Claire did not know if she meant it literally or figuratively, and could not ask before she fell into a deep, dreamless slumber.
CHAPTER 17
Freddy had never put much thought into what happenedaftera wedding. Well, he hadn’t put much thought into what happened the day after one. Everyone knew what happened on a wedding night.
His own had been …
He coughed, shaking his head to clear it as he rounded the third wold beyond the orchard on his morning walk. It was the second morning after the wedding and perhaps even more peaceful than the one directly following the banquet, during which a few sleepy guests were still haunting the halls of Crooked Nook, doing inconsiderate things like speaking and breathing and looking at him as he’d departed for his sojourn.
This morning, everyone was exactly where they ought to be: asleep, in their respective beds.
And soon, the majority of them would be gone.
He’d been tormented the last two nights, wondering if Claire might be waiting for him in the master chamber, perhaps wearing a particularly flimsy dressing gown. He knew she wasmore than a little baffled by his restraint. The Freddy she’d married would have already torn across the house half a dozen times by now, barged into her room, and given her exactly what they both clearly wanted.
That was the problem, though, wasn’t it? She wantedhimin her bed. She wanted the Freddy she remembered, a quick tumble, and likely a firmly closed valise and a one-way ticket back to London ready at the door afterward.
He sighed. That part of himself was still there, of course. That part of himself was screaming in his ear night and day to just give in already, for the love of Christ. And he wanted to. God knew he wanted to, but not yet.
Not just yet.
To his surprise, upon his return to the Nook, he spotted his mother in the little gazebo by the trees, all alone and apparently enjoying a cup of tea with that novel she’d been reading to Oliver about swarthy highwaymen.
He changed his route, curious about why she’d be doing such a thing on a morning like this one, weaving through the trees rather than looking for a proper route. She looked up to watch his progress, her teacup held firm and steady in front of her, and her gaze unblinking as he closed the distance between them.
“There you are,” she said as he arrived, as though he were late for an engraved invitation. “I was hoping to see you this morning.”
“Were you?” he replied, surprised. “I thought you’d be tucked up in your bliss bower until it was time to leave for your trip.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Don’t say bliss bower, Frederick.”
He laughed, a genuine laugh that shook off some of the rocky bits that had been holding his ribs in place the last few days, and drew out the chair next to hers to fall into it. He poured himself a cup of tea with a generous dollop of cream and stirred it, waiting for his mother to say her piece.
She didn’t, of course. Why would she, now that she had him sitting there, stewing in his own curiosity?
So he spoke first instead. He could play this game too. He washerson, after all.
“You know,” he told her, sipping at his overly creamy tea, “that year in London, when you reunited with Raul, I was having you followed. I thought for sure you were up to some mischief, being back in London. That day you arrived at my flat, I was in a right panic.”
She raised her eyebrows, clearly not entirely surprised, but taken aback by the volunteering of it. “Really? I was having you followed too. I hired Mr. Murphy. I imagine you did too, didn’t you?”
“That weasel!” Freddy shook his head, and then laughed again. “He was playing double agent. He didn’t have Millie then to find him clients in the ordinary way, I suppose.”
“He did not,” Patricia agreed, “because I did. Oh, sweet Millie. I’ve never known a more capable girl. Goodness, that must be how they ended up together, mustn’t it? We did that.”
“I think we might have,” Freddy agreed, his amusement taking on a thoughtful bent. “I hadn’t considered that.”
He hadn’t. And he could not wait to go goad Abe with it.
“Well? What did Mr. Murphy discover about my nefarious purposes, then?” she asked, leaning forward with a sparkle of curiosity in her eyes. “Did he follow us to the gambling hell?”
“Yes, of course he did,” Freddy said with a wave of his hand. “None of that was interesting. You were just existing a little louder than usual. It wasn’t satisfying. Not until Raul showed up.”
“Oh,” she said, sipping again. “Oh, but I didn’t know he was going to be in London. I never thought I’d see him again. When I heard his name for the first time, I think I fled my body for several hours with the shock of it.”
Freddy watched her, judged her to be truthful, and nodded. “So the rumors were true, then? That you had almost married him in the first place, all those years ago. That you almost chose him over Father?”
“All those years ago,” she repeated with a little frown. “I am notthatold, Freddy.”
