Page 61 of A Necessary Wife

Amelia smiled down at him and cupped his face. Held his head. Then leaned down to kiss his forehead like a mother would a child.

He drew back to look up at her again. “I’m so sorry about what I said last night. I am so sorry that I embarrassed you in front of others. I do know that you’d never welcome Dunstan’s attentions.”

“Certainly not.” She pulled a face. “Your father told me you left the estate last night and I believed him. I didn’t know what to do or when you’d return.”

“I am sorry for that, too. It is not what you think.”

“Was the duke wrong? You must have gone somewhere to make him say such things?”

“I woke up in the stables, in a horse stall. My brother and Rafferty offering brotherly sympathy as I woke only to cast up my accounts,” he confessed.

“That sounds unpleasant and explains the odor about you,” she said, but a tiny smile twisted her lips. “So, were you on horseback at some point last night?

“Yes, it seems so.” He winced. “I think I was going to fetch your harp from Devon.”

Her brows rose high. “My harp? From Devon?”

He nodded sheepishly. “I thought if you had that back, you’d be happier here.”

“A grand gesture but a foolish one, as all decisions made while under the influence of spirits surely are.” She sniffed the air and her nose wrinkled again. “What am I going to do with you?”

“Keep me,” he begged. “I promise to…

Her fingers pressed over his lips, silencing him. “No more promises.”

He nodded, agreeing with her request.

“You need some time, Chatham. You need a bath, a shave and definitely fresh clothing to wear. Some food in your belly couldn’t hurt, either. We will not speak of your first wife again. We can both move on, content with our marriage and building a life together if that is what you still want.”

“Of course I still do,” he swore.

But contentment?

Had he ever been that in a marriage?

Every day, he discovered he hardly understood the remarkable woman he had married. His first wife had caused chaos every day of her life, but Amelia smoothed it all away. Amelia wanted a peaceful existence with him. That was what they had promised each other in the beginning, and she was holding true to her word even after last night.

He nodded. He had made a wise choice in marrying her, but he hadn’t ever known Amelia’s true value when he’d proposed.

He did now.

She drew back, slipping from his fingers before he was ready to let her go.

She smiled gently at him. “Now, I am expected to return to the duchess and your sisters’ little party. I’ll leave you alone and perhaps you can come and find me later today.”

He didn’t want her to go, but he did need time to adjust to the truth. The revelation had changed him. “Yes. I’d like that.”

“Do let your father know you never left the estate. He was worried.”

Amelia smiled and slipped from the room without another word, leaving him to rebuild his composure on his own terms. Finally facing a future without the guilt that had been haunting him for so long, he cursed his late wife roundly. He’d no idea she’d been controlling his emotions from the grave all this time.

Thank God Amelia had come to rescue him from his misery.

He wiped his face to make sure he was free of tears and stood, determined to make another new start. Those tears would have shamed him once upon a time, to have any woman see. He would never have cried in front of his late wife, but Amelia looked at him with compassion instead of scorn.

His second wife was one of a kind, it seemed.

They might not ever feel love for each other, but he respected her more and more each day. Given enough time, he was sure he would feel something akin to love…but of course, he would never say so out loud. That went against every ideal their marriage strove for.