Page 134 of The Price of Desire

Their breathing slowed, calmed. Olivia’s yawn was wide enough to make her jaw crack. Griffin gave her a sideways glance, then drew her close and made a niche for her head against his shoulder. Neither of them said anything for a long time, content to let silence linger, even comforted by it.

What more, then, needed to be said?

It was Olivia who remembered. “How much have you wagered?”

“Hmm?”

“In the betting books. How much have you wagered?”

Sensing a trap was being laid, Griffin tread carefully. “You are speaking of a particular wager?”

“How can you not know of it? Alastair says it is all about.”

“All about what?”

“Town, of course. A consequence of so much haste in regard to our wedding. We may as well have been wed by special license. Having the banns read was hardly any delay at all. Speculation is rife.”

“Rife.” Still practicing caution, he said, “What is the speculation?”

“That I am already carrying your child.”

“I see.”

“There are wagers. Whole pages in the clubs devoted to the date that I will deliver. It is unseemly, Griffin.”

“I agree.”

“You really didn’t know?”

The trap yawned as widely as she had. His foot hovered over it. How to answer in a way that would keep him well out of it? “It seems I might have heard something.”

She tilted her head back to better take his measure. “I thought so.”

“I didn’t wager,” he said quickly.

“Why not?”

“Why not? I thought we agreed the speculation was unseemly.”

“It is, but there is also a great deal of money to be won. Enough to renovate the library here at Wright Hall, I shouldn’t be surprised.”

She was probably right, Griffin thought. Still, he couldn’t place a wager for the very same reasons he didn’t play cards in his own hell. “It is generally accepted that I should have some inkling of such a date. It would hardly be fair.”

Olivia turned over, levered herself up so that she could see his face as clearly as the firelight defined it. “I like that you have regard for certain conventions,” she said. “Fair play. Honoring your vows. Appreciation of your responsibilities. I love all of that about you. Depend on it, really. That is why I made the wager.”

“You?” He heard the trap snap, but his foot was well wide of its jaws. “You made a wager?”

“Lady Rivendale did. On my behalf. She was completely amenable.”

“She would be. She will think of it as a very good joke on the wags. What date did you give her?”

Olivia told him.

“But that’s nine months from now.”

“It is, yes.” She smiled, kissed the corner of his mouth, and settled herself comfortably against him, breast to chest. “Nine months exactly. You know what that means, don’t you?”

He did. His hands slipped to the small of her back, then lower to the curve of her bottom. “It means we shall have to apply ourselves to just that end.” He touched his lips to hers, whispered against her mouth, “My clever and resourceful wife. My dearest Olivia.”