There was no point asking if it could be salvaged. He could tell by the aroma that it was ruined. “I guess we’re having tea after all,” he said as Madeleine removed the saucepan from the heat.
He was worried she might feel bad about the milk being ruined, but when she turned back to him, she was laughing.
“I guess neither one of us knows our way around the kitchen,” she admitted. “All right. Tea it is.”
CHAPTERTWENTY-EIGHT
They drank their tea right there in the kitchen, which felt strange to Madeleine—but strange in a good way. It was as if they were taking a break from being the Duke and Duchess, from everything that had happened to them so far. They’d found a quiet little place of their own. While they were here, they could simply enjoy one another’s company without worrying about things like gossip and scandal. They could just be happy.
Right now, Madeleine didn’t feel particularly concerned about anything—not even her curse. She sipped her tea, feeling almost light-headed with happiness.
He thinks I’m worth it.
For the first time in her life—for the first time since the fire, anyway—she felt as if she could allow herself to get close to another person without feeling any guilt. He had all the knowledge she had about the situation, and he had still chosen her. He wanted to take the risk.
No one had ever made her feel so loved in all her life.
“Here,” Thomas said, handing her the honey.
She looked at him.
“You take honey in your tea, don’t you?”
“I do…how did you know that?”
“I’ve had tea with you before.”
“Yes, but not very often! We had no courtship to speak of, and we haven’t had tea together since the marriage.”
He shrugged his shoulders. “Well, I noticed,” he said.
“I can’t believe you noticed that.”
“I notice a lot of things about you, Madeleine.”
“What else?”
He smiled. “I notice how clever you are,” he said. “How witty. You always have something to say. And yet, it always seems as if you’re very sad. You say the ladies of thetondon’t bother you. The night we met, you told me you would rather I stayed away and that you didn’t need my help. But I saw the look on your face that night. Theywerehurting you.”
“Of course they were,” she murmured. “I never meant to suggest that the things they were saying didn’t hurt—only that I was up to the challenge of coping with them.”
“I’m so sorry they did that to you,” he said. “You shouldn’t have to deal with that kind of treatment. Nobody should. But especially not you.”
“Why ‘especially’ not me?”
“Because you’ve been through enough,” he said. “More than enough. I hate that they see how much you’ve suffered, and the only way they can think to respond is by increasing your suffering.”
“They’re just frightened,” Madeleine said. “They don’t know what to make of me.”
“Even so, it’s not acceptable.”
“You’re the first person who’s ever felt that way,” she said. “Apart from Horatia and my uncle, of course. But I think that even he doesn’t quite know how to treat me. He doesn’t fear me, but he doesn’t know how to respond to the things I’ve been through, and it’s tough to be angry with anyone about that. I don’t really know how to respond to them either.”
“I suppose it’s a little different for me because I’ve lost someone too,” he said.
She felt a strange thrill. Was he really about to open up to her about his family? About the things the two of them had never talked about?
“Your father,” she said.
