Page 48 of A Duchess to Unravel
“That sounds so … lonely,” she said. “I thought Alistair was a better man than that. He seemed so polite with me anytime we spoke.”
Theo pondered. It was not so much loneliness she was feeling. She actually quite liked the freedom of having her days without worry of offending someone. Longing, though, was perhaps the better word. It had started a couple days after her visit to Alistair’s office and grown a little every night since.
He had told her that she could come to him any time for another lesson, and there had been several times that she found herself walking to his office. Yet something always stopped her, and she could not figure out what it was.
“It is not that Alistair is not polite,” Theo said at last, choosing to ignore Amelia’s words about loneliness. “He is simply busy. Apparently, Seraphina’s late father had left the Caldermere accounts a mess.”
“Yes,” Amelia sighed, “Dominic told me that was why we came here. Something is wrong. Dominic and Everett are worried.”
She paused, as if considering something for a moment, then asked, “You will see him tonight though? We are all dining together, are we not?”
Theo nodded, the idea of such filling her with anxious excitement. It would be the first meal to be shared between Alistair and her, and she was not at all sure how her husband was going to act.
“Mm, speaking of such,” Theo said, noting the time. “We should get dressed. I suspect one of the maids will be coming to fetch us within the hour.”
As their maids readied them, Theo asked Amelia about life in London. Most importantly, about her brother and the gossip papers. She had not heard or seen a thing of her stalker since she and Alistair had left London, but she knew better than to believe that such a person would just disappear.
“Your brother, Dominic tells me, is more agitated than usual,” Amelia told her. “It is almost as if he is angry about being one of Alistair’s new partners. Though I suspect that has much to do with you.”
Theo felt a sliver of guilt. Tristan had seemed to like Alistair until he’d shown interest in her. But perhaps, as Alistair had told her, her brother was just good at keeping secrets. She had written to him twice now thanking him for the gifts and inquiring on his wellbeing. There was yet any response, though.
“As for the papers,” Amelia went on with an exhausted sigh, “It seems the scandal of the Devil’s Masquerade has died down. There has been no other articles on it.”
Theo squirmed in her chair. She wanted to feel relieved about the news but could not. Not until Alistair brought her the news that her stalker had been dealt with.
And how was he to discover the man if he is always working on accounts?
“Anything else to report?” Theo asked, needling for any news on strange behavior.
“Only that despite his constant state of business, Dominic is making mequitehappy,” Amelia replied. She looked in the mirror to meet Theo’s eyes, and both of them giggled.
“What of you?” Amelia asked. “Is your new husband making you …happy?”
Theo blushed.
“Some,” she admitted. “I am still getting used to our arrangement.”
She then looked toward Bridget and Norma, who were just putting the finishing touches on their hair.
“Thank you, girls. You may go,” Theo dismissed them. “If our husbands are already in the dining room, please let them know that we shall be joining them shortly.”
The maids bowed, and Theo waited for them to leave. The moment the door closed, Amelia turned eagerly toward Theo.
“He makes me ask him for things,” Theo whispered.
Amelia’s smile bloomed as her eyes widened.
“Fascinating. Do you enjoy what he does to you?” She asked.
“Well, yes,” Theo replied, “Very much, actually. But he never comes to me! What does that mean?”
Amelia’s eyes glittered with amusement as she stood up and pulled Theo from her chair.
“Do you know what I learned while being with Dominic?” Amelia asked.
“Oh, just tell me already, Amelia,” Theo urged.
“That if you have a question for your husband, it is best you ask it of him. Even if it makes you uncomfortable,” Amelia replied.
