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Ella bobbed her head enthusiastically. “He is currently with the Dowager Duchess in the breakfast room.”

Scarlett’s smile widened. “Then you must help me bathe, Ella, and quickly. I would not want to miss breakfast with my dear husband.”

Ella might have been unable to hide her excitement for her mistress, but the rest of the servants left quietly after they had completed their task. As Scarlett sank into the warm, perfumed water, she could not help but marvel at their efficiency.

But then she recalled their reaction when they saw her and Hudson in the kitchens. Was it truly discipline that made them so, or was it their fear of their master? She was willing to bet it was the latter.

After she had washed and changed, she descended to the breakfast room with a cold smile, her spine straight as she took measured steps.

If Hudson thought he could unsettle her by bringing his beautiful opera singer to their wedding, then he would have to be disappointed.

Dreadfully so.

“It was so kind of you to allow dear Scarlett to rest a little bit more,” his mother told him, eyeing him shrewdly as she buttered her toast. “Soconsiderate. I had feared that you would make a dreadful husband. It seemed I worried for nothing.”

Hudson let out what he hoped sounded like a noncommittal grunt. Compared to his sire, most husbands could be considered attentive. If his father had found himself locked out of his bride’s bed, there would have been hell to pay. Shattered doors, flaunted mistresses. Even flying fists.

Perhaps he should not have been so offended to find that Scarlett had taken precautions to keep him from her bed. He had been the one to set the boundaries for their marriage in the first place. She was merely enforcing them.

Still, her rejection rankled.

“Ah! There she is!”

His ears immediately perked up when he heard his mother’s cheerful announcement. A brief look up from the morning paper and he wished he had never glanced at all.

Scarlett walked into the room like a fresh flower, blooming in the springtime of her youth. She had donned a peach-colored dress, a satin ribbon cinching her figure just under her breasts, giving her an elegant silhouette while subtly hinting at the curves underneath. Her hair, unadorned save for a jeweled comb, had been swept up into a soft chignon at the back of her neck.

She smiled at his mother and then hesitated for a brief moment. The only place that had been set out would have her seated to his immediate right.

“Hudson insisted on this particular arrangement,” his mother explained. “It seems he cannot bear to be apart from you, even during the meals.”

The curve of Scarlett’s lips had Hudson’s heart pounding equally in longing and apprehension.

“Did he now?” Her voice was low, almost like a sensual purr that glided along his nerves, setting his whole being on fire.

When she took her seat, he mentally recited the names of all the past monarchs that had ever sat on the English throne.

None of it worked. His cock sprang to attention like a dog greeting its master.

“Look at you both,” his mother sighed. “It warms my heart to see you so affectionate towards each other. Which reminds me.” She smiled brightly at them. “I have decided to move to Oakview next week.”

Hudson’s eyebrow rose in surprise. “The dower house?”

She nodded happily. “Now that there is a proper Duchess of Wolverton, I can happily retire and enjoy the rest of my golden years in peace and quiet.”

Hudson doubted his mother could stay away that long, particularly when the subject of heirs arose and she eventually found their marriage unable to bear fruit after a few years.

“Oh, but you cannot leave!” Scarlett exclaimed.

Hudson’s gaze swiveled to his wife. Was she so horrified at the prospect of being left alone with him in Wolverton Estate?

“Wolverton Estate is so huge?—”

The entire manor had sixty rooms—they could easily avoid each other with all that space. Besides, she could simply lock her rooms and bar him from entering her bedchamber. Again.

“—I am certain I’ll make a mess of everything!”

His roiling thoughts calmed down for a moment. So, she was not anxious about being left with him, after all. She was more concerned with running the estate on her own.