“You know you can tell me anything. Tell me what troubles you.”
“Nothing, really. Just idle will-o-the-wisp thoughts.”
“Without a dream, you can’t expect to have one come true. And you deserve to live out your dreams.”
The door at that moment banged open and Nicholas raced through with Fleur and Max close behind. From the sound of their voices, Captain Thorne and Thomas were considerably farther behind.
As much as she wanted to debate and deny Richard’s words, she instead crouched on the floor and spread her arms wide for her son to fling himself into her embrace.
Richard watchedas the cottage filled with voices, barking, and chaos. He couldn’t think of any place he’d rather be, but he was still trying to understand what had happened only an hour before. He’d only wanted to touch her, kiss her, feel her in his arms. And then it was as if a lighted fuse had fallen into a barrel of gunpowder.
He hadn’t intended for what was between them to ignite and flare into something that would consume them. But, no regrets. He’d made unwise, unthinking love to this beautiful woman, and now she was his. His to protect and honor. He realized they could never marry because of the social chasm between them, but by damn, hewouldmake sure she was protected.
Captain Thorne came close and gave him an odd look. “You need some fresh air. Come outside and show me how much wood you’ve stacked for the winter.” When Richard just stood, staring, yet uncomprehending, his former commander gave him a sharp shove between his shoulder blades and pushed him toward the open door. Richard grabbed his jacket from a hook by the door and followed him outside.
As soon as they’d gained the woodpile, Thorne pointed to the stump where he’d been splitting wood earlier, and said, “Sit.”
Richard complied and gave the older man a quizzical look.
Thorne did not waste time. “I apologize for not warning you earlier, but there’s a whole line of battle here you know nothing about. You just happened to walk into the middle of it. I feel I’m somewhat of an expert, since I’ve had my share of butting up against the powers that be over the course of my naval career, as you well know.”
Richard nodded. He’d heard the stories of how Thorne, as a first lieutenant, had been forced to take command of a ship in the West Indies when the captain was in the throes of insanity. Even though he’d saved the ship and crew, the Admiralty still had tried him for insubordination. It had taken a number of years for Admiral Lord Exmouth to plead Thorne’s case and get his name cleared and back onto the Royal Navy rolls.
“What very few people know is that while poor Lady Blandford was searching for her husband’s body after Waterloo, her brother-in-law was back here trying to make her son disappear so that he could claim his dead brother’s title. She’d left Nicholas under Sidmouth’s protection, but her brother-in-law waited until he knew Sidmouth was gone and went to the estate to snatch Nicholas.
“The boy was only a year old, and, if you ask me, his uncle terrified him into that stutter he has now. By the time Lady Blandford made it back here, and her cousin re-claimed her son, the damage was done. And, of course, it took another year to have Sidmouth named her son’s guardian, because Lord Blandford left for Waterloo without a will in place.”
“I wish Blandford’s brother would show his face before I have to go back to sea, so I could bash it in for him.” Richard clenched his hands into fists and looked back toward the cottage.
“Good Lord willing, he’ll never find the boy unprotected again.” Thorne paused and gave Richard a pitying look. “That brings me to the next part of my bad news. The lady is as good as engaged to old Viscount Grantham, and I expect her cousin is coming here to seal the deal. She’s been putting them off for over a year now. However, her cousin does have a good point. Once she’s married to Grantham, Blandford wouldn’t dare try to snatch the boy again.
“And then there’s her grandmother, the barmy old duchess. That’s been another reason Blandford’s given to have Nicholas moved to his care. He keeps complaining to the magistrate she’s a bad influence on the boy. I have an idea of how we can keep her Nana out of the taverns, but I’m going to need your help.”
Harriet walkedtoward a cottage window and stole a look out toward the wood pile where Richard and Captain Thorne had been standing deep in conversation far too long to pass as an idle chat.
She didn’t like the look on Richard’s face. She could imagine that face behind a musket while he was firing at enemies from a ship’s rigging, or maybe that was the look he used when boarding an enemy ship brandishing an axe like the one with which he’d slashed the huge pile of wood leaning against the outbuilding where Bert the donkey resided.
Did her old friend Thorne guess at what they’d been doing while he’d conveniently escorted her boisterous family on a long walk? Pah! That’s probably why he’d instigated the long walk. She hoped the looks on both men’s faces had nothing to do with her own dilemma. Only she could make her son safe. Her own needs would have to wait. She knew what she had to do.
While her footman applied a flannel cloth to the pools of slobber on the cottage floor, she noticed Nicholas had retreated to a corner with Fleur and Max. He’d laid his head on Fleur’s back and was murmuring low to his two guards. His thumb was close to his preferred sucking position. She knew he should have outgrown the comfort of his thumb, but after all the terrors he’d been through with his uncle, she didn’t have the heart to censure him.
As if he’d read her thoughts, he sat up and grinned at her. “Mama, why don’t we invite Lieutenant Bourne to come live with us forever?”
“Nicholas. You know the lieutenant has a home aboard his ship with his fellow marines. He’s explained that to you.”
“But he doesn’t have a wife and children of his own, does he?”
“No.” Harriet didn’t trust herself to go further with the explanation.
“Then, he needs a little boy like me.”
“You already have a Papa.” Her voice broke. She could not imagine what had brought on the boy’s insistent questions.
“But my papa’s with the angels.”
Unshed tears hovered in her eyes. “Who told you that?”
“Uncle Sid.”
