Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

H annah was doing her best, and for that, Frederick was beyond grateful.

Admittedly, he was also surprised. Introducing Hannah to Amelia was always going to be a risk. Knowing his daughter as he did, he was prepared for her to treat Hannah as a threat and spurn her.

Amelia was not naturally a rude person, but she and Frederick had a special bond, and no doubt she now worried about what might happen to said bond, with another woman in the house. And then there was the issue of her feelings toward her mother…

But it was Hannah who Frederick had worried about. From the little he knew of his new wife, she was antagonistic and troublesome. The type of woman not to take being spoken down to without putting her foot down and asserting her position the best she could.

Two unstoppable forces going head-to-head—it was a recipe for disaster. And yet… well, it was like he said; Hannah was doing her best.

“Amelia,” Frederick began as the three of them walked through the garden. He was holding his daughter by the hand, and Hannah was walking on her other side. “Why don’t you tell Hannah what you and Miss Temperton have been doing today?”

Amelia pursed her lips. “Why?”

“Because I am sure she would love to hear it.”

“I would,” Hannah assured her pleasantly. “Please, tell me, Amelia. Remember, I was once a little girl just like you, so it might be fun to be reminded.”

Amelia looked at her as if she was a mouse that had found its way into her room. “When were you ever little?”

“Amelia,” Frederick groaned. “That is not very nice. Apologize, please.”

“It is quite all right.” Hannah chuckled. “She has her father’s sharp tongue. Don’t you?”

“You don’t know anything about me.”

“Oh, I am sure I do.”

“No, you don’t!” Amelia stomped her foot. “You don’t know me or Father! And you don’t belong here!”

“Amelia…” Again, Frederick groaned, feeling embarrassed now as much as anything. “I have explained to you that Hannah will be living with us from now on. This is her home as much as it is yours.”

“I don’t care!”

“Amelia—”

“No!” She freed her hand from his grip and sprinted away, across the garden, toward a large oak tree which she quickly ducked behind.

This was going about as well as he had expected—that is to say, not very well at all.

Frederick could not help but blame himself for it, too. Since Amelia had been born, he had committed himself to her fully, putting aside any notions of meeting women and marrying again. Done so, ironically, for her sake, as he had never wanted to imply that she was not everything to him.

But now he wondered if perhaps he should have warmed her up to this new arrangement. What was more, perhaps his insistence on ignoring Hannah these last two weeks was not the genius idea he had thought it was. If he had brought her here a few times so the two could meet, then surely Amelia would have warmed up to her by now?

“Well, she certainly has spirit, doesn’t she?” Hannah chuckled as she watched Amelia disappear.

Frederick grimaced. “She is not ordinarily like this, I promise you.”

“I am sure she is not,” Hannah assured him. “In fact, I cannot really blame her. Even if it might be easy.”

“Really?” Frederick asked curiously, eyeing her because she was behaving far too pleasantly for his liking, as if she was trying to trick him.

“It is you who I blame,” she said rightly, with a smirk. “If you had not spent the last two weeks hiding away, you might have thought ahead and ensured that we met. That way, I wouldn’t be spending my wedding day trying to coax a six-year-old out from behind a tree.”

Frederick snorted. “I was just thinking the same thing.”

“Look at us.” She laughed. “Finally, we are on the same page.”

“She will come around,” Frederick promised her. “Just give it time.”

Hannah winked. “Lucky, then, that time is something we have plenty of.” Her eyes flicked over him, and she flashed him that coy smile she always wore.

Frederick waited for the follow-up comment. The derision. A chance to put him down. Only…

“Now, come on. We best go and make sure that she is all right.”

Hannah turned around and started walking across the garden, her hips swaying, a motion that one might have assumed meant that she was enjoying herself. But surely, that could not be the case?

Frederick stayed back as he watched her go, again finding himself struck by how congenial she was. Oh sure, she had promised that she would be amiable when Amelia was around, but he had not taken her at her word simply because every time they spoke, their conversation devolved into bickering.

More than that, the fact that she was trying gave him hope. He wanted this marriage to work—at least on the terms that he had set. And if Hannah could keep things this friendly, while avoiding the temptation to tease and trap him, there was no reason it could not.

“Amelia!” Frederick called then as he hurried after them both. “Come out, now, please!”

Hannah was already by the tree, and she glanced up and motioned for him to wait. Then, she crouched down and spoke with his daughter, trying to coax her out of her hiding place.

Frederick frowned as he slowly approached, feeling something else swelling inside of him. Pride? Relief? Hope? There was just something about his new wife trying so hard with his daughter that had him smiling properly for the first time in weeks.

“… I know that your father loves you,” Hannah was saying in a hushed whisper. “And trust me, it is far more than he could ever love me.” She saw him coming and winked. “But there is no reason that you and I cannot be friends. I would very much like a friend.”

“R-really?” he heard Amelia ask from behind the tree.

“Of course,” Hannah replied with a big smile. “Would you like to be my friend?”

“Maybe…”

“Only maybe?” Hannah pouted. “How about this? Let us be special friends, then. What that means is that if you ever need to speak to somebody about things you cannot tell your father or even Miss Tempelton, I will be there to listen. I won’t say anything. I won’t judge. I will be a friend only. How does that sound?”

“Things I cannot tell Father? Like what?”

“I have no idea.” Hannah laughed softly. “But come out, Amelia. I promise that if you get to know me, you will see that I am not so bad as that…” Again, she looked at Frederick, sticking her tongue out playfully this time. “You might even end up liking me, as crazy as that sounds.”

“That does sound crazy…” Frederick heard his daughter giggle.

“That’s because I am crazy.” Hannah laughed and extended her hand. “I would have to be to marry your father, right?” She let out another laugh, one that Amelia shared this time.

And then, slowly, Frederick saw Amelia extend her hand from behind the tree, allowing Hannah to take it.

He was smiling so broadly that his cheeks hurt. It was such a simple thing, yet it spoke volumes. A step so far in the right direction that he wanted to cry out, only refraining from doing so because he did not want to scare his daughter.

But he could see also how proud Hannah was of herself. As her hands wrapped around Amelia’s, she looked at him, her eyes twinkling with satisfaction and triumph, a sense that she was almost as happy with herself as he was.

Until that moment, Frederick had been decidedly unsure about Hannah. He had only seen her when she was at her most hostile, but he had a rare few glimpses of her softer side. Mostly, she was antagonistic toward him because of something he had done or said. But this right here, watching her now with his daughter, Frederick began to consider the very real possibility that this marriage might be even more than?—

“No!” Amelia cried suddenly.

She jumped to her feet, ran out from behind the tree, and shoved Hannah with two hands.

“Oh!” Hannah yelped, stumbling backward, her arms flailing as she tried to regain her balance.

“Amelia!” Frederick roared.

“We don’t want you here!” Amelia shoved her again, this time with enough force that it made Hannah trip, spin about, and fall face-first into a flower bed.

“Amelia!” Frederick cried out, caught between scolding his daughter and rescuing his wife.

In that split second, Amelia sprinted past him, heading for the house. He could hear her crying too, and the sound broke his heart. He did not want to be angry with her. And he certainly did not want to upset her. But he’d need to talk to her, for this could not go on.

“Never mind me!” Hannah cried from the flowerbed as she tried to push herself back up.

“Oh!” Frederick’s eyes went wide, and he rushed toward her. “I am so sorry!”

Without thinking, he bent down, wrapped his arms around her waist, and scooped her up out of the flowerbed.

“Oh!” Hannah gasped as he lifted her and then lowered her to her feet in front of him. She was covered from head to toe in pollen and petals.

“Oh no…” Frederick pulled pieces of grass out of her hair as she patted herself down. “I am so sorry. That was… I don’t even know what to say.”

“Not the success I was hoping for.” Hannah chuckled as she smoothed down her skirt. “But I suppose it was too much to hope for.”

Frederick grimaced as he plucked a petal from her hair. “She will come around, I promise.”

“So you keep saying.”

“She is just…”

“Stubborn, like her father?” Hannah shot back.

Frederick’s face dropped, and he fixed her with a no-nonsense glare. But the sight of her, bedraggled, dirty, a real mess, made him burst into laughter.

“What?!” she snapped. “What is so funny!”

“I am sure you can guess.” He tried his best to stop laughing but was unable to.

“Oh, I am just so glad that my misery brings you such joy.”

“At least it does to one of us…” He took a deep breath, calming himself, his body still shaking. “And to be honest with you, I could use the laughter. It has been a while.”

She rolled her eyes. “All right, but you owe me. One embarrassing situation so I can laugh at you, thank you.”

“Deal.” He grinned.

It was only just then that Frederick realized that they were once more alone. Standing less than one foot apart. His hands all over her as he plucked petals and leaves and pollen. And standing this close to her, looking at her properly… again, he was forced to admit just how stunning she was.

Her deep brown eyes were playful. Her smile was mischievous and fiery. And even though she had since dressed herself in a more conservative pelisse and jacket, Frederick remembered how she had looked earlier today in her wedding gown.

“Ah… I should thank you, too,” he said awkwardly, his eyes flicking past her so as not to stare.

“For?”

“For doing as you promised. For at least trying with my daughter.”

She scoffed. “I did not have much luck.”

“But you tried,” he emphasized. “For now, that is as much as I could have hoped for.”

“Oh, well, you are welcome…” She looked away sheepishly, her cheeks coloring.

“And for—” He bit his tongue. But at that moment, as close as they were, as alone, as unable to stop looking at his wife as he was, Frederick felt his self-control slipping. “For behaving yourself. I didn’t know you had it in you.”

Her eyes flashed, and she looked at him again. “I am not the one with the problem. That, Your Grace, is you.”

He scoffed. “Me? I will remind you that you are the one who keeps… throwing herself at me.”

“I have done no such thing!”

“And you would be a fool to try,” he said, looking into her eyes, his heart fluttering. “For it will do you no good. I told you, ours is a marriage of convenience. Nothing more.”

“Are you sure about that?” She raised a challenging eyebrow at him. A quick glance about the garden, as if to double check they were alone.

“Do you doubt me?”

“I think you know that I do.”

She leaned closer to him. Close enough that if he wanted, he could reach out and pull her into his arms. Something that he very much wanted to do.

Why Frederick was so insistent on putting himself in these situations, he had no idea. Or rather, he knew why, but he didn’t want to consider what that might mean.

There was just something undeniably alluring about Hannah, a hold she had on him that made him say and do things that he knew better than, but he could not stop himself. He wanted her, it really was that simple. And from the way she looked at him now, she wanted him too.

Only…

“I should go,” he said quickly, taking a step back and breaking the tension. “I should see Amelia and make sure she is all right.”

“Oh…” He could literally see the disappointment on her face. “Yes… yes, that is probably for the best.”

“Thank you again.” He cleared his throat, forcing himself not to look at her. “For today, I mean. For trying with Amelia.”

“Anytime,” she said simply, softly, as if resigning herself to her fate.

Frederick thought to say one more thing, to meet her eyes and thank her for what turned out to be a wonderful day with a woman who he was beginning to see there was more to than met the eye. But his mouth had turned dry, his pulse had quickened, and he needed to put some distance between them before anything else happened.

“I will see you later,” he barked and then scurried away.

“When…” she trailed off, for he was too far across the garden to answer.

That was dangerous, and Frederick chastised himself for it. He could not seduce Hannah. He could not allow himself to be seduced! His reasons for such a commitment were complex, far too much to explain to the poor woman. The simple fact was that he had made himself a promise years ago and would stick to said promise no matter what… no matter how hard it was.

And with the way his heart was pounding, his blood was pumping, and his mind was spinning, this promised to be a lot harder than he could have ever thought possible.