had no choice but to spend the day with her. He had broken down and asked the maids to do it, but they told him the long list of chores they had to do, and he would rather they did all of those tasks instead of doing them himself. So, in the end, he had resigned himself for another long day with his wife.
She took a bite of her eggs without looking in his direction. She hadn’t said anything to him when she got to the dining room. There had been a flicker of annoyance on her face, but she’d opted not to tell him how much she resented having to be around him. He was well aware that she hated him. And there was a little part of him in the back of his mind that told him this was all his fault.
If he were honest with himself, he would have to admit he was beginning to have doubts that she’d ever been with a gentleman before. Last night, she’d been innocently brushing her hair, unaware he could see more of her than he should. Then this morning, she’d gotten out of bed in nothing but a thin piece of fabric which left very little to the imagination in the daylight. And, as if that hadn’t been enough, she’d taken that thin piece of fabric off right in front of him so he could see everything. She hadn’t even been aware he’d been watching her with less-than-honorable intent. The thought probably had never occurred to her that when she was naked, it aroused certain things in a gentleman that made him want to cast all reason aside and just be with her.
There had been no sly smile on her face, no knowing gleam in her eye, no glance in his direction. She hadn’t given a single indication that she was using her feminine wiles against him. Her expression and the way she had acted all struck him as naïve. She assumed that getting undressed in front of him was the same as if she was getting undressed in front of a lady.
Only a lady who’d been with a gentleman before would know that gentlemen didn’t view a lady’s body the same way another lady did. If she had any experience, surely she would have given him some indication of it. Even if he, himself, hadn’t ever been with a lady, he was intelligent enough to know when a lady was trying to weaken his resolve.
Which meant—as hard as it was to come out and admit it—he had been wrong about her.
He tried to concentrate on the food in front of him, but it was difficult to do that when he was upset with himself for having misjudged her.
All right, so she wasn’t like his mother. It was apparent she was a virgin. For all he knew, she hadn’t even been kissed.
He hated this. He hated it when he realized he was wrong about something. The matter didn’t sit well with him. And, worse, since he was dealing with a lady, he didn’t know what to even do about it. Other than Miss Britcher and the maids, he had as little interaction with ladies as possible. He had no idea how to talk to one beyond giving instructions for the job they’d been hired to do.
He glanced again at Kitty, and this time, she did look at him. And scowled.
Well, he couldn’t blame her. He’d scowl, too, if he was her. What he needed to do was talk to someone who might give him sound advice. The only person he trusted completely was Roger. This conversation might be an awkward one since he had refused to listen to Roger when Roger had told him that not every lady was wanton like his mother had been. But, considering the mess Aaron had managed to make out of everything, what was the point in worrying about his pride?
Decision made, he wiped his mouth with the cloth napkin and cleared his throat to get Kitty’s attention. “I think we should do our own thing today.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Why? Is there a lady you plan to run off to?”
He resisted the urge to balk. Was that how he sounded when he accused her of being a seductress? He didn’t realize how his words and the tone in his voice sounded. “I suppose you can come along.”
“I’m not interested in being in bed with you and another lady.”
He resisted the urge to