The moment was tense. For all their talk of being friends and keeping this marriage civil, of not going down a road whichmost expected them to... in those few quick seconds, it became obvious to Florentia that she had been living a lie.
And what was more, Hudson was clearly of the same mind.
It was brash. It was daring. It might ruin everything.But I do not care!Florentia licked her lips, looked at Hudson, and smirked. She could feel him relax, even as his hands gripped her tighter, his legs holding her closer. Knowing it was right, no longer fighting it as she had been, Florentia began to lean forward?—
“Your Grace!” a voice cried out from across the stable. “Your Grace! Are you here!”
“Ow!” Florentia yelped as the duke leapt to his feet as if he had been stung on the behind. He was sure to lift her with him, so strong that it was effortless for him to stand and prop her on her feet at the same time.
“What is it?” he barked awkwardly, not so much as looking at her as he swung himself around in search of who had called for them. His face was red, however. His breathing was ragged.
Then again, so was Florentia’s...
“Your Grace!” A member of staff rushed around the corner and found them. Seeing the two of them covered in hay, he balked. “Am I...so sorry, I did not mean to?—”
“Out with it!” Hudson snapped.
“Right. Yes.” He stood tall and put his hands to his side. “We have an unexpected caller, Your Grace. Two, in fact.”
“What? Now? Who?” Hudson asked with great caution.
The member of staff glanced at Florentia and then turned back to Hudson. “Lord and Lady Worthington, Your Grace. Her Grace’s parents.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
“We are so sorry to impose ourselves like this, Your Grace,” Lord Worthington began as soon as they were seated. “And we might have sent ahead, had this not been a last-minute decision.”
“It was my idea,” Lady Worthington spoke up quickly. “We spent the day in London, and as we were returning home, I realized our journey would be taking us right past your estate.”
“I tried to tell her it would be rude to pop in like this,” Lord Worthington insisted.”
“And I assured him that our daughter would be thrilled to see us,” Lady Worthington interjected. “Surely, a mother has the right?”
“It is fine,” Hudson assured them both. “And think nothing of it. We are pleased to see you.” He glanced at his wife, who was looking past her parents as if her mind was elsewhere. Onlythen, she seemed to realize that all eyes were on her, and she gave her head a shake and forced a smile.
“His Grace speaks the truth,” she said slowly, still not quite in the room. “It is our pleasure.”
Hudson eyed her for a moment longer. There was no need to guess where her mind was, as his was in the exact same place. He was unable to stop thinking about what had just very nearly happened in the stable, a moment that he hadn’t expected or thought to be possible. He wondered to himself what would have happened had they not been interrupted.
Not that I need to wonder too hard. Another second was all it would have taken, and suddenly this marriage might have changed forever. But do I want such a thing?
In a way, he was glad for the interruption, as it had saved him from acting on impulse as he so often tried to avoid. An emotional reaction, is what it was, brought about by their closeness and the situation they had found themselves in. Best not to think of it as anything more than a fleeting circumstance, one that was unlikely to happen again.
What Hudson needed to do was keep his mind on the situation at hand. Lord and Lady Worthington’s was an unexpected visit, claimed to be a last-minute decision, likely done to check in on this marriage and assess how it was going
For that reason, once they had met in the foyer, he directed them to the sitting room where he instructed the staff to bring themtea. They sat about the small table at the room’s center, Lord and Lady Worthington on a couch on one side, Hudson and his wife on the other.
“And what were you doing in London?” Hudson asked. As he spoke, he shuffled closer to his wife so it would not look as if he was avoiding her...only to realize that she might misread this action, forcing him to pause before getting too close.
“Shopping,” Lady Worthington said simply.
“Just an excuse to get out of the manor,” Lord Worthington added as if it was scripted. “I find that I go a little stir-crazy if I do not stretch my legs every couple of days.”
“Of course,” Hudson agreed, knowing now for a fact that this visit was not made at random.
“Florentia,” Lady Worthington said pointedly. “Are you paying attention?”
Florentia gave her head another shake and looked at her mother. Hudson watched her closely, expecting a sharp retort as he was so used to. She had a tongue on her, his wife, and she liked to use it. No doubt her mother was used to such a thing too.
