Page 84 of Their Brazen Countess
“Disappeared? I was right here, next door, as I have always been.” He tried to sound innocent, but she knew his nonsense for what they were.
“You hurt my son, Linc,” she breathed, and he stilled in the tub.
“I am sorry. I didn’t mean to.” An anguished look crossed Linc’s face, one far more pained than she thought appropriate. “You are right, it’s my fault he was injured once more.”
Confusion rolled through her.What was he blathering on about?“What? I’m not speaking of the kidnapping, that was certainly not your fault. How could anyone blame you for that? I meant your choice to retreat from our lives.”
Linc snorted. “I didn’t think I’d be missed in the midst of all the connubial bliss.”
“Of course you were missed! We love you, Linc.” Jo paused and looked for a reaction from him, but his face was shuttered. Frustration rose inside her as she realized she may not be getting through to him. Desperate she tried a tactic her mother had often used: a command performance. “Well, I expect to see you at dinner this evening.” This was not a negotiation. He would come or she would drag him over.
“No. I am unavailable for dinner tonight.” Linc’s words were a shock to her.
“What do you mean, no?” Jo demanded, frustration flaring into white-hot anger.
“You said it yourself. I hurt all of you—let you down. I shall not compound my transgressions by adding to them as I inevitably will. This…” he dragged in a breath. “This game, adventure, experiment, whatever you want to call it, is over. Now if you will leave me to my bath, I would appreciate some privacy.”
Shocked, hurt, and wildly confused, Jo stood and stared at him. “Why would you think you will compound your supposed transgressions with your presence? What you are saying makes little sense—it is your absence that is the offense.”
“Jo, I let your son be taken. I failed him and I failed you in the worst possible way. It is better for all of you if I remove myself from the situation.”
“Are you daft? We just discussed this, it wasn’t your fault.” Jo leaned over, wincing at the pain in her side once more, and pressed her fingers to his temple. “Did you fall and hit your head while you were pickled?”
Her love swatted her hands away. “I did not hit my head. I am in my right mind for possibly the first time in months. I do not wish to discuss this any further—please leave.”
“We are married, Linc. Are you calling our wedding a mistake? Are you saying you were not in your right mind when you pledged your heart and soul to Arthur and me?”
His lips pressed together for a long silent moment as though Linc struggled to say the words that came from his mouth next. “Yes. I never should have married you. Either of you.”
She growled, “You bloody fucking fool! I cannot believe you are doing this. Do not think this is the last of this discussion.”
Jo turned on her heel and left him in his bathtub. As she breezed through his bedchamber, she saw Powell. “Linc will likely need your assistance with bathing—hell, with breathing. The man is incompetent, as far as I can tell.”
Only then did she storm out of his room and out of his house—choosing not to walk around outside but instead unlocking the connecting door. He could lock it again later, if he thought to check it.
Furious, Jo went in search of Arthur to share the story of her confrontation. He would know what to do to make their husband understand—the man was entirely off kilter at the moment. Someone had to make him see reason.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
The Next Day
Lincsatinhisstudy just as he had the day before, but today he was sober as a judge. After Jo’s sneak attack the day before, aided and abetted by his own damned servants, he had cleaned himself up and gone straight to bed.
This morning, he’d woken up with a hangover that seemed painfully fitting for a three-day bender. His head pounded and his stomach rolled as though he were on a carousel, but he was determined to get himself back together—after all, he could only remember a few bits and pieces of his conversation with Jo. He’d already focused on forcing down some breakfast. Now he sat in his study, trying desperately to review his latest correspondence, but the words on the page were not cooperating. They insisted on dancing around on the page as though they were not anchored. Clearly, his head was still spinning from all the drink.
Then a vision in cobalt blue twill floated into his study. He blinked once and then once more. Did it have wings? No, it couldn’t have been wings. He sighed and rubbed his forehead.
A full round laugh that could only belong to one woman pealed through the room and his head. He looked up again and blinked to clear the fuzziness.
It was Theo, standing in his study. “Has Stone lost you once again?”
She laughed again. “Stone knows exactly where I am and with whom.” She strolled into the room and sat down in the chair across from his desk. “In fact, he was going to come over here and, I believe, ‘beat some bloody sense’ into you. I suggested a different approach would be in order. Come for a drive with me. I assumed since you’ve been drinking for three days that riding would be far too painful for you, but I think a drive and some fresh air will be just the thing to set you to rights.”
Linc looked at her and let all the skepticism he felt for her suggestion show on his face. “I think a drive with my ninety-year-old aunt might be helpful. A drive with a dervish such as yourself might be utterly catastrophic for my wellbeing, let alone my state of mind.”
Theo harumphed and shot him a disgruntled look that was adorable, but not at all convincing. “Well, I hate to tell you that your choices are a ride with me through the park or rounds at Gentleman Jack’s with Stone and Flint.” She sighed dramatically. “I really thought I had offered the lesser of the two evils, but you never know, I might be wrong.”
Linc snorted. “Unfortunately, it sounds as though your assessment is accurate. A drive with you would be the least painful of the two options.” He stood up. “I don’t suppose you would consider allowing me to drive?”
