Page 107 of Marry in Secret
She felt sure that deep down inside himself he did love her. And it was the scarring inside that prevented him from saying so.
And if she told herself that enough times she might even be able to accept it.
In the meantime, it was foolish to repine over the lack of three little words when everything else in her life was so wonderful.
“This place is the garden of Eden,” Rose declared as they rode home at the end of another happy day.
Thomas, looking ahead, slowed. “Don’t look now, but I think we’re about to meet the snake.”
Two carriages had pulled up at the entrance of Brierdon Court. Two extremely fashionable young gentlemen were supervising the unloading of a mound of baggage from the second coach. A third gentleman was draped feebly over the stone balustrade. A fourth gentleman complained in aloud, petulant voice; he was dressed entirely in delicate shades of blue.
Cousin Cornelius had arrived.
***
“There you are, Thomas,” Cousin Cornelius declared peevishly, as if he’d spoken to Thomas an hour earlier, not several weeks before. “We’ve been kept waiting out here in this horrid weather for eons, simply eons.”
Given the state of his horses, “eons” looked to be all of ten minutes.
“We were traveling to Perce’s country place for a house party—that’s Perce over there arguing with the coachman, a complete ruffian, I assure you!—the coachman, not Perce—but my good friend Venables took sick just past Cheltenham—that’s Venables, with the greenish pallor.” He pointed to the wan-looking fellow. “And I thought, whatever shall we do? And then I thought, Cousin Thomas will take us in, and so here we are. But your man Holden is proving quite obdurate, and insisting we wait until his lordship returns—which is ridiculous. I mean, until a few weeks ago Iwashis lordship!”
“But you aren’t anymore,” Thomas reminded him. He would happily have thrown Cousin Cornelius back into the street. His turning up here out of the blue was not at all convenient, and more than a tad suspicious.
“I am still your heir, however,” Cornelius pointed out waspishly.
Thomas’s eyes narrowed. Was Cornelius still hoping to fulfill that role? When Thomas had a wife who would presumably one day bear him an heir?
“Mr. Beresford demanded that this gentleman and his belongings be taken to the blue room, m’lord,” Holden interjected. “I tried to tell him that m’lady would want to make the arrangements, but he refused to listen.”
“I recall nothing about any—”
“Indeed I do, quite right, Holden.” Rose slipped gracefully from her horse and passed the reins to a waitinggroom. “How do you do, Cousin Cornelius, gentlemen. Mr. Venables, you do look poorly. Mrs. Holden will have a room prepared for you directly.” She glanced at Holden, who inclined his head graciously. “In the meantime, please come in out of the... the sunshine.”
With the long skirt of her riding habit draped over her arm, she swept inside like a queen, the visitors following meekly like little baby ducks. She ensconced them in the only room still displaying a distressing number of animal heads and antlers. She ordered drinks and refreshments, informed them that their luggage was being transferred upstairs, their carriages removed, their horses seen to and dinner ordered. A servant would conduct them to their bedchambers when they had been prepared. Dinner, she informed them, was at seven. She swept out, leaving them to their own devices.
Thomas regarded her with awe and admiration. “Iknewthere was a reason I married you,” he said. “You know, if you’d been born a boy—which would have been an appalling tragedy, by the way—you would have been an admiral by now.”
She laughed. “Cal says the same thing, only with him I would have made general. But it’s what we’re trained to do—be hostesses. And I learned from the best—Emm. Mind you, she would be shocked at my cavalier treatment of guests, but we don’t want them here, do we, Thomas?”
“Not at all. I can’t decide whether Cornelius really is here by accident or simply wants to puff off his former consequence before his friends—the sour grapes are very evident. As for reminding everyone that he’s my heir...”
“Rather tactless, I thought.”
“Tactless, or very clever—assuming an innocent air.”
“Perhaps he’s simply availing himself of free accommodation. His friend’s illness does seem genuine.”
“But very convenient. The sooner we get Venables on his feet again, the quicker we’ll be rid of them. I don’t like Cornelius hanging around like a bad smell. And I’m not yetconvinced he’s not behind the attacks. Nobody can be that foolish—it’s a blind.”
“You think so?”
“I don’t want you to be alone with him,” he told her.
“But surely the attack on me was a mistake? Why would he want to kill me?”
Because even now she could be carrying his heir, Thomas thought. But he didn’t say so. “Just beware of him. I don’t trust him an inch.”
***
