Page 83 of The Mad Baron's Bride
“I don’t think she was well, Jack. There are some women…I saw them in the madhouse, too. After they have a baby, something happens to them. It is as if their reason is stolen away. They might try to hurt themselves or—” Leda caught her breath, recalling the worst story she’d heard. “Or the baby. It is truly a type of madness. Not their choice.”
“And it happened to Anne-Marie?” Jack asked.
“Worse with every birth, her diary would suggest. After Nanette…I suspect she was simply overcome. She writes about the pain she was in.” She closed the journal, silencing its anguished cries.
Jack sat back, dropping his head into his hands.
“Shefell.” Muriel’s voice wobbled, and she clung to her doll tightly.
Leda glanced at Jack, who didn’t look up. He was wrestling with whatever this knowledge meant to him. Leda focused on the girl.
“Of course she fell, darling. She would never have left the three of you. Or your father. It was a terrible accident that robbed you of your mother. I am so sorry, my dear.”
Muriel clutched her toy to her, blinking rapidly. Then she said, “But you made this doll for me, didn’t you?”
“Yes, I bought the carved wood for her head from the peddler in Snettisham, and then I made the body. I used old rags of yours for her frock. I hope that is all right. I can make her a different dress if you wish.”
Muriel hugged the doll. “I like her just as she is.” She pursed her lips. “Are you going to leave us?”
Jack didn’t lift his head, but he tensed. Leda said carefully, “I will need to take my nephew’s body back to be buried in the family crypt, I think. There is not much left of the Toplady family, but they will wish that for him. And I have to ensure that Ives—that is my son—” The lie came uneasy to her lips— “I must see that he inherits the estate that is meant for him.” The estate that she had lied and cheated to ensure he would have. She had stayed in the madhouse for two years, pretending to pay for the crime of killing her child, until she had been certain Ives was hidden and safe.
“My heart alive, the time,” Mrs. Leech said mildly. “The girls will be wanting their denner, and then the master and missus,I shink.” She shooed the maids, then the girls, into a little flock before her.
“May I—?” Ellinore hesitated, fingertips hovering over the diary with the twined roses stamped on the cover.
“I think his lordship should read it first, don’t you? And then share it with you when he believes the time is right.”
“Very well.”
“You could stay.” Muriel looked astonished at herself for blurting her words, her eyes wide, her cheeks flaming with two spots of color on her pale skin. “You don’t need to leave. You could stay here.”
“Thank you, Muriel. It means a great deal to hear you say that. But I think I shall have to discuss that with your father.”
Nanette regarded her soberly. Then, puckering her lips, she clambered onto the bed, planted a kiss on Leda’s cheek, then clambered back down, satisfied with herself, and let the others bustle her out the door. Leda placed a hand over her cheek, waiting until they were all gone to let the tears well.
Jack lifted his head, then the rest of him, and came to the side of the bed, reaching out a hand to her. Leda gave him hers willingly.
“Don’t you dare put your chalky boots on my covers,” she murmured.
He smiled, and that smile, sad as it was at the corners, tugged at her heart. In a moment he shed his coat and boots. She lifted the counterpane and he slid into the bed beside her, his arms curving around her, and she melted against him like warm butter. In an instant desire lit her like a fuse. He needed only to touch her. To be near.
He kissed her temple, smoothing back her hair. “You could stay. I need someone to advise me what to do with these girls.”
She turned her face into his neck, inhaling his scent. She didn’t understand how she could feel so completely content, warm and safe, and yet impatient with desire at the same time.
“Ellinore could go to a school in Bath I know. Miss Gregoire’s. It would be just the place for her. And Muriel, when she is ready.” She thought a moment. “Nanette, too. She is reading our lips, and Muriel has begun to teach her letters. I am certain Miss Gregoire’s would be able to work with her. She could have every opportunity deserving of a baron’s daughter.” She lifted her head to meet his eyes. “Youaregoing to keep them, I hope?”
“I think you know the answer to that.” He growled and kissed down the side of her face, toward her ear. “But I can’t raise three girls on my own. I’ll need a great deal of help. A very clever, sensible, capable sort of woman to be my wife. Someone who knows how to solve most any problem.” He nibbled on her ear, and Leda caught her breath on a shiver of delight. “It will help if she is very beautiful, and I want to keep her in my bed all day.”
“I thought I had to leave,” she murmured as his lips moved down her jaw. The shivers darted everywhere. “I was afraid none of you were safe with me.” She paused. “Did I kill Eustace?”
He nipped her chin. “No. He is his own king under the mountain now.”
A tear fell. “Then I am free.” No more fearing. No more hiding. No more lies. She could live in the light and not always be peering into shadows, waiting for judgment.
“Free to marry?” he muttered against her skin.
“Who?” She gasped as his hand came to cover her breast. Her nipple curled into a delighted bud, begging.
