Margaret placed her untouched glass of champagne on a side table. ‘If you’ll excuse me for a moment,’ she said, then crossed the room and exchanged a few words with one of the maids, before disappearing down the hallway.
Jacob looked around the room, at his friends who also appeared to have helped themselves to several glasses of champagne already. This was where he belonged. With other aristocratic wastrels who thought only of their own pleasure.
He took another sip of his drink and made himself a solemn promise. He would talk to Margaret before the night was over. He would set her free, just as he had promised when they’d first begun their fake engagement.
Chapter Nineteen
Margaret took a deep breath and stared at her reflection in the looking glass of the ladies’ retiring room. Had something changed? Jacob was certainly acting in a strange, stilted manner that was so unlike him. Had he read her mind when she’d first realised the bride was with child? Was he aware of how much she wanted children, his children, even though that was something they had never discussed?
Maybe it was time they had that discussion. She drew in another deep breath, wondering whether she really could tell him how she had fallen so deeply in love with him and wanted them to be joined forever, not just as husband and wife but as the parents of children, and maybe one day as grandparents.
She nodded to her reflection. She needed to tell him, even if his response was to tell her that he did not want children, then at least she would have some idea of what the future held for her. She needed to know if that was the reason her outgoing and fun-loving husband suddenly looked like he was bearing the weight of the world on his shoulders.
Yes, that was the best thing to do. Ask him what had caused his sudden despondency, and then, perhaps, maybe, tell him how much she was yearning to have his child.
She frowned at herself. Or should she wait until they were back at the townhouse? That might be a better idea than having such an intimate conversation in a public place. She nodded slowly, but she still wanted to find out what was troubling Jacob. She did want to know why his manner had changed so much since they’d walked into the church. Was it seeing his old friends? Remembering his old life? Or seeing his ex-lover again? Whatever it was, she needed to talk to him. Now? Maybe. Or perhaps that too was a conversation best left till they got home.
While she continued to debate with her reflection what to do, the door opened and Baroness Winterborne entered.
Stifling a gasp, Margaret picked up a nearby comb and ran it through her ringlets as if they desperately needed rearranging. The last thing she wanted right now was to be in this small enclosed space with Jacob’s former lover, and she hoped the woman was as reluctant to talk as she was.
No such luck. The Baroness’s reflection loomed beside her shoulder, looking no less elegant than she had on the night they had met at the theatre.
‘We meet again, Your Grace,’ she said with a small bow of her head, and Margaret wondered whether she detected a facetious note in her greeting.
‘Baroness,’ Margaret said, turning to face her and forcing herself to nod politely.
‘I’m so pleased we have met in private,’ the Baroness went on, ignoring the presence of the two maids. ‘I really wanted to tell you how different you look since we met at the theatre.’
Margaret was unsure how to respond, as she wasn’t entirely sure if that was a compliment or an insult.
‘You’re positively glowing, your eyes are sparkling and you certainly look like a satisfied woman.’
‘Thank you,’ Margaret said tentatively. That sounded almost like a compliment, but it came from such an unexpected source it was hard to be certain.
‘And I know exactly the reason why.’
‘You do?’ she said, her wariness growing.
‘Oh, my dear, we both know, don’t we?’
‘We do?’
‘He does that to a woman, doesn’t he?’ She closed her eyes and sighed, causing Margaret’s entire body to tense. There could be no doubt about who theheshe was referring to was.
‘He makes you feel adored, almost worshipped, as if you are the most beautiful woman in the world.’
The Baroness opened her eyes and leant towards Margaret as if about to make a confession. Margaret leant backwards, not wanting to hear anything this woman had to say, especially about Jacob. She should leave, but she remained where she was, as if under some strange compulsion to torture herself.
‘I shouldn’t really say this, but I’ve had one or two lovers in my time, but none came anywhere near Jacob, none made me feel the way he did.’
She actually winked at Margaret. ‘The things that man can do to a woman’s body…my, oh my. When I saw you walk into the church, that little smile curling the edges of your lips, with your arm through his, leaning towards him as if your body was being drawn into his orbit, I knew exactly what the two of you had been up to this morning, and I must admit I was rather jealous.’
The tension in Margaret’s body intensified. ‘Jealous?’ What was this woman threatening?
‘Oh, don’t misunderstand me. As much as I’d like to have Jacob back in my bed, you’re safe. Well, safe from me, that is. I’d never do anything again to endanger my marriage, and being with Jacob definitely did that. My husband had never minded me taking lovers before, but he was livid when I was with Jacob. He hated seeing me…well…looking the way you do now, and knowing that another man was causing me to behave like a cat on heat.’
Margaret’s jaw clenched, her shoulders stiffened. She was certain she was not behaving in such a manner.
