Page 52 of A Delicate Deception
When the first rays of sunlight had barely started to shine through the lace curtains, the door was thrown open. Georgiana stood on the threshold, bearing a stack of books and briskly ordering Sydney and Amelia to go home and get changed. “And that dog! Take it away. I don’t know whether to be appalled that you brought that flea-bitten mongrel into Stanton House or relieved that you had some protection on your insane midnight ramble. I cannot believe you, Amelia. I nearly had a heart attack.” As she spoke she readjusted Leontine’s quilt, lay a hand on the sleeping child’s forehead, and pulled the cord for a servant. “You and Amelia take the carriage back to Pelham Hall, then send Lex and Carter back here in it. The carriage can ferry us back and forth in shifts until Leontine can be moved. Lady Stafford has offered us the use of her own carriages but I took it upon myself to explain that the child is the Duke of Hereford’s ward and that the duke obviously has his own carriage. Now go.”
“Your Georgiana has two modes,” Sydney said when he and Amelia were seated in the carriage. “Absolute indolence and... whatever that just was.”
“She’ll be a splendid duchess,” Amelia said, suppressing a yawn.
Sydney muttered something anarchical but forbore from any more pointed remarks. When the carriage stopped in front of Crossbrook Cottage, he wrapped his hand around the back of her neck and pulled her close for a kiss. “Later,” he said. “Get some rest.”
Upon entering Pelham Hall, Sydney found Lex lying on the sofa in the great hall, Fancy asleep in his lap. “She’s all right,” Sydney said as soon as he walked through the door. “Also it wasn’t your fault Leontine was injured. I’m going to repeat that to you until you believe it.”
Lex raised an eyebrow. “Thank you. I reserve the right to blame myself forevermore. Keating persuaded me not to have the horse shot. I hope I don’t regret it,” he said darkly. “I expect you’ll be whisking Leontine off to Manchester as soon as she’s healed.”
“No,” Sydney said. “You’re quite right that this is her home and I ought to have realized that weeks ago. With me, she’d be in the care of maids and governesses around the clock. Here, she has you all the time. I’ll visit as often as I can. I believe I’ve persuaded Amelia to marry me or at least to live in sin with me periodically so I’ll have even more of an incentive for frequent visits.” Lex had gone perfectly still as he listened. “So it would seem that my entire family will be in one convenient corner of Derbyshire.”
If there was perhaps a slight glistening about Lex’s eyes, it quickly passed. “That, you imbecile, is what I’ve been trying to tell you for over a month. I don’t even want to know what Miss Allenby had to do in order to persuade you of it. Never tell me. By the way, I’m marrying Georgiana. We’re never going to bed together and we’ll be raiding an orphanage at the earliest opportunity. Wish me happy.”
Sydney was not a man overly given to displays of affection, but he leaned down and wrapped his arms around his friend, holding him close until Lex finally pushed him away. “You disgust me. Take a bath.”
The sound of Lex’s cackle followed Sydney all the way to his bedroom.
Amelia had barely managed to wash and change before she heard the sound of carriage wheels below. She assumed it was someone from Pelham Hall come to fetch Keating, but then she heard a familiar voice.
“Where the devil is everybody?” somebody shouted. “Keating? Place is as empty as a plague village.”
“Robin!” Amelia called, and ran down the stairs and out the front door.
Robin—excessively dusty and wearing breeches, top boots, and a bottle-blue riding coat—dismounted the horse. “Did you murder the whole lot of them?”
“No,” Amelia laughed, embracing her friend. “They’ve all forsaken me for the Duke of Hereford. When did you get back from France?”
“A week ago,” Robin said. “Is the Duke of Hereford really in Derbyshire? We heard that he left town in the most secretive and thrilling manner. Alistair will be hideously jealous if I see him first.”
“Does Alistair know the duke?”
“They were at Eton together. Are we quite alone? I suspect they”—she lowered her voice—“were at Etontogetherif you understand my meaning. Alistair went to Eton with a shocking number of people, I’ll have you know. Is he handsome? I’ve never met him.”
“Very,” Amelia said, struggling to keep up with Robin’s train of thought, and distracted by a realization of her own: she and Robin were able to discuss this sort of thing without any fear of judgment or exposure. She had known that for years, of course, but now it occurred to her that itmattered: she could be open and honest with Robin and other friends who shared similar secrets in a way that she could not with anyone else. It was the same with Georgiana, Sydney, and Hereford. They were safe together in a way that bound them, and the result was something like family.
Robin laughed. “Figures Keating would find the nearest aristocrat with a handsome face.”
“I can’t imagine he’d have time, what with the curate and the butcher’s apprentice and heaven knows who else.” That would, however, explain Keating’s mysterious absences and several consecutive days of a decent mood.
“Where there’s a will,” Robin said lightly. “I suppose I’ll have to put up the horse myself. Come on, Jess,” she said, patting the animal on the rump. “Let’s get you watered.”
“It seems the entire county has paired off in the most egregious manner,” Amelia said. “If you’re correct about Keating and the duke, that’s one. Also Georgiana and Hereford are thick as thieves.”
Robin looked up. “That’s only two, which hardly seems a rash of couplings, especially since Hereford figures in two of the pairings.” Then Robin looked more closely at Amelia—possibly lingering on a bruise where Sydney had kissed her neck. “Oh, I see. Are we happy or sad? What’s their name?”
This was why Amelia loved Robin. There was no beating around the bush, no asking about intentions, no exaggerated concern. Robin let Amelia define her own emotions and then follow Amelia’s lead.
“His name is Sydney Goddard. And we’re happy,” Amelia said. “He works in Manchester but I’m staying here.”
“Good for you!”
“You don’t think it’s odd that we’d have separate homes?”
Robin looked at her carefully. “It’s a bit out of the ordinary, but so are a lot of things I happen to like very much. Heaven save me from the ordinary.”
“You don’t think it’s unfair of me to saddle him with a life that’s probably very different from what he expected?”
