“Don’t beat yourself up too much. I inferred based on your inquiries about Canbury and Hugh’s absence that he actually spent a week with her instead of in the country.”
“It’s not how it sounds. It is, in fact, entirely chaste. I will tell you, but you must not tell a soul.”
“I would never.”
Lark didn’t believe him, but he said, “Hugh sustained a head injury that caused him to lose consciousness. Lady Adele discovered him much out of his senses and brought him into her home.”
“And now he’s infatuated with her.”
“Precisely.”
Anthony nodded. “I’ve heard of this kind of thing happening before. A school mate of mine took a shot to the leg at Waterloo. He has since married the battlefield nurse who brought him back to health.”
“So you think it might just be an infatuation based on the fact that she took care of him when he was ill?”
“It’s possible. It may be more than an infatuation. I imagine he’s developed atendrefor her. Just as I’m sure you have a softness for certain past lovers. The first woman you ever bedded. The first man.”
Lark frowned at that. He did remember both vividly. He’d never imagined himself in love with either, as he now suspected Hugh considered himself with Adele. “Surely he must know that a softness for the woman who cared for him while he was ill is not the basis for a sustainable marriage.”
Anthony rolled his eyes. “I knowyouwould never do anything so sentimental as to fall in love. But some men do not have your iron disposition.”
Lark knew he was being teased but refused to respond. “The dowager duchess would never allow it.”
“I know.”
“I don’t think Lady Adele would allow it either, frankly. She is too practical.”
Anthony rocked on his heels. “Remind me again of her position?”
“She is the Countess of Sweeney’s paid companion. I believe she feels loyalty to her mistress and will not leave her even if Hugh does something so daft as to propose.”
“I heard it from Lord Melvin who heard it from John Sweeney that the countess is at death’s door. Hasn’t gotten out of bed in three weeks.”
Lark crossed his arms. “Earlier tonight I called Eugenia Sackville the biggest gossip of theton, but you have her beat. How did you come to be speaking to Lord Melvin about the Earl of Sweeney?”
Anthony laughed. “Areyoujealous?”
“Hardly. It was just a question.”
“If you must know, I ran into Melvin at the club a few days ago. We were catching up on the comings and goings of our various mutual acquaintances. He mentioned Sweeney is on his way back to town in anticipation of his mother’s demise.”
“Charming.”
“Sweeney is rarely in town these days, so it must be serious.”
“I don’t really know Sweeney.”
“He’s broke, for one thing. Likes to bet on cards and rarely wins. Not to mention, I’ve heard his estate is not terribly profitable these days. His wheat crop failed on account of this cool we’re having.”
Lark’s own main line of income came from the tenants who lived on the country estate he’d purchased with family money a few years before, and he stood to inherit the rest of his family’s holdings when he inherited the dukedom now possessed by his father. This was how most of the British gentry made money these days; England’s greatest asset was land, after all.Hugh himself owned five estates, two of them entailed. And when land ran out in Britain, some aristocrats had turned to British colonies. And thus Hugh’s cousin owned a plantation in Jamaica, and he was hardly the only British lord to own land in the Caribbean.
“Enough of this nonsense,” said Anthony. “Will you come home with me tonight?”
“My mother is here. I must escort her home.”
Anthony looked around. “’Tis a pity this hallway is not more private. Perhaps there is a cupboard or somewhere we can hide.”
“I should get back.”
