Danvers took his time, placing the tray before fixing Teddy with a stern eye. His expression was not that of a servant aiming to please his master, but of a headmaster preparing to lecture a recalcitrant student.
Teddy regarded him with upshot brows. “May I help you?”
The butler moved to the doors and closed them softly, then turned to face Teddy. “I went out on a limb for you today.”
“By inferring you’d brought my medicinal tea tray this morning?”
Danvers’s gaze flicked to the tea tray. “I did not infer. I maintainedyourlie.”
Teddy wanted to argue, but he could not deny Danvers’s words. “What of it?”
“Sir, am I correct in assuming you do not wish to come under the influence of what I am almost certain is henbane that laces the tea madam wishes for you to drink?”
“It’s poison. It’s worse than the poppy they give the soldiers on the field. It hasn’t contributed a thing to my recovery, not one damned thing. It leaves me muddy brained, exhausted, and unable to cope, if you must know.” More so than that, it left him with gaps in his memory throughout the day. It was in those instances he’d been accused of trying to snuff himself. The degradation could not be borne. He would not drink the stuff.
Danvers nodded. “I understand, sir. I need you to understand that I am now complicit in your deception. Do not make me regret it.”
Teddy sucked in a breath. “How dare you? I could sack you for your insubordination.” Even as he said the words, he knew he’d do no such thing. In actuality, he was in this man’s debt, assuming he meant to do continue helping Teddy.
Danvers shook his head in evident disgust. “You could, but if you did, you’d not be the man I know you to be.” He turned for the doors and reopened them.
Excitement sparked through Teddy. “Danvers, are you implyingwe know each other?”
The large man glanced back at him over his shoulder. “No,” he said simply, then left without another word.
Teddy stared at the empty doorway for a moment in dumb stupefaction, then grunting with annoyance, approached the tea tray. He lifted the pot’s lid, releasing a puff of steam. He bent to sniff, and detected what promised to be a decent blend of Ceylon. More importantly, the tell-tale scent of hisspecial brewwas absent.
Feeling unreasonably sullen for someone who had finally caught a break in the battle regarding his medicinal tea, assuming Danvers meant to keep his mouth shut, he poured himself a steaming cup, then turned toward the large, undraped windows to take in the view of the vast ocean.
For a moment today, he’d felt like himself, or at least like what he thought he should feel. He’d experienced peace and freedom from the incessant dread which he hadn’t recognized as his constant companion until it was gone.
The dread came back with a vengeance the moment Georgina began speaking of Drake. His so-called closest friend. Might he have cuckholded the man?
Or had he done something far worse? He pinched his eyes shut as that dull throb at his temple reasserted itself.
He finished his cup with one toss of his head—wouldn’t want Georgina to come back and find he hadn’t drunk it—and headed for his chamber to finally rid himself of his salt-encrusted, now nearly dry, clothing.
Regaining his memory had been his sole purpose from the moment he’d awoken in the make-shift military hospital with no clue as to his identity. The time spent with his family had only amplified that desire, especially as he had not experienced anything like the recent flashes of memory while with them. Nor had he felt any sort of connection.
Not with his obsequious cousin, Jonathan, who claimed the two had a bond akin to brothers, who nonetheless reported his every move to the earl. Not with the earl’s wife who watched him with eyes that said she feared his condition was catching, and especially not with the earl himself. His father. And there could be no doubt the manwasTeddy’s father. Anyone could see the resemblance.
But he felt no paternal warmth from the man. Varying degrees of disappointment, anger, and revulsion burned in the man’s eyes so similar to his own. Based upon his grumblings for Teddy’s ears only, Teddy was forced to conclude his father not only blamed him for what had befallen him, but also took it as a personal affront.
Not to mention the man had never once believed him when he said he hadn’t tried to murder himself.
The final proof of his father’s lack of charitable feeling for him came when he emerged from a drug-induced slumber to find himself at Brook Haven, a bloody madhouse. It had been akin to finding himself trapped in a living nightmare from which he thought he might never awaken, especially if they continued pouring that noxious tea down his throat.
Then Georgina swept in to claim him.
He undid the fall of his pantaloons and stripped them off, then started unbuttoning his shirtsleeves and contemplated the woman currently hiding in her bedchamber.
His wife. Yes, he could see that, now. He could scarcely imagine a woman existing who he could want more. And she clearly wanted him—just as she clearly intended to deny the extent to which she did.
Deny all you want, darling.He saw the desire in her eyes, felt it in her touch.
Something he had done must have caused her to withdraw from him. Something involving her brother, he feared. At the mere thought, a shudder rolled through him—of fear.
All he’d wanted was to remember who he was. Now he felt like achild afraid to look under his bed for what he might find there.
