Page 99 of Married to the Earl

DuBois appeared in the doorway. “Excuse me, My Lord,” he said. “The stew you requested is ready.”

“Excellent. Please bring it in.” He got to his feet, but instead of taking his usual seat across the table from Astrid, he sat beside her. Astrid was glad. The idea of putting any more distance between them than was strictly necessary was painful.

He took her hand in his, entwining their fingers, and she smiled up at him.

The stew was laid out before them. It was a hearty concoction, beef broth with several kinds of meat and vegetables and thick-cut potatoes. For several minutes, neither Conor nor Astrid spoke as they sated their hunger.

She was surprised by how hungry she was, and by the way her exhaustion seemed to retreat in the face of this meal. It must have been at least two thirty in the morning now. She ought to have been sleeping. And she hadn’t slept in over twenty-four hours, unless you counted the time she had been unconscious.

Eventually, the soup bowls emptied. Conor stood up and helped Astrid to her feet. As he did so, the exhaustion came swooping back in, clouding her mind, preventing her from clearly perceiving what was going on around her. Through a fog of sleepiness, she heard Conor say something, heard DuBois answer.

Then they were walking up the stairs. Astrid felt as if she was floating, as if her feet were barely taking her weight. A blink later and she was standing in the master bedroom, being helped out of her dirty dress by Betsy.

“Conor?” she asked.

“He’ll return in a moment, My Lady,” Betsy said, her voice brisk and efficient, yet somehow still conveying sympathy. “I’m to get you into your nightgown. Here, put your arms up.”

Astrid did as she was told and felt the cool, light weight of her nightgown settle over her shoulders. She closed her eyes.I could fall asleep right here.

She wasn’t aware of lying down, of her head hitting the pillow, but suddenly Conor’s arm was wrapped around her. She could feel his lips pressed to the crown of her head.

We’re safe,she thought with a rush of relief.It’s all over now. Nothing can happen to us anymore.

Astrid closed her eyes and let herself slip away into a dream.

* * *

Over the next few days, everything seemed to happen very quickly.

The morning after their encounter at The Arc, a constable and a solicitor came over to the manor to officially clear Conor of the murder of Lord Hayward and to void the contracts that would have transferred ownership of the club to Henry. Astrid sat on the sofa in the parlor wrapped up in blankets, listening as Henry discussed matters with his guests.

“That’s all resolved, then,” Conor said when he was finished and returned to the parlor. He paused to place another log on the fire, then took a seat beside Astrid on the sofa. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m perfectly fine,” she said. “There’s really no need for all this.”

“Indulge me,” he said. “Take one day and relax on the sofa. It will make me feel better about everything you’ve been through.”

The truth was that it made Astrid feel better too, and she was glad he was insisting. She had been perfectly prepared to be tough, but she was glad she didn’t have to. She still felt shaky and frightened about what had happened the day before, and it was a relief to wrap herself in a cocoon of blankets and sit in the warm glow of the fire.

“I heard from Killian this morning before you were awake,” Conor said.

“He’s Killian now?”

“I think so,” Conor said. “We discussed the possibility of going into business together.”

“His business or yours?”

“Both of them,” Conor said. “The Angry Boar needs a financial backer, as it turns out.”

“I can’t say I’m surprised to hear that, given what my father discovered about the way they were manipulating their books,” Astrid said.

“Well, exactly,” Conor agreed. “I can help to get them back on the right track with the funds at my disposal. And as for me, I need someone to help me run The Arc now that Henry won’t be involved in the business anymore.”

“He’ll run The Arc for you?” Astrid found that hard to believe. “I thought Killian didn’t like The Arc.”

“He doesn’t. He probably won’t want to run it himself,” Conor said. “I imagine he’ll want to put one of his associates in charge, which is fine with me. It’ll be a matter of finding the right person, someone whose tastes reflect the aesthetic of my club. The point is that I won’t have to do that part of the job myself, which is good, because I’d be very ineffective at it.”

“I think you might be better than you think you would,” Astrid said. “You did a great job navigating the situation with Henry at the club last night.”

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