Page 61 of The Lyon Whisperer
And he’d been correct. She had gotten her feelings hurt.
“I seek to implement some sort of program to help rehabilitate them, I suppose. To help them find gainful employment, medical care in some instances, for those injured in battle. That sort of thing.
“There are some members in the house who, to date, do not see the plight of our military men as one that the Crown should address. My goal is to convince them otherwise, and to draft a plan.”
Her gemstone eyes filled with warm approval. “A noble endeavor, sir. I am not at all surprised. I have noted you yourself have hired several officers.”
He considered asking how she came to know his recent hiring practice, but Howard chose that moment to return with Amelia’s tea. The footman took it upon himself to procure another cup and saucer from the sideboard. He filled it and traded out the set with the one Amelia had before her.
“Thank you, Howard.”
By God, the man was blushing.
“Do you intend to venture into London today, sir?” Amelia asked, inhaling the fragrant steam coming off her tea.
He frowned. Did he detect a hopeful note? “Yes. Why?”
Her eyes widened and she gazed at him, all innocence. “No reason. Just idle curiosity, I suppose. By the by, I did receive a missive from Lady Harriet informing me the Ladies’ Literary Society has a meeting scheduled on Monday. I plan to attend.” She lifted her small chin and fixed him with a challenging stare.
He stifled a grin. “Very well, Amelia. I shall endeavor to avail you of the carriage.”
She sent him a brilliant, if not triumphant, smile. “Thank you, Chase.”
Chase said hisgoodbyes to Amelia, locating her in her antechamber and pressing a firm kiss to her soft mouth before heading downstairs and out to the stables.
The team was hitched to the carriage, everything set for his departure.
He glanced back at the manse, eyes narrowing. Something niggled at the back of his mind.
She’d been doing something when he entered her chamber. Something she had not wanted him to see. She’d gone so far as to hide whatever it was. He was sure of it.
A diary? A letter?
Did her secret doings have anything to do with the hopeful note he detected this morning when she asked if he meant to leave today?
“M’lord? Is aught amiss?” his groom, Geoffrey, asked.
Everything in him wanted to go back to the manse and see exactly what his wife was up to.
Visions of his father and mother’s relationship flashed in his mind.
His father had not trusted his mother—with good reason. She had treated him with blatant disrespect, and, at the end, contempt, for the crime of having loved her and, according to her, having trapped her in the mundane prison of marriage.
Time would tell if his beautiful, seemingly docile, wife merited his trust. But he would not lower himself to stalk her like his father had done his mother.
“I thought I forgot something in the manse. I was mistaken. Let’s away.”
Amelia gazed ather reflection in her dressing mirror with a critical eye. A bit too much color bloomed on her cheeks. Likely she had not taken enough care to avoid the sun when out of doors the last few days. She made a mental note to wear a wider-brimmed hat tomorrow.
She wanted to look nice for her husband, she acknowledged. He did not lavish her with flattery as so many men of thetondid whether or not they in fact meant their flowery words.
Instead, when Chase uttered a compliment in that rich voice he used for her ears only, she got the sense he meant every word.
For the topic she wished to broach tonight, she would need every ounce of confidence she could muster.
Unfortunately, she’d had to hurry with her toilet tonight having been occupied throughout the day, thanks in part to herspecial project,and more so due to the new task she’d thrown herself into—for Chase.
That’d left Sally no time to style her hair beyond brushing it with rose water and pinning it in a simple bun at her nape.
