The Birthday Scandal by Leigh Michaels

Author:Leigh Michaels [Michaels, Leigh]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Romance, General, Fiction
ISBN: 9781612184760
Google: T9EIuwAACAAJ
Amazon: 1612184766
Publisher: AmazonEncore
Published: 2012-10-08T21:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

Isabel didn’t come down to breakfast until late, but she was surprised to find the room crowded. Even the duke was in evidence; Isabel exclaimed in delight to see Uncle Josiah downstairs, with more healthy color in his face than she had seen since their arrival.

“Coming down to breakfast is nothing to make a fuss over,” he grumbled.

“He’s been growling at all of us,” Emily put in. “But I think he looks pleased nonetheless that we’re attempting to coddle him.”

Isabel noticed her sister’s full plate and helped herself to a sizeable pile of shirred eggs. She was considering the relative attractions of beef or ham when she realized that her husband was regarding her thoughtfully down the length of the sideboard, and she almost dropped the serving fork.

She felt her cheeks go as hot as the flame under the chafing dishes as she recalled their uninhibited behavior last night. It all felt like a dream now. Had she really shrieked as she took pleasure in what he was doing to her?—and then, afraid that the household would hear, bitten down hard on her hand to keep from shrieking again? Worse, she was very much afraid that at one point she had been so lost to good sense that she had begged…and then after he had finally done with her, she had tumbled into sleep so suddenly and so deeply that she didn’t even know when he had left her bed.

“Let me help you to kidneys,” Maxwell murmured. “They are said to be very healthy for you.”

Had there been the smallest hesitation in his voice before that last word—as though it was not Isabel’s welfare he was commenting on, but that of the child he was so determined to create?

But of course he was thinking only of his child.

She told herself she was not shocked at the realization; she wasn’t even surprised. And she definitely was not disappointed to have it made clear that her own health was a concern for him only as it might affect a child she carried.

In fact, she was almost pleased to have the solid reminder of what was important—particularly since a child was just as important to her, now, as it was to him. Once she had embarked on this course, there was no way out but through—so the sooner she was provably pregnant, the sooner this farce would be over, and the sooner she would be free.

Maxwell laid a hand on the back of the chair next to his, as if to pull it out for her, but Isabel shook her head. “I shall sit with my uncle,” she said, and took a chair between her father and the duke. Odd, however, that even though she was three seats away from her husband, she could feel him next to her, as though he was still cupping her wrist to hold her plate steady as he spooned kidneys onto it. She could smell his cologne as clearly as if his scent had soaked into the sleeve of her morning dress where he’d brushed against the fabric.

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