The Viscount's Counterfeit Wife (13 page)

When he raised his head
to look at Allerton, he was surprised to find that Talia had moved
behind the man and was now vigorously shaking her head.

Oh
oh, what had he done now?
Since he’d awakened without
his memory, it seemed he could do nothing right.

Allerton spluttered
angrily, “Wh...who is this man?”

True, they hadn’t had
time to be properly introduced, had they? Reed wasn’t sure. His
mind was jumbled and getting more so by the moment. He’d swear the
walls were moving. They began to spin in an alarming fashion. “I…
I…”

He was going down.
Fast!

Damn!
He hoped he didn’t hit his head again. He couldn’t afford to lose
what little memory he’d recovered.

Both Foster and Talia
rushed to his side. Talia grabbed his arm and held him up, while
Foster slipped his arm around Reed’s waist to steady him. To prop
him up, really.

“Your little escapade
has worn you out.” She no longer sounded angry with him, he was
pleased to note, but she did sound worried.

She glanced over at the
butler with her speaking eyes. “Foster, get Joseph to help and
please assist Mr. Leighton upstairs, before he falls down!”

“Come along, sir. We
need to get you back to bed. You aren’t well enough to be up yet.”
Foster signaled Joseph, who came running and stood uncertainly on
Reed’s other side, before taking his arm. Together, they began
leading him toward the door.

“Oh, I don’t
think…” Reed’s shoulders slumped. He hated to admit it but he
was almost too tired to stand. The effort of rushing downstairs to
open the door had used up what little strength he had, and his brain
was as groggy as if he’d downed a bottle of Blue Ruin.

“Thank you, kind
sirs. I will indeed avail myself of your assistance.” With their
help, he walked slowly toward the door. Talia kept pace behind him in
case he fell backward, he supposed. He glanced back over his shoulder
and nodded his adieu, “Allerton.”

His interfering servant
stopped at the door to observe aloud to Reed, “I’m afraid your
generous offer of hospitality is not possible, sir.” He looked back
toward Talia and Allerton, before once again addressing himself to
Reed. “With us just arriving, we haven’t finished setting up
house properly, nor have we hired servants yet, and with your health
problem, we’re having difficulty keeping up as it is.”

“Exactly.” His wife
looked relieved by the butler’s remarks. “And we’re expecting
my grandmother to arrive any day now,” she bolstered his claim.

Reed hadn’t known
that. No one had seen fit to tell him, had they?
They
told him nothing!

For several moments, he
resisted the two servant’s urgings to move out the door. They
treated him as if he were incapable of understanding, just because
he’d lost his memory.

He hated to leave Talia
with this Allerton fellow. The man seemed to think he had rights over
her. Had Reed been feeling more capable, he would have stayed to find
out more about their friendship, but he had to make it to his bed
before he fell down.

Once in his room,
standing by his bed, he turned to Foster and said, “Don’t leave
them alone for long. That man has designs on my wife.”

The aging factotum’s
bleary eyes flickered. Shooing Joseph out of the room, he shot Reed a
look of approval and assured him he’d bear that in mind. “To that
effort, sir, let’s get you into bed so I can get right back down
there, quick as a whippet.”

“Good idea.” He
allowed himself to be tucked in by Foster. “Now, by all means, go.”
He closed his eyes. “But I will expect an accounting later on.”

* * *

From the doorway of the
drawing room, Tally watched Reed, Foster and Joseph making their way
slowly up the stairs.
How had
she come to be so lucky? She had to end up with an open-minded and
hospitable sham husband!

“Talia, who is that?”

She turned to face
Spence, wondering how she was going to get out of this situation with
her reputation intact. Her childhood friend had always been a bit
excitable. And, much as she cared for him, he could be a real trial
because he always wanted to know every last detail about her. It was
exhausting trying to steer him clear.

“How are your
parents, Spence?” Not that she cared much, they weren’t nice
people, but she needed to change the subject. Unlike their son, his
parents placed far too much importance on social status and how rich
a person was. They were unable to see past that to a person’s true
worth. That was why Tally had remained friends with Spence all these
years. He had some redeeming qualities she appreciated and he needed
good outside influences to counter his parents’ manipulations.
Unsurprisingly, his parents did not approve of Spence’s interest in
Tally. It was probably the only thing about which she heartily agreed
with them.

But it was too much to
be hoped that, for once, his single-mindedness could be diverted.

“He stared at me with
such an intense look, it was almost frightening.” He paced
nervously away from the door, arms behind his back.

It was a pose he
adopted, thinking it made him look older, Tally knew. Instead, all
she saw was how his prominent Adam’s apple beat anxiously above his
tight, high collar and how young and slight he appeared beside Reed’s
more mature and muscled physique. She felt years older than her
friend, even though he was a year her senior.

“He said he was
married to you and I hardly dared question it, he was so
intimidating.” Without waiting for her reaction, he continued, “You
can’t be married to him, Talia.”

“Were your parents in
favor of your trip to London?” Ignoring his claim, she persisted
with her attempts to ignore his questions. She had no idea what she
was going to say to explain away this calamitous circumstance and was
hoping something would occur to her. Soon! Because when Spence was
hunting for information, it was almost impossible to avoid replying
without being blunt, not to say rude.

Proving he was just as
adept as she was at disregarding a query, he doggedly persisted on
his same train of thought. “You’re supposed to be my–”

“Just a moment.”
She ruthlessly cut him off yet again, vainly wracking her brain for
some way to avoid making matters worse than they already were. “Did
you hear that? Someone must be…” She went to the door and looked
out into the hallway. “I was sure I heard a noise.” She wished
someone had been there to rescue her. Who’d have believed that
pretending to be someone’s wife for a few days could become so
complicated? “No, I was wrong.”

Of course, she knew
exactly why Spence had come to Town. He was worried she’d find
someone else, if he wasn’t around to monopolize her social time.
Was he ever going to accept her constant refusals to marry him?

It might be worth
allowing him to believe what Reed had told him, if only she didn’t
have to be ruined in the process. Her usually inventive imagination
was letting her down by failing to come up with a plausible excuse
for Reed’s claim to be married, that didn’t also entail her ruin.

Foster bustled back
into the room. “Mrs. P needs to speak with ye, Miss. It appears
there are some things with which Joseph can’t help her. Why don’t
I offer Mr. Allerton, here, a drink while he waits.” His eyes
indicated she should leave, fast.

“Oh yes, thank you,
Foster.” She gave Spence a rueful look. “I won’t be long,
Spence. You know how it is after a long journey, and Joseph is but a
child and has little experience.”

What was Foster up to,
she wondered, as she left the room? Instead of going to see Mrs. P,
she went into the dining room and stood behind one of the open double
doors that led into the drawing room, to look and listen. She had no
doubt her wily accomplice was going to do his best to rescue her. She
hoped he had a better story than she’d been able to come up with,
but she couldn’t imagine how he was going to manage it.

“Sir,” Foster said
in a stage whisper, making Tally lips twitch reluctantly. If only her
ruin weren’t such a serious matter, she would be preparing to be
vastly entertained. He made up the most ingenious stories and told
them with such panache! She bent forward to peek through the opening
between the door and the wall.

As long as Spence
believed Foster’s story and it made Spence leave!

“What is it, man?”
Spence sounded preoccupied and annoyed.

“Mind your manners,
young man, or you’ll be shown the door posthaste.”

Tally always delighted
in seeing Foster scold Spence. Spence was spoiled and would have
benefited from more discipline from his fawning parents.

Spencer looked
chastened but stubborn. “Pardon me, Foster, but I don’t
understand what that man–”

“I saw you were
confused,” Foster interrupted. “So I’m going to explain what’s
going on here. But you mustn’t tell anybody! That’s why I
spirited Miss Talia away from the room. I knew she might hesitate to
tell you the truth of the matter.”

“What truth? What are
you talking about?” Spencer didn’t hide his agitation well at
all. If she were a gambling woman, she’d wager anything he was
biting the inside of his cheek. He always did that when he was upset.

To tell the truth,
Tally was just as curious to hear Foster’s reply as Spence was.

“Who is that man? He
told me he was her husband!” Spence stopped his pacing to put the
question, but resumed immediately afterwards.

She shook her head. He
was winding himself up.

“But how can that be?
She’s only been gone from home for three weeks. How did she have
time to meet someone and wed?”

No time indeed, Tally
reflected.

“You know my Missy.
She has too soft a heart, and hates to speak ill of others.” Foster
was at his most convincing.

“Yes, yes… But one
doesn’t get married because of their soft heart!” Spence said
impatiently. “Who is he?” Then, belatedly taking in Foster’s
words, “He’s bad?”

“No, sir, not bad…
just… unwell.”

“Unwell?” Spence
sounded bewildered.

“His family was close
friends with my former employer, Miss Talia’s Great Aunt Ida. While
the family was away, last year, on their yearly visit to Bath, Mr.
Leighton wandered away from the family home where he was being cared
for by the servants and a nurse.”

Through the crack in
the door, she could see Foster shake his head sadly, which had her
shaking her own at his amazing acting abilities.

He continued his woeful
tale. “They were worried he might come to harm, so this year, they
wrote to Missy, knowing Mr. Leighton heeds her when she talks, and
asked if she would take care of him while they were away. That’s
why we came to London so quietly.”

“But what is his
problem? He didn’t seem too solid on his feet.”

“Oh that. That was
just the laudanum, sir,” Foster sounded amused. “Mr. Leighton is
fine physically, it’s his mind that’s the problem. So he’s
given laudanum when he’s agitated. One of his problems is that he
thinks he’s married to everyone he sees.”

It was all Tally could
do not to break out into guffaws of nervous laughter. Spence would
never swallow that! Would he?

“It seems an odd
affliction.” Spencer sounded suspicious.

“Yes, indeed. Mighty
odd.” Foster was now in the full thrust of embellishing his story,
enjoying himself, Tally knew. “May I say, sir, that you were
exceedingly lucky.”

“What do you mean?”

“You were lucky, sir,
that he didn’t take it into his head to decide he was wed to you!”

“Good Lord! Surely
not!” Spence sounded horrified. “Even to men?”

Tally struggled to hold
in her laughter. Time to end this before he went too far.

She slipped away from
her eavesdropping spot, patted her hair and shook out her skirts. She
hoped she’d be able to maintain a serious countenance. Not that
there was anything funny about the potential for disaster in this
situation. They were skating on very thin ice.

* * *

Tally entered the
drawing room with her pelisse already on and carrying her gloves.
“Let’s go outside, Spence. We’ll be more private out there.”
It seemed the best way to hurry him on his way.

As soon as they were
away from the house, she said, “What I have to tell you is a
secret, Spence. You must tell no one or you will cause serious
trouble to Mr. Leighton and his family, to my family, and especially
to me.”

“I wouldn’t dream
of it,” he assured her. “But how did he come to be like this?”
he asked inadvertently revealing his prior knowledge, thanks to
Foster.

“Mr. Leighton fell
and hit his head very hard and remembers nothing about his life, not
even his own name. But almost worse is that he thinks he is wed to
people he comes in contact with, ” she reiterated Foster’s story.

“I see. Poor man. A
shame, really.”

She wondered what he
was pondering as they walked in silence for a few steps.

“I’m glad we left
before he decided he was married to me!” he said. “You’re very
brave to help him, but foolhardy too because, if any one finds out,
you will be ruined. Besides, how safe is it?” They were walking
toward the corner where the main street intersected with theirs. “He
looked quite fierce and frightened me...” Then he seemed to realize
a man shouldn’t admit to such fears, he added, “on your behalf,
naturally.”

“He’s no danger to
me physically. Truly.”
Liar!
Inwardly she accused herself. He was the biggest male threat she’d
ever encountered. Mainly because she didn’t want to resist him!

“But…” Spence
began.

She cut him off yet
again. She knew she could win him over, for he had a kind heart and
was not a mean or malicious man. He would probably make a good
husband for some woman who wanted to govern her husband as she
pleased, provided she continued to pamper him like his parents did.