Page 88 of Tremaine's True Love
“Thank you,” Elsie said. “Please thank Lady Nita for me as well. If I lose Digby, you should fear for Edward’s life.”
They twirled around the room, not with the vigorous pace of the London ballrooms, but in a slower, more lilting tempo suited to ending an evening. George resisted the urge to tuck his partner closer, because Edward was regarding them owlishly from his post by the men’s punch bowl.
“I know what desperation feels like, Elsie, and you cannot give in to despair. You are all Digby has, all that stands between him and Edward’s worst impulses. Digby needs you, and you aren’t without friends. Call on me before you do anything rash, and I’ll not fail you.”
Those words were rash. George had some personal wealth, but where Elsie and Digby were concerned, he had no authority.
“You must not involve yourself,” Elsie said. “Edward would take it amiss. I thank you for the dance, Mr. Haddonfield.”
The music came to a final cadence. George bowed, Elsie curtsied, and he had no damned choice but to escort the lady to Edward Nash’s side. Nicholas rescued George from having to make small talk with a man who deserved to be horsewhipped.
“George, our ladies are pleading fatigue,” Nicholas said. “Unless you want to walk home, I suggest you accompany me to the livery. Nash, your sister-in-law looks somewhat fatigued as well.”
Nicholas beamed at Elsie. Charming the ladies came as easily to Nick as dancing did to George.
“Perhaps we might offer Mrs. Nash a ride home,” George said. “We brought both the carriage and the sleigh, didn’t we?”
George had brought the sleigh, there being no room in the carriage, and by now the sleigh had returned from taking Nita home to Belle Maison.
“We do have two conveyances,” Nicholas replied. “Come along, Mrs. Nash. My countess has missed your company, and your brother-in-law is likely joining the gentlemen removing to the common for a final pint or two.”
Well done, Nicholas.
Nash’s scowl vanished like hoarfrost before the rising sun. “A pint or two? Don’t mind if I do,” he said. “Dancing works up a man’s thirst. Elsie, you’ll accept his lordship’s hospitality. Bellefonte, Mr. Haddonfield, I bid you good evening.”
Nash sauntered off a bit unsteadily, while George offered his arm to Elsie. “Come along, madam. I’ll take you home in the sleigh, and you’ll be spared his lordship’s dubious attempts at flirtation.”
“I take offense at that,” Nick said. “Holy matrimony has only honed a natural talent where my flirtations are concerned. Ask my countess, if you don’t believe me.”
Nick was on his good behavior because the ladies were present. Doubtless George would get a verbal birching for abetting Nita’s early departure.
“Where did Mr. St. Michael get off to?” Elsie asked.
“He declared a need to walk back to Belle Maison,” Nick said. “Something about inferior spirits and a salubrious dose of fresh air. I’d expect a former Scottish shepherd boy to have a harder head, though I well understand an appreciation for fresh air.”
“Mrs. Nash and I are away to the livery,” George said, parting from Nicholas at the cloakroom, where various Haddonfield females were sorting capes, scarves, boots, and muffs. Susannah in particular looked ready to leave.
When George reached the street, Elsie walked along beside him, not hurrying him as a sister might have, but as if she genuinely enjoyed his company.
“Will you soon be traveling again, Mr. Haddonfield?”
“Might you call me George?” And, yes, he was soon to depart for Germany, of all the cold and distant places, and from thence to Poland and possibly Russia.
“If I call you George now, I might slip when Edward’s underfoot. He claims you’re an unwholesome fellow who ought not to be allowed onto the Stonebridge premises.”
“Unless, of course, my escort will free Edward for additional pints of grog. I may be unwholesome on occasion, but I’d never strike a woman. How do you stand him, Elsie?”
A light snow fell, muffling the merriment coming from above the inn and lending the fading ring of sleigh bells and coach harnesses a fairy-tale quality.
“I hate Edward, if you must know,” Elsie said. “He has squandered Penny’s funds. He’s Digby’s guardian though, so I’ve nowhere else to go. I was honestly hoping Lady Susannah’s settlements would put Edward’s finances to rights, even if that will do nothing to restore Digby’s funds.”
Elsie was hanging on then, out of sheer determination, and that realization tore at George.
“I could kill him for you,” George said. “I’m heading off to the Continent this spring. I could simply depart ahead of schedule.”
He was only half joking.
“I’ve considered poisoning him,” Elsie said, and she wasn’t even one-quarter joking. They rounded the corner of the livery, and abruptly the noise and bustle of the assembly’s end was behind them. “Sometimes, I think I’m in a nightmare that will have no end. I have a little money I’ve hidden from Edward, and I think about running away with Digby, taking ship even, but Edward has the law on his side. At least now, I share a roof with my son.”
