“I can’t,” he said firmly.
Reggie laughed. “And that’s Squire Gibbs and his young wife Faith. I like her a lot. Miriam is furious that she and I have become friends. An invitation to Silverley has always been an honor, you see, and so when I gave Faith an open welcome, the Countess took to her room for two days to express her displeasure.”
“Likes to lord it over the lesser gentry, does she?” he asked.
“Oh, she’s very serious about it, Tony.”
Anthony turned another page. “Good God, who are those characters?”
“Two of the gardeners, I guess. There are so many servants here I haven’t met them all yet. I drew these men yesterday down by the lake.”
“You must have been particularly gloomy yesterday. You made them look so sinister.”
Reggie shrugged. “It wasn’t my mood. Theyweresinister-looking. They moved on when they saw me drawing them, so I had to finish the sketch from memory.”
“They look like waterfront brawlers,” he said, “not gardeners.”
“Oh, stuff. All the people here are really nice, once you get to know them.”
“Except the cold fish.”
“Don’t be unkind, Tony. I don’t think she’s led a very happy life.”
“That’s no excuse for forcing her unhappiness on others. And speaking of—”
“Don’t,” she said stonily. “I’m perfectly fine, Tony, really.”
“You can’t lie to me, puss. Look at you. You wouldn’t be putting on weight if you were exercising, and the only time you mope about and ignore your health is when you’re unhappy. I know you, remember? You’re just like your mother in certain ways. But you don’t have to stay here, you know that. You can come home.”
“I know I’ve made a mistake, Tony, but I don’t want the world to know it. Do you understand?”
“For his sake?” he asked sharply.
“No,” she replied, then added hesitantly, “The weight you keep harping on isn’t what you think, Tony. I’m pregnant.”
There was a moment’s startled silence. Then he said, “You can’t know this soon. You’ve only been married a month.”
“Iampregnant, Tony. Very, very pregnant.”
His cobalt-blue eyes, so like hers, grew wide, then narrowed furiously. “He didn’t! I’ll kill him!”
“No, you won’t,” she replied, vetoing his favorite solution. “This is going to be your first great-nephew or -niece. How could you explain to the child that you’d killed his father?”
“He deserves a sound beating at the very least,” growled her uncle.
“Perhaps,” she agreed. “But not for seducing me before the wedding. I was a willing participant in the making of this child.”
“Don’t bother defending him, puss. You forget he’s just like me and I knowallthe tricks. He seduced you.”
“But I knew exactly what I was doing,” she insisted. “I…it was foolish in the extreme, I know that now, but I thought it would help to change his attitude. He kept trying to get me to break the engagement, you see. He never deceived me into thinking he was willing to marry me.”
“He agreed!”
“Yes, but he thought he could make me jilt him before the wedding.”
“You should have.”
“Should haves don’t count, Tony.”
