Page 66 of The Scarred Duke's Bride
“Because the baby will not be his child, and he is not long for this world," Silver said starkly.
“Humph” was Freya’s articulate reply, and she folded her arms and pouted.
Eric just smiled. “Very well, Silver, we will go, and we will socialize.”
Freya turned to him in protest. The only reason she was being stubborn about the breakfast was that she did not want Eric to suffer any more humiliation. He reached for her hand, squeezing reassuringly. “It’ll be all right,” he said. “Let them stay if they wish to, I do not care.”
He met her gaze with his own, trying to reassure her that he meant it. She frowned, still worried, still very reluctant to expose himself to any hurt. “If you are uncomfortable, just say the word, and we will leave. Promise me.”
“I promise you that we shall leave if I’m uncomfortable," he said.
Mrs. Campbell clapped her hands together, clutching them to her breast. “Bless,” she said, her eyes wide and soft, “you two are justadorable.”
Eric looked away blushing hard, but Freya just smiled at her. “Thank you. We aim to please.” She shot a glare at Silver.
“And what are we to do while you are away on your Venetian breakfast?” Isabella asked.
“Perhaps you could try applying yourself to your schoolwork. Mrs. Beecham tells me that you have been slacking off quite terribly.” She narrowed her eyes at her sister.
Isabella looked away, focusing with fierce concentration on her breakfast plate. William snickered, drawing Eric’s attention to him. “What are you laughing at, young sir? You too have not been attending to your lessons. You will join Isabella every morning from ten until noon in the schoolhouse, and should Mrs. Beecham give you any extra work to do, you will do it as if she were your tutor. Do you hear me?”
He nodded meekly without saying a word. Mrs. Campbell smiled. “I cannot wait until the two of you have some of your own. I can see you shall not be distant parents like most gentry.”
Freya frowned, reminded that her future and that of her sister depended on her getting with child. She and Eric exchanged loaded glances.
“You’re right, Mama,” Eric agreed without looking away from Freya. “We shall be as present as our children need us to be.”
Freya felt a lump in her throat. Suddenly she realized that she would like nothing better than to have a baby with Eric Campbell.
* * *
The Venetian Breakfast bored him to tears. Were it not for the presence of Freya and his mother, he would have bowed out within minutes. The lives of thetonseemed particularly empty to him with very little substance and a lot of cattiness born of boredom. More than one person made an oblique reference to his scar, but he found that as long asFreyawas not repelled by it, he did not care much what other people thought.
He was a lieutenant commander in His Majesty’s Navy, a title he hadearned. He had fought for his country unlike anyone else in the room, and so it was laughable that they thought to look down onhim.
Freya stayed close anyway, even though it wasn’t really done. Husbands and wives, it seemed, were expected to stay as far away from each other as possible.
“Well good afternoon to you.” He turned around to find a tall, curvy woman holding a glass of brandy in her hand and surveying him with interest. Her gaze instantly fell on his scar, and she lifted an eyebrow. “Oh…you are an interesting one. Where did you getthat?”
He inclined his head with a smile. “Should we not be introduced first before you speak to me?”
“Oh pshh.” She waved a dismissive hand. “Such rules are for debutantes, eager to find husbands. I am merely eager…to know you.”
Eric’s eyes flashed across the room, searching for Freya. He did not want her to see this and make the wrong assumption. “How very forward of you,” he observed as his eyes scanned the room.
She took a step closer. “Why, is there any other way to be? Do you not approve?”
He took a step back. “Actually, I don’t. Perhaps you can go and seduce someone else.”
The woman threw back her head and laughed. “Only if you tell me where you got that wicked scar.”
“I got it in His Majesty’s Navy, fighting for my country.”
“Ooh, intriguing. I was inclined to think you a pirate myself. You have that air of mysterious mischief about you.”
Eric could not help smiling in amusement. The woman certainly was persistent. “Well, I am sorry to disappoint.”
“Oh no, no, you haven’t disappointed me! Far from it. Tell me, sailor, how did you come to be here, among this boring bunch, when you could be sailing the high seas? Were you discharged and now hope to find an heiress or a rich widow to wed? Because if so, I must congratulate you — you have found one.”
