A Marriage Most Inconvenient (Inconvenient Matches Book #1)

Chapter 21: Ben & Vera

'Why are you and Needham in a row?' Benedict broke the companionable silence as he finished his mouthful. 'You and he barely spoke a word at dinner.'

She remained silent, lost in thought. The reflection of the warm fire danced in her eyes, her brow furrowed.

'Phi?' He prompted.

'Do you ever worry about the sort of parent that you will make?' Ophelia asked as if she hadn't heard him. He pushed the dish of dessert toward her and offered her a spoon as he considered how to answer. She took a slow bite of the apple pudding his wife had made fresh before the servants retired so that he may share it with Ophelia. This whole friendship situation was turning out to be a rather stellar idea, his wife was a rather thoughtful person. Taking care of details he never even considered. Like the settee in their dressing room, making it easier for him to get dressed.

'I don't plan on having children.' He admitted frankly. 'For one, I will not take an unwilling woman to bed.' No matter how much he wanted that particular woman. 'For another, there is nothing but cruelty in siring a child whose parents do not hold affection for one another.'

Except, he swallowed, there was affection now. A great deal of it, if he spoke of himself.

He was going back to London. His life was in London. He would do well to remember that. His life was too busy for children. He would do well to remember that, too.

'I see.' His sister replied dispassionately. Something was certainly the matter with her, usually a declaration such as this would be met with a lecture on the blessings of family. What had prompted such a strange question and equally strange response?

They sat by the hearth in the finest guest apartments in Hartley, Ben partially suspected that this had been a snub to his mother who had arrived the morning after Ophelia and her husband, and had been given the second finest guest room.

'Phi, are you...?' He felt heat rise to his cheeks. There really was no proper or appropriate way to ask if one's sister was expecting. Or, to be precise, no way which didn't make already awkward older brothers even more awkward than they were. 'Are you, ahem, in a delicate way?'

'Not yet. And that is part of the problem.' She grimaced. 'But still. I look at our mother, the way she fell into melancholy after I was born, and I fear that I will be like her with my own daughter.'

'Phi, don't be ridiculous. You couldn't be farther from our mother if you tried.' Oh dear lord, he really ought to get better at this whole comforting women business. You couldn't very well offer them a smoke, a drink, and a pat on the back.

'Oh, Ben, I don't know. Sometimes I do things or say things and I have to pause in shock because it is exactly what she would have done! Last week I scolded my maid for misplacing my rings, only to realize I had placed them in a different drawer! I gave her the week off because I felt so horrid!'

'Regular old tyrant, aren't you?' He chuckled, the tension easing. His sister was back to normal. 'You seem upset, Phi. Won't you tell me what the matter is?'

She took a long sigh.

'Needham and I have been fighting very frequently.' She confessed in a hushed whisper. 'He's always been possessive, and when I was younger I used to find it charming. As of late, it has been suffocating. He has been irate...and as you know, his temper is a fearsome thing. I just never imagined he would ever lose his temper with me, which in hindsight certainly seems foolish. He's dismissed two footmen who he thought were being inappropriate with me and got annoyed with me for being oblivious to their intentions. If I dance with anyone he is not acquainted with, he becomes so very surly. I do not know what has come over him.'