Regency Society. Ann Lethbridge
Adrian’s comment should have been incomprehensible. But Hendricks seemed to understand it perfectly. ‘I did not notice anything unusual about her, my lord.’ It was a pitiful attempt to hide the truth.
‘And where was she, when last you saw her?’
Hendricks paused, as though he could not seem to remember his story, and said, ‘At her brother’s town house, my lord.’
‘How strange. For she has not been in residence there for several days.’
Hendricks sighed. ‘At her rooms, my lord.’
‘So you have seen them, then?’ He resisted the desire to add the word Aha. ‘I suppose you have been there several times.’
‘Yes, my lord.’ He sounded glum now, as though any good spirits that the lady might have gained through his visits were not shared.
As an afterthought, Adrian asked, ‘As I remember it, Hendricks, you wear spectacles, do you not?’
‘Yes, my lord,’ said Hendricks, clearly baffled as to what this had to do with anything.
And there went his hopes that the next Earl of Folbroke would be unencumbered by difficulties with vision. Still, some sight was better than none. ‘Her brother David seemed most concerned at the damage to her reputation, should it be known that she is setting up housekeeping with a man. If she wished some space of her own, it is a shame that she has not seen fit to ask her husband for permission.’
‘Did you expect her to? It has been long since you have spoken to her—she no doubt assumed that you would not care.’ Hendricks had answered a trifle too quickly with this, and altered his tone to be less censorious before adding, ‘If you wish to see her today, I could arrange it for you.’
‘It merely surprises me that she has not sought me out. If she cannot visit her own husband when she is scant miles from him, then it gives credence to her brother’s theory.’
‘She did visit you, my lord, on the day she arrived in town. As you remember, I came to fetch you.’
And pulled me from another woman’s arms and dragged me home, insensible. Touché, Hendricks, touché. ‘Since she did not return, I did not think the matter was important.’
‘Perhaps it is because she has been spurned and avoided for such a long time that she has no more desire to try.’ His secretary’s voice was sharp and scolding. And there could be no questioning his meaning. ‘At this point in time, perhaps it is up to you to seek her.’
‘Do you presume to tell me how to handle my marriage?’
‘Of course not, my lord.’ But the tone said just the opposite.
‘You might as well do it, for it seems quite a popular activity this week.’ He gave a vague gesture towards the writing desk. ‘Draft a letter to Emily. I will see her this evening at six. Do it quick, man, before I sober sufficiently from Eston’s visit to realise what a mistake I am making.’
‘See her, my lord? Do you wish me to explain the unlikelihood of that? For I believe your condition still a mystery to her.’
For a moment he had forgotten. Damn that strange woman for getting under his skin and making him think, even for an instant, that his life could be ordinary.
‘No. Emily has no clue. Unless you have told her.’
‘You forbade me.’ It was a comfort to hear the resignation, and the resolution, in that sentence and the lack of even a fraction of a second’s hesitation. Whatever else he might be doing, it was plain that Hendricks followed some of his instructions to the letter, no matter how unwise he thought them.
Adrian shook his head. ‘After all this time, there are no simple words to describe to her what has happened, or to explain why I hid the truth. It will be easier when we are face to face to explain things, so that there can be no mistaking. It is not as if my lack will come as a severe shock to her. I am not disfigured in any way, am I?’ He touched his own face, suddenly unsure. Perhaps time had made him an ogre, and the servants were too kind to remark on it.
‘No, sir.’
‘Then I will explain to her, once she arrives. It is time, I think, that there be some truth between us.’
‘Very good, my lord.’
‘Mr Eston, my lady.’
When the footman announced her brother, Emily was enjoying what she’d thought was a well-earned cup of tea. With her morning’s shopping and calls, she had taken what she’d hoped were the first steps to sorting out her husband’s problems. Or perhaps they were steps towards encouraging him to do so, for she doubted there would be any change in his character without full co-operation from the man himself.
But since no one knew of her location, she had not expected visitors other than Hendricks. And she certainly had not expected to see her brother. ‘David?’ Thinking of the confrontation she expected from him, his name came out of her mouth in a breathless whimper that made her sound guiltier than she was over her behaviour. ‘What are you doing here?’ There, she noted with some relief. The strength returned to her when she turned the challenge back to him.
‘I have come to see what you are doing here, and who you are doing it with.’ Her brother signalled the footman for another cup and sat in the chair opposite her. His presence was so commanding that she thought for a moment that he had invited her to the room to explain herself.
‘It is not necessary for you to watch over me. Nor is it your place,’ she reminded him. ‘I am both grown and married.’
‘If you can call what you share with Adrian a marriage,’ he responded.
‘Says the man who is the same age as my husband, but has no wife of his own.’
The mention of this seemed to make him uncomfortable, so he turned the argument hurriedly back to her. ‘It is your husband I wish to speak of, and not my non-existent wife. I have been to see Adrian, since you have not.’
‘That was not necessary.’
‘I feel it was,’ he said, looking around him at her rooms. ‘I saw you this morning, shopping in Bond Street.’
‘I remember,’ she said coolly. ‘I greeted you, did I not?’
‘But you were behaving strangely. Secretively. There is but one reason that I can think of to explain such behaviour.’
‘Oh, I seriously doubt that,’ she said. Emily could feel herself begin to blush, which would make her look even more guilty. But there was little to be done to stifle the sudden and rather graphic memories of what she had been up to in the days since she had moved from her brother’s house.
‘You have taken up with some man.’ He was staring at her clothing, which was too casual to accept any but a lover, and the flush of her skin. And God forbid that he should look in the bedroom, for he might see the sheets, still rumpled from last night’s activities.
She took another sip of tea to hide her confusion. ‘Hardly, David.’
‘And you have rented rooms so that the meetings could be done in secret.’
‘Not much of a secret, clearly, since you have followed me to them. Was that how you found me?’ But he had clearly not looked too closely into the matter, if he had not identified the man in question.
He showed no sign of noticing her censor. ‘I questioned my coachman, since you seem intent on using my vehicle as your own. And he admitted taking your baggage to this place. But we are not discussing my behaviour. It is yours that is in question. I waited outside this morning. And in the dim light, I saw someone creeping away from here. He was in the carriage and away before I could get a look at him.’
‘Oh, David,’ she said, wincing with embarrassment at this further complication of her plans. ‘Why now? You have not given a