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She pressed her lips together to keep the words from tumbling out.

“Very good, Your Grace,” Mouse said at last, his voice soft and a little hesitant. “I shall see it done at once.”

Beatrice exhaled. “Thank you, Mouse. Thank you.”

CHAPTER 27

“What do you mean,my things are packed?” Stephen echoed, blinking incredulously.

Mouse looked thoroughly miserable. “The Duchess informed me that you planned to move to the townhouse, Your Grace. She insisted on having your things packed. I thought… That is, I assumed…” he trailed off, mortified.

Stephen cleared his throat. Whatever was going on, it wasn’t Mouse’s fault.

“Not to worry, Mouse,” he said, smiling reassuringly. “This will all be resolved soon, I’m sure. You were right to listen to the Duchess. Where is she, by the way?”

“I believe she is in the conservatory, Your Grace.”

“Thank you.”

Mouse hurried away, looking relieved to go.

Stephen remained where he was for the moment, standing in the hallway and staring off into space.

Something had happened. Somethingbad.

Biting back a sigh, he headed towards the conservatory. Part of him had expected Beatrice to go back up to the observatory again, but no.

He wasn’t sure he could ever think of the observatory again without thinking of Beatrice flushed, breathing hard, her fingers tightening in his hair.

Stephen swallowed hard, doing his best to compose himself.

Beatrice sat in one of the wicker chairs, her feet propped up on another, reading a book from the library.

“You’re home,” she said, without looking up. “What a surprise. You didn’t come home last night.”

He stood in the doorway, not entirely sure what was waiting for him.

“I beg your pardon? I came back late because I spent some time with Theodore.”

“The scandal sheets claim otherwise.”

“Those rags can write what they want. I was with Theodore.”

Beatrice shot him a glance, one he could not decipher. “A witness saw you leaving a party with Cornelia Thompson.”

Stephen snorted. “Then thewitnessis a liar. I was with Theodore, and you can ask him if you like. He loves being a new father, but I’m reliably told that it’s exhausting. When I came home, I sought out a guest room, as you’d instructed. I imagine that is why our paths did not cross.”

Her jaw tightened. “You’ll find out soon enough what it is like to be a father, I think.”

Stephen blinked. “And what, exactly, is that meant to mean? I know that youare not with child.”

She slammed her book shut. “No, I am not. But Miss Thompson is.”

There was a brief silence.

Stephen rocked back on his heels.CouldCornelia be with child? She hadn’t seemed so when he last met her, and she was generally careful, but… A thought came to his mind—a thoroughly unpleasant one. When he glanced at his wife again, he saw that she was thinking exactly the same thing.

“You think she is expectingmychild,” he said, astounded.