“Rather a shock, I quite agree.” Adelaide exhaled in a rush, her fingers beginning to grip at her skirts. “I was unwell this morning, which I understand is perfectly normal. It will be some time before we can be certain, but I thought you ought to be made aware.”

“Indeed,” he replied in a low tone, still looking as though something had hit him over the head. “That is to say, thank you. Are you… well now?”

“Perfectly, as it happens.” Adelaide forced a perfect smile on her lips, hoping to convey the confidence she did not yet feel. “I am always well, even when I am unwell.”

Basset blinked, which seemed to shake him from his stupor and make him human once more. “I don’t doubt it.” He cocked his head at her, brow creasing with some consideration. “We haven’t talked about children or parenting, have we?”

Adelaide snorted softly. “We haven’t talked about anything, really.”

“Perhaps we should.” His mouth twisted for a moment. “Dinner this evening?”

“If you like. There will be plenty of time.”

He nodded at that. “I suppose it should not be as much of a surprise as it is. Given that we—”

“Yes,” Adelaide interrupted, her cheeks warming. “Quite. My mother told me I must endure it until my courses have stopped. At which time, I would be with child, and there will be no need for such things until he, that is you, want another.”

“Endure,” he repeated, before giving her a rueful smile and raising a brow. “Pardon my frankness, Lady Basset, but I hardly think you are merely enduring what we do. But perhaps I flatter myself.”

Her entire face seemed to flame, and flashes of nights past lit up her mind here and there. “Be that as it may,” she went on hastily, “until we know for certain, there will be no need to continue.”

Basset shrugged without much concern. “As you wish. I await your instructions.”

Adelaide propped her hands on her hips, his nonchalance provoking, given the mutual engagement such activities had produced. “Oh, so this is about what I wish?”

“You are the one who told me you were available if I was agreeable. I am happy to comply when you wish it.” He shrugged again, still smiling in that maddening way. Attractive, but maddening. Why could he rarely be more unsettled than she was?

“Impossible man,” she grumbled, folding her arms almost moodily.

“I know,” her husband replied. He came around the corner of his desk toward her, looking mildly sympathetic. “Are you pleased about this, Adelaide?”

She met his eyes, any use of her given name from him tickling something at the base of her throat. “I hardly know,” she admitted softly. “I am not… displeased. But I cannot say more than that.”