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E mily’s eyes burned. She would give anything for a nap because she had not managed more than a few minutes of sleep during the long night. Over and over again, she had heard the two women talking about her, degrading her body as if she were nothing.

As dawn had crept around the edges of her heavy curtains, she had realised something; the words of strangers had no power to hurt her if she didn’t let them.

Freddie had always told her how perfect she was and she had not believed him, but when a stranger told other people that Emily was strange she instantly accepted it as the truth.

The problem was, she had grown up hearing versions of the same thing from her own mother.

In their short marriage, Freddie had not once made her feel like she was a burden.

He had made her feel cherished and adored.

She may not be his first choice of bride, but he had never treated her that way.

Instead, he made her feel like a queen and it was his words that she should take to heart, not anyone else’s.

She had helped him with his correspondence and she could go on doing so, giving her the purpose in life she had always wanted.

Their marriage was going to work because she was going to be a damned good wife to him.

But before she could begin, she needed to go back to the beginning.

She needed to tell her mother that there could be no more sly insults or direct ones either, that her mother needed to clearly be on her side, that if she heard a rumour about Emily, it was her duty, as her mother, to refute it in the strongest possible terms.

Emily had no idea whether she could get her mother to agree to any of it, but she knew that, for her own pride, she had to try.

When that was done, she needed to tell Freddie everything and she had to make it clear that, although this marriage was not something he had wanted, it was going to be a damned good one.

She was not sure she would be able to say the curse word in front of him, but he would get the point.

‘It really is too early for visitors,’ said her mother as she came into the sitting room looking as put-together as always.

‘I am not a visitor, Mama. I am your daughter.’ Emily’s chest filled with pride at herself for the way her voice did not waver as she dished out this correction.

Her mother paused mid-step, before straightening her spine and continuing towards Emily.

Emily pressed a dutiful kiss to the proffered, powdered cheek.

‘Indeed you are,’ said her mother as she settled herself on the edge of her settee.

‘I have rung for tea, but I told them to hold on the cakes. We do not want people commenting on your figure.’

Emily sucked in a breath. ‘Mama, there is no one here to see us. We could eat a four-course meal and only you and I would be any the wiser. What is more, Freddie and I consummated our marriage on the day that it happened as I have told you before.’

Her mother twisted away as if slapped. ‘Really, Emily. It’s bad enough that I have the picture of that man half-naked in my mind, I do not need any…’

‘ That man is my husband and you will refer to him as such.’ A cold, hard rage was turning Emily to steel.

If her mother couldn’t treat Emily with the worth that she deserved, Emily could live with it, had lived with it all her life and she could cope if it continued.

But she would be damned if anyone in her family spoke about Freddie with anything less than the utmost respect.

Her mother laughed, the sound like broken glass tinkling to the floor. ‘He is a bumbling fool. Everyone knows how he couldn’t take to school and he was thrown out of university before he had been there a term. He cannot stick at anything for long. If only you had held out for the duke you…’

‘I did not want to marry the duke.’

Her mother laughed, the sound cold and hard. ‘Then you are a fool. Glanmore would have provided you with a life of luxury. Once he has an heir and that man loses the earldom, you will be lucky if you have a ha’penny to live on.’

Emily stood, her fingernails digging into her palm.

‘Freddie is the best man I know. I wanted to marry him far more than any other man I have ever met.’ For the first time, she realised that was the truth.

There had never been another man she could talk to, the same way she could Freddie.

Even when she had thought she loathed him, he was the one person she could truly engage with at any Society function.

‘He is kind, funny and very, very smart. If you cannot see that, then it is your loss. However, you will treat him with the honour he deserves or I shall cut you in public.’ Her mother gasped, her hand going to her throat.

‘And what is more, I shall instruct the duke to do the same.’ It saddened her that the latter part of this threat was more likely to upset her mother than the former.

Her mother stood, so that they were now facing one another. Two splotches of colour stained her mother’s cheeks but otherwise there was no show of emotion. ‘You will do no such thing. I have raised you and given you everything… ’

‘That is not true. You have never treated me the same as my sisters. I have always been a disappointment.’

‘Well, you never…’

‘I always ...’ Whatever her mother had been about to accuse her of, none of it would be a reflection of Emily’s behaviour.

Her manners, her deportment, her actions had all been impeccable and she had never received anything but criticism in response.

She had only defied her mother once and that had been to go into the duke’s garden.

On everything else she had been a dutiful daughter.

‘It is not my fault I was born a girl and not the son that you and Father wanted.’

‘Now you are being absurd. I have always treated you the same as the other two. If I have ever been harder on you, it was not because of the circumstances of your birth but rather because you never did what I told you. No matter how many times I tried to help you at balls, you would hide yourself away, showing the world just how strange you are.’

‘Your help was nothing but a litany of my failings.’

‘Well, if you cannot accept the truth that you are a strange little thing who needs correcting, then I cannot be held responsible for…’

‘You do not get to speak to my wife like that.’ Emily jumped; she had no idea that Freddie had been let into the room, but he was standing just inside the door, his eyes narrowed, his jaw taut.

‘Emily is the most beautiful woman in this room. In any room in fact. But she is more than that. She is fiercely intelligent, more talented than anyone I have ever met and she is loyal and kind. She is the best of all women and you could not hope for a better daughter. Yet you continue to put her down at every opportunity. Despite your petty mean-mouthed comments, she has thrived and I, for one, am proud to call her my wife.’

All colour had left her mother’s face, but Emily did not spare her more than a glance.

She could only see Freddie. She had always thought him handsome, but standing in her mother’s lounge, his eyes full of fire on her behalf, she thought him the best-looking man in all the world.

No one had ever spoken out for her like that before.

No one had made her feel the way Freddie did and she loved him with everything that she had.

It didn’t matter if he wanted to go to balls and if he wanted to be surrounded by people who loved him.

He deserved that because he was loveable.

And when he came home, she would always be waiting for him.

She would love him and cherish him and he would know that he was the best thing to ever happen to her.

‘Mother’ she moved towards the sitting room door and came to a stop at Freddie’s side ‘—I do appreciate everything you have done for me.’ Next to her, Freddie growled softly.

‘But my husband is right; you seem to have decided that I am not worthy of kind words from you and I think that, until this changes, we should see less of each other.’ Freddie’s fingers slipped into hers and she squeezed them tightly.

He returned the gesture and her heart soared.

Everything would be all right. ‘We will take our leave now, Mama. You may call on me at any time, but from now on you will speak to both my husband and me with kind words and if anyone should suggest or hint that I married Freddie because I was increasing, you can tell them that our marriage is a love match.’

She and Freddie turned, as if they had spent time coordinating their moves to perfection, and marched out of the sitting room together.