Lady Stenfax looked around the room with a shake of her head. “I can see that I am the last one to hear this news, am I? How did you all keep it a secret?”
Gray laughed. “Don’t worry, Mama, it only just happened. You weren’t kept in the dark long.”
Elise cleared her throat. “I hate to bring up the obvious, but soon this news will spread far and wide. We cannot ignore the scandal it will create. So I would like to take a moment to apologize to you all for the trouble I may bring to your family.”
Lady Stenfax stared at her and then slowly moved forward. “Elise, my dear, I have watched my son in the years since your engagement was broken and I know he suffered greatly for your loss. Now I look at him and I see…there is his spark again. His joy.”
Stenfax shifted as Elise and his mother both looked at him. “Come now, Mama, don’t make Elise think I was sitting in a pit of despair for three years.”
Lady Stenfax blushed and said, “Perhaps not a pit, but I’m glad to see the light in your eyes again. If Elise has given that to you through her return to your life, why would we care one whit what anyone says about it? If one person dares question your union, I shall give them a harsh set down myself.”
Stenfax bent his head with a slight chuckle, inspiring a glare from his mother. “I’m sorry, Mama, I just have a hard time picturing you handing out set downs.”
“You think it’s not in my nature,” she said. “You forget what a disciplinarian I was to you all when you were children.”
Now Gray and Felicity were laughing as well, and their mother turned toward them with an arched brow.
“Come, Mama,” Gray said, reaching out to take her arm. “Let’s go into supper and you can tell Rosalinde all about how you punished us so harshly as children. I think Felicity and Stenfax and Elise will join us momentarily.”
Stenfax sent his brother a briefly grateful look as Felicity’s face fell. Once they were alone, she stepped toward Elise and Stenfax. “Something has happened?”
Stenfax shifted as he took his sister’s hands. They were cold and shook in his, and his heart sank. How he hated doing this. How he hated all of it.
His face must have looked stricken, for Elise slipped a hand in to cover both his and Felicity’s. She gave him a gentle look and then said, “Felicity, dearest, there has been a development. Stenfax, may I?”
He nodded slowly, staring in wonder as she drew his sister to the settee and quietly told her about the new Duke of Kirkford’s murder and how the book had likely been found by his cousin.
“It is in code?” Felicity said at last, her face drawn and pale.
Stenfax moved forward, shooting Elise a look of gratitude that she had taken over this duty. “Yes. Gray and I already delivered it to one of John Dane’s allies in the War Department. They are working on it and will make sure Dane has a copy, as well, when he joins us in Caraway Court.”
Felicity bent her head. “Well, then we must just wait, mustn’t we? Until we can regroup and consider our options, it seems we are in a bind.”
“I’m sorry, Felicity,” Stenfax whispered.
She looked at him, her brow wrinkled. “It isn’t your fault, Lucien. But I need a moment. Will you have Mama begin supper? I’ll join everyone shortly.”
She squeezed Elise’s hand, then got up and slipped from the parlor. Once she was gone, Elise slowly rose and moved over to stand with Stenfax. “She took it as well as could be expected,” she murmured.
He shook his head. “Thanks to you. If I had given her the news, I would have said too much. Or not enough. How did you know I needed your help?”
She turned slowly and lifted her gaze to his. “It was just a sense I had. I’m glad I was of assistance, Lucien. I know I’ve blown apart your life, and it will blow apart more once the scandal sheets get word of Kirkford’s murder and our engagement. The least I can do is try to make myself useful. Perhaps if I do, then you won’t end up utterly regretting this decision you’ve made to wed me.”
He cupped her cheek, smoothing a thumb over silky skin. Her lips parted slightly at the action and her pupils dilated. Touching her inspired the same physical reaction in him. But it was more than that. Being with her did exactly as his mother had observed a few moments earlier.
It brought back joy he hadn’t realized he lost. Anticipation for his future that had been torn away when she left him.
“I don’t feel regret,” he said, unwilling and almost unable to say more.
So he spoke with his body. He leaned in and kissed her, and she lifted up on her tiptoes to sink into his embrace. After a moment, he reluctantly pulled away.
“We probably shouldn’t start something we can’t finish,” he murmured, sliding his lips across her cheek, letting his hand trail to the smooth skin on her upper arm.
She shivered. “Probably not,” she agreed, even as she nuzzled the spot where his neck and shoulder met.
“Come on,” he said, grabbing her hand. “Let’s bring an end to this extremely long day.”
She nodded as she let him take her to the dining room, but as they joined the others and he made an excuse for Felicity, he had a stark realization. Although this had been a long day, he wasn’t actually all that eager for it to end. For all the bad of it, for all the horror, it was also the day Elise had been returned to him.
