“Well, I must, mustn’t I, if I put up with you? No, no!” she shrieked as he began tickling her. “All right. I love you, you impossible man. I set my cap for you, didn’t I? And I never gave up hoping you would return my love. Now aren’t you glad I’m such a stubborn fellow?”
“Stubborn fellow, but delightful all the same.” He kissed her soundly. “You were right, love, you’re not dressed for bathing. Shall we remedy that?”
“I thought you’d never ask.”
Chapter 43
AFTER bidding farewell to the last guest, Nicholas and Regina stood kissing at the door. “Peace at last,” he said with a long sigh.
“Well, not quite,” Reggie replied hesitantly, twining a finger in his lapel. “I—I sent a message last night to invite my family out here for the day. Don’t be mad, Nicholas. George told me he saw Tony last week and Tony was very upset. I know it was because of us.”
“Couldn’t you have just written them a letter?” he asked wearily, “and told them you were all right?”
“Letters aren’t the same as seeing for themselves how happy I am. They worry about me, Nicholas, and I want them to know everything is finally all right now.”
“Then I suppose I will have to bear it for one day.” He sighed again.
“You’re not angry?”
“I don’t dare get angry with you, love.” He said this so seriously that she frowned in puzzlement. “You get angry right back.”
“Devil!” she retorted.
Nicholas grinned at her. Then, patting her backside, he pushed her gently toward the staircase. “Now run along for a while. You’ve reminded me that I have some family business of my own to take care of.”
He caught Miriam just as she was leaving for her morning ride, delayed until her guests departed. “A word with you, madame, in the library, if you please.”
Miriam started to tell him she was too busy, then thought better of it. His manner invited no argument. They walked down the stairs together without a word. “I hope this won’t take long,” she said curtly as he closed the library door behind them.
“It shouldn’t. Do sit down, Miriam.”
She frowned. “You have never called me anything but ‘mother.’”
Nicholas observed the cold glitter in her brown eyes. It was always there when they were alone. This woman really did hate him. Nothing would change that.
“Imagine,” he said, “overnight, two sisters have switched places.” Her face went pale, so he said, “I guess you haven’t had a chance to talk to Ellie this morning, have you?”
“She told you?”
“Well, you did suggest I ask every lady present if she was my mother.” He couldn’t resist the barb.
“You didn’t!”
“No, Miriam, I didn’t. After you opened the wound, my wife healed it. She forced Ellie to confess. I have the whole of it now, finally, and I want to say that I’m sorry for what you’ve been through, Miriam, now that I understand it all.”
“Don’t you dare feel sorry for me!” she cried, stunned.
“As you wish,” he replied stiffly, no longer uncomfortable over the decision he had come to during the night. “I asked you in here to inform you that, under the circumstance, it is no longer desirable that you live at Silverley. Find yourself a cottage somewhere far from here. I will buy it for you. My father left you a modest income. I will match it. I owe you no more than that.”
“Bribery, Nicholas?” she sneered.
“No, Miriam,” he said, tired of it all. “If you want to inform the world that it was not you who provided your husband with his heir, by all means do so. My wife knows and doesn’t care, and that is all that matters to me.”
“You really mean this, don’t you?”
“I do.”
“You bastard,” she said furiously. “You think you have it all, don’t you? But wait a few years and your precious wife will hate you—just as I hated your father.”
