Chapter 44

Gwen fidgeted on the couch in the drawing room and tried not to look as restless as she felt. This was to be a typical night at home with her husband, and she must learn to enjoy it.

The word caught in her mind like a lump in her throat.

Home. This was home, she told herself. The memory of the place that had been home was already becoming indistinct at the edges. She remembered much happiness, of course, and she missed her father and Lady Danbury, but she must not forget

the rest of it and be grateful for what she now had. This room was comfortable and quite pleasant, now that it had been cleaned and aired. Warm and quiet and spacious and the sound of the rain outside was distant and comforting. She did

not have to empty the pan in the corner that caught drips from the hole in the roof, as she had at home. She was not sitting

in a draught.

And despite the prickle of sunburn on her nose, she was not bone tired from a day’s exertions and ready for bed.

Strangely, that was part of the p