Regency Romance Collection From Christina Courtenay by Christina Courtenay Page B

him. She treated him coldly, hardly speaking to him at all unless asked a direct question. Although she hadn’t set the proceedings in motion as yet, she was still determined on an annulment. She knew it would break her heart to have to leave Marr Place. And she had no idea how she would tell the little girls.
    How can I leave them now?
     
    To her amazement, everyone in the house appeared to be siding with her and she guessed that somehow they had all got wind of what had happened. She supposed it was inevitable that everyone in a house like this would know everything going on, but it was still disconcerting. The servants tiptoed about, giving James strange looks, and Jamieson even went so far as to frown at his master.
    Lord Holt kept shaking his head every time he looked at his grandson and even the girls did not go out of thei r way to talk to their father. They had understood that Amelia was angry with him for some reason, and they wanted her to be happy again. In the end, James took himself off to Westfield once more, muttering about ‘not being wanted in his own home’. Amelia breathed a sigh of relief, but she still didn’t send for a solicitor.
     
    Two days later, Miss Keyes, her former governess, arrived at last to take up her new position. Amelia was delighted to see her, as they had been very close, and took her up to her room without delay.
    ‘ Well now, haven’t you landed on your feet young lady,’ Miss Keyes commented with a smile as she looked around her. ‘I never thought you’d end up a viscountess, not in my wildest dreams.’
    ‘ Neither did I, but much good it has done me, and it may not be the case for much longer.’ Amelia proceeded to tell her old friend and mentor everything that had happened, ending with the recent visit of the doctor, but to her surprise Miss Keyes did not take her side, as everyone else had.
    ‘ Your husband sounds like a very sensible man to me,’ she said.
    ‘Sensible? Surely you don’t mean that you think him right in believing the worst of me?’ Amelia demanded indignantly.
    ‘ No, of course not, but one cannot but see why he felt he had to do what he did.’ Miss Keyes put her hand on Amelia’s arm in a soothing gesture. ‘You really did not know each very well, did you, and perhaps he has been hurt by a woman before. Did you not mention something about a scandal?’
    ‘Well, yes, but …’
    ‘Do you know any of the facts about it?’ Amelia shook her head, beginning to see her friend’s point. ‘Precisely. And with Sir Bernard going round telling all and sundry that you were his mistress, he did have cause to doubt you. Often there is no smoke without a fire, as they say.’
    ‘ But he shouldn’t have married me if he believed that,’ Amelia protested.
    ‘ Perhaps not, but you both acted rashly, did you not? You married him without knowing what scandal he had caused. I think you should give the poor man a chance to make it up to you. I’m sure everything will work out in the end.’
    ‘ I don’t know. I’ll think about it. Anyway, it’s lovely to have you here and I hope the girls will like you as much as I do.’
    ‘ Well, let’s go and meet them and find out.’

CHAPTER ELEVEN
     
    When the doctor told him the verdict, James was aware of a feeling of great relief, but also shame tha t he had not trusted his wife. She had never appeared to be the sort of woman who dissimulated, unlike his first wife, and he wished now that he had listened to his intuition where Amelia was concerned.
    But now it was too late.
    Sitting all alone at Westfield, night after night, he at first tried to drown his problems with brandy, but upon waking up for the third day in a row with a mammoth headache, he knew that was not the solution. There had to be some way of earning Amelia’s forgiveness, and the only way he would find out was to go back to Marr Place. He decided to ask his grandfather for advice. Amelia seemed to like the old man and James knew that