelope made her feel… exposed. Margaret had always been a very private person. “You already have.”
“Of course, I have. But he won’t say a word. Hugh is the soul of discretion.”
Hugh would not say a word to anyone else, but Margaret would have preferred her younger brother not know about any of this. Not only because of the obvious reasons but because it was manipulative and underhanded and… tawdry.
Ah, well. She supposed it would have been asking too much of Penelope to keep anything from her husband. Margaret shuddered and then closed her eyes.
“Don’t overthink this,” Penelope warned.
Margaret nodded and, feeling a flash of panic, asked, “Wish me luck?” She wasn’t the sort to believe in luck, or fortune or fate, making this a very uncharacteristic request for her. But this evening’s task was a most uncharacteristic one as well.
“I’m wishing you all the luck in the world.” Penelope smiled reassuringly and then, holding both hands up with fingers crossed, backed out and closed the door behind her.
Twenty-eight minutes to wait—twenty-eight minutes in which Margaret could either abandon the plan in its entirety or bolster herself with encouragement. She wasn’t cold and yet bouts of shivering threatened to travel through her frame.
Margaret placed one hand low on her abdomen. Despite all her misgivings, despite fearing the worst and knowing it was wrong, she firmed up her resolution.
She would not change her mind.
2
Oh, My!
Creaking hinges pierced the silence of the night like a shot in the dark. Margaret held her breath and froze until she was certain the sound hadn’t awakened him. She also glanced up and down the corridor to reassure herself that no one was awake to witness her entering a gentleman’s room.
She would have been quite surprised if there had been.
After waiting far longer than Penelope had advised—into the early morning hours, in fact—she’d not ventured out of her chamber until the urgency of her situation finally lent her the courage she’d needed. If she did not do this tonight then she never would.
