This was becoming a pattern. One that needed addressing.
Tomorrow, he would review Mrs. Pemberton’s recommendations for the permanent wet nurse position. They would hire someone who was efficient and capable and could restore order to his disrupted household.
Sleep came eventually, but it didn’t last.
A thin wail pierced the darkness. Owen lay still, willing the sound to stop.
It didn’t. If anything, the crying intensified before rising to a pitch that could wake the dead.
He checked his pocket watch by the moonlight. Half past three.
Unacceptable.
Throwing on his robe, he made his way down the hall. Light spilled from beneath his wife’s door. As he reached for the handle, the crying abruptly ceased.
He pushed the door open carefully.
Iris stood by the window, swaying gently with Evie against her shoulder. Her hair hung loose, catching the lamplight. She wore only a nightgown and a silk robe on top. The thin fabric outlined her figure as she moved.
“Finally,” she murmured to the baby. “There’s my good girl.”
Owen stepped into the room, intending to ask if she required assistance.
“Shh!” She whipped around and pressed a finger to her lips.
He stopped dead. Had she just shushed him?
“I was merely?—”
“Quiet!” she hissed. “Do you want her awake again?”
Her audacity sparked his temper. No one silenced the Duke of Carridan. Certainly not his wife.
“I don’t appreciate being ordered about in my own home,” he whispered harshly.
“And I don’t appreciate being woken every two hours.” Her whisper carried enough venom to fell a horse. “Yet here we are.”
“If you had proper help?—”
“The wet nurse you sent smelled like a distillery.”
“She came recommended.”
“By whom? The proprietor of a gin palace?”
They glared at each other across the dimly lit room.
The baby stirred against her shoulder, making a small sound of protest.
Both froze.
Owen held his breath. Iris stopped swaying. The moment stretched endlessly.
Evie settled back into sleep with a tiny sigh.
When Owen looked back at his wife, the lamplight caught her face at an angle that made his chest tighten.
When had she become so beautiful?
