Regency Romance Collection From Christina Courtenay by Christina Courtenay Read Free Book Online

revealed it gave her a stunning figure. Still, he couldn’t shake the feeling that she was taking him for a fool, and it was not one he relished.
    Had he married a deceitful wo man or was he wrong about her? He wished he knew.
     
    Amelia had lost all her enthusiasm for clothes shopping, but Madame was nothing if not thorough. Amelia soon found herself the owner of several morning dresses, two evening gowns, a ball gown, a carriage dress and no less than three walking dresses. There was also an array of undergarments and every other item a lady could possibly require, including a lovely fur-trimmed travelling cloak, a small Spencer jacket and a shot silk pelisse.
    ‘Are you sure we should be buying quite this much?’ she asked James in a whisper while Madame went in search of yet another item. Since he was so annoyed with her, she wondered whether he was really wishing to spend a fortune on her wardrobe. He must be regretting his promise by now.
    ‘I never go back on my word,’ James said, although his mouth tightened slightly as if she had guessed correctly. ‘And while we are here, you must have a riding outfit. You are, after all, going to live in the country most of the time.’ He added as an afterthought, ‘You do ride, I take it?’
    ‘ Yes, of course I do,’ Amelia answered, exasperated with his strange mood. ‘My father saw to it that I had the best possible tuition and I love horses.’
    On the way back to the inn, they stopped at a milliner to acquire several different bonnets to match her new outfits . They also bought some new boots, slippers and gloves. Amelia’s head fairly whirled with it all and she wondered vaguely if they would have to hire an extra carriage just to bring all her luggage.
    ‘ It was lucky that Madame Antoinette had so many gowns already made up,’ Amelia commented on the way back to the inn. She felt the need to make small talk in order to try and lighten the mood a little. ‘She said they were for some young woman whose mother died before she was able to go off on her season. How very sad.’
    ‘ Indeed, but fortunate for you,’ James commented in a somewhat dry tone.
    Amelia tried not to feel hurt at his continued pique. ‘Yes. Thank you very much for buying me all those things, you have been far too generous. I’m sure I didn’t need the half of it.’
    ‘ You are welcome. I can’t have my wife looking like a dowd,’ he replied, looking so forbidding Amelia didn’t dare pursue the topic. She didn’t yet know enough about her new husband to be able to coax him out of his bad humour, so she could only wait and hope that it would pass.
     
     

CHAPTER SIX
     
    They began their journey south the following morning, but it was very different from t he one they had shared before. James said hardly a word and Amelia did not dare initiate any conversations when he looked so stern. Consequently, they travelled in silence most of the time and Amelia found that she missed the companionship they had shared on the way north.
    If she was perfectly honest with herself, she had begun to like James very much during those conversations . And even though he had been acting strange since the wedding, she still found him attractive. Just sitting in the same carriage as him did funny things to her insides, and whenever his gaze rested on her, she felt warm all over. She could only hope that his mood would improve soon so that they could continue to get to know each other.
    The southward journey was accomplished at a slightly slower pace and they stopped over night several times.
    ‘ Your two best chambers, if you please,’ James demanded each time, and Amelia didn’t know whether to be grateful or sorry that they slept in separate rooms every night.
    During a rare exchange of conversation, he told her that they needed to stop in London in order for him to sort out all the legalities of their marriage with his lawyers.
    ‘B ut there is no point opening up my town house for just one