Page 59 of Tempting the Marquess

“The night before.”

“Well then, you are about six weeks gone. Most women don’t begin to show until at least their fourth month. You are unlucky to be feeling ill so soon, but it can happen at any time, I’ve heard.”

“I’ll have to tell them eventually, though, won’t I. Do you think Papa will disown me? He has been so very nice recently, but I’m afraid this might make him hate me. I didn’t even think about it at the time, but it is a truly terrible thing I’vedone.”

“Stop right there,” Jane snapped. “There were two people not thinking at the time, and one of them knew a lot more about the risks and consequences than the other. But considering John and Eva are hardly models of propriety, I hope they wouldn’t do anything so drastic as disown you. However, should they need time to cool down, I’m sure Stephen would agree to you and me retiring to the country. Westleigh Park is fully staffed.”

Samantha leaned back on a pile of soft, thickly embroidered cushions and sighed. “I’m so sorry. It seems my family is forever destined to embarrass yours.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, darling, I just wish you’d told me things were rapidly progressing in that direction with William. I would have summoned him at once for a very stern lecture on the correct order of proceedings.”

“Do you think it might have made a difference?” she questioned, the tiniest of smiles tugging at herlips.

“Probably not. But at least I wouldn’t have been a complete failure as a chaperone.”

“You’re not a failure. I took it upon myself to go to Hastings House late one night. No one could have stopped me. Oh God, I miss William so much. Do you miss Uncle Andrew likethat?”

Aunt Jane flinched, and Samantha immediately regretted her foolishly impulsive question. Of course it wasn’t the same, she hadn’t lost a husband of nearly three decades as well as a beloved son. But then her aunt tilted her head and smiled fondly.

“Every hour of every day,” she murmured. “But slowly, as time passes, the ache eases to a nearly bearable level. If you have friends and family who care, there is a reason to get up in the morning. And you remember the good times too. We Buchanans were terrible ton, scandal was our middle name, but Andrew loved me anyway.”

Sighing, Samantha closed her eyes. A man willing to do anything, face down anything, for love. “He was special. But anyway, surely soon there will be good news. Until then I guess we must wait. Andhope.”

Andpray.