Page 40 of A Countess Captured for the Captain
“Do you remember a dog called Achilles?” Samantha asked the maid, as she laid out the tea things.
“Oh yes, My Lady, I remember Achilles. He and the young Master were inseparable,” she said, smiling at the memory.
“Did Achilles go on the ship to the Islands? The ship that was wrecked, I mean?” Samantha asked, and the maid thought for a moment.
“No, My Lady. The Earl was very firm on that matter. He did not think a ship to be a place for a dog,” she said, and Samantha nodded.
Chapter Twenty
When Nox came to see her later that evening, the first thing he mentioned was Achilles.
“He did come with us. Such a tragedy that he was drowned,” Nox said, coming to sit next to Samantha, who was reclining on the chaise lounge.
They had dined separately that evening, Samantha alone and Nox with his uncle and aunt. It was growing late, and she was tired, but the fact of such a blatant lie on the part of Nox’s uncle and aunt now roused her and she looked at him in astonishment.
“The maid told me he was left behind and that your father would not allow a dog on board a ship,” she said, and Nox shrugged.
“The maid must be mistaken. It is a long time ago, people forget things. Besides, I have remembered even more, now. I can clearly remember a picnic and Achilles stealing a joint of boiled ham. He had it in his mouth and one of the footmen was chasing him across the gardens. It was quite a sight. I can remember it like it was yesterday. It came to me during dinner and my uncle told me he remembered it well,” Nox said, smiling at her, as he took her by the hand.
Samantha did not wish to dissuade his enthusiasm, but neither did she wish to agree uncritically with everything Nox’s uncle and aunt were telling him. There was no reason to doubt the maid, any more than there was reason to believe Nox’s uncle and aunt. It seemed strange to Samantha that her husband – once master of a feared and ruthless pirate crew – should so uncritically accept all that he was being told.
“Let us hope that this is the beginning of your remembering everything,” she said, and Nox nodded.
“My uncle has told me the essentials, but there are things I would like to remember for myself. Like the sound of my mother’s voice, or the things my father would tell me on the walks we apparently used to take together. But there is something much more exciting to tell you,” he said, and Samantha looked at him in surprise.
“More exciting than Achilles?” she asked, and he nodded.
“Did you know we were destined to be married?” he said, and she gave him a puzzled look.
“I suppose fate delivered me into your hands,” she replied, but he shook his head.
“Not just that, our families have always been linked together, or so my uncle tells me. The House of Brimsey and the Dukes of Hampton go back centuries, though that connection has been lost in recent years. I thought it would be an excellent idea for us to heal the rift between us,” he said, and Samantha sighed.
She had tried to think as little about her father as possible since her marriage to Nox. His feelings toward her were clear, as were hers for him. He had chosen Regina over his daughter, for it was she who could provide the heir he so longed for. Samantha wanted nothing more to do with either of them, not if it meant enduring Regina’s cruel words and smug superiority.
“I want nothing to do with them, either of them. Regina is insufferable and my father is entirely under her spell. Why does it matter that our families were once close? We have married and brought them together again. But that does not require a reunion with my father, who has made his views perfectly clear. He would have seen you hanged,” Samantha said, surprised at the force of her tone, though in no doubt as to her feelings for what Nox now described.
“Ah, but think about it, Samantha, would you not wish to heal the rift with your father? I look at the portrait of my own parents and wish that I might have but one more conversation with them, even if just for a moment. I would give everything I own for that. Surely you would regret it if you learned of your father’s death and had not tried to contend with those sad divisions?” he implored her.
Samantha sighed. He was right, of course. It was not her father that she despised, though he did little to make himself favorable. Before Regina, the two of them had tolerated one another well enough, though her father had always been disappointed in her sex, something that Samantha could hardly change. To lose him without reconciliation would be a tragic blow and if there was a chance for the two of them to mend their differences, then she knew that it would be the right thing to do – as much as it pained her to admit it.
“What do you suggest?” she asked, thinking that an audience with her father might at least provide some distraction from the constant closed interviews between Nox and his uncle and aunt.
“There is to be a ball,” Nox replied, and Samantha looked at him in surprise.
“A ball? Here?” she asked, and he shook his head.
“No, in honor of the child, the newborn to the Duchess, to Regina,” he replied.
“But it is not born yet, is it?” Samantha asked, wondering if this fact had passed her by in her determination to have as little to do with Regina as possible.
“No, but your father has arranged for a grand celebration next week. The child is due at any minute – or so my uncle tells me – and we are invited to attend, all of us,” he replied.
Samantha was so shocked at this revelation that for a moment she could not believe what she was hearing. To think that her father had invited them to Hampton Manor for such an occasion was quite unbelievable. She could not imagine that Regina had agreed to such a suggestion, though perhaps she merely wanted to show Samantha that at last she had won. It would be just like Regina to do that, to lord it over the ton and show herself off as the prize pig with babe in arms.
“I am not sure if I wish to go,” Samantha said, and Nox smiled at her.
“Come now, Samantha. The olive branch has been extended. If I can find it in me to seek reconciliation with a man who tried to have me killed, then you can surely find it in your heart to forgive your own father for his past wrongs. Think of it as a chance to show ourselves off to society. We are married now, we have nothing to fear from anyone, least of all your father and stepmother,” he said, but Samantha was not so sure.
