The Earl's Inconvenient Wife (Regency Collection Book 1) by Ruth Ann Nordin Page B

difficult.”
    Her cheeks warmed.  How much did Lord Clement know?  Did Roderick tell him she duped him into the marriage?  She sighed.  Most likely, he had.  He and Lord Clement were friends, after all.  Around her husband, it was easy to be angry, but under the sympathetic gaze of his friend, she found her wall crumbling.
    “It didn’t happen the way he thinks,” she whispered.  “It was an accident.  I lost my balance and fell, and he went to help me up.” She swallowed the lump in her throat and continued, “He hates me.” As soon as she said the last part, she wished she could take it back.  Really, she didn’t know him well enough to be so intimate in sharing her fears.
    The butler came in with the tea and set it on the table.
    She waited for him to leave before saying, “Forgive me, my lord.  I have no right to say such things to you.” She leaned forward and poured the tea into their cups.
    “There’s nothing to forgive.  Lord Roderick and I have been friends since we were children.  He’s n ot a hard man to get along with once you get to know him.”
    “I suspect a friend of his might say that,” she mused, thankful he’d been gracious in his reply to her.
    “It’s true.” He accepted the cup she handed to him.  “I won’t lie, my lady.  I would have enjoyed the opportunity to court you, but I believe everything happens for a reason.  Lord Roderick is a good man.  Stubborn and obnoxious at times, but when it comes down to it, you can trust him to do the right thing.  He might not be agreeable now, but he’ll come around.  Give him time.”
    “He thinks I trapped him into marriage.”
    He chuckled.  “I heard him explain it.  Somehow you managed to force him onto the veranda without a word or a look in his direction.”
    Her lips curled up into a smile.  “It does sound silly when you put it that way.”
    He took a sip of his tea and added, “An exaggeration on his part.  He meant well, of course, when he went to suggest you go back inside.”
    She couldn’t argue that point.  “ Yes, I suppose he did.”
    “I know you meant well , too.  Sometimes things happen, and you’re thrown into a situation you didn’t plan on.  It’ll do him good to have you in his life.  He takes things far too seriously.  I keep telling him he needs to laugh more.”
    From what she’d seen of her husband, he d idn’t smile at all.  Even her first impression of him had told her he was unusually serious.  But she didn’t know what she could possibly do to make him laugh.  She drank some of her tea and tried to think of something to say.  After a long minute passed, she finally said, “He’s decided we’re going to Weston today.”
    “Being away from London w ill be good for both of you,” he replied.  “London provides too many distractions.  There are too many places to keep you entertained.”
    “And that’s a bad thing?”
    “Only if you need to get acquainted with your husband and he needs to get acquainted with you.”
    “You’re right, but I wish I could take my family with me.”
    He offered her a sympathetic smile.  “No one can fault you for that.”
    Footsteps crossing the hard floors alerted her that her husband had come home.  She wasn’t sure why she knew it was his footsteps, except there seemed to be a certain hurried pace she’d come to associate with him. He didn’t take his time strolling like other people did.  Noting the slight trembling of her hands, she quickly set her cup on the tray.  The last thing she needed was to spill anything around him because he made it a habit of making her nervous when she wasn’t mad at him.
    Lord Clement turned his attention to the doorway and called out, “There you are,” when her husband entered the room.
    Roderick stilled for a moment, glancing from her to Lord Clement.
    “I was beginning to think you’d never show up,” Lord Clement teased.
    She marveled that Lord Clement could be so at ease in