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Lydia awoke to an empty bed, but before fear could consume her, her eyes landed on the note waiting for her on the nearby pillow.

Ambrose and the others have arrived. We will be conducting our business below and you are not to interfere. Alice, Juliet, Helena, and Barbara are all waiting for you in the first-floor sitting room. We will join you when we can.

Please eat something.

E.

It was by no means a love letter, but the use of the wordpleasealong with the wordseat somethingsomehow made her stomach do a little flip. She nuzzled into the pillows and inhaled deeply, capturing his scent, and felt the flip in her stomach melt into a pool of desire. She missed him; missed the feeling of being in his arms.

Lydia smiled as she recalled the way he’d fallen asleep. Sometime during the night, he had shifted, his warm body wrapping around hers like a cocoon of muscle and protection. She’d awoken only long enough to nuzzle her head into his arm and lace her fingers through his after he’d wrapped his arm around her waist and then had dropped back into a deep sleep.

“There you are!” Alice gasped as Lydia walked into the sitting room a brief time later.

Her sister shot up from her seat and flung her arms around Lydia as the others quickly followed to do the same.

“Here I am!” Lydia gasped, her chest tight from all the embraces. They all finally let go and she dragged in a deep breath.

“Where did I go, though?” she asked, as she took in the concerned looks on their faces.

Barbara was the first to huff and drop her smile.

“You tell us,” she replied, crossing her arms. “Where did you go yesterday that made Ezra think that you were with us?”

Lydia’s cheeks flushed with red as she realized just how much trouble she had caused by taking her little ride yesterday, and she offered an apologetic smile.

“I guess I have a lot of explaining to do,” she replied as a maid came up.

“Pardon me, Your Grace,” the maid said softly with a curtsy, “But His Grace left orders that you were to be served immediately once you joined your friends. We have your breakfast ready for you at the table.”

Lydia flushed once more, remembering the note he’d left her. Had he even gone so far as to talk to the servants about it?

“IsEzratracking your feeding habits, sister?” Juliet teased.

“Of course not,” Lydia laughed.

“Then why is he ensuring that you break your fast?” Barbara asked.

Lydia made a face at her friend’s annoyingly amused smile and replied, “I…well, he is just…”

“She is turning red,” Juliet giggled. “Tell us, sister, has your marriage with him been…” She wagged her eyebrows as she dropped her gaze down Lydia’s figure.

“Juliet!” Lydia exclaimed but could not stop her smile.

She turned an accusing eye toward Alice and Helena, who both wore an expression of shock and amusement.

“You two have been giving her those filthy books to read, haven’t you?” she asked.

Alice pressed her lips together tightly as a blush bloomed over her face.

“Well, I…” she stammered, wringing her hands together, “Well, you have read one and you know how, um,detailed,the scenarios can be. And, you see, I, um, thought…”

A nervous laugh broke through Alice’s stammering. Lydia had never seen her sister this flustered before.

“Out with it,” Lydia coaxed, looking from one friend to the next.

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, the books describe what to expect during marital relations better than any speech you could have given her about consummating a marriage,” Barbara said, her words rushing tightly together.

“And you have been so busy,” Juliet said, offering her a timid smile. “I know, you wanted to have the “talk” with me a little more properly, and I thought we’d have that opportunity in London, but…”