Chapter 12
“My lord,” his valet’s voice called him from a sound sleep.
Hugh cracked his eyes open enough to see his valet and two other valets who looked identical to Caruthers standing at the end of the bed. “This had better be important, Caruthers,” Hugh growled.
“You have callers, my lord. Captain Palmer and Lieutenant Danvers.”
“What the hell are they doing here at this ungodly hour of the morning?”
“It’s nearly three in the afternoon, my lord.”
“Uggggh,” Hugh groaned as he dropped his head face down into his pillow. “Tell them to come back tomorrow.”
“I already told them you weren’t receiving.”
“Did they go away?”
“No, my lord. They said if . . . if you . . . uh . . .”
“Out with it. What did they say?”
“They said that if you weren’t down there in . . . uhum . . . in five minutes they were going to come up here and . . . um . . . throw a bucket of water on you.”
Hugh bolted up. “Bloody hell they are!” He tumbled from his bed, then grabbed the bedpost until the room stopped spinning. Had he gotten that foxed again last night? He tried to recall what they’d done, but couldn’t remember anything after the third . . . or was it the fourth? . . . gaming hell they’d gone to.
“Tell them I’ll be down in three minutes. And have a pot of that white willow tea waiting for me.”
“Yes, my lord.”Caruthers turned to walk away, then stopped. “And they asked that you dress to go out.”
“At three in the afternoon? Where do they think we’re going at three in the afternoon?”
“I’m not sure, my lord. They simply instructed me to tell you that riding gear would be appropriate.”
Hugh took his first tentative step on his own, then reached for the nearest piece of furniture to steady himself. “Then you’d best tell them it will take me the full five minutes.”
“Yes, my lord. I’ll return shortly to see you dressed.”
“Yes, Caruthers. That might be good.”
When Caruthers was gone, Hugh lowered his head into a basin of water and held his breath as long as he could. He tried to remember what he’d done last night, but nothing special came to mind. Nothing other than the gaming and drinking that was a nightly occurrence.
An hour later, he stumbled down the stairs to meet his friends.
“It’s about time,” Jeb said, then stopped. “Bloody hell, Lieutenant. You look like hell.”
“Thank you,” Hugh said walking over to the sideboard. He needed a drink.
“No!” Jeb said, bolting from the chair. “You’re not starting already.”
Hugh intended to ignore Jeb, but Caleb appeared beside him, and the two of them prevented Hugh from filling a glass. “Besides,” Caleb said, “we’re going out.”
“Out where?” Hugh asked.
“Out in the sunshine,” Caleb answered. “Out where you can breathe in some fresh air.”
“Out where your mind can clear, and you can think again,” Jeb said.
“I can think perfectly well in here,” Hugh answered.
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Caleb answered. He already had hold of Hugh’s arm and was leading him across the foyer to the front entrance. “You haven’t been able to think straight for the past six months. Not since you left your wife back at Red Oaks.”
“I don’t have a wife,” Hugh said as Jeb hooked his arm through Hugh’s and led him to the three horses in front of his townhouse.
“That’s not what your marriage license says,” Jeb said.
“Perhaps not.” Hugh mounted his horse. “But that’s what my wife says.”
Hugh saw Jeb and Caleb exchange glances, but he didn’t stay around to answer any of their questions. He turned his horse down the street and headed for Hyde Park. This wasn’t the ideal time to go riding—too many of Society’s elite were about strutting their newest hats and gowns. And the men were showing off which female they were courting this week. But perhaps this might be a slow day, and he could get in a good romp down Rotten Row.
Jeb and Caleb followed him. They entered through the west gate and headed toward Rotten Row. They hadn’t reached their destination before Hugh looked ahead to where a carriage holding three of Nellie’s sisters approached them.
“What?” Jeb said, pulling up next to him.
Hugh found himself caught on the horns of a dilemma. They’d seen him. If he pretended he hadn’t seen them, they would most likely take it as a cut direct. If he greeted them, he opened himself to answering questions better left unsaid.
But Nellie deserved courage from him, so without answering Jeb he crossed to where Lady Brianna, Lady Elizabeth, and Lady Daphne were enjoying a leisurely drive. “Good day, my ladies,” he said when he reached them. He lifted his top hat with great deference to his wife’s sisters.
“My lord,” they all greeted in return.
Hugh noticed their lack of enthusiasm. He also noticed the narrowing of their gazes as they looked at him. Bollocks. It was obvious they’d heard about the arrangement he had with their sister and didn’t approve.
Well, he didn’t approve of it either, but he wanted to bellow that the choice wasn’t his. It was their sister who’d set the rules, and even though he’d written her every week for the past six months asking if he could come to see her, she hadn’t answered any of his requests. Not one. Not once.
Hugh introduced Jeb and Caleb to Nellie’s sisters—though all had met at the wedding—then asked the question that was most on his mind. “Have you heard from my wife recently?”
Lady Brianna’s eyebrows arched. “Yes. Have you?”
Hugh’s head pounded hard enough from last night’s drinking to make him irritable. The condescending expressions on Nellie’s sisters’ faces made him even more short-tempered. “Actually, I have not. My wife is very lax in writing. It has been several months, in fact.”
“Then you do not know—” Lady Elizabeth started to say, but Lady Brianna cut her off.
“What don’t I know?” Hugh asked.
“Um . . . that tomorrow is Nellie’s birthday,” Lady Daphne finished for them.
“No, I didn’t know.” Hugh felt the fool. Shouldn’t a husband know when his wife’s birthday was? Shouldn’t he have bought her a gift? “It was a pleasure visiting with you. If you’ll excuse me, I thought of something I need to take care of.”
“Of course, my lord,” Nellie’s sisters answered.
Hugh knew his departure was abrupt, but he had something to do. And he couldn’t put it off.
He should reach Red Oaks in time to join Nellie for lunch, if he was lucky. The distance from London to Red Oaks had never seemed so long as it did today. If a thunderstorm hadn’t come up after he’d left Nellie’s sisters, he would have left for Red Oaks late yesterday afternoon and ridden in the dark. But the weather had turned too menacing to travel. Instead, he’d packed what he thought he’d need and rode out this morning as soon as it was light enough to see.
Today was her birthday, the perfect excuse to come to see her. He knew she could hardly refuse to see him on her birthday.
He crested a long hill, then turned into the lovely lane that ended at Red Oak’s front door. He dismounted, then handed the reins to a stable boy and went through the door Fredericks held open for him.
“Welcome home—”
Hugh placed his finger over his mouth to silence the butler. He didn’t want Nellie to know he was there. “Where’s my wife?” he whispered.
“She’s in the study, my lord. She’s been working on the books all morning.”
Hugh nodded, then walked down the hallway to the study. He knocked on the study door, then turned the handle.
“Yes, Fredericks?”
“You have a visitor, my lady,” he said as he stepped into the room.
She was bent over the ledgers laid out before her, but at his voice, her head lifted. Her eyes opened wide, and the pen in her hand fell from her fingers.
He only had a moment to take in the woman before him. He’d seen her every night in his dreams, but here, in person, she had a radiance his dreams couldn’t convey. Hers was the face he’d waited months to see. He couldn’t imagine that he hadn’t thought she was beautiful when he’d first met her. He couldn’t fathom that he hadn’t noticed her uniqueness. He did now, and his heart swelled in his chest.
She was his wife. And he’d missed her.
“Happy birthday, my love,” he said.
“Hugh!”
“Yes, Nellie.” He moved to walk toward her. He wanted to hold her. He needed to kiss her. He was desperate to show her how much he’d missed her.
Her eyes filled with tears, and he took that as a good sign. She’d missed him, too. There was a certain glow about her, and he wanted nothing more than to take her to bed and make love to her.
She slid back her chair as he neared her, then braced her hands on the arms of the chair and slowly rose to her feet.
He didn’t notice anything was different at first. He was too moved by the tears streaming down her cheeks. Too touched by the emotion on her face.
Little by little though, his gaze moved from her face to where her hands rested on her extended stomach. He looked at the mound that pushed her gown from her body, then his gaze darted to her face. “Nellie?”
A tear trickled down her cheek, and she swiped it away.
“Nellie?” he repeated.
She turned and seemed to lose her balance.
Hugh reached out to steady her.
She would have stepped out of his grasp had he not held her. She would have turned away from him if he would have allowed it. But he wouldn’t. He couldn’t.
He knew if he released her now he would never get her back.