Charlotte stared at her husband. It was the old Alex, the premarriage Alex, the loving father she had seen before their wedding night. A sense of relief filled Charlotte’s heart. Besides her own heartbreak, she had worried fiercely about Pippa. How could Pippa cope with the death of her real mother, if her newfound papa decided to just ride off and leave her in Scotland? But perhaps his plan wasn’t quite so vengeful as she had imagined. Alex and Pippa snuggled together, seemingly oblivious of their audience.

Suddenly Alex swung up his head. His eyes ranged over the assembled servants. “This is your new mistress, the Countess of Sheffield and Downes.” He gave all the servants an arrogant stare; he didn’t want them to slight the new countess, having seen her descend from the servants’ coach. And wait until they heard stories from the footmen who arrived with her. Inside he groaned, but his face remained haughty and confident. Then he smiled suddenly. “And this is my daughter, Lady Philippa.”

There was a resounding cheer and a flurry of clapped hands. Alex held out his free arm to Charlotte. She took it lightly and he led her to the front of the line and began making painstaking introductions to the primary servants of the estate.

For her part, Charlotte was delighted with herself. She felt nothing. After all the agony of the last three weeks, she looked at Alex, her husband, and she felt nothing: neither attraction nor acute rage. She felt a twinge of pity because he looked singularly drawn and tired. But seeing him didn’t sway her resolution one tiny bit, she was happy to find. Even as she smiled and chatted with the servants, she inwardly gloated about the fact that his alarming effect on her, the inner weakness that made her shake every time he so much as touched her finger, was gone. She was holding his arm and she felt—nothing.

Finally Charlotte had met all the upstairs servants. She liked the butler enormously, judged that one of the upper housemaids would probably have to be replaced, made a mental note to have the housekeeper’s records checked. Then she smiled generally at the mass of unnamed servants and dropped Alex’s arm. Side by side they walked up the four stone steps and into the front hall.

“My goodness,” she exclaimed as they entered the echoing stone entrance.