by Brianna York
Rosy grinned with appreciation at her small staff of eager women. She was growing to love them and she felt that they were becoming attached to her as well. She missed Rob terribly, but she felt lucky to have the estate and its inhabitants to fill her days. She could not remember when she had felt so useful in her life. “You are too good to me,” she said honestly. With a little wave to the female servants, she left the kitchen and made her way slowly upstairs to her waiting bed.
She pondered writing to her mother to ask her about the early months of her pregnancies but decided against it for the time being. She did not want to tell her mother the exciting news and then have the unhappy misfortune of losing the baby. Her mother had dealt with quite enough losses of that kind without adding Rosy’s to the list. She placed a protective hand over her abdomen as she wandered down the hall toward her rooms. She felt in some obscure way that sharing the knowledge of this pregnancy with anyone else would ruin the intimacy that the tiny life shared with her.
She seldom thought about the child growing inside of her as being Rob’s. Frankly she did not even think of it as hers in particular. She tended to feel as if the spark of life sleeping in her womb was sent as a gift to give her life purpose and to provide her a future of love and affection.
Rosy slipped out of her informal morning dress once she entered her rooms, waving her abigail away with a promise to ring for her when she was ready for her evening meal. She pulled back the covers on her comfortable bed and snuggled gratefully into the softness of the mattress. She watched the fading afternoon light slide slowly across the room. She had struggled to fall asleep lately, but once she did, she slept deeply and dreamed vividly.
She cradled her arms around her mid-section, holding tightly to the promise within her body and wishing for a moment that it was Rob’s strong arms protecting her and their child rather than her own slender limbs hugging herself. Her last thought as she slipped into a deep sleep was that she would have to tell Rob about the baby soon. But not yet, her heart whispered to her drowsy brain. For now, you shall sleep.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Rob stared at the invitation in his hand for a moment. He sighed and raked a hand through his hair in frustration before dropping the slip of foolscap onto his desk. He paced away from the desk to the sideboard and poured himself a few fingers of brandy. He downed half of it in one swift gulp, feeling as though the burn of the liquor might scour away his feelings.
“Damn that woman,” he growled out, pacing across the room again, the glass clasped tightly in his fingers. “Why must she be so vexing?”
He took another sip from the glass, his mind unhappily dwelling on the past weeks since he had left the country and come back to town. He had ridden at first as if all the hounds of hell were chasing him but that had not lasted long. He was not fit enough for that type of riding over long distances and he had been forced to rein his horse in to a walk and take most of the ride at this sedate pace. The trip has thusly taken him much longer than he had planned and had not been very comfortable to boot.
Once he ensconced safely within the walls of his home in town, he had at first presumed that Rosy would write to him and summon him back with a promise of better behavior in the future. When that did not come to pass, he had held out hope that she would come back to town looking for him. This also had not come to pass and he had begun to grow weary of waiting for her to notice his existence again.
His anger and frustration had not been improved when Bruxton and his sister had shown up at his townhome demanding to be paid the wages owed them for the past quarter and stating that his wife had thrown them off the Coulthurst estate without a reference. While he had wished nothing more than to march himself and the Bruxton family back to the country and confront his meddling wife, her words had caused enough doubt about the steward and his sister to creep into his mind that he had instead given them the requested wages and sent them on their way without a reference.
“And now this,” he said to himself as he paced back and forth. “She invites me to a party at my own home. As if I could not come back to my own property without an invitation from her? She does not own the place after all!”
Did she not own a portion of it though? Rob asked himself as he took another bracing swig of the strong alcohol in his glass. Certainly, she did not legally have a right to the estate in the eyes of English law, but he knew better than to pretend to himself that she did not have a better grasp of the needs of the estate than he did. He thought again of her discussions of Merino sheep and pottery and letting out fields to the neighbors. He hated to admit how utterly stupid he felt when she began to talk over his head about things that the property needed that he did not truly understand. He felt his anger flagging in the face of this self-evaluation and drew to a halt so that he might lean against the mantle for a moment.
What to do about her invitation? He tried to ponder what the best course of action would be despite the protestations of his drink-befuddled mind. His thoughts wandered away from the difficult decision he was trying to make and he thought about the litheness of Rosy’s slim waist beneath his hands. He imagined drawing his hands up her smooth flanks and cupping the sweet roundness of her breasts as she rode him astride. His body clenched with wanting and he ground out another curse as he straightened away from the mantle. Would she never leave him at peace? Must he want her above all things and wish never to see her again in the same breath?
“Damn it all,” he snapped aloud to the empty room. He slapped the glass onto the mantle and stormed from the room. He shouted for his carriage to be brought around and went upstairs to change his coat and make himself presentable. He felt somewhat restored by the time he climbed into the waiting carriage and gave the driver the direction of Minerva’s house. Minerva seemed always to have the best advice of anyone he knew and he could use the wisdom of a woman on the topic of his wife.
∞ ∞ ∞
“My Lord,” Minerva said happily as she nearly floated across the foyer to meet him. She helped him remove his coat and hat and then slipped her arm through him companionably as she led him farther into the front room. “To what do I owe this pleasure?” She scanned his face as she said this last, curiosity carefully tamped down. She had never known him to come back to town this early and she sensed that something must be wrong or he would not be here to see her. She felt the tension thrumming through his limbs and she saw the grim set of his mouth. She hated to think that perhaps his new wife had wished them to live separate lives but could not deny the leap of hope which such a possibility brought to life in her heart. Perhaps she would not have to find a new protector after all.
Rob tried to smile at his mistress and managed a wan attempt. “I know that I should have sent word around first,” he said a bit sheepishly. “I simply felt I would go mad alone in that house.”
Minerva patted his arm soothingly and called over her shoulder to the butler for some tea. She pushed open the door to her snug and cozy library and ensconced Rob in a chair near the fireplace before coming to sit across from him. She regarded the shadows under his eyes and the drawn look on his face for a moment and felt her heart squeeze with compassion. “I presume that something has gone wrong between you and your lady wife?”
Rob shot her an amused glance beneath sooty lashes before looking down at his hands. He pulled idly on the chain of his pocket watch. “That obvious is it?” he inquired.
She sighed and reached out to place her small hand on top of his. “It is an easy guess, My Lord. I know only that I have never seen you lose your composure before unless something has gone awry with the woman you love.”
Rob nodded. Just so. He supposed that he did love her. Why he had not been able to say so to her before when they had been so happy, he was no longer sure. Perhaps it had seemed that there would be plenty of time for such confessions later. He had not known that their time would be cut so short. “I fear that we shall not be able to mend the breach which has occurred,” he said caref
ully. “It has been a few weeks now and I have heard nothing from her until today.”
“But she did contact you then?” Minerva asked, a smile breaking across her face. “That is good news surely.”
Rob sighed and shook his head slightly. “I am not sure. She invited me to a house party that she is having. Apparently, she is holding a village fair the same week and has invited myself and some of her friends to the country to enjoy the fair.”
Minerva tilted her head to the side questioningly. “Is this not a fine opportunity to go back to the country and sweep her off her feet again?”
Rob plucked at the material of his sleeve. “I know not. I cannot imagine why she had not written to explain herself or possibly to apologize for the awful things she said to me the day we parted company.”
Minerva contemplated her words carefully, then decided to say what was in her heart and damn the consequences. She cared about Rob very much and she did not wish to see him squander his marriage on a silly misunderstanding. “My Lord, is your lady wife the only one who might wield quill and paper to explain away an offense?”
Rob felt as if she had punched him in the gut. He looked up at her in some shock, meeting her eyes and reading the awareness in her expression that said she knew she had overstepped her place but was sure that it had been the right thing to do. “You think that I should have written her first?”
Minerva shrugged gently and rose to her feet. She went to stand behind Rob’s chair. She massaged gently at the tension in his shoulders and was rewarded by a small relaxing of his body beneath her hands. “I do not know that writing would help this sort of thing much,” she said quietly, her clever fingers making him feel more relaxed than he had felt in days. “I believe that a couple split apart is likely to stay that way for good. Someone must be the first to heal the breach.”
Rob recognized the good sense in her words. He closed his eyes and rested his head against the back of the chair. He wished that going back to Rosy did not feel like it might be a mistake. He had worried for so long about not being good enough for her that it was not easy to contemplate going back to her after she had expressed her own opinion that he was not her equal.
“You do still love her, do you not?” Minerva said very quietly, her fingers still soothing his body.
“I do,” Rob replied drowsily.
“Then you must go to her,” She said gently. She stopped massaging Rob’s shoulders and came around the chair. She draped herself over his lap and his eyes flew open to stare into hers with a question in them. She leaned in and pressed a gentle kiss to Rob’s mouth. She received no reaction in return and when she drew back her soft, sad smile made Rob’s heart ache. “You see how no woman can replace her now? I felt nothing at all from you in return when I kissed you.”
Rob felt as if the floor had dropped out from beneath him. He had not even truly thought about the fact that the woman he had kept for most of the past year to be his bedmate was now unable to bring him to slightest arousal. Some corner of his brain registered what he had not seen before this moment. Rosy was special to him. He loved her and he valued her above the other women he knew precisely because she stood up to him and was smart and competent. Her words about his failure had hurt him because he cared about what she thought so very much.
“What if she will not take me back?” Rob asked Minerva, his blue eyes questioning as he looked up at her.
Minerva smiled gently. “I imagine that she misses you just as much as you miss her,” she answered him. She pressed a kiss to his forehead. “I might suggest however, that a sincere apology and an expression of your love will go much farther than bargaining at this point. If you did not know how much you loved her until this very moment, she may not know that you feel that way either.”
Rob grinned up at his mistress. “You are a very wise woman, Minerva,” he said fondly.
She shook her head gently. “I am only some years older than you and better versed in the ways of love and heartache.” She smoothed the slightly curly hair off Rob’s forehead. “I believe, however, that My Lord would benefit from a good night’s sleep, a shave and a haircut before going back to make up with his wife.”
Rob chuckled. He knew he had rather let some things go since he had come to town. “That is all true. Would it be too large an inconvenience if I were to stay here tonight? I am so very tired.”
Minerva slipped from his lap and held out a hand to him. “Come along with me,” she said. “You shall have my bed and I shall sleep in the second bedroom.”
Rob drew them to a halt and shook his head. “No, I would not have you driven from your own bed by my presence here tonight.” He squeezed her hand. “Might we simply sleep in the same bed as friends?”
Minerva cocked her head to the side for a moment, then acquiesced. “I believe that might be managed,” she agreed. “Do not be angry at me if I take myself off to sleep elsewhere in the middle of the night, though. I shall not have you breaking your marriage vows unawares in your sleep.”
Rob nodded. He had not thought of that. Truly though, he simply wished for some companionship. He did not feel any kindling of the former spark he had born for Minerva. Tonight, he desired her friendship and her company but nothing more.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“The house is much restored.” Longford turned in a circle in the foyer, scanning the fresh paint, new draperies and other small changes that had been attended to since Rosy had taken residence.
“I am glad to hear that you think so, My Lord,” Rosy said happily. “It has been lovely to see the property coming to life again.”
“One wonders why Coulthurst had let it get to such a state.” The Viscount turned back toward her, his hazel eyes inquiring even if his words had not directly asked her a question.
Rosy smiled at him and stated the closest thing to the truth that she was going to divulge to him. “The property holds many memories for my husband. Not all of them happy. Now,” She went on, moving toward the drawing room, “shall we sit and have some tea?”
“I hope that you have some tea cakes or sandwiches,” Cecily said as they entered the sunny and cheerful confines of the drawing room. “I am quite famished from our trip.” She glanced over at her cousin with irritation. “My cousin felt the need to press the horses quite quickly. I assure you that the roads were not meant for such haste. I feel I have been jounced about quite enough to make me silly.”
“You were silly before the carriage ride,” Longford teased. “Besides all of that, you seemed very eager for this visit and I should hate to disappoint you.”
“Who else shall be here?” Cecily asked Rosy as she nibbled at a finger sandwich. She had expected to see the Earl by now and was wondering where he might be. She could not achieve her aims if he were not present. She tamped down her worry about her plotting and forced herself to attend to Rosy’s words.
“The Countess of Pleasant should be arriving today per her note and I have asked a few other of the girls from our Season who are now married to join us as well.” Rosy sipped at her tea, hoping that the nausea coursing through her would calm itself. She did not wish for anyone to know about her pregnancy as of yet. It would not do for it to reveal itself to the Viscount and his cousin before Rob had been told about it.
“The Countess is a lovely companion,” Longford said with a smile. He wondered how close the Countess’ room would be to his. Perhaps he might be able to suggest to the Countess that they enjoy the house party behind closed doors.
“Has the Earl not invited some of his own friends to visit?” Cecily asked, unable to stop herself from inquiring as to his location.
A pained look crossed Rosy’s face and she pressed her hand to her abdomen. “He was called to town for some business but I hope that he shall be able to join us,” She said tactfully. She closed her eyes for a moment and swayed slightly in her seat. “I am sorry,” she said faintly. She attempted to rise but did not gain her feet before stumbling badly as a wave of dizz
iness washed over her.
“My Lady!” Longford exclaimed, hurrying to support her shoulders and catch her before she toppled to the floor.
“I shall be all right,” she said weakly, her breath coming quick and shallow. “The spell will pass.” She tried not to be too grateful for the feeling of strong arms around her but she had to admit that it felt nice to have a man comforting her when she felt so poorly.
“Be that as it may, you should lie down,” Longford said, sweeping her into his arms. “Where is your bedchamber? I shall make sure that you get there without another mishap.”
“Nonsense. Put me down,” Rosy protested, pushing against Longford’s lapels ineffectively. “What will people think?”
“They shall think that you are a ninny for insisting to try and walk to your bed when you are clearly incapable,” Longford persisted as he exited the drawing room and gained the stairs. “Stay here Cecily,” he called behind him. “Her Ladyship doesn’t need more people pressing in on her right now.”
Cecily frowned and halted at the bottom of the stairs. She watched her cousin’s broad shoulders as he carried Rosy up the stairs. Nothing was going to plan. She could not hope to cause damage to the Earl’s relationship to Rosy if he was not at home. Worse still, it seemed that Rosy had already gotten herself in the family way. She stomped her foot peevishly. How could she turn a man away from a woman who was already carrying his heir? With a muttered curse, Cecily turned around and began to make her way back to the drawing room.
A sudden rattle of hooves heralded the sound of a carriage pulling up to the house. Cecily halted, waiting to see who had arrived. She noted the Countess of Pleasant’s crest on the door of the carriage. The vehicle drew to a halt and the Countess emerged, her dark hair shiny as a raven’s wing in the midday sun. Cecily prepared the face she would need to be wearing when she greeted the other woman and began to walk forward. She drew to an abrupt halt as she saw that a man was exiting the carriage behind the Countess. She felt her heart leap in her chest when she saw that the man was Rob. She glanced up the stairs thoughtfully. Her cousin had not returned. She smiled and crossed the foyer to greet the Earl and the Countess.