“Boy or girl, this baby kicks like a mule.” She caught Cam’s hand and placed it where the next Rothermere emphatically made its presence known.
“Another powerful personality.” He tried to sound ironic, but Pen heard his pleasure.
“What time is it?” she asked on a yawn.
“Nearly four.” He kissed her belly and rose. He crossed to the windows and drew the curtains with a rattle. A snowy afternoon filled the ornate room with soft light. “Why are you smiling?”
He stared at her as if he beheld the most glorious creature on earth. Pen thought she looked like a hippopotamus, but she’d come to realize that her husband observed her with the eyes of love. The eyes of love found even the advanced stages of pregnancy beguiling. “The snow reminds me of our journey through the Alps. You have no idea how close I came to shoving you into a glacier.”
He laughed again. “I deserved it.”
“You did.” She extended a hand. “But I’m glad that I didn’t.”
“Because you love me?”
“No, because you come in very handy when I need to stand up.”
“Ah, the painful truth at last.” He drew her from the bed.
She braced her hands against the persistent ache in her lower back. As she stretched, her attention focused on an oblong rectangle wrapped in black velvet and set against the wall. “What’s that?”
“Your Christmas present.”
“It’s not Christmas yet.”
“Should I take it away?” He wasn’t smiling, but the deepening lines around his eyes alerted her to his game.
“No.” She stepped forward. “It looks like a painting.”
“Well, I know that you take art very seriously.”
Even as her lips twitched, she cast him an unimpressed glance. “The Titian looks much better in the duchess’s London apartments.”
“I bow as always to your decision.”
Another unimpressed glance. Their relationship retained a delicious push and pull, resulting in the occasional clash. It was inevitable when two such opinionated people lived together. But the reconciliations were wonderful, and no disagreement assailed the deep-rooted strength of their union. Cam was her lover and her friend and the finest man she knew. Not a day passed when she didn’t whisper a prayer of thanks for his love. “Can I look?”
“Yes.” He regarded the painting. “I want you to see it before our guests arrive tomorrow.”
For their first Christmas as a couple, they played host to their favorite people. The Harmsworths. The Hillbrooks. Lydia and Simon and their baby girl Rose. Sophie and Harry who were so rapturously happy that they barely noticed society’s disapproval. Elias. Marianne Seaton who had proven a good friend to Pen through the repercussions from Harry and Sophie’s elopement.
Lord Leath even planned to stay a day or two. He and Cam weren’t the best of friends, but there were signs of rapprochement. Cam’s canal scheme had proceeded, to the benefit of the Thorne coffers. Leath’s grudging acceptance of Harry gradually changed to genuine respect. Especially since Harry had taken over one of Cam’s estates and showed every sign of making a success of it.
The beau monde might frown at Her Grace, the Duchess of Sedgemoor entertaining so close to her confinement, but these days the Rothermeres paid little attention to gossip.
Which was a good thing. The scandal after Harry and Sophie’s elopement had been appalling. Insults, innuendos, and ribald lies had proliferated. The young couple still faced a degree of ostracism.
Pen knew better than to stew over the world’s spite. To her satisfaction, Cam showed every sign of agreeing. The Camden Rothermere who teased her this afternoon was his own man. If the world didn’t approve, that was the world’s loss.
With a theatrical gesture, Cam lifted the velvet to reveal the painting.
The bristling silence extended until Cam’s delight faded to concern. “Pen, are you all right? I thought you’d be pleased.”
“I am,” she said in a suffocated voice.
She couldn’t tear her attention from the painting. She’d only seen it once before, after the artist completed it. On that single viewing, it had brought tears to her eyes. Now, six years later, she still wanted to cry. Because it was so beautiful. Because it was so true. So heartbreakingly true.
“How did you get it? He swore never to let it out of the studio.”