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“Oh, Sarah!” He held her face with his both hands, propping on his elbows. Hearing her say that made him so…he did not know…proud of his prowess, he guessed. “I wish I had been there, at your side all the time!”
“I am sorry I did not tell you. I felt so desperate and the need to protect the child stronger than me.”
“I know. I know.” He buried his head in her neck. “We’ll have more children. As many as you want.” Moreover, it hit him that maybe she had married him for that precise reason. So she just wanted his children, not him. It did not matter, he would do his best to see her happy!
“Yes, well, you cannot say you’re not trying hard.” A naughty expression on her face.
“Indeed.” He started caressing her whole body. “Maybe we can try some more.”
They went lost in passion all over again.
Sarah went back home, the Hawkmore house. In the weeks that followed, they seemed to get closer and closer. They attended social functions together; they went for walks in the park and spent evenings reading and talking in the library. She held her routine in the bank and he held his, as he had always done. The nights, oh, the nights, a shiver ran through her body. She could not seem to resist him, she did not even want to. Until one morning, she got up feeling queasy. Immediately she knew her body sheltered another child. She wanted to be sure before she told him, though.
One afternoon Sarah dressed up when Hugh came to her dressing room. Her lady’s maid finished her hair, curtsied and left. Their eyes met in the mirror. His manly gorgeousness would always strike her, she thought.
“Are you going out?” He asked, as he leaned on the doorframe, hands in his pockets. As far as he remembered, they did not have any appointment for that afternoon. He had planned a whole different…activity.
“Well, yes, I-“ Not sure how he’d feel about the charity she’d founded a year ago. “I sponsor a charity institution and they’re having a tea party.” Sarah visited the house for single pregnant women once a week, generally during her working day. She knew all the women there and considered them her friends. This week they had invited her for tea and there was no way she would decline it.
“A charity?” Now, this wife of his full of surprises. “What kind of charity?” If it revealed to be one of those she had to have contact with dangerous lunatics, he would forbid her to go. He was her husband after all and she meant too much for him to risk her safety.
She put on her hat and adjusted it. “It is a house for single pregnant women.”
Even more surprising, she must be using a part of the bank’s profits for that. “You help people that were in the same situation as you.” He concluded the obvious. He suddenly realized how traumatic it must have been for her to be with child and no job or a place to go. “I’m coming with you.”
She gaped. She had never thought he would be interested in such things. “Oh!” She stared at him wide-eyed.
He observed her reaction. Did she want to exclude him from this part of her life? Did she think it something of hers alone?
She smiled. “I believe everyone will be very honoured to have an Earl among them.”
The relief he felt such that he went to his dressing room and get dressed to hide his emotions.
Contrary to Hugh’s expectations, the tea party revealed to be exceedingly pleasant. The pregnant women were all too grateful to Sarah and surrounded her in admiration. The helpers looked up to her and she treated all of them with care and consideration. All those women surrounded him and thanked him for allowing her to continue with the institution. He would tell them that their marriage contract prevented him from allowing or forbidding anything. Actually, he had never felt the need to control her life, as long as she stayed with him.
In the carriage, they sat in front of each other. She had her head leaning on the carriage’s side with a satisfied look in her eyes.
“You’re doing a good job, Sarah.” He stated.
She smiled mildly. “Thank you, Hugh.”
“Those women are very grateful to you.” He sat, with one ankle on his knee. “And today seemed like a special day for them.”
“You’re right, we were, as you know, celebrating one year of helping those women.”
“I am glad to have taken part in it.”
“And they were even gladder that you were there” As their eager look showed so well!
“Oh, really?” He smiled his most heart-melting smile.
“And you’re going to pretend you did not notice their dreamy stares at you!” She looked at him sideways.
“Do I sense a bit of jealousy on your part, Lady Hawkmore?” He provoked.
“You must be delusional, Lord Hawkmore!” She mocked, naughty.
It felt nice to know that she did not stay so indifferent to him. Ok, he knew they were dynamite in bed, but apart from that, he could not tell anything more.
