didn’t indicate that he loved her. It indicated that he simply tolerated her. In the kindest way, of course, but still…
Nella masked her hurt and pain with the same expression she’d perfected over the years. She put a smile on her face and returned to the chair where she’d been sitting. She reached for her friends’ hands and squeezed them.
“Don’t worry about me, you two. I am confident of my husband’s regard for me. There is nothing to be concerned over.”
Patricia and Rosamonde placed their hands over hers as a bond of their friendship. Then Nella changed the topic to something light and frivolous as she always did when the hurt was deeper than she dared admit.
Even though she dreaded to see her guests leave, she was thankful she would be alone to sort out what she needed to do.
Except she had no idea what that was.
~■~
A short few hours later they were gone. Everyone had left immediately after an early luncheon and Nella was finally alone. She sat at the piano and played for an hour or more every sad and melancholy piece she knew. Then, she went for a walk in the garden and ended up in the library to read. But how could she concentrate on words in a book when she had so much on her mind to haunt her?
She went to bed early, intending to catch up on the sleep she’d missed over the past two weeks, but couldn’t close her eyes. She ached for James’ arms around her and his warm body next to her.
She rose early only to race to the chamber pot and repeat the now familiar exercise of casting up the contents of her stomach.
She felt worse today than any day before. She was glad everyone was gone. She wasn’t sure she could hide her sickness from her guests or from her husband any longer.
At last she dressed and went down to eat a piece of toast. That was all her stomach could tolerate. When she finished her tea, she instructed Covey to tell Cook she wouldn’t need anything for lunch, then went to the library to stare at the words in her book.
It was difficult to focus, now that she was sure. She had suspected it during the house party, but was afraid to let herself think it possible. Now, in the quiet of the last two days as she listened to her body, she knew.
She was with child. And she could scarcely wait for James to return so she could tell him.
Today she had the library’s comfortably cushioned wing chair moved closer to the fireplace and sat down with a book she was finding most illuminating. But even as compelling as the words were, it wasn’t long before she nodded off.
She wasn’t sure how long she’d slept, but she roused to a knock on the door and came awake with a start.
“A Lady Blanche to see you, my lady.”
A chill raced down her spine.
She should ring for tea, but that would stretch the encounter out unbearably. She wasn’t truly required to do so, as Lady Blanche hadn’t shown the courtesy of arriving at an appropriate hour. Still, it was the civil thing to do.
“Show her in, Covey. And bring in a tea tray.”
“Yes, my lady.”
Nella stood by her chair as Lady Blanche entered the room. She stopped at the doorway, beautiful and fresh as if she hadn’t been bounced around in a carriage for the last two hours. She stared at Nella.
There was a hard look in Blanche’s eyes. Her hateful glare and pursed lips told Nella from the start to be on her guard. This wasn’t a social call. There was nothing at all friendly about it. Her nemesis had come with her claws sharpened.
Just be on your guard had been Rosamonde’s final warning. Now Nella saw why. The woman fairly bristled.
“Marriage hasn’t changed you at all, Lady Danvers. You are still as frumpy and unattractive as you always were.”
“What do you want?”
Blanche entered and walked past Nella to the fireplace. Before they could speak further, Covey appeared with the tea tray and set it on a nearby table. Nella didn’t offer her guest a cup of tea. She had been prepared to, but after the woman’s rude greeting, that time was past. The sooner her guest was gone the better she would like it.
“I see your husband has come to London several times since you married. No doubt that is because he looks for any chance to