Gretchen replied.
Kitty blinked in surprise. “You do?”
“I’ve been with you for a while now, and you’re nothing like the ladies I’ve had to chaperone who were tempted to sneak off with a gentleman.”
Though Gretchen didn’t add it, Kitty suspected Gretchen included her wayward sister to that list.
“I have a feeling that once your husband confirms you are carrying his child, my services will no longer be required,” Gretchen continued.
“I don’t know. With the way Aaron’s been acting, I assume you’ll need to watch over me until I’m too old to conceive.”
“Certainly, that isn’t the case. He can’t be that unreasonable.”
Kitty’s eyebrows rose in a silent challenge.
“No one can be that unreasonable,” Gretchen insisted.
“If we were talking about anyone else, I’d say you were right.”
Even for all his faults, Kitty’s brother hadn’t restricted her freedoms like Aaron had. Yes, he had forced her into marriage, and that was wrong in itself, but she hadn’t been forced to be with a chaperone who spent every second of the day with her and had to check to see if she had her lady’s time yet. What Aaron was doing was unreasonable, and it didn’t allow her a moment of privacy.
Kitty turned her attention back to the books. She wagered that Aaron’s childhood books were on the lower shelves, so she shifted her attention there.
Gretchen walked to another section of the library and began her own search.
An hour later, both were able to find four books that Gretchen thought Teddy would enjoy, and they hadn’t even searched the entire library. Kitty was delighted at their findings. She hadn’t read any of the books. Two were a collection of fables. Gretchen thought it would be best to start with one of those books since they had an assortment of short stories that might hold his attention better.
“And,” Gretchen added, “if the story isn’t all that interesting, at least it’ll be short.”
“Let’s go over to your home and read one of them today,” Kitty said.
“By the time we do that and come back, it’ll be past time for you to get ready for dinner. It’s best that we wait until tomorrow.”
Kitty didn’t hide her disappointment. “But I was looking forward to reading to him, and I’m intrigued to find out what Aaron read when he was a child. My hope is that he wasn’t always stuffy.”
She thought she saw a flicker of amusement on Gretchen’s face before the lady cleared her throat. “Tomorrow will come soon enough. Besides, Hattie will be making dinner when we get there. They eat earlier than we do in this townhouse. After that, Teddy prefers to play with his toys. The best time to read a story is earlier in the day.”
“Since you put it that way, I’ll wait until tomorrow.” She opened one of the books and read the table of contents.
“You can always read some of those stories now. You don’t have to wait until we’re at my residence.”
She was right. Kitty didn’t have to wait. She could read them now. “Do you want to read any of these books?”
“Reading something meant for children might be a pleasant way to spend the next couple of hours.”
“Which book do you want?”
“I’ll take the one that isn’t a collection of short stories.”
Kitty gave her one of the books. Though Gretchen didn’t come out and say it, Kitty suspected that the lady was looking forward to finding out what was in the book she picked. Kitty found this encouraging. Gretchen was much too serious. After meeting Hattie and Teddy, Kitty could understand why, but still, it would do Gretchen some good to take her mind off of her burdens for a while. Thinking that reading would give Gretchen a nice escape from her responsibilities, Kitty led the way back to the drawing room.
***
A few days passed and Aaron spent that time trying to decide when he should try for the heir. Though his body might be ready to do it, his mind wasn’t. Up until his marriage, the process of getting an heir had been theoretical. He hadn’t attached any real thought to it. It was just something that had to be done. Except now, it wasn’t as simple as he’d expected it to be.
He couldn’t make himself just go to her bed and get things over with. He might be able to do it if she wasn’t so unreasonable. They didn’t get along in the slightest. They couldn’t even manage a casual acquaintance.
He hadn’t deluded himself into thinking his marriage would