Anthony sat with his eyes closed, his mindimmune from the opera and the commotion.
Aunt Margaret leaned forward. “Knowswhat?”
Oh, good Lord. If Aunt Margaret and Duke hadguessed, they would think her the worst kind of woman. Hearing awhispering sound, she glanced behind her. Attention from theaudience was drawn to her and not the opera. She gasped, wrung herhands together and turned away. If she were to die a thousanddeaths it would not be too many.
Aunt Margaret patted her gloved fingers onAlexandra’s. “There has been too much excitement for you, dear. Youmust go home and rest.”
The Duke clapped Nicholas’s back, and thensmiling, bowed to Alexandra. “You are a very welcome addition toour family, Miss Sutherland.”
Alexandra cringed from the unwantedattention, yet with the well-wishes, she let go a breath. Perhapsthey had not suspected anything untoward.
Rachel elbowed Anthony awake.
He assessed Alexandra, and then shookNicholas’s hand. “Six hundred and nineteen divided byperimetros?”
Nicholas chuckled and Alexandra frowned,unable to grasp Anthony’s cryptic message, and finding themathematical formula odd. Nicholas placed her cape around hershoulders. She attempted to work out the formula but her mind wasfar too muddled.
* * *
Outside the theatre, Nicholas hailed afootman to get their coach. With his arm tightly around Alexandra,he felt her breathe in the night’s damp air. A mist drew a brightsheen on the wide street beneath the lantern light and neat linesof pollarded trees, and quiet honey-colored buildings with slateroofs settled in silence. Apart from for the coaches parked downthe street, people were non-existent, the opera in the third act.He used the quiet to digest the news.
They were going to have a baby. He was thehappiest man on earth and nothing could dispel the wonderfulfeeling of becoming a father.
“What did your brother mean by six hundredand nineteen divided by perimetros?” Alexandra asked.
“He was assessing the gestation period forwhen a baby is born which is nine months and two days.” How heloved seeing the color rise to her face and the question forming inher eyes. “My brother is a scientist. His theories are born onobservations,” Nicholas said.
Horses clomped over cobblestone. Fullgallop. Harnesses clanged. Was it the Rutland coach? A runawaycarriage? Hooves thundered.
“Look out!” yelled a footman from behindthem.
The driver cracked his whip on the horses.He hurled curses. The carriage veered onto the walkway, headingstraight toward them. No time. Nicholas grabbed Alexandra androlled with her into the street, horses and carriage wheelswhizzing past them, a cat’s whisker breadth away.
Nicholas pulled Alexandra up and she swayedinto him. “That was deliberate. We could have been killed.”
Nicholas wanted to run after the ruffian butthe effort would be useless, the gloom swallowing up the rigup.
The footman rushed up to them. “Are youhurt?”
“Did you see the driver?”
“No, sir. It was too dark and happened tooquickly.”
Nicholas’s jaw hardened. He moved Alexandrainside and instructed the footman, “Go to the Rutland box and tellmy family there was an attempt on our lives and to leaveimmediately. We will wait.”
ChapterTwenty-four
“That’s two attempts on your life,Alexandra. We must keep an eye out for the killers,” Nicholas saidthe next morning. Shoulder to shoulder they moved down a splendidbreakfast buffet.
“What if the killers we met last night weremeant for you?” Alexandra scooped fluffy eggs on her plate, a sweetbread and black pudding. “And why didn’t you wake me last nightwhen we returned?”
Nicholas whispered huskily in her ear, “Youfell asleep on the ride home and I carried you to bed. I didn’thave the mind to wake you. In your condition, you need the extrarest.”
Alexandra’s cheeks heated and she turnedfrom the buffet to see if anyone had heard him. Aunt Margaretsmiled at one end of the table. Samuel, Anthony and Rachel werealready seated and in a discussion about commerce. Nicholas’sfather nodded to where a servant pulled a chair out for her next tohim.
Nicholas sat across from her and gesturedfor a servant to pour a dark, thick liquid substance in her gildedtea cup, followed by a dab of whipped cream. “You must try thedrinking chocolate.”
Alexandra lifted her cup and inhaled thesweet scent of chocolate and sampled the russet-colored brew. Silkysmooth, heavenly bliss coated her tongue. She emitted an unladylikegroan.
