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The word ‘wife’ had been underlined three times, just as she had done in the note she sent to him before the opera.

Phoebe scoffed as she folded the note back and laid it on the bedside table. “Well, I am awake now,” she muttered to herself. “And you are not back as you said you would be.”

Whatever his business was that he had to leave so urgently—it hardly mattered to her. She had woken up alone in the huge and magnificent bed of the Duke of Sinclair, and she had never felt so cold in all the times she had woken up, counting that one time she had been so sick that her body was wracked with shivers and Alice had been convinced she woulddie.

Well, Phoebe managed to get through the worst of it, but even that did not feel as bad as waking up naked andalone.

I have better get used to this.One cannot expect a rogue to wait about in bed.

She plucked the scattered items of clothing from last night and put on her underthings. The gown, though, would need mending if it was to be of any use, as it was now sporting a ghastly tear at the front of the bodice, and the lace?—

“Madame Delacroix would be heartbroken,” she sighed to herself as she rang for assistance.

She was only mildly surprised when Ella answered her summons with a bowl of warm water and an armful of towels for her morning ablutions.

“Good morning, Your Grace,” the maid greeted her cheerfully.

Much too cheerfully, actually.

“Good morning to you too, Ella,” she responded a little stiffly.

“His Grace informed us that you might be…exhaustedfrom last night.” Ella burst into a fit of giggles.

She managed to compose herself when Phoebe shot her a swift glare over the basin of water.

“Would you like to take your breakfast in bed, Your Grace?” she asked then. “Or would you prefer the breakfast room?”

Where Ethan had once urged her to touch herself? Certainly not! Phoebe did not want to lose her appetite. Nor did she want to be reminded of how wantonly she had behaved in his presence while she ate.

“No, Ella,” she said primly. She looked out the window and noticed the bright sunshine streaming through the panes of clear glass and smiled. “I think I shall have my breakfast in the garden instead.”

“As you wish, Your Grace.” Ella nodded.

An hour later, Phoebe was enjoying hot chocolate and honey cakes in the soft morning sunshine.

They had found a nice, shaded spot by the rosebushes and set up a table and a veritable feast for her. Perhaps the kitchens thought they should at least nourish her in preparation for their master’s attentions.

One would think that this is very much akin to fattening the cow before the slaughter, she mused grimly as she sawed at her cake with far more vehemence than was necessary.

“Beloved wife, if the food is not to your taste, you need not force yourself to eat it,” a familiar voice laughingly remarked from behind her.

Phoebe immediately looked up and found Ethan striding towards her, smiling as brightly as the sun overhead. He looked as if he had bathed and shaved, his hair already brushed to a polished shine that irritated her sensitive eyes. He had also changed into a new morning coat and breeches that clung to his muscular thighs.

A man who looks this good in the morning cannot be trusted.

Neither were men who crawled out of bed looking quite the fright.

Whether he had looked presentable or horrid, it would scarcely have mattered, for she was already cross with him before he even intruded on her breakfast and disrupted her peace.

“I have arranged to accompany my sister to the gallery today,” she told him in a flat voice. “And Alice and Colin have invited us to their private ball tonight.”

Ethan paused before nodding in acknowledgment. He took the empty seat from across her, and she frowned.

Maybe she should have emphasized to the servants that she wished to enjoy her breakfastalone—exactly the way she had woken up that morning.

“Hudson also wished me to inform you that he enjoyed your book,” he told her with a stilted smile.

Phoebe paused mid-stir of her hot chocolate. “Do tell the Duke of Wolverton that I am flattered that he thinks so highly of my work,” she told him primly.