My cheeks burned, but I knew I wore a smile. How could I not? This intimacy was the best time I’d spent in this room.
The duke made that face, one that said he was hiding the pain. The bottle of laudanum was on the chest of drawers, but so was a container of his rum. I filled a tiny glass with the perfume of Demerara’s best, then poured a second with the laudanum. I presented both to him. “For the pain you’re hiding.”
“Put them on the table. I need to see how long I can endure before I need either.”
No longer questioning how he chose to manage his injuries, I set the glasses onto the bed table. “Tomorrow, you think you might eat something?”
Lionel started up again. “I should go to him.”
“Send up bread tomorrow. A thick cut of your coconut bread. I hear happy women bake.”
Almost skipping, I sailed through the door into my bedchamber.
Picking up my hungry boy, I found it quite easy to adjust my gown to him. The duke seemed to have helped in advance with buttons and such.
Soon my baby filled his belly.
He burped and sort of giggled before I set him back in his crib. I sung his lullaby, in French and English. For a little while, I heard a baritone echo.
Then two snoring men.
This was good. The duke just needed to heal.
A cacophony of curses sounded below, in Hamlin’s front hall.
Commotion and slammed doors echoed.
Rushed footfalls pounded and screeched below.
Righting buttons as quickly as I could, I slipped from my bedroom and ran into the hall.
I heard Markham’s voice and froze.
Part of me wanted to get Lionel and hide in the duke’s bed, but both of them needed me strong.
He saw me and added an expletive to my name.
In front of the useless marble gods, he stood and blasphemed, and they left him whole and not struck down. It was up to me.
“Markham, you’re not welcome. Leave.”
I said the words with power as if I wore a stone buckler and shield.
“You!” He pointed a bony finger. “How did you get back in here? You’re supposed to be in Bedlam.”
Gantry came from the rear hall. “How did you get in here, Markham?”
“Does it matter? Let’s say Colin’s ghost let me in. Right, Mrs. Jordan? You’ve seen him. How could you allow that crazed woman here?”
I clasped my shaking hands to the newel post of the stair railing. “You are trespassing. Get out.”
My voice was strong, and Repington’s men took up their arms and pointed them at Markham’s ugly face.
Gantry pulled his sword and waved more soldiers forward. “Leave now, before you test my accuracy.”
Markham backed up. He now stood in the space where the chandelier’s shadow would have swallowed him. “She doesn’t belong here. I’ll get Bedlam’s administrators after you, maybe all of you. Where’s Repington? Are his mother’s words true? The duke has fallen and can’t get up.”
Without a thought, I slid down the banister. My pretty shimmering skirt lifted like butterfly wings. I landed in front of Markham and slapped his face. “Repington will stop you. He won’t be manipulated like Colin. You’re not welcome in this house. Garbage be gone.”
Gantry nodded, and two men gathered Markham by the arms and dragged him.
“The duke’s a fool and doesn’t know that you’ll endanger that gold mine. Have Repington come down to the drawing room. I need to get my things from there anyway.”
“Nothing here is yours. You, evil man, you’re never to be welcomed here.”
Gantry opened the doors. “Guards, take the man and dump him far outside the gates. You trespass again, you’ll know my sword.”
“This isn’t over. I’ll get the administrators on Mrs. Jordan and Repington. Tell him I won’t let this stand . . . like him.”
He sneered, and I wished I could slap him again.
The fiend struggled, but the soldiers overpowered him. “The duke has to be insane to side with Mrs. Jordan over the boy’s safety. You know what you did to that boy. You know what you let happen to Colin. May he keep haunting you.”
That was a curse from the gods, to have Colin not at rest, still hurting.
The soldiers did their duty, carting Markham away. Soon, I saw nothing more of his dusty boots.
This was a momentary battle.
Hamlin wasn’t safe.
With the duke hurt, his men had become lax.
“You were right, Mrs. Jordan. We need to get back to drills and security.”
Gantry’s words faded. The evil man’s threats repeating, repeating in my brainbox.
Markham wasn’t just coming for me and Lionel. He was after Repington, too.
CHAPTER 28
OLD DREAMS, NEW DREAMS
I bolted up in my bed.
My heart raced around my chest. It had no place to hide since my lungs had shriveled. Gasping, I saw my Lionel sleeping soundly in the crib next to me.
He was safe, but I still wanted to run, to throw off blankets and flee.
But where could I go that my horrible dream, my guilt wouldn’t follow?
Colin.
Two days ago, Markham, that blackguard, called him down to haunt me once more.
Laying back on my pillow, I found it was damp. Did I cry in my sleep again?
One swipe at my sticky eyes said the truth.
Gaze pinning toward the ceiling, I dare not drop my lids again, for he’d be there, screaming at me the words in his last note. You did this. You did this.
“I didn’t mean it! I didn’t.”
“Patience. Patience.”
That wasn’t Jemina’s voice.
She’d returned to sleeping on the third floor. This was the companion room to the duke’s.
Not knowing what or who called, I fingered my bed table and found my knife. I picked it up and went to the light spreading beneath the connecting door.
“Patience.”
My rattled thoughts cleared. That was Repington’s voice. Was he in trouble?
I pushed open the door that separated us.
The duke had raised up an inch or two and looked as if he’d tried to stand. He groaned and lowered to his pillow. “Come to me.”
I dove headlong up the mattress.
He scooped me up into his arms as if I were Lionel. “I have you. Nothing will hurt you. Talk to me, Patience.”
His lips sought my fevered brow, and I held on to him.
“I heard bits of your nightmare.”
“Nothing. It was nothing.”
“My greatest fear is to be of little use to you or Lionel or my men. Tell me, unless all your encouragement was a deception.”
I didn’t want to talk. I half clawed my way through his nightshirt to hide.
He put a hand to my cheek. “Either you trust me or you don’t. Tell me your secrets.”
It wasn’t a command. I knew how his voice dispatching an order sounded—harsh notes, crisp syllables with those dimples disappearing. This wasn’t it.
My choice was to trust my heart.
“Markham had me committed because he said . . . I was a danger to Lionel.”
“Why?”
“I saw Colin. His ghost railed at me. Before he died, I wrote him a letter, telling him how much wrong there was in our marriage. That’s why he killed himself. My angry words pushed him into the Thames. That’s why he haunts me.”
“You’re not responsible.”
“I am. I must’ve freed myself from the nursery where Markham held me captive. Colin’s ghost came at me. I ran blurry-eyed at top speed. Markham, the servants, all said I tried to slide down the banister to get away from his ghost. I could’ve killed Lionel if I’d fallen.”
The duke released a long breath. I felt the muscles of his arms relax. “You were trapped in the nursery under duress. Markham plays tricks, making people wonder about their strength and sanity. The night I took control of Hamli
n, he’d drugged the nanny to take advantage of her. Patience, when you say blurry-eyed—did someone describe your eyes as yellow and bright?”
“Maybe.”
“You’re definitely not crazed.” He lifted my chin. “I know you. You are most trustworthy.”
I held on to Repington. I might even have cried. I didn’t feel worthy, not until I looked into his truthful eyes.
* * *
Sheltering the trembling Patience in his arms, slipping her betwixt bedclothes and pillows, Busick made a list in his head of all the things he needed to do when he recovered from this bed.
First, find that gardener-butler fellow, the servant who’d worked at Hamlin since Grandfather and confirm Markham’s treachery to Patience.
Second, order a few barrels of rum, the good stuff.
Third, he thought, as he curled one of Patience’s lithe fingers within his own. Put a ring, a Strathmore wedding band on it. It was time to claim her as his own.
He wiped his thumb along her nose. “I need you to marry me.”
“Am I that hysterical that you must make jokes to lighten my mood.”
“We’re beyond kissing cousins. I asked you to marry me in my carriage. I meant it.”
“I suppose lying in bed with you twice in three days is too much.”
“The problem is it’s not enough.” He laced his fingers with hers. “I try to lead a very moral life.”
“Now you want to make me laugh.”
“Well, since I have a ward and you keep flopping into my bed, perhaps it’s best if there was a legal reason to explain this. Marry me.”
“If I said no, you’ll make me leave this room?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, claiming a spot on her neck that seemed particularly sensitive to nips.
“Isn’t this something to discuss when we both can get up and leave?”
“Wouldn’t a matchmaker prefer a groom who couldn’t?”
“I’m not a consolation prize. Marriage doesn’t solve all ills. I thought wedding Colin would make my mourning for my mother go away. It just brought a different sadness.”
“Gantry told me about Markham’s coming here. He’s conferring with my mother.”
“I thought Lady Bodonel was going on holiday.”
“The chance to lord over me would make her delay her friendships.”
“That’s a shame. She looked happy to be going.”
“Yes, I wish she had gone, too. Now, the odds of her coming to visit have doubled. I don’t like those odds.”
She frowned at him, like she’d drank Lionel’s pap milk.
That soft heart of this woman even cared for Lady Bodonel, someone who’d snubbed her.
“I wish my mother had what she’s looking for, but you’re trying to deter from my point. It won’t work. Getting me to babble won’t take away my offer.”
“I’m not what your world, your English world, expects for the wife of a peer—a duke, no less.”
“You’re not what anyone expects. That’s why I fancy you.”
She turned away, putting her back to him. “I’m not ready to hear how I took advantage of the Duke of Repington while he was indisposed. Tricked him on laudanum.”
“I do hate the stuff, but no one takes advantage of me. You’re a rake in training. I’m seasoned.”
“I don’t look like what they want for you. The duke’s dark duchess, his difficult wife, his different wife. I’d be safer in Demerara, all of us would be. You’d love my father’s house. The sea air will be good for your recovery. I can picture you and Lionel rocking in a hammock.”
“That sounds sweet, but I must tell you—”
“Hush.” She kissed his lips.
The taste of her tears and coconuts, the sweetness of her bread flavored their embrace. This lady was so dear. It tore him up to break her heart.
“Tell me you’ll think of it, Repington. We could be safe. I wouldn’t have to be fearful another minute. Markham is after you.”
Patience cared for him. He knew that. Somewhere beneath her silky mobcap and glorious braided chignon was bravery and dignity and hopes for their future.
It was his duty to set her straight. “You’ll be my beautiful wife, Patience Amelia Strathmore, the one educated by the finest tutors, fluent in two languages.”
Claiming her eyes, officer to officer, he prepared to tell her the worst. “Beautiful Patience, the daughter of the late Wilhelm Thomas.”
“The late . . . ?”
“Yes. His brothers have taken his plantation and sold it off. Your trust and everything he settled for you in England is still intact.”
“Still an heiress, I suppose.” Her jaw trembled, then she wept. Sobs puddled in that sweet cleft in her chin.
Busick risked his returning strength to secure her in his arms. “I’m so sorry. On route to the gaming hell, Lady Shrewsbury and I had a long conversation about you. Then Gantry did some checking. My solicitors are quite good, as good as Mr. Thackery. He’s been searching everything about Colin, but nothing more about you. I wondered why a father, a powerful one, wouldn’t come to his child in her time of mourning.”
Her stuttered breaths punched his gut. “How long?”
“A few years.”
“Is that why Colin didn’t send my letters? Could he have known and sought to shield me?”
Busick didn’t know, but he’d afford her the comfort of thinking Colin’s misguided notion was an effort to keep her safe as opposed to a twisted need to control her.
“My sisters?”
“Still hunting them. They will be found. That’s my promise.”
Her sobbing ramped up again.
When it slowed, he blew a sigh onto her temple. “Listen very carefully. I’ve plotted this out, weighed the pluses and minuses. The equation says it is to our benefit to marry.”
“How?”
“Patience, if I die, Markham becomes Lionel’s guardian. If someone bribes counsel to say I’m unfit because I’m somewhat incapacitated, Markham gets the boy. Lionel will always be in jeopardy if I’m unable to protect him. And you will be unprotected, too. I won’t have that.”
“Marrying you will make everything better?”
“I think it will. It’s something I can do and not move a muscle, and it will remove me from this state of wanting you and just having a piece of your great big heart. I’m not satisfied with a taste.”
Her head shaking vibrated through him down the spine that refused to behave.
“I rather think it’s a little lonely sleeping in this big bed knowing you’re up next door.”
“It’s not too far.”
“It is when I can’t get to you, when I can’t hold you and tell you everything will be well. I heard your nightmares. I’ve heard them before, when you risked your life for mine. Let me risk this for you.”
Her dark eyes looked scared. He’d never seen the bold girl frightened by one of his requests.
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Yes. That would be an appropriate one-word response.”
“Do you see me? Are you sure?”
He saw her, her strengths, her flaws, her heart and wanted it all. Looping her fingers, he clasped his thigh, the leg that missed a knee and more. “You saw me first. A marriage will also protect me if I truly become an invalid.”
His hands had more strength than yesterday, and he traced the figure that he coveted.
She swatted his fingers.
Busick laughed. “See, I’ll have to marry you to gain Lionel’s privileges.”
Her face glowed in the candlelight. He loved that about her. Just so many things to love about her.
“Then care for me, Patience, in any erratic, chaotic manner you choose. It will be better than anyone else making decisions for me.”
She jerked up. “But I’m not even in half mourning. I last saw Colin in July, but he died in December. This is a rush.”
“You are considering it if you’re questioning silly rules.”
“What if I did see his ghost? What if he haunts me? He wasn’t happy. How would he take us?”
“Colin is free. I hope he’d be happy for his son. You need to be free of guilt. I know you. I know you tried to make my cousin’s life beautiful, but a man has to want peace.”
“You will regret settling down.”
“This is what I want.”
“Lady Shrewsbury says you’ve changed what you wanted a good number of times.”
“Not quite true. It was a mutual parting. Our goals didn’t match. Your goals and mine match. And if you’re going to make me act like a henpecked husband chasing you about London, give me the benefit of being a henpecked husband.”
“You make this all sound so logical.”
“Logic and strategy are my strength. Do I need Lady Shrewsbury to catch us like this for an old-fashioned compromise?”
“With my father . . . with my father gone, who’d force you? I should go back to my room.” Brushing at her cheeks, she scooted free. “See you in the morning, Duke.”
“Busick, Patience. My wife should call me by an intimate name.”
“I haven’t agreed.”
“Stay until you do. I’m staying.”
“Even if Wellington says he needs you?”
“He’ll have to learn to share me like Lionel must learn to share you.”
“No jokes. None, please.”
He strained and caught the sash of her robe.
Her turn was slow, but he hoped she saw he’d choose her, her and Lionel over Wellington. “Before you leave, I’ve worked on a new schedule. Here, Nanny Jordan.” With a grunt, he reached for his paper that sat atop Colin’s diary on the bed table and pressed it into her shaking hands.
“You’re moving better, maybe? You’ll walk soon. We don’t have to discuss marriage.”
“Yes, we do. Read the schedule.”
Clutching it, she looked down. He saw more tears in her eyes.
“You will see a wedding marked at two this afternoon. Please attend. Have Lionel ready. He and Gantry, they will serve as my best men. Wellington is not invited.”
“How could I refuse—”
“Patience, a marriage of convenience solves this little problem we have. You kissing me. Me liking it. That’s a bonus, an extra benefit, truly. Our attraction will only grow, but I know you trust me. I trust you. This will give that boy we both love the benefit of us as a team. And if anything were to happen, I will rest well, knowing you’re protected. Give me this. As a man, I need this.”
A Duke, the Lady, and a Baby Page 24