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Tia entered the room and then strolled to the bedroom where Emily lay resting on the bed. “What’s wrong, Emily?”
“I’m tired.”
“Very well then, why aren’t you closing your eyes, trying to sleep?” Tia sat down at the bottom of the large bed.
“I have to tell my husband,” Emily whispered.
“Yes, you do. Before long he will notice.”
Emily laughed scornfully. “I doubt that. He barely notices anything about me. He rarely visits my bed, preferring the company of his mistress to me.”
Tia nodded, not knowing what to say.
“And when he does visit my bed, he makes no effort to pleasure me. My mother confided in me that women can take pleasure from the act, but so far the only time it was pleasurable was the time with . . .” Her voice trailed off, as if realizing she was about to say too much.
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Again, Tia could only nod, not having the experience to offer much consolation.
“The act should be pleasurable, shouldn’t it?”
This time, she would have to say something. Her mother had also told her that women could enjoy the act with the right man. “I suppose it should,” Tia muttered. “Honestly, I wouldn’t know.”
“You’ve never been with a man?” Emily smiled sadly. “I am sorry. I shouldn’t have assumed you had been with a man before now.”
It wouldn’t be the first time. Even Jonathon had made the same assumption. “I’m not offended.”
“You should be.”
“Does your husband know you weren’t a virgin when you married him?”
Tears shimmered in her eyes as she nodded. “When he discovered the truth, I admitted what happened, but I lied and told him I knew I wasn’t with child. He must have assumed that my incident occurred a few months before I had met him.”
“He must have been angry.”
Emily nodded quickly. “He was. I think that is why he returned to his mistress so quickly.”
Tia now understood why Emily had befriended her so fast. If there was a hint of scandal to her name, she probably had no friends in town. With an insensitive lout of a husband, Emily had no one in which to confide. “Do you love him?”
Staring at the window, she shrugged. “No.”
“You have to tell him about the baby, Emily.”
“I will tonight,” she whispered, then sat up on the bed. “And then tomorrow, we shall go to the party and all the men will fall at your feet.”
“As you wish,” Tia said. “Take your nap. You and the baby need some sleep.”
“I know, but I enjoy your company. Aren’t you glad that you decided to take my advice and leave Middleton’s home?”
She wanted to agree, but every day she’d thought of him. Had his arm healed well? Had it become infected or poisoned his blood?
“You’re not, are you?” Emily whispered.
Tia shrugged. “He was injured before I left, so I worry about him.”
“There is more to that look than simple worry.”
“I hardly think so. I barely know the man.”
