“You’re not sorry. You’re laughing your ass off at my expense.” Thomas turned to Myles. “Stop it. Just wait until it’s your turn. I will remember this.”
“Indeed, I have no doubt you will,” Myles replied. “So tell me how your mother took it.”
“She lectured me about being good and kind to her. Nothing about what the gossips are saying.” Taking a deep breath, he let it out. “She surprised the bloody hell out of me. I expected yelling and a lecture about how disappointed she was in me, but none of that happened. I think she’s glad.”
“Why, of course she is,” Amesbury added. “She’ll be getting her heir and a lovely daughter-in-law.”
Thomas’s stomach turned queasy and he swallowed the bile fighting to escape his throat. “What if my bride-to-be finds out about the card game, about her real family name and how her father killed himself, albeit because he was so very ill?”
“How will she find out? The only ones privileged with that knowledge are in this room. Unless you count Mr. Hamilton’s barrister,” Myles said.
“I’m not as worried about what she will think of me when and if she learns the truth. I can deal with an angry wife. But she must not learn that her father committed suicide.” Thomas paused to reflect. “I realize he was ill and without hope of recovery, but she does not know that. She would think he ended his life because he lost everything to me, and I would look like the devil incarnate. And, truth be told, I don’t want her hurt. I don’t want her to know her father took his own life even if he was sick. I know that would tear her apart. Not to mention the family scandal, what with her grandfather’s hanging as a traitor to the Crown. No indeed, she does not need to know the truth about her origins. I pray the Trenton family scandal is not linked to her. Her father was wise to change his name.”
Thomas hesitated.
“Although her father wrote her a letter that I must give her once she and I are wed, I have confidence Hamilton would not divulge any unpleasant things in his letter.”
“The real truth would hurt, but she would understand her father’s reasons,” Amesbury added. “You did nothing wrong. In fact, you were most decent. Her father contrived everything, even a Plan B if Plan A didn’t work. He forced you into this position, not the other way around. Surely Miss Hamilton would understand?”
“I don’t know about that,” Thomas grunted. “Maybe I should just tell her. Get it over with. Because I don’t think my stomach can survive much more of this. It feels like the guilt is eating me alive from the inside out.”
“Is that why you’ve been rubbing your side these past few days?” Myles asked, frowning.
“Yes. I’m in constant pain. My insides seem to alternate between stabbing pain and burning agony.”
“Maybe it’s something else,” Amesbury said, also concerned.
“I doubt it. Sometimes it doesn’t hurt at all. It comes and goes. I’m sure I’ll be fine once all this settles down.”
“If you say so,” Myles said. “When do you expect us to arrive for the wedding?”
“In a fortnight,” Thomas replied. “Amesbury, do you think you’ll be able to make the trip?”
Amesbury looked at him like he was mad in the head. “Of course I can. I feel perfectly fine. I could leave today, if you wish.”
Shaking his head, Thomas replied, “We cannot leave now. My mother would kill me if we showed up while the planning was underway. She sent out the invitations this morning, and I have no idea who was invited. She said it was none of my concern. As the mother of the groom and acting as the mother of the bride, she knew all the right people to invite. Bloody hell, I didn’t dare argue with her.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
After a fortnight residing at Stony Cross Manor, Emma was still in awe of the grounds on the large estate. She had spent many a day walking and exploring and soul searching within her. Today her husband-to-be would arrive. The upcoming wedding seemed unreal. The dowager duchess had been most kind and generous since they arrived. Because of her, the wedding would be a splendid affair, befitting a duke.
That meant that a week hence, at this hour, Emma would be a duchess. Her heart thumped double time. Not only was she nervous and excited, she anticipated their wedding night and having Thomas’s hands on her body again and hers on his. Sinking down on a stone bench in the formal gardens, she sighed, closed her eyes, and daydreamed about him.
Emma promised herself that she would be the best wife and, God willing, the best mother. Never would she give Thomas cause to regret marrying her.