Lady Alexandra’s mouth worked, as if struggling to form words. None were forthcoming. Lady Josephine watched her from beneath raised brows.Inspect my mettle all you will, she told them with her silence. A Virginia girl did not back down from a challenge. Nor did she bat an eyelash at ordering about an earl.
Out of the corner of her eye, she spied Ravenscroft swaying on his feet. She rushed past his sisters and to his side, throwing her arm about his waist. His arm draped over her shoulder, as if he could steal some of her strength. She felt a tremor pass through him and knew he was not nearly as well as he pretended. Who, then, was this show of bravado for? The foolish man.
“Help me escort his lordship back to his chamber,” she ordered a footman. When he hesitated, looking from her to Ravenscroft, her patience snapped. “Be quick about it, man. We haven’t all day.”
The servant rushed forward.Excellent.
“No.” Ravenscroft halted him in his tracks. “I only require the assistance of my wife.”
He leaned against her, pressing his large, warm body into hers. She flushed at the contact and tried to rein in her thoughts. He’d been gravely wounded, after all. What was wrong with her?
Moreover, how did he think she alone could aid him back to his chamber? “But my lord, perhaps some more support would be beneficial.”
His gaze roamed over her face, hungry, or so it seemed to her. “I’m not an invalid, my lady. I require you alone.”
Stubborn man. Hewasan invalid, but why argue the matter? Very well. She would allow him to win this small battle, for there remained others to fight and win.
She looked back to the footman. “See to it that a proper breakfast is sent up for his lordship.” She paused, rallying to her cause. “And get me Osgood. I require an interview with him in an hour.”
It was far past time that the household possessed the proper number of servants. Well-trained servants. Servants who didn’t do unmentionable things in the library.
“Perhaps she’ll do after all,” Lady Alexandra saidsotto voceto Lady Josephine.
Clara’s eyes narrowed on the two of them once more. For that matter, perhaps she’d found just the person to do something about his sisters’ sadly lacking manners. Herself. “I’ll expect tea this afternoon with you, Lady Alexandra and Lady Josephine. Do be prompt.”
With that, she began guiding Ravenscroft from the room. He followed her lead, surprisingly compliant. Perhaps too compliant. Suspicion stirred in her. Had his show of inhuman strength been for her benefit? Had he forced himself from bed in the hope that she would help him to return to it? He was a calculating man, the stranger she’d wed. She’d put nothing past him.
“Lady Ravenscroft, you’re as formidable as a general this morning.” His low voice rumbled into her ear, his hot breath fanning over her throat.
She suppressed a shiver. “I’ve discovered I need to be in this household.” Truly, the man needed a voice of reason. They’d been married for the span of a day, and already he’d been bludgeoned outside his home. His sisters were mayhem in frills and pink. His servants were insufficient and scandalous. His home was threadbare, in desperate need of a judicious eye and a deep purse. A woman’s touch. Not her touch, however. Someone else’s.
Yes, most assuredly, someone else’s.
They were all—from Ravenscroft down to the chamber maid who needed sacking—someone else’s problem. And yet here she was, somehow making them hers. Makinghimhers. The thought caused a pang somewhere in the vicinity of her heart. She tamped it forcefully down.
“I’m afraid we haven’t precisely provided you with the welcoming I would have preferred.” His tone was wry and strained.
That was an understatement if ever she’d heard one. Lord have mercy, none of this was what she’d envisioned. None of it was what she’d prepared for, what she’d waited for. And yet, somehow tending to him and seeing him at his weakest last night had changed something inside her forever.
Her heart had softened toward him. She could not deny it. Not enough to stray from her course forever, but perhaps enough to stray from her course for now. And there was the stark, unabridged truth. She wasn’t prepared to leave him. Not with the shadow of an assassin hanging over him. Not when he was weak and injured. Not when he needed her.
“Whatever did you do without me, my lord?” She couldn’t help but ask. They went up the grand staircase now, taking their time. The banister was in sad need of a sound polish, but Ravenscroft seemed steady enough on his feet.
“I’m sure I don’t care to recall, little dove. You’re here now, aren’t you? That’s all that matters. You cannot imagine I’ll let you go after this.”
A frisson of something indefinable skittered through her entire being, warming her before she reminded herself that their union was not meant to be. They reached the top of the stairs and made their way down the hall to his chamber.
“I’m sure I cannot imagine you having the power to keep me here against my will,” she challenged.
It wouldn’t do for him to forget that she still intended to return to Virginia, after all. Nor would it do for her to forget. One day as his countess, and already she’d faltered. He made her want to lose herself in him.
He stopped their progress, hauling her against the wall with surprising strength, given his condition. His palms flattened to the damask on either side of her face, neatly trapping her. “I’m not planning for it to be against your will, love.”
She stared up at him, wishing she could read his expression. After the blow he’d taken to the head and the blood he’d lost, he shouldn’t look so inviting, so handsome. But he appeared as beautiful as she’d ever seen him, pallor to his skin and all. Not even the bandage on his head could detract from the effect he had upon her. He was magnificent. Hers.
For now.
She swallowed. Her common sense reminded her to think of his condition, of the importance of his rest. “My lord, you should be abed.”
