“How long have we been waiting?” she asked.
He arched a brow, as though he were deciding how to answer. “Almost an hour.”
“What? Why?”
“I don’t know, but I intend to find out what’s going on,” he said. “I can bring the cart in here if you’d like,” he said.
“No, we probably should eat at the table.”
“I suppose you’re right,” he replied. “Once we’re finished, I’m going to dress and go down. I want to find out what’s going on. It’s as though I gave instructions to a deaf staff.”
“I’m going to take a bath and then dress. I thought we should do something since the sun is out.”
“The roads will be too muddy to drive safely. In a day or two. We can always walk to the stables and check on Onyx,” he said picking up a small stack of letters that he’d placed next to his place at the table.
Harriet picked at a sausage before cutting it up and popping a piece in her mouth and realized just how hungry she really was. She gazed at him, then the letters. “Is there anything for me?”
“Yes, one. It appears to be from Daphne,” he said. “I received one from Arthur.”
He opened the missive from Arthur and began to read. “It seems your mother is asking about our whereabouts. Arthur says she and your father made a trip to Somerset and she couldn’t find where you were staying.”
“She never gives up. I was hoping since we married, she might calm down. Surely, she can remember back to when she and Papa first married. I’m sure they didn’t want to socialize for the first week or two.”
“I’m sure you’re right.” He kept reading to the end. “Ha! Seems the prince is also seeking us out.”
“Let him look. That’s why you have others to help you. You told him we were marrying and would contact him as soon as you returned to London.”
“What can I say? He’s the bloody Prince of Wales. He’s used to getting what he wants when he wants.”
“Which is all the more reason to not give in to him,” Harriet said. “I’m going to read Daphne’s and see if she says anything different.”
Before she did, Harriet ate a forkful of egg and took a sip of her still hot tea. “I must commend the cook. She’s quite good.”
She began to read Daphne’s letter. Pretty much the same as Arthur’s but a more personal edge about it. Warning Harriet about her mother’s ongoing antics and her failed journey to Somerset. Daphne saw no reason for the disruption Lady Margaret wanted to cause her daughter on what was suppose to be a very special time in her life.
Finding her daughter and her new husband were not at the seashore, Daphne went on to say that her mother was demanding to know where her daughter was as she was sure Daphne and others knew but were keeping it from her.
“What does Daphne say?” Lucien asked. He picked up a sausage with his hand and bit into it.
“Much the same as Arthur. Mother is being impossible. She wants to know where I am so she can call on us, because she’s my mother and it’s her priority to visit whenever she feels the need to. She’s not going to change, and it makes me angry.”
“I know it does. Arthur and Daphne are really the only ones who know our whereabouts and they’ll never tell her.”
“No, they won’t. I hate they’re having to deal with her,” Harriet replied. Picking up the missive from Daphne, she read it this time to the very end. In it were some news she was asked notto share with Lucien just yet. Daphne, it seems, was with child, but it was so new she didn’t want to tell her husband just yet. Once another month passed, she would give him the news. She couldn’t help but smile at the joyful news Daphne shared with her.
“What are you grinning about?” Lucien asked.
“Something personal I can’t share with you,” she replied.
“Now I’m even more curious.”
“You’ll have to be satisfied with my answer for the time being.”
“I see. Very well, I shall dress and be off to speak with the housekeeper.”
“You are taking a bath first, aren’t you?” Harriet asked.
“I hadn’t planned on it. I was going to wash up. I’ll bathe in the tub later so you can help,” he said with a smirk.
