Eleanor smiled and wiped away her tears. “Wives wear out rather rapidly in the bush,” she observed coolly. “I suspect the day will come when you’re glad to have your husband in my bed instead of yours.”

Dazed by the woman’s gall, Maggie bent and picked up the bowl she’d dropped, setting it on the table with a thump. “Your confidence in your charms is quite amazing, Miss Kilgore,” she replied. “But even if Reeve should ever feel the need to take a mistress—and I assure you, I’ll do whatever I have to to prevent that—you’ll be far away from Seven Sisters. In fact, you may be leaving today.”

Eleanor’s smile was firmly in place, and the brightness in her eyes now was spawned by determination, not tears. “Do you imagine for one moment, Mrs. McKenna, that your doting husband will send me away and allow you to endanger his child by scrubbing floors and cooking meals? If you do, you underestimate his devotion.”

“Once I tell him what you’re planning—”

Eleanor interrupted with a dismissive laugh. “Even if you do, and he goes into a towering rage and shows me the door—which is unlikely since there are few white women who would be willing to live so far out in the bush—I’ll have only to apply to Mr. Kirk for a position in his house. He’ll hire me, rest assured, and that may prove even more convenient for Mr. McKenna, since Mr. Kirk’s residence is less than a mile’s walk from this one. He’d be able to visit his mistress without flaunting her in his wife’s face.”

Maggie knew that Eleanor’s threats carried weight; for the very reasons she’d stated, it was most unlikely that Reeve would send her away. She’d only have to lie if he were to confront her about her intentions, and Maggie, being the younger of the two women, would seem the jealous and unsophisticated bride. Reeve would believe that her pregnancy was causing her to imagine things.

“You won’t have him,” Maggie vowed proudly, color throbbing in her cheeks, and then she turned and left the dining room.

Reeve and Duncan were just coming out of the small study, and Maggie could see no indication of what they’d discussed in either of their faces. She was too upset to look beyond their expressions.

“I’m going for a walk,” she announced somewhat petulantly, folding her arms.

Duncan offered his hand to Reeve and, after a moment’s hesitation, Reeve took it. At any other time Maggie would have been curious about what they were agreeing to between themselves. She turned and set out for the back of the house.

Reeve caught up to her as she was starting through the cane field, moving steadily toward the sea, which called to her with a low, soothing voice.