Page 33 of A Necessary Wife

Had Chatham just been reminded of that?

Well, Amelia would not be conducting affairs or keeping secrets from her husband. But she took her time finishing her food, and once the children became restless, she led the way out to the garden, where they could play and her husband could prowl, expressing his agitation to his heart’s content without a servant looking on.

She carried her letters with her as she walked beside her husband, fighting the instinct to react to his tension. “I prefer to read in bright light,” she told him, and it was the truth. She pointed to the distant dark clouds. “I do hope the weather will hold long enough to get through them all.”

She sat down and read her letter from her brother in front of Chatham, smiling as Anthony complained that the servants were unmanageable already. But his complaints only meant that at last he understood all Amelia had done for him. She had made Anthony’s life easy. He now had to make some decisions on his own, and perhaps that would help him change his mind about taking a wife at last.

She casually passed the letter to her husband to read and watched for his reaction. “My poor brother is overwhelmed by his new solitude.”

Although appearing surprised by her offer of the letter, Chatham devoured her brother’s words with obvious interest. Slowly, a smile blossomed on his face. “What did he expect when he let you go?”

“He probably never knew how much I did for him.”

“Or appreciated it, it seems.”

Amelia turned her attention to the next letter, penned in a hand she recognized too well.

Her younger sister’s letter was not amusing. Caroline complained of being the last to know about the marriage and felt certain Amelia had married a man of rank out of pure spite.

She also demanded that Amelia and Chatham present themselves immediately at her home before she would approve the match.

Amelia had been utterly blindsided by her sister’s marriage to her beau, and would not be seeking her sister’s approval for anything in her new life. She was the elder, and now of higher rank than her petulant little sister, who was only Mrs. Norris.

The betrayal by her younger sibling still cut too deeply and would never be forgotten. But at the time, Amelia had been forced to be accepting of the match.

Savaged dreams of love and family took a long time to heal, if they ever completely went away.

She passed her sister’s letter to her husband, also, but did not watch him read it.

Her aunt’s note was blunt and brutal.

She closed the letter with a shaking hand and set it aside, feeling burned all over again due to the unfair criticisms. But the words repeated in her head.

Brazen hussy, adventuress, desperate to outrank her more deserving sister, and despised for the cunning of seducing a widower who should have been left for a debutant on the marriage mart to claim.

Suddenly, Chatham was sitting by her side. “Amelia? What is it?”

“Nothing I shouldn’t have expected.”

“You’re so pale that I must know. Let me see.”

“I would prefer it if you did not read that letter. My aunt does not say much that is flattering about my character.”

“Show me.” Chatham held out his hand…and reluctantly, Amelia passed it over.

His response was as quick as she feared it would be.

“Devil take it! No wonder your face grew so pale. Foolish old goat, to blame you for the fickle attentions of a bounder like Norris still. She is not, under any circumstances, to be invited to visit us if that is how she speaks of you. Your sister, too. Our butler can burn all future letters from them if you wish him to do so.”

Amelia sat back with a breath of surprise. It was quite unexpected to have someone so completely on her side for once that they offered ways to protect her feelings. She had been dreading introducing her aunt to her husband’s family, to be honest. His family would have disliked her even more after her aunt was done gossiping about her shortcomings.

“Thank you.”

“I shall give your sister the cut direct if she so much as looks at you unkindly, too,” Chatham continued. “The damn nerve to say such things to my wife.”

She laughed softly. “I’m sure the cut direct won’t be necessary, but thank you for the offer.”

“I’ve never understood why your family thinks so poorly of you, when you were the one betrayed.”