Reese's Bride (5 page)

Travis looked as if he might say
I see
again, but wisely refrained. “Female problems. They’re always the worst.”

Reese lifted his crystal goblet and took a deep swallow of brandy. “You can say that again.”

Several days later

B
eginning to feel more her old self again, Elizabeth made her way up to the third floor where Mrs. Garvey and Jared shared adjoining bedrooms. The withdrawal symptoms had faded completely and though she still felt a little tired, she was ready to get out of the house, at least for a while.

She listened at the door a moment, then turned the handle and silently pushed it open. The bedrooms connected to a third room, a lovely little nursery she had admired when she had come to the house with Reese years ago.

At the time, she had imagined seeing their baby lying in the white-ruffled bassinet that still sat empty in the corner. When he had shown her the room, she had smiled up at him and told him what a wonderful father he would make.

The notion twisted her heart. If only her son had been raised by Reese. If only he’d had a loving father instead of one who was distant, even cruel. Jared had yearned for
a father’s love, but Edmund had pushed the child away, treating him little better than one of his servants.

If only she had known what her life would be.

But her father had admired the young earl and he had been determined she have a title.
Edmund will make you a countess. He won’t exile you to a life in the country while he goes off adventuring with the army
.

It was only one of dozens of speeches he had made. In the beginning, she had simply ignored them, certain that in time she could convince her father to accept the man she loved, the man she had chosen to marry.

In the end, she had succumbed to his words, his dire predictions, and finally his unbending edict, and agreed to his demands. By special license, just a little over two months after Reese had left for London, she had married the Earl of Aldridge.

She closed her mind to what came next, looked across the nursery to where Mrs. Garvey read to Jared. He loved listening to stories and was becoming a very good reader himself.

“Mama!” He rose when he saw her and raced toward her.

Elizabeth lifted him into her arms. “Good morning, sweetheart.” She pressed a kiss on his forehead. “You’re getting so big. Soon I won’t be able to lift you.”

He smiled as she set him back down on his feet, always happy when she mentioned how big he was getting. She thought that in time he would grow into a tall, strong man, but at seven, he was small for his age, and withdrawing into himself as he often did made him appear even smaller.

“So what are you two reading?”

Jared looked over at his silver-haired nanny for an answer.

“It’s called
Peter Wilson’s Journey
,” Mrs. Garvey said with a smile.

“What is the story about?” she asked Jared, forcing him to speak when he would have kept silent.

“It’s about…about a little boy who finds treasure in his garden.”

Elizabeth smiled. “That sounds marvelous.” She glanced out the window. “I know how much you love stories but it’s so nice outside. Wouldn’t you like to come with me for a walk? I’m sure Mrs. Garvey would be willing to finish the story a little later.”

Jared’s solemn brown eyes looked up at her. “You aren’t still sick?”

“I’m feeling better every day. Come on, let’s go.” She reached out a hand and Jared clasped it.

“Have a good time,” Mrs. Garvey called to them, waving as they walked out the door.

They headed along the hall and down the back stairs. For the past few days while she convalesced, Elizabeth had been able to avoid seeing Reese. Every servant in the household knew of the confrontation Reese had had with Mason Holloway. Sooner or later she would have to thank him for his protection.

And his generosity in giving her asylum. Elizabeth wasn’t sure how much longer she could accept his grudging hospitality, but sooner or later, she would have to leave.

The thought sent a chill down her spine. She was stronger now, more able to deal with Mason and Frances, but also she knew that she had been right and that she and her son were still in danger.

Elizabeth pushed through the back door, out into the
September sunshine. A soft breeze blew over the barren fields, but they were no longer empty as they had been for years. Men worked hoeing weeds and, in an old abandoned orchard, another group worked pruning trees.

Clearly, Reese meant to ready the place for spring planting. She knew he had been forced to leave the army because of his injury. Still, he had never been interested in farming. She couldn’t help wondering if he would actually stay.

She felt a tug on her hand and realized Jared was urging her toward the stable. Her son so loved horses. She let him lead her in that direction, pulling her into the cooling shade of the barn.

One of the horses nickered softly and Jared hurried toward the sound. A pretty sorrel mare stuck her nose above the door of the stall.

“Isn’t she beautiful?” he said with awe, careful to keep his distance. He’d been forbidden to go near any of the horses at Aldridge Park, but he often went out to watch them running across the fields.

“She’s lovely.”

“Look, Mama, she has a star on her forehead.”

Neither she nor Jared noticed that Reese and another man stood in the shadows until they started forward.

“I see you’re feeling better,” Reese said, stopping a few feet away.

A little knot of tension curled in her stomach. She prayed he wouldn’t make her leave, not until she was fully recovered. “Much better, thank you. I thought we might come out for a breath of fresh air.”

“This is my good friend, Captain Greer,” he said, making the introduction. “We served together for several years.” He
was a man of medium height, square-jawed, with sandy brown hair and wearing a pair of gold spectacles.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Captain Greer.”

“You, as well, my lady. The major mentioned you and your son were guests here.”

“Lord Reese has been extremely kind.”

Reese’s jaw tightened. He turned his attention to Jared, who stood statue-still in front of the little mare’s stall.

“You like horses, Jared?” Reese asked.

The boy merely nodded.

“Her name is Starlight. She’s a Thoroughbred. She’s going to be a mother.”

Jared’s eyes rounded. “She’s going to have a baby?”

“A colt, yes. The stallion, Alexander, is the sire. He’s that big red horse with the black mane and tail. You’ve probably seen him out in the fields.”

The boy nodded. “He can run really fast.”

“Yes, he can. Someday I hope to race the colts he sires.”

Reese returned his attention to Elizabeth. He had already said more to Jared than Edmund had said to him in the entire six months before the accident that killed him.

Reese’s brilliant blue eyes fixed on her face and her nervousness kicked up. “I—I didn’t realize you were out here. I hope we aren’t in the way. Jared loves horses. I didn’t think you would mind.”

He looked at the boy, who still watched the mare. There was such a look of yearning on Jared’s face, Elizabeth’s heart constricted.

Reese must have noticed. “She’s very gentle-natured. Would you like to pet her?”

Jared looked at him as if he were a god. “Could I?”

Reese took the child’s hand and led him closer. Reaching up, Reese rubbed the star on the horse’s forehead and softly stroked her nose. Then he lifted Jared up so that he could do the same.

The little boy very carefully stroked the mare’s head and nose. When Reese set him back on his feet, he smiled in a way Elizabeth had never seen before and a lump rose in her throat.

She hid a secret. A terrible secret she meant to carry to her grave. In that moment, she was no longer certain she could.

Jared raced back to her. “Did you see me, Mama? I petted her and she liked it.”

“I saw you, sweetheart.” She looked up at Reese and couldn’t stop a sudden mist of tears. “Thank you.”

Reese glanced away, his jaw hard once more. “I have work to do. If you will excuse us…”

“Nice to meet you, Lady Aldridge,” the captain said.

“You, as well, Captain Greer.”

She watched the men walk out of the barn, saw her son staring after Reese, and in that moment, she realized what a terrible sin she had committed.

Reese and Travis walked the fields. The first of October, he planned to do some plowing, just to churn up the soil and continue preparations for planting. In the spring he would plow again, then fertilize the soil, get it ready for seeding in April.

He meant to plant barley. His brother, Royal, was making wagonloads of money with Swansdowne Ale, which was rapidly becoming famous. The brewery sat not far from Bransford Castle, his brother’s home, on a piece of
property at the edge of the village, and Royal was already making plans to build a second plant closer to London.

His brother needed barley to increase his production. Whatever Reese produced was certain to sell.

The thought did nothing to lift his mood. He had never wanted to be a gentleman farmer. He was only there now because he had promised his dying father he would come back and work the land he had inherited.

It was a promise he meant to keep, even if he hated every bloody minute.

So far, if he was honest with himself, being a member of the landed gentry hadn’t been so bad. In fact, he had begun to enjoy the peace and quiet of the Wiltshire countryside. No waking up to the sound of cannon fire. No riding for endless hours until he fell exhausted into his cot at night.

Watching the leaves turn red and gold and hearing the wind sighing through the trees instead of watching the men in his command dying in pools of their own blood.

Still, he missed the camaraderie, missed traveling to faraway places, missed his friends. He was glad Travis had stopped for a visit.

It kept his mind off Elizabeth and her son.

“Your Elizabeth…she’s extremely beautiful,” Trav said, pulling his thought back in that direction.

Reese’s stomach instantly knotted. He looked over at his friend. “She is hardly
my Elizabeth
. We are barely civil to one another. I told you, she is only here because she asked for my protection.”

“But she
is
beautiful.”

He gave up a sigh. “More beautiful, I think, than she was as a girl.”

They turned away from the fields and headed back toward the house. Reese made it a point to walk every day to exercise the muscles in his stiff leg. One day he meant to climb into a saddle, though he grudgingly admitted he wasn’t up to it yet.

“So what do you plan to do? About the woman, I mean?”

As they reached the top of a rise and looked down on the whitewashed, slate-roofed manor draped with ivy, he blew out a breath.

“I wish I knew. She isn’t completely recovered. Once she is, I imagine she’ll go on to London. She was her father’s only heir. When he died, he intended she would inherit his fortune, including the family mansion, Holiday House. As I recall, it’s quite a place.”

“Will she be safe there?” Travis asked.

It was a question he didn’t want to consider. An unwanted kernel of worry swelled in his chest. “I’ve sent a letter to an investigator named Morgan. Royal has used his services in the past. I’ve asked him to find out what he can about Edmund Holloway and his brother, Mason. Once Elizabeth returns to London, I’ll have him arrange some kind of security for her protection.”

“But still you are worried. I can see it in your face.”

He smoothed his features into blandness, but he and Trav had been friends too long to play games.

“Jared is still just a boy. Elizabeth is frightened for him. After my run-in with Holloway, I don’t blame her.”

“Perhaps they are better off here.”

His stomach tightened. Having Elizabeth there was the last thing he wanted. “For the time being, they are. My aunt is due to arrive any day. At least that will staunch any possible gossip.”

Travis smiled. “I’ve met your aunt. Lady Tavistock is quite something.”

The edge of his mouth curved. “She is definitely a force to be reckoned with. I don’t envy Elizabeth. Aunt Aggie considers her little better than a harlot.”

Travis chuckled. “It’s a definite coil. I’m glad I’ll be leaving before your aunt arrives.”

Reese tossed him a glance. “Coward.”

Travis just laughed.

They walked along in silence, Reese pondering his good friend’s words. Elizabeth and her son were in danger. Of that he had no doubt. He couldn’t stop thinking of the boy. Seeing him there in the stable gazing with reverence at the mare, he could have been Reese’s own son.

The notion had occurred to him, of course. There had been that single night, a fumbling, desperate coupling between two people who hadn’t meant for things to go so far. Looking back on it, he was sorry Elizabeth had suffered his amateurish efforts. She deserved a better initiation, not a bumbling attempt by a novice to the act himself.

He wasn’t that green lad anymore. During his years as a soldier, he’d had dozens of women. He had learned from skilled courtesans how to pleasure a woman and in doing so gain more pleasure for himself.

But that single night with Elizabeth, he hadn’t even spilled his seed inside her. He had known that much, at least. He had been determined to protect her, and his brother had unwittingly told him the way.

Jared wasn’t his, he was sure. His hair wasn’t black but a dark chocolate brown, the same deep color as his eyes. His features were softer, less carved than his own. His manner was different, as well. He was extremely with
drawn. Reese had been a little shy as a boy, but neither he nor any of the Dewar brothers had been anything like Jared.

The boy belonged to Edmund Holloway and Reese couldn’t help wondering how soon after Reese had left for London, the earl had enjoyed the woman Reese had already made his.

Travis left the following morning, an hour before Aunt Aggie’s carriage pulled up in front of the manor. The weather had turned blustery and cold and his frail aunt leaned against him, the wind whipping her skirts, as Reese led her along the brick walkway toward the front porch.

She sighed as they entered the house out of the weather and Hopkins closed the front door. Shoving the hood of her cloak back from her gleaming silver hair, she smiled, resilient as always.