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“I am trying, Tia. I really want to make the estate profitable again.”
She pushed up on his chest and stared down at him. “The estate is not profitable?”
“It is not what an estate of that size should be making. I have money from the Red Door to invest in Middleton Hall. By making a few changes, things should improve. We’re far from bankrupt, just not where I want the estate.”
“And if things don’t improve?”
“They will.” They must. He was determined to give his children a better life than he’d had. Braden closed his eyes as he thought about his children. He had always been so careful with other women to be sure he didn’t spill his seed inside them. The last thing he’d wanted was some bastard-born child or a woman attempting to coerce him into marriage. But with Tia, he hadn’t even thought about it. She could be carrying his child right now.
The idea that she might be carrying his child warmed his heart and soul. With her caring nature, she would make a wonderful mother. But he also knew that unlike most women, wise women didn’t care if they had children outside of marriage. So even if she were to become with child, there was no certainty that she would marry him.
She was without a doubt the most vexing woman he had ever met.
Chapter 16
Tia awoke the next morning with a heavy arm around her. Deep breathing from behind her forced the weariness from her eyes. She blinked and looked around slowly, remembering what had happened last night. She had given herself to Braden.
Willingly.
She’d told herself that it wouldn’t matter. No one would care if she succumbed to his charms, but she’d been terribly wrong. She cared. In a way, she had broken her own vow.
She had done the one thing she’d criticized her own sister for too many times. God, what would Mia think of her now? Tia wondered if Mia had finally succumbed to the earl’s charms as she had to Braden’s. A wave of homesickness came over her. She missed her sister and even her mother. She wanted to walk the fields to see the tenants, tend their ills, and help them through this hard life they led. A tear fell over her nose to the pillow.
“Why are you crying?” Braden whispered in her ear before kissing the nape of her neck.
“I miss them,” she whispered.
“Who?”
“Everyone. My mother, Mia, Selina, all the tenants, and the servants at the hall.”
“Shh, sweetheart,” he murmured. “Do you want me to have a carriage take you back to Middleton Hall?”
She shook her head. “Thank you, but no. We need to find Jonathon.”
“All right. Unfortunately, this little poisoning has set us back again.”
“Yes, it has. I need to leave before your valet comes in to dress you.” Tia lifted his arm and slid under it to get out of the bed.
“You could stay here with me all day in bed,” he said in a husky voice.
She glanced over her shoulder and her knees went weak. The coverlet was down to his hips, exposing his broad shoulders and bare chest. The urge to climb back into bed was overwhelming. But she couldn’t do that. She had work to do today.
“Do you mind if I go to the park? With a maid, of course.”
“That should be fine. Why are you going to the park?”
“I need to speak with Emily and I thought that might be neutral ground for the both of us.”
“As you wish.”
“Thank you, Braden.” She gathered her shawl and raced to her room. She wrote a quick note to Emily and then rang for Mrs. Abbott. Before the housekeeper arrived, Tia had already pulled out a day gown, changed into a fresh shift, and was waiting for her.
“My goodness, you are a in a rush today,” Mrs. Abbott said as she entered the room. She glanced over at the bed. “So, things went as you had hoped?”
“Yes,” Tia said, handing Mrs. Abbott her stays. “Please help me dress. His lordship has allowed me to walk to the park as long as I have a maid to accompany me. Would you like to be my escort?”
Mrs. Abbott laughed. “I have far too much work to take a leisurely walk in the park. I need the maids, so you can have one of the footmen. It’s safer that way.”
