A Deal with a Spinster: A Clean Historical Regency Romance Book (Regency Expedient Marriages 5) by Sheldon Dorothy

Author:Sheldon, Dorothy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-01-13T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Dominic waited until the others were sitting out on the terrace, laughing and talking and drinking tea. Maria and Steven were behaving themselves – a few mud pies on Maria’s side notwithstanding – and seemed entirely at home with their guests.

They both liked Ava, that much was clear to see.

Ava excused herself, getting up from the table and moving inside, no doubt in search of a glass of water. He waited for a moment or two, then followed her.

That is something I like about her, Dominic found himself thinking. She doesn’t make the servants fetch and carry for her all the time. She can take care of herself.

Not, of course, that it matters, as this is only really a friendship and business arrangement rolled into one, and not a real marriage.

“Ava?” he asked, poking his head into the deserted dining room, his eyes slowly adjusting to the gloom.

She was drinking lemonade in the corner, and smiled at him.

“Hello, Dominic. Lemonade?”

“Yes, please. I… I came to apologise.”

She lifted an eyebrow, pouring a second glass of lemonade. “Apologise? What for?”

He sighed, edging closer into the room. “For Daniella, of course. I should have warned you. I had an inkling that she wouldn’t react well to news of my engagement, and I was right.”

Ava nodded thoughtfully, taking a sip of her drink. “Where is she now?”

“The nurse – Emily, by the way, is a remarkably efficient woman, and a part of our family – found her in Marianne’s old room. She’s been scolded and put to bed. I don’t know how you feel about discipline, but I don’t strike my children. I don’t deprive them of meals, either. Although, perhaps if I took a more conventional approach to disciplining, Daniella would not have made such a scene in the drawing room.”

She pursed her lips. “Perhaps. But then her good behaviour would not be based in a firm foundation of good character and strong morals. It would simply be rooted in fear. I don’t hold with striking children, either. Or animals, in fact. That’s not to say that discipline is an easy thing, but I believe that violence begets more violence, sooner or later.”

Dominic released a breath he hadn’t even noticed that he was holding. He realized that he was terrified Ava would recommend a strong punishment – bed with supper, and no breakfast in the morning until an apology was given, for example, or perhaps a strapping – and then their ideologies would clash unpleasantly.

“I’m glad. I… I imagine that you think she’s spoilt, and perhaps I have overindulged her.”

“I don’t see a spoilt child. I see a young girl who misses her mother, who worries that her father is going to pull away from her, and she is now afraid that a new Mamma will appear and wipe away all the memories of her mother altogether. So, she is acting in the only way she knows how. At least she gets attention, even though it is the wrong kind.”

Ava settled down into one of the chairs, gesturing for him to take the one beside it.

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