She opened her mouth to continue arguing, but heard her mother approach.
“Doctor and Mrs. Cooper are joining us for dinner tonight,” she said instead, her instinct to conceal her private matters, even from her mother, stronger than her anger.
“Ma, there you are,” she said, wanting to irritate Talbot even further with her unrefined ways, but he merely looked amused, like he knew what she was doing and enjoyed it.
“I was just telling His Grace that Doctor and Mrs. Cooper are joining us for dinner tonight.”
“How delightful,” Miss Williams said sincerely, “I like them both very much. Did you know that Mrs. Cooper grew up in Shropshire like I did?” She asked the duke.
“I did not,” he replied.
Lizzie itched to add that there were a multitude of things about her mother she didn’t know but now sort of wished she did.
Jane entered with the tea things.
“Are you joining us for tea?” Catherine asked the duke, who glanced at his wife and opened his mouth to reply, but was most rudely interrupted by her saying, “The duke was just telling me about a most unfortunate estate management crisis he has to deal with before dinner.”
Lizzie lifted both eyebrows at her husband as if daring him to contradict her, almost gloating at her small victory, but upon seeing the joy in his eyes caused by this intimate game that only the two of them were privy to, she deflated and unceremoniously slumped down in one of the chairs next to the embroidery basket.
“My wife is right, Idohave urgent business to attend to,” Talbot told her mother apologetically. “I shall see you both at dinner.”
As she rummaged around the basket, Lizzie felt her mother’s inquisitive glances, but luckily, Catherine said nothing.
The young duchess found herself actually putting in some effort as she got ready for dinner that evening, and she exhaled in relief.
Not feeling like myself has been most taxing, she thought as she chatted with Mary, who was curling her hair with heated tongs.
“And if you have any complaints whatsoever, tell me, and we’ll send for Mrs. Cooper immediately. She is a midwife.”
“Heavens, Lizzie, why are you so anxious? Isn’t,I’m not an invalid,your favourite sentence in the world?” Mary teased.
“We’re not talking about me now. That’s my niece or nephew in there, you know,” Lizzie gestured at her friend’s middle.
“That reminds me,” Mary said, “I sent word to Thomas. Do you think he’ll finally visit?”
“For your child, I’m sure he will,” Lizzie said, and they shared a smile in the mirror.
*
At dinner, Elizabeth and her husband sat at each end of the table, so she was at least safe from his physical proximity, but whenever their eyes met, she felt like they were the only two people in the room.
When Colin licked his lips after biting into a salted piece of fish, Lizzie thought back to when he’d licked her…there.She squeezed her eyes shut to dispel the unwanted memory, and then squeezed her thighs together as well. What was wrong with her?! It was as if she were possessed by some hungry, unchaste thing.
She calmly tried telling herself that, over the last few months, her body had most likely learned to crave his skilled touch (she was honest enough with herself to acknowledge this) and tried very hard not to look in his direction again.
“Mrs. Cooper,” she said between the first and second courses, “Doctor Cooper tells me that you spend your Wednesdays doing voluntary work?”
Mrs. Cooper glanced adoringly at her husband, who always seemed to keep her in his line of sight somehow, and nodded, “I do. Doctor Cooper and I try to help the less fortunate as much as we can.”
Lizzie perked up. “I used to help organise charitable events back in Norwich, and I enjoyed it greatly. Could you please tell me more about the work?”
Mrs. Cooper set her fork down and seemed to consider the request for a moment.
“There are four institutions we help at, and we typically visit two on one Wednesday, and then we alternate. This Wednesday, I visited one of the poorhouses set up by the parish.”
“Like a workhouse?” Miss Williams asked.
“Similar. Poorhouses don’t deal with the able-bodied poor. We see many war invalids, permanently injured or disfigured labourers, elderly homeless people, and the like.”
