by Jane Charles
“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were ...”
“Yes, you are correct.” Tristan began pushing him from the room. “I shared a brandy with my wife last evening. She drank more after my departure, now please see that the breakfast I’ve requested is delivered while I see to her comfort.”
“It is not like Elaina to overindulge, Hopkins. What drove her to this? What did you do to her?”
The accusation that Tristan had somehow caused Elaina distress nearly shattered his last bit of patience and Tristan fisted his right hand as he weighed whether he should plant Xavier a facer for the insult.
“Nothing!” Elaina cried in frustration. “Quit being so bothersome. I drank too much brandy. I’m being punished enough without you yelling and complaining as well.”
He sniffed.
“Tea, bread and perhaps Dover’s powder,” Tristan leveled him a warning glare.
“Very well.” With that he strode away, and Tristan soundly shut the door.
“Was that necessary?” Elaina complained.
“I apologize,” Tristan offered with sincerity before he scooped her up in his arms and carried her to the bed that had yet to be slept in but had been turned down the night before. After tucking her in, he kissed the top of her head.
“I don’t like you,” she muttered.
He grinned. “How far did you get?”
“End of my third Season,” she grumbled.
“Then I’m quite certain that you don’t only dislike me at the moment, but loathing might be a bit more accurate.”
She narrowed her eyes. “I’m just trying to figure out how we are even married.”
“Because like most novels, the best part comes at the end.”
“I have your tea, Lady Hopkins,” the maid announced as she entered, then huffed and stepped past Tristan as if he were no consequence.
Elaina was hard pressed not to laugh and wondered if her maid had read the same journal, which of course she had not. However, it was completely disrespectful behavior to show to a guest at the manor, especially a marquess and the gentleman married to Elaina.
“You may go,” Tristan ordered. “I’ll see to my wife’s care.”
Again, with a huff, the maid exited the room.
“I’m not certain I care for her,” Elaina confided as she sat further up in bed.
Tristan stacked the pillows so that she could lean back in comfort and sip her tea. “Has she been unkind,” he asked with concern.
“Not unkind,” Elaina said after a moment. “I don’t trust her. She tells my brothers everything I say and do.”
“Nobody should have their lives scrutinized as such,” he confirmed Elaina’s own thoughts. “I think I’ll send for a maid I employ,” he said after a moment.
“Why?”
“Because, she’ll be loyal to me, and you. Not your brothers.”
“Would it be someone I know?” Elaina asked slowly. She wasn’t so certain if she could face another face that should be familiar but was not.
“Would it make a difference?” Tristan countered with concern.
“I’d rather it wasn’t someone who knew more about me than I do.”
His smile was gentle and kind, bringing her comfort. “I know just who to send for and I promise, she joined the household only a year ago.”
Elaina reached over and grasped his hand. “Thank you, Tristan.” Then she let go. “However, I can’t begin to understand why I ever talked to you again.” Before she’d fallen asleep, Elaina recalled being quite irritated. “You are right.”
“About what?”
“You are an aggravating man, frustrating as well.”
“I warned you that it is a trait you’ve associated with me for a very long time.”
“Yet, if I’m to believe you, I still fell in love.”
“Yes, you did.” He grinned. “I’ll leave you to rest. If you need anything, send for me. In the meantime, I’ll send for a maid we can both trust.” He winked and then exited the room.
Elaina sipped her tea, ate her bread, willing her stomach to settle and her head to be free of pain.
Oh, she wanted to know what had occurred the fourth Season and if she wasn’t afraid that Xavier would walk in on her, she’d secure the doors once again and find the journals to keep reading. Except, now that her family was alerted to her not feeling well, they’d give her no rest, but check on her continuously, which Xavier did less than an hour later.
“It’s not like you to imbibe, Elaina. I need to know, has Tristan upset you?”
It was all she could do not to roll her eyes. “For the last time, my husband has caused me no distress. In fact, he is the only one who has brought a level of peace to this maddening situation.”
He settled into a chair. “Perhaps I was wrong in not telling you some facts, but if you would have explained your concerns…”
“You wouldn’t even allow me to ask. No…” she remembered. “I did ask, and you said I would need to come to it on my own.”
“I wasn’t aware of the concerns you had about Hopkins at the time.”
“Then perhaps you should question further, or at least allow a discussion before dismissing me.”
“I will do better,” he promised. “But you must understand…”
“I do,” Elaina ground out. “Please go, Xavier. My head hurts and I wish to rest.”
Chastised, he rose from his seat, concern in his eyes, but he left her in peace anyway.
The only way he or anyone else would stop hovering was for her to recover her memories. If she didn’t, would she be suffocated and smothered for the rest of her life?
Chapter 21
When Elaina didn’t appear for the midday meal, Tristan sought her out to find her waking, finally.
“Do you feel better?”
“Yes,” she stretched and smiled. “However, I am famished.”
“I’ll inform cook and ask that she prepare a tray.”
“No. I’ll come downstairs. I could use a bit of fresh air.”
“Would you care to dine on the terrace?” he asked, taking on the role of a servant.
“Why yes. That would be quite lovely.”
“Might I join you?”
Her eyes softened with humor. “I believe I’d like that very much, though I’m still vexed with your treatment of me.”
“As you should be,” he assured her, but hope did light within. Elaina may not remember him, but she liked him. All of his aggravating and frustrating self. She still liked him, and it was a start. “I shall leave you to dress and inform the cook.”
He left her and bounded down the stairs, then issued orders to the first servant he encountered. He then made his way to the terrace and situated a table and chairs in the shade so that Elaina wasn’t forced to endure the sun.
Today, his courtship would truly begin, though in truth, he wished he was the one reading her journal so that he could know which of the attempts wooed her and which failed so he didn’t repeat those. With any luck, she might share them with him, though he didn’t hold onto solid hope in her doing so. After all, these were her private journals and he’d not read without asking.
“What are you about, Hopkins?” Garretson asked as he stepped outside.
“If you must know, Elaina is better, hungry, and I’ve begun my courtship. We are going to enjoy a luncheon”
“You are her husband.”
“Which does me little good if she has no emotional attachment. Therefore, I intend to woo her once again.”
Garretson snorted and shook his head.
“Have you never wooed a lady, Garretson?”
“I’ve never had the desire to do so,” he admitted.
“Pity that,” Tristan said. “But I assure you, that when the right lady comes along, she is well worth wooing.”
Again, Garretson shook his head. “Though it is not something I would ever conceive of doing, I do, however, appreciate that you are being considerate of my sister.”
“I hope that I can make her fall in love with me again so that we at least have something to build on, a future, in the event those memories never return.”
Garretson frowned. “Do you anticipate that she will never remember her life with you?”
After reading the journals, Elaina still had no recollection of their courtship. To her, they were characters upon a page, not their personal story. “I’ve prepared myself to accept the possibility,” Tristan admitted. “She still has no memory of me, even after these few days, and being in the very room where we shared our first night as man and wife. For those reasons, I fear she might not ever remember.”
It was something he’d not admitted to himself until now, but there was a very real possibility that he would indeed need to start over with Elaina and for those reasons, his courtship could not fail, or his marriage would be very lonely indeed.
“This is perfect indeed,” Elaina announced as she stepped onto the terrace. “Thank you for arranging it, Tristan.”
She glanced to her brother. “Would you care to join us, Lucian?”
Garretson looked to Tristan as if wondering if he should. Just because Tristan had decided to court his wife didn’t mean he needed a chaperone as well.
“No,” Garretson said after a moment. “Enjoy.” He nodded then left them alone.
“I cannot wait to retire this evening,” Elaina leaned forward to quietly confess once the servants had placed the meal on the table and returned inside.
“You only just left your bed.” Perhaps she was ill and not simply suffering the effects of too much brandy.
“I wish to return to my reading,” she said, glancing around as if she feared being overheard.
“You did not continue today?” If not, then she was being very nice given how she’d disliked him that third Season, and with good reason.
“I was too afraid of someone walking in and catch me.”
Tristan nodded in understanding. “Well, I hope for you to continue as well.”
“It’s so important to you?” she teased.
“Of course, your only impression of me at the moment is that of a cad. I assure you I do redeem myself, and very nicely if I do say so myself.”
“Well, one thing hasn’t changed, your ego,” she snorted.
“Darling, you have no idea how much my ego has suffered because of you,” he laughed.
“Oh, now I truly can’t wait to continue reading.”
Elaina played with her sandwich for a moment then looked up at him out of the corner of her eye. “Are you vexed with me?”
“No, why should I be.”
She leaned closer. “I did slap you last evening.”
He placed his hand over hers. “It was well deserved, I assure you. Had you been more mature at the time, you would have slapped me then.”
Her face heated. “I cannot imagine doing so.”
“No, not in public at least.”
Her eyebrows rose and the color drained from her cheeks. “I’ve had cause to slap you before?”
“No,” he chuckled. “Though I have no doubt that it has crossed your mind.”
“And, have you considered the same?”
Was she still so worried about the type of relationship they shared? “I have, on occasion, considered taking you over my knee, but I promise that I have never done so.”
“Would it have been for good cause?” she asked with concern.
“Very much so,” he teased. “But it was simply our wills butting against each other, and it never lasted long.” At least, not until she sailed away from him and disappeared.
Tristan didn’t want to think of that now. The day was too pleasant, and he had a wife to woo.
The rest of the afternoon, Elaina spent with Tristan but at least one of her brothers was always present. Therefore, she asked no questions, and behaved as if all was right in the world, while anxious to return upstairs and lock herself away so that she could keep reading.
Xavier, as always, watched her carefully, which unnerved her to no end.
Lucian, on the other hand, treated her no differently than he had after she’d returned home from France, though he did give her more respect and didn’t treat her as a child, for which she was grateful.
“I thought we might ride tomorrow,” Asher offered. “You’ve not ridden since your return.”
A thrill shot through Elaina as the distant memory of riding and racing over the fields came to her. “I’d like that very much.”
“I cannot offer such excitement but thought perhaps you’d like to join me in a game of Whist following supper,” Micah suggested.
“Whist,” she sighed. “I’ve not played that in an age.”
“Did you play on Alderney?” Tristan asked.
“Yes, and I was quite good if you must know.”
He snorted, “Then your game must have improved.”
“Hopkins,” Xavier warned.
“Oh, bloody hell man. I’m simply teasing my wife. Can you not let her relax even a moment?”
Xavier opened his mouth to argue.
“He’s right, Xavier,” Lucian said. “I am well aware of your concerns and fears, and the reason for them, but sometimes you go too far.”
Xavier gaped at his brother.
“Elaina is not going to succumb to madness as you fear. It is memory loss. We pray that it will return, but if it does not, her husband cares for her, as do we all, and will not allow her to suffer any harm.”
Elaina glanced between her brothers, wondering at their argument because she was certain a number of things had been left unsaid. Was Xavier truly concerned that she’d slip into madness?
The brothers stared at one another for a moment longer before Xavier broke and nodded. “You are correct. There are no signs of madness. I fear I’ve let past cases rule my fear.” With that he turned to Elaina. “Forgive me. However, I will still caution you about learning anything that you do not come to on your own.”
It was an odd shift, but she’d accept not being watched like a child on leading strings. However, that didn’t mean she’d risk alerting Xavier to the journals.
“I believe I’d enjoy a game of Whist as well,” Silas announced. “Do say you’ll join us, Hopkins.”
“Of course. I wouldn’t miss my wife finally winning at the game.”
She scowled at him. “Did it ever occur to you that I may have been letting you win?” she teased.
“Never! Nor did you.”
The challenge was issued, a friendly one, and even though Elaina wanted to return to her journals, she embraced the normalcy of her family. Would they all finally relax around her and just let her be?
Micah frowned. “Does that mean the two of you have never partnered?”
That’s right. It was a game of partners. Why hadn’t she ever partnered her husband?
“No, we have not,” Tristan grinned. He glanced at Xavier. “It began the first time we sat at the table together. We were not partners. She lost, blamed me, then refused to ever partner me, and never did, even after we’d been married for three years.”
Thankfully, Xavier simply shook his head, but said nothing to warn Tristan of revealing too much. In the end, it was a very enjoyable evening, especially when Elaina and Micah won against Tristan and Asher. And, it appeared that Lucian, and especially Xavier, had finally settled into their roles as her bothers, but no more protective than they would be in normal circumstance.
However, she felt them watching as Tristan escorted her up the stairs to retire for the evening. She wasn’t certain if they were still worried or believed that she and her husband had returned to their marriage.
Not that it mattered, as it wasn’t any of their concern.
When they reached her door, Tristan lingered, looking down at her, his brown eyes darkening, intense.
Her heart raced, or maybe it skipped, but suddenly Elaina was breathless. “What?”
“It was good to see you smiling, laughing tonight.
I’d forgotten how beautiful you could be in your joy.”
Heat stung her cheeks.
“All will be well, Elaina. All will be well.” He cradled her cheek.
She tipped her head, awaiting her husband’s kiss, not certain if it was something she desired, but it was something she anticipated.
Instead, he kissed her forehead. “Sleep well. And I’ll not fear your retaliation as you read.”
Though she wasn’t ready for kissing or anything else to be shared with Tristan, a part of Elaina was disappointed. “Are you so certain I will have no cause?”
He simply grinned and pulled away. “I look forward to you finishing your story,”
Elaina was left to watch him saunter to his chamber as her curiosity mounted. With those thoughts, she rushed to her room where her maid was waiting.
After she changed, she practically pushed the young woman out the door. “I’ll not need anything further this evening. Thank you.” Blast, she never even learned her name, not that Elaina wished to know it at this late date. As far as she was concerned, the maid was a traitor since a lady’s maid should be loyal to her lady, not her brother.
As soon as she was gone, Elaina locked the door to her chamber, then the one to the sitting room, as she had the day before, then withdrew the journals and put them in order before she grasped the last one. The beginning of her fourth and final Season.
Chapter 22
As with the day before, Tristan waited for his wife to join him for breakfast before her brothers rose. However, again she didn’t arrive, and he was torn between worrying about what she’d read, perhaps it wasn’t as pleasant as he believed, or thinking she’d read late into the evening and was simply still abed.
Instead of waiting, he finished his tea and went to her room. When she didn’t answer the bedchamber door, he knocked on the sitting room entry. Elaina opened almost immediately.
“Tristan,” she greeted him with surprise. “Is all well?”
“I was concerned when you didn’t come down to breakfast again.”
“I lost track of time.”
He blinked at her. “Are you still reading?”