Page 58 of Secrets of the Marriage Bed
Alistair glowered. ‘The devil she did. No doubt she came knowing I was out.’
‘She hinted as much.’
‘Why did you not mention this before?’
Julia stiffened under his piercing gaze.
‘Crawfy,’ Miss Digby said. ‘You know you are not the most approachable of men. Especially not on the topic of your stepmama.’
‘Quite honestly,’ Julia said, ‘I forgot about it yesterday, with so much going on.’ Forgot for a while and later was hesitant as to how to approach the matter. ‘She wanted me to support her request to move into the dower house.’
‘Do not bother. My father’s will provided for the dower house at Balderston. Never again will she set foot on Sackfield soil, so please don’t invite her here.’
‘Her Grace is not partial to Yorkshire,’ Miss Digby said, looking at Alistair, but Julia was not sure if it was censure or support she offered. ‘Too many sheep.’
‘Too far from London, more like,’ Alistair said. ‘I’m surprised she didn’t ask you to return the Dunstan rubies. She acted as if they were her personal property. They belong to the Duchy, to be worn by the sitting Duchess.’
Her face burned red as she recalled exactly what they had done when he had draped those rubies all over her naked skin that first night. Her inner muscles clenched at the memory.
A glance at Alistair told her he remembered, too. Heat blazed in his eyes. For once, he did not look anywhere near indifferent.
She folded her hands in her lap, clenching them together until it hurt, trying to get those visions out of her mind.
Should she tell him about the laudanum? But with the awful possibility thathewas responsible for doctoring her tea. If so, it would be foolish to let him know she had found him out.
Julia felt ill. First laudanum in her tea, then a dresser who might be working for his stepmother. Had she, by marrying Alistair, jumped from the frying pan into the fire?
Alistair must have sensed her disquiet for he reached over and gave her hand a brief squeeze. ‘Don’t worry about Robins, I will write to Lewis and find out just who she is.’
She only wished she trusted him enough to believe he wasn’t trying to mislead her.
* * *
Dinner had been strangely quiet, Alistair as seemingly preoccupied as she was herself. Miss Digby had talked about what a lovely little boy he had been. Happy. Sweet. Intelligent. Only the last of those epithets seemed applicable now, yet he had occasionally been sweet to her. More than sweet, kind. And generous. Was she wrong to suspect him?
‘Tea is served, Your Grace,’ Grindle announced, having been informed earlier that they would both remove to the drawing room after dinner.
Alistair held her chair while she rose and escorted her to the drawing room. He lifted the lid of the teapot and inhaled. ‘No Oolong. I had a word with them in the kitchen and asked them not to send it up any more. I told them it didn’t agree with you and to only use it when they serve it to me in my office.
Julia leaned close to him and breathed in the fragrant steam. ‘It smells lovely.’ Not a whiff of poppy.
Alistair grunted.
‘I agree. Itisperfectly horrid when one has to do without something one likes for the sake of another.’
He gave her a sharp look, but a small smile pulled the corners of his mouth upward. ‘It always amazes me how much information you glean from little more than a sound.’
Seeing that smile gave her courage. ‘I have brothers who rarely did more than grunt or order one about.’ It was one of the reasons she had been so willing to accept her first husband’s marriage proposal. She had thought nothing could be worse than a house full of brothers. She’d been so utterly wrong.
Alistair winced.
Of course, he had a brother, too, from whom he was estranged.
She set about pouring them both a cup of tea.
‘You are ready for our visit to Beauworth tomorrow?’
‘I am looking forward to it. Do you plan to see your brother while you are there?’
