“What if I get pregnant?”
“So?” he chuckled. “It won’t be the last time.”
“Ben.” She gave him a little pinch in the side. “I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
“I don’t know how to be a mother. I had a terrible role model. I don’t know anything about babies.”
“I think you and I were meant to learn to do things together,” he let her know, leaning over to give her a reassuring kiss.
She smiled. That was a nice way to look at it. But– “What about your sister?”
“She’ll come around,” he told her. “Let’s not speak of this now, hmm?” He silenced her with a kiss that sizzled her nerve-endings.
“Let’s not speak of anything at all,” she purred and straddled him. She giggled at her own boldness, then leaned down and kissed the lips that were waiting for her.
Chapter Thirteen
“Who is she?” Lady Witham cast Benjamin’s guest a slanted glare while she sipped her tea in the dining Hall.
“My Elizabeth heard she comes from Belstead,” the Duchess of Braintree said in a low, secretive voice.
The ladies at the table turned to the Marquess of Ipswich’s wife, who shook her head. “No one in Belstead has heard of her.”
“The duke certainly seems smitten with her,” Margaret Somner’s mother, the Duchess of Halstead remarked.
“If anyone knows anything about her, it’s you, Lady Prudence.” The Duchess of Nottingham, Lady Charlotte’s mother, set her resentful gaze on Prudence.
Her pride was still wounded since Benjamin had Lady Charlotte removed from Colchester House. But it hadn’t stopped her from accepting Prudence’s invitation for tea.
“I know only this; my brother is smitten indeed,” Prudence told them, looking up from her cup and setting her gaze on Miss Ramsey sitting across the room with Stephen and Edith and two other servants.
Soon, she’d have all the servants sitting at the tables with them!
“You don’t like her,” Lady Witham said snidely.
“What I think of her doesn’t matter.” But truthfully, Prudence didn’t hate her. She was homeless, as Prudence had once been. But that was where her empathy ended. Benjamin needed to keep their father’s name well respected.
She let her gaze slip to her brother speaking to these women’s husbands. Prudence knew him well enough to see by his fidgeting that he wanted to finish up with them and get back to Miss Ramsey.
She’d wondered what it was about her brother’s guest that attracted him so much, but after watching Miss Ramsey flip her brother twice and knock Lord Sudbury off his feet, Prudence could see how such an unconventional woman would pique Benjamin’s interest. Was that all it was? Curiosity? Would he grow tired of her? Watching him flick his gaze to where Miss Ramsey sat laughing with the help made Prudence doubt that it was trivial. She couldn’t remember a time in Benjamin’s life when he was interested in a girl. What girl would have shown him any interest back then when he was always covered in bruises? She realized her brother was considered very handsome now, but when he had a black eye and a fat lip he was less adorable.
Goodness, but did he smile every time he met Miss Ramsey’s gaze? The fact that he smiled at all…Simon had been correct. Her little brother looked happy. She had to admit, it was nice to witness.
It took her a moment to realize there was a server standing beside her about to set down a tray of cinnamon scones on the table. “What’s this?”
The server didn’t answer but moved aside to make room for Miss Ramsey.
“I hope you don’t mind, Lady Prudence. I asked Lord Sudbury what you enjoyed at the table and he told me you liked cinnamon scones, so I asked the baker to prepare them for you.”
Prudence sat there stunned for a moment. What was she to say to that? The scones smelled delicious. She looked over to where Simon sat and smiled at him. Then she turned her gaze on Miss Ramsey.
“Thank you.”
“Does the baker take orders from you, then?” the Duchess of Braintree asked.
“I didn’t order him to do anything,” Miss Ramsey told her. “He did it because it was for Lady Prudence–” Miss Ramsey smiled at her– “As anyone here would do.”
