Page 54 of The Duke and the Unwanted Bride

“Oh, only if we tell the full story.” Hannah waved him off.

“The truth, you mean?”

“I think Amelia deserves to know,” she said simply. “Otherwise, she will be forced to come to her own conclusions, and the imagination of a little girl is far worse than anything we could come up with.” She winked at Amelia. “Isn’t that right?”

Amelia giggled. “Yes.”

“So…” Hannah looked at Frederick pleadingly, even going so far as to flutter her eyelashes. “How about you let me tell her, and if you think I have crossed the line at any point, you can stop me.”

“Why do I get the feeling I am going to regret this?” he sighed.

She laughed. “Because you know me, is why. But it’s too late now.”

“Tell me, tell me!” Amelia cried joyously.

“Right.” Hannah nodded her head, flashed a smile at Frederick, and then focused on Amelia. “The story of how your father and I met…”

The morning had started pleasantly before descending into a tale that Frederick knew to be far too inappropriate for his six-year-old daughter. By the time he and Hannah had made it downstairs after another rigorous lovemaking session, Amelia was seated at the table, waiting for them.

She was eager this morning and excited. Having been tentative toward Hannah the previous day, their little dip in the pond had changed her attitude completely. Now, she was obsessed in that way that only children could be. She seemed to think that Hannah was the funniest, most interesting person in the world, while her father was nothing but a big, old bore.

As they settled in, she fired question after question at Hannah, all about who she was and where she had come from. How many sisters did she have. Who were her friends. What was her favorite food. What was her favorite animal. What was her favorite color! Anything she could think of.

Once Amelia calmed down a little, the conversation turned to the rumor the Dowager Viscountess had been spreading around the ton, and with Amelia sitting there watching them, Frederick had no choice but to control his temper.

“She will not get away with it,” he had said.

“Who?” Amelia had asked.

“I still think we should speak with her,” Hannah had argued.

“Speak to who?” Amelia had asked again.

“I will not,” Frederick had insisted. “It is beneath me. It is beneath us.”

“Then there isn’t much else we can do.”

He had growled angrily at that. “That aunt of yours… she will not get away with this.”

“She is just upset,” Hannah had sighed. “And I am certain that come a few days, she will realize that she has made a mistake.”

“A few days will be too many. This rumor needs to stop, now.”

“What rumor!” Amelia had then demanded.

It hadn’t taken long for the conversation to shift to the wedding itself, and it was at that moment that Amelia had seized the chance and demanded that her father finally tell her how he and Hannah had met.

“… and that was when my aunt caught us!” Hannah explained.

“Wrestling?” Amelia’s face contorted into a ball, and she could not have looked more confused. “But why were you wrestling?”

Hannah was doing her best not to giggle. “That is a good question. Frederick?”

Frederick shook his head at her and sighed. “Because I had mistaken Hannah for your uncle William. The room was dark, so you can see my mistake.”

“Uncle William?” Amelia echoed, confused. “You thought Hannah was Uncle William?”

“Well, we have a similar build,” Hannah said, her body now shaking with suppressed laughter. “So when your father jumped on me and I tried to fight him off, we were caught in the act, and rather than announce to the ton that your father lost a fight to a girl like me?—”

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