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“Please,” Evie encouraged.
“Charlotte and I had our Coming Out together, and she was only eighteen when she accepted and married Silas St. John, the then Duke of Lincoln. She was the daughter of an earl, and so more than acceptable to be the wife of a duke.” Lady Margaret shook her head. “The two were not well acquainted before the betrothal, and once they were married, they very quickly discovered how ill-suited they were to each other. Charlotte liked to be constantly out and about, enjoying all manner of social engagements. The duke was older than her and had always been a reserved and quiet gentleman who preferred to stay at home.”
“Much like his son,” Evie noted ruefully.
Lady Margaret’s smile was rueful. “I think we both know the present Duke of Lincoln hides an intensely…passionate nature beneath that outward reserve.”
Evie’s cheeks flushed at this first hint of all that Lady Margaret had witnessed and heard between Evie and Hunter that evening a week ago.
“I think you will find the present duke is not so set in his ways as his father was,” the other woman continued briskly. “That being the case, I have no doubt he will make the effort to escort his duchess whenever and wherever she wishes to go.”
Evie knew that woman would be socially acceptable and fashionable. A woman who would almost certainly not wish Evie to remain in her husband’s life, as Hunter’s ward or anything else.
Lady Margaret sobered. “Charlotte was expecting a child within the first year of the marriage. I saw her often and know she disliked the months that followed intensely. She declared she had no intention of ever going through the uncomfortable process again. Granted, she often felt nauseous, and as the pregnancy progressed, she was no longer allowed to go out and about in Society. The duke had ceased visiting her bedchamber from the moment the doctor confirmed she was expecting a child.”
“I have heard it said many gentlemen prefer not to inflict their passions upon a woman who is with child, in case it harms her or the baby.”
One of Lady Margaret’s gray brows rose. “Heard it said where?”
Evie’s gaze became evasive. “I cannot quite remember.”
The older woman eyed her knowingly. “No doubt you overheard the young wives in the village talking of such indelicacies one Sunday when they gathered together to gossip after attending the church service.”
“Possibly.” As the ward of the duke who owned most of the surrounding countryside where those gossiping ladies lived, Evie had been neither fish nor fowl in those conversations, but usually stood on the fringes of the group and listened.
Lady Margaret sighed. “It was not the duke’s decision to be absent from his wife’s bed.”
Evie’s eyes widened. “Charlotte— I mean, the duchess, told you that?”
“As I said, we saw each other often. There were very few secrets between the two of us. That is how I know the birth was difficult, so much so it almost resulted in Charlotte’s death. After which, the doctor advised against her having any more children. Charlotte took that literally by making it very clear to her husband that she had provided him with his heir and would not be resuming their marital relations.” The older woman’s cheeks had become flushed at discussing physical intimacies, even those of another couple.
From Evie’s memory, the previous Duke of Lincoln had been aged in his early fifties when he died of a seizure nine years ago. Taking into account Hunter’s age of three and thirty, his father had been denied entry to his wife’s bedchamber and bed from the age of nine and twenty.
“No wonder he took mistresses,” she murmured.
“But he didn’t,” Lady Margaret assured firmly. “To my knowledge, the duke remained true to his marriage vows for almost the next twenty years, with never a word of rebuke made to or about Charlotte regarding the lack of affection in their marriage. I know this to be true because I had moved into the household by this time.”
Evie wished now that she had been old enough to know the duke better during those years he spent with her mother. Now that she was aware of the duke’s unhappy marriage, she was glad he had found some measure of happiness with her mother.
“And Charlotte?” she prompted.
“While she never took a lover, she nevertheless did exactly as she pleased for the next twenty years. She only became possessive over the duke after he had met and fallen in love with your mother.”
Evie frowned. “But she didn’t want him.”
Lady Margaret’s smile was sad. “She did not want anyone else to have him either.”
“That was very dog in the manger of her.”
Lady Margaret’s smile was ruefully affectionate. “I warned you she was not without her faults. Indeed, her husband’s indulgence toward her had made her more willful and selfish than ever. As such, she had become accustomed to having the duke always doing as she wished. But in regard to having your mother in his life, he would not be gainsaid. As far as Society was concerned, he and Charlotte remained the happily married Duke and Duchess of Lincoln, but in private, your father spent less and less time at home and every moment he could with the woman he loved. Your own mother.”
She eyed Lady Margaret quizzically. “You said you would tell me the facts, and I have no doubts you have done so, but what areyourthoughts and feelings on the matter?”
The other woman sighed. “I am the result of an unhappy Society marriage myself. Indeed, I believe my parents actually disliked each other, and their four children could not help but be aware of it. I know that the previous Duke of Lincoln, despite the unhappy state of his marriage, tried to maintain a relationship with Charlotte and his son. It was Charlotte, once she learned he had feelings for your mother, who then proceeded to put every obstacle between father and son that was within her power to do so.”
“That is very sad.”
“It is.” She sighed. “I cannot blame Charlotte entirely. So many of Society’s marriages are made for social or monetary standing or gain, and very few for love. In the end, her son was all she really had to show for those years of marriage to a man who no longer wanted anything to do with her, and she was determined to keep Hunter to herself.” She grimaced. “Although Charlotte was always a kind and considerate friend to me, she was also, as you see, a very selfish wife and mother.”
