It was fitting, she thought, that his health had later rendered Longleigh incapable of producing a legitimate heir.
“It is yours,” she said firmly. “What happened to you was wrong. Every part of it.”
His blue gaze clung to hers. She sensed he was relenting. That he merely needed another push in the right direction.
Run toward me rather than away from me, she wanted to say. But she did not. Instead, she bit her tongue, awaiting his response.
“It was never my intention to live here with you. I was more than clear on what I expected from our union.”
Yes, a marriage of convenience. One in name only. A means by which he could have access to their son. He had no desire to be her true husband, and he had been brutally candid about that. Still, she had been hopeful that regardless of what had happened to him in prison, she could help him to heal.
That mayhap he would change his mind. That with time and forgiveness, his heart could find love again.
“Please,” she tried once more. “I do not want to start our marriage living separate lives. All I ask is for you to stay here with us.”
Stay here with us where you belong.
She did not add the words. Kept them safely tucked within her heart.
And waited.
Just when it seemed he would deny her, he nodded. “We will go to Northwich’s to fetch my case. But if I find living here insupportable, I will not hesitate to leave.”
As victories went, it was a small one, but it was a victory she would seize. “Thank you.”
She called off the new orders to the groom who had been waiting at a discreet distance for them to emerge from the carriage. The door closed, and in no time, the carriage was rattling back over the London roads.
Chapter 14
Upon your receipt of the funds in question, you are to immediately leave England for New York City. Your passage will be arranged and paid.
~letter from the Duke of Longleigh to Mr. Adrian Hastings
Tilly stopped outside the nursery that evening, halted by the low baritone emerging from within.
Adrian.
Of course he would be with Robby. She ought to have suspected. Their trip to Northwich’s townhome had not taken long. Her new husband had few possessions. A shaving kit, some clothing. That was all.
She had decided she would send him to a tailor and rectify that matter. He would no longer be living the spare life of a convict. He would be living the life which had been thieved from him.
But their return to Haddon House and his subsequent installment in the chamber adjoining hers had not gone well.
He had taken one look at the chamber and his lips had flattened into a thin, hard line. “I won’t be staying here.”
Tilly had dismissed the servants and spoken to him alone.
“You need not fear anything of his lingers here,” she had reassured him. “After his death, I ordered his belongings to be packed away in the attics. Everything, from the wall coverings, to the bed, is new.”
Some of the color which had leached from his cheeks had returned then. “Still, he stayed here.”
“You stayed here as well,” she reminded him.
“That was before. I’ll not return to that damned blue room, either.” He had begun to pace, his cane stomping across the floor in his agitation.
She had already ordered the blue room changed after his reaction to it. It was now yellow. Bright and cheerful, like the sun’s rays. “I have had it altered also.”
He had spun about, a strange expression on his features. Gratitude? Caring? Surprise? She had not been sure. Everything between them was tentative, and nothing was as it had once been. The easy love and laughter that had once dominated their relationship was no longer something she took for granted.
