Fiona remained silent.
He leaned forward. “What’s wrong?”
“She cannot be more than five years older than me. Is this whatIshall become?”
“You? Like Lady Cordelia?” He eased back with a shudder and laughed. “No, that willneverbe you. Not in a thousand years. That woman was born cheerless and filled with bile. You were born smiling and sweet as sugar.”
Fiona laughed. “Hardly. You know I can be quite sour at times.”
“You? Sour? Never. Indignant, perhaps.”
“Well, call me indignant, then. I wanted to poke her in the nose for what she said about you.”
“Who cares what she thinks of me?” He arched an eyebrow. “I can defend myself, you know. I am no longer three and in need of you to come to my rescue. Although I did enjoy envisioning your leaping across the table, fists raised, ready to pound Lady Cordelia into pudding.”
“It felt good to get in a huff on your behalf.”
He reached over and took her hand. “You were very elegant in giving her a set-down.”
Fiona laughed again. “Liar. You must have been wincing the moment I opened my mouth. But I really disliked the way she looked down her nose at you.”
“I was irrelevant, and you know it. Her venom was aimed at you, for you are the real threat to her status. I hated the way she thought herself better than you.”
“Oh, do not get incensed on my behalf. I rather liked being considered a shameless harlot who cavorts with younger men and gets away with it.”
“Do not make light of it, Fiona. I did not like her insinuations or accusations one bit,” he said in all seriousness, but made no further comment on that, since they would fall back into the discussion of his desire to marry her. “That woman borders on the deranged.”
“Oh, I think it is more that she is jealous and afraid.”
“Someone to be pitied rather than feared? Let’s hope it is merely that.”
“I think her brother realizes it was a mistake to invite her to Milbury Hill and will arrange for her departure very soon. Rob, will you have a talk with him and let him know what she said to us? Not that I wish to upset him, but he needs to be made aware what went on outside of his presence.”
“All right, if you want me to.”
She nodded. “I do, for the sake of his boys more than anything. It is better if he hears it from you.”
The staff had retired for the evening by the time they returned to Fiona’s manor. While she ran upstairs, Rob made certain to lock the front door and check the ground-floor windows and doors to make certain they were sealed tight. He knew Simmons must have done this already, but he was feeling rather protective of Fiona at the moment and saw no harm in making the rounds himself.
Out of an abundance of caution, he checked each door and window twice.
When finished, he strode upstairs and went directly to her bedchamber, for he felt the urgent need to take her in his arms. Even though Fiona had not cared about the insults hurled at her by Lady Cordelia, they had affected him on her behalf.
Fiona had donned her nightgown and robe by the time he joined her. She was seated on a stool beside the hearth, brushing out her hair and humming softly while awaiting him.
Heat and longing filled him as he watched her run her brush through those glorious tresses, and another pang of longing gripped him when she noticed him quietly standing by the door and her expression immediately softened.
“Rob? Are you all right?” She set her brush aside and rose to come toward him.
No, he wasn’t all right.
He was hurting badly because he wanted to do the honorable thing by her and felt the passage of these days with an urgency that burned into his soul.
Their nights of intimacy would end soon, and he was not prepared for it.
Wordlessly, he shut her door and lifted her into his arms to carry her to bed.
Chapter Seven
