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Chapter One

"My lady?"

Christiana remained curled on her side in her cocoon of blankets She merely opened one eye to peer at the older woman bent over her Grace, her maid "Hmm? "

"Your sisters are here " Those four words and the urgency behind theht her other eye open at once

"What? My sisters in London?" Christiana rol ed over, thrusting the blankets and linens away to sit up "And here at this hour? Thereso early "

"That was e," Grace adot out of bed "So I hurried up here to fetch you If you're quick we can have you dressed and downstairs before your husband sends them away "

"Dicky wouldn't send them away," Christiana said with surprise, and then tacked on an uncertain, "Would he?"

"He's done so with others "

"Who?" Her horror and surprise cahtdress as the ed it off over her head

"Lady Beckett, Lady Gower, Lord Ol ivet and Lord Langleytwice " Grace turned away to trade the nightdress for a pale blue gown that an to help her don it, she added, "And I can tel you Lord Langley didn't like it the first time, but was absolutely livid the second "

"I can ih as the dress dropped to cover her body The Langley estate bordered her childhood horown up with her and her sisters He was like fa brother she'd never had He wouldn't have appreciated being sent away like some sort of undesirable "Why didn't you tel me?"

Grace snatched up a hairbrush and began to drag it through her hair before saying, "What good would it have done?"

"None," Christiana adht to turn ahomever he wished from his door, while she, as she'd coe She sighed, and then griht, e, a style she absolutely abhorred Aside froht al day resulted in terrible headaches, but Dicky insisted it gave some sophistication to her unruly person

"What could have brought my sisters here?" Christiana asked worriedly

"I do not know, but itimportant They did not send word of their arrival in the city ere arriving," the woman pointed out, and then stepped back

"There I have finished with your hair "

Christiana barely ed to swipe up her slippers before Grace took her are her to move "Come, we must hurry Haversham wil have found and fetched Lord Radnor by now Let us hope ere quick enough and your husband has not yet sent them away "

Grunting in agreement, Christiana hopped on first one foot and then the other to get her slippers on without the necessity of stopping as the woman rushed her to the door

Christiana could hear both Lisa's and Suzette's high anxious voices fro the upper hal and i her sisters in the entry rather than showing them to the parlor

She couldn't bla Dicky's orders regarding guests Dicky's voice sounded next, loud and po You real y should have sent a er around with a card had you wished to see her I could have responded with an appropriate time for such a visit As it is, I fear you shal simply have to return to your father's townhouse and send that card now "

"Can we not just slip up to speak to her, Dicky? We are her sisters and it's important " Suzette's tone was a co like shock The anger was no doubt at Dicky's pompous words Probably the shock was as wel , Christiana acknowledged and knew the man her sisters now faced was a far cry fro She had no doubt they were just as confused and startled by the change in him as she herself had been for the first six e However, it was the desperation that worried her So

"It's al right, husband I am awake," Christiana cal ed out as she reached the stairs and started down Dicky immediately turned to peer up at her, his face like thunder Whether his anger was over her sister's words or her own, she didn't know Dicky preferred to be obeyed, and promptly; he wouldn't appreciate Suzette's insistence However, he also wouldn't be pleased with her arrival before he could send Suzette and Lisa away as he apparently had others

Forcing a soothing smile to her lips, Christiana stepped off the stairs and moved to his side The s when angered She had to live with the insults and criticise she found so frightening It wasn't the anger itself that have to face the rage she found so frightening It wasn't the anger itself that unsettled Christiana so much as the depth of it Fury swirled around him at al times like a dark cloak When provoked, his face flushed red and twisted into a tight, cruel e and venoathered at the corners of hisHe also tended to tres as if they were barely contained and ht explode at any moment It was that explosion Christiana wisheder would leave in its ere it completely unleashed

"Good , Dicky," Christiana breathed nervously as she reached his side

She leaned up to kiss his cold, hard cheek as if al el and she wasn't fighting the urge to flee the seething fury she could sense si, snapping instead, "I was just explaining to your sisters that it's quite rude to arrive uninvited so early in the"

"Yes, wel , family is al owed some leeway, aren't they?" Christiana said, and winced at the pleading she could hear in her own voice There was nohim not to make a scene and she could tel by her sisters'

expression that they recognized it, which was just hu

Even nore the plea

"My fa," he snarled, sneering at her sisters as if they were beneath contempt

"Of course your family wouldn't They're al dead," Suzette snapped in response and Christiana glanced at her with alaraze then darted worriedly back to Dicky, as sucking in air through his teeth and puffing up

Recognizing the signs of an approaching explosion, she quickly took his aro enjoy your breakfast and leave me to deal with my sisters?"

Dicky didn'tand scowled at Suzette who lared defiantly back Christiana closed her eyes briefly and fought the urge to slap the stupid girl Oh yes, Suzette was being brave enough, but then she had little to lose in this battle

Dicky couldn't hit her or even penalize her in any way It was Christiana he would punish for the girl's braveryand probably in several different ways It wouldn't be enough for him to rant and rave at her for half an hour about her unruly and uncouth family He would also most likely insist Suzette was a bad influence and order Christiana not to see her again Then he would add various other little unpleasantries to the punish that alher woken early with so she retire early when she was curled up with a good book, or keeping her up late when she was exhausted Where Dicky had started to leave her to her own devices lately, he would probably force her to suffer his company for the next several days as he ranted and raved about everything and everyone in London in a manner sure to leave her disheartened and depressed, and then he would insist on taking her out to aid hi some item or other, only so that he could announce that her choices were poor ones and select so else instead in a show of how little taste she had Al of which were petty punish periods of ti of a life of such steady, smal tortures On top of al of that, Dicky would also be spouting criticism after criticism of her looks, her dress, her speech, her coence, her naivety, her friends or her lack of them It would be a steady trickle of abuse that slowly eroded every last vestige of self-estee but the escape of sleep There was no other escape available to her Suicide was out of the question, as was divorce

"Where is your father?" Dicky barked suddenly, drawing her attention back to theunal ivant about the city without his escort?"

"Visiting us is hardly gal ivanting about the city," Christiana protested quickly to forestal Suzette doing so "Please husband, your breakfast wil be getting cold Why do you not - "

"Our breakfast," Dicky corrected sharply and then sht of a way to punish so cold while aste our tiuests "

Christiana found her hand suddenly caught up in his as Dicky began to drag her up the hal , "Shoife's sisters to the parlor, Haversham We shal attend them after we have enjoyed the breakfast cook has worked so hard to produce "

Christiana cast a glance that was half apologetic and half warning to her sisters and then she was in the breakfast roo the door closed behind them

"Your father should be asha three such unruly creatures," Dicky snarled as he led her to the sideboard and the food waiting there "A little discipline would have gone a long way towardbetter women of you alBut then he has little discipline himself, does he not?"

Christiana re to select food froue her case er, more furious rant, so simply chose a piece of toast and some fruit and started to turn away

"You wil eat a proper breakfast, wife," Dicky snapped, bringing her to a halt

"Give me your plate "

Christiana bit her tongue as he snatched the china away, and an to pile kidneys and kippers on her plate She hated both kidneys and kippers and he knew that It see already

"There Now you may sit "

A glance at the plate Dicky shoved under her nose showed that he'd added scrags, but merely took the plate and turned to take her place at the table But she ishing the whole while that she had the nerve to toss the plate, food and al , in his face

Unfortunately, she never did anything so bold, ever She ht have, had he dared to treat her like this before they were married, but he had been al charm and compliments then This behavior hadn't started until after the wedding, and Christiana had been so startled and taken aback by the sudden transformation in his attitude that she'd been slow to stand up for herself It had left her feeling as dazed as if soot over the shock and even considered standing up for herself, it was too late, the criticisue, she'd found herself wondering if perhaps the dress he was criticizing wasn't cut too low, or that the shadeHer selfconfidence had been shaken, and as time had passed it was shaken , she simply tried to appease him, soothe his temper and please hihts than the servants orked for them

"You're not eating your breakfast," Dicky said as he joined her at the table

Christiana cleared her throat "I ary "

"I don't care You're too skinny Eat," Dicky said firmly, and then added, "Your diet is atrocious You don't eat enough meat Eat your kidney and kippers "

Christiana bowed her head and began to eat, doing her best not to taste ent into her rateful to finish the last bite and stand up

"What are you doing?"

Christiana stil ed, her eyes shooting to her husband "I ao see what my sisters - "

"I am not finished " When confusion covered Christiana's face, he snapped, "Is it too much to expect my wife to keep me company while I breakfast?"

She settled reluctantly back in her seat, but resentain They never breakfasted together Froe he had either risen early, breakfasted and left the house before she had even stirred, or he slept later than her and took his breakfast in his roo a wife and husband should breakfast together, but after a while she'd been grateful for the respite Now she was just annoyed with thethe demand for her coer

Dicky took his ti his meal, but final y pushed his plate away and rose He then insisted on walking her to the parlor and did so at a pace that snails could have outstripped Christiana was gritting her teeth by the time he paused to open the parlor door

"Chrissy!" Suzette started to her feet with relief when Christiana entered, but stopped abruptly when Dicky fol owed She then watched with obvious frustration as he ever so sloalked Christiana to a seat and saw her settled

"So?" Dicky arched an eyebrow as he took up a position on the arm of Christiana's chair where he could loom over her like a bird of prey about to pounce

He then eyed her sisters like they were naughty children "What was so urgent that you had to arrive here at such an ungodly hour?"

Suzette's gaze slid to Christiana and then to Lisa before she forced a cool s at alWe just missed Chrissy terribly It has been ht her back to visit as you promised "