Page 100 of A Foolish Flirtation

“Well, it was someone like Aesop in any case, and Teddy thinks there are too many representations of Venus here at Vance already!” she hissed. Should she tell him that her own bedroom was to be decked out in such a fashion? For some reason, she had decided she wanted that to be a surprise.

“When Teddy is master here, he can rededicate it to whoever he thinks fit!” he retorted. “I happen to like Venuses. They remind me of you. They always have.”

Emmie spluttered faintly. “How about ancient heroes and heroines?” she suggested. “We could have…” Her mind turned blank.

“Atalanta?” Jeremy suggested.

“Yes! After your horse, and the famous heroine,” she said vaguely, having forgotten the story. “She had a golden apple too, didn’t she?”

“Three of them,” Jeremy agreed, “but none of them said ‘To the Fairest,’”

“And, um, Theseus and the minotaur!” Emmie dredged up from memory. Who was the one with the golden fleece? “Only think how pleased Teddy would be!” she continued when recollection failed.

Jeremy glanced across at his son, who was chattering away to the unresponsive architect. “It would puff up his consequence even more! He would expect his own personal amphitheater next.”

“I’m afraid he already does,” Emmie admitted. “But I have thought of several uses we could have for one,” she continued earnestly, “and it really would be a useful thing to have here at Vance.”

Jeremy’s outraged expression instantly softened into one of diversion. “You think a Roman amphitheater would be a useful thing to have about the place, do you, Ballentine?” Clearly, he derived much amusement from this, a smile playing about his lips.

“Well,” she said weakly, “you did say that it is customary for the lords of Faris to build something new at Vance when they marry.”

“I did,” he agreed. “But an amphitheater was not precisely what I had in mind.”

“Well, I wish you would reconsider.”

“For you? Of course.” He reached across and picked up her hand, carrying it to his lips and kissing it. “Wimble, are you listening?” He glanced across at the architect. “My viscountess wants an amphitheater. You must start on that as soon as the current plans are drawn up.”

Teddy whooped and jumped out of his chair to run around the table to join them. He embraced first Emmie and then his father.

“Just a small one!” Emmie added, suddenly feeling guilty she had pressed her advantage. It occurred to her that she could ask him for anything at this point and he would likely indulge her. Was it purely affection or that and a mixture of guilt that prompted his generosity?

Drat the man. Why did he have to be so distractingly attractive? she wondered as he ruffled Teddy’s hair. And why was she so relieved to finally see a smile that was reflected in his eyes? Recently, she had started wondering if underneath his sunny charm, Jeremy was not as happy as he appeared. That perhaps he never had been. Had that been why he had always drunk to excess?

On the beach that day when Teddy had asked that question, Papa, are you sad? she had seen him for a moment without his surface glamor. The expression on his face had been strangely wistful. Just for a moment, he had looked so crushed to be left out and excluded from their happy party.

She had felt the strongest impulse to reach out to him and draw him in. Absurd really, as Teddy was his son and he had facilitated Pinky leaving her! Stupid to feel he might want to be included in their schemes. After all, they were married, and he had told her at the outset what kind of wife he wanted. He had made no mention of friendship, or even companionship, that she recalled. He wanted a quiet sort of wife who would not give him headaches. The kind of wife who did not make scenes.

She winced slightly, remembering her emotional outburst a few evenings ago. That most definitely had been a scene. She had broken their agreement and he had been exceedingly kind about it. Was it her imagination, or had he been treating her with an extra pair of kidskin gloves ever since? It made her uncomfortable to think it could be hanging over them still, like a cloud obscuring the sun.

She knew that part of the reason for her breakdown was the onset of her women’s monthly. That was often precipitated by heightened emotion and Jeremy had certainly suffered the brunt of it. For several nights now, she had lain awake, vowing to make up for her slip.

She hoped he was not disappointed in her. The thought gave her a cold feeling in the pit of her stomach. It had been unfair of her to fling their past in his face like that. She never should have shown him that shameful box. Her cheeks burned even now at the thought of it as she and Pinky followed Jeremy into the library.

Then it suddenly struck her. She had not seen that rosewood box since that night. Had she left it in his room? She froze where she stood in the middle of the room, halfway across the Aubusson rug. Luckily, Jeremy was lifting the lid from the crate and Pinky was peering inside it, so they did not notice her sudden consternation.

She ought to remove her mother’s perfume bottle and her father’s gloves and hurl the rest of it into the fire, she resolved, just like Humphrey’s letters. Holding on to painful memories was stupid, futile even. She needed to let them go, along with any lingering resentment. It was hardly fair now she had agreed to build a life beside him.

Joining them at the crate, she slipped one arm through Pinky’s and one through Jeremy’s, so the three of them stood linked together. “Let’s make this the first official meeting of our book club,” she suggested. “The second meeting we can hold at Pinky’s house in a month’s time.”

Jeremy’s smile, once again, was warm and genuine and Pinky positively glowed. Finally, Emmie felt like she was on the right track. She vowed not to deviate from it again.

23

Jeremy trod very carefully over the next few days. He felt that things were starting to mend, slowly but surely, after his horrendous blunder earlier in the week. He had not dared to check if the connecting door between their bedrooms was still locked but other than that, he spent every night sleeping beside his wife in her bed.

Emmeline had seemingly picked up on his fascination with her nighttime routine and did not appear to object to his observing them. Indeed, she seemed most willing to gratify him in this, something he was wildly grateful for, though he did not really understand it himself.

They established a new routine, where he joined her every evening after dinner and Teddy was put to bed. She would wait for his arrival, and he would watch her brush her hair and then they would sit in bed together, side by side, reading the latest novel they had settled upon.