The older brother nodded, though Lucy couldn’t tell if it meant approval or resignation.
Sir Robert rose and reached for the bottle of whiskey she had left on the mantle for him. He poured a generous amount in his brother’s cup, but not his own, before sitting back down.
Lucy reached for the teapot and pulled her hand back. She knew from experience it would keep her up all night.Someone needs to sleep,she thought.There’ll be more to do tomorrow than tonight.There seemed little point in seeking her bed, however. She took refuge on the settee in front of the windows overlooking the side of the house.
The two men sipped tea in silence. What little there might be to say could be pointless at best, painful at worst. Eli broke the quiet first. “What are we going to do, Robbie?”
“Do?”
“If we lose Da. The inn—”
Sir Robert leaned over to put a hand on his brother’s shoulder, leaning close. “Don’t borrow trouble, Eli. He’s sleeping upstairs. That’s what we have for now.”
“I hate doing nothing!” Eli sputtered grimly. He gulped down his tea and rose. His brother stood as well and astounded Lucy by wrapping his arms around the younger man, his aloofness nowhere to be seen.
“I know,” Sir Robert told him in front of Lucy’s avid gaze. “We want to fix it. We can’t. There is no worse feeling.”
Eli pulled away and breathed deeply. “I’m going to try to sleep.”
“Oblivion?”
“Aye. Wake me if there’s a change.” He raised a brow and gazed intently at his brother’s face. “Anychange.”
“Count on it,” Sir Robert said. “Go to bed.”
Eli bid Lucy good night, glanced at Farley’s sleeping form, and left them, taking a candle at Lucy’s urging.
Sir Robert walked over and covered Lucy with a coverlet. “You aren’t going to bed, are you.” It wasn’t a question, and she saw no need to answer. She snuggled more deeply into the settee and closed her eyes, but her whole being thrummed with awareness of the man across the room, the man who refused to stand with his father at the assembly in his honor, yet embraced his brother, the man who sat enfolded in grief and worry in her drawing room.
She heard the rustle of paper and knew he took the message he had been reading out of his coat pocket. “Important message?” she murmured without opening her eyes. The question sounded impertinent even to Lucy, but something about the night and the shared worry broke down fences and cold courtesy. She thought he wouldn’t answer.
He didn’t at first. “I’m called to London. Urgently,” he said at last.
What can I say to that?“What will you do?”
“Tonight? Nothing. The summons is one more thing I can’t fix tonight.”
She opened her eyes when she heard him move. “I think I’ll take more tea up to Emma before it gets cold. That I can fix. Shall I dim the light?”
“Please. Take the candelabra.”
He lit one candle from the brace of candles in front of the mirror, took the branched holder, and left her there with the single candle flickering in the dark.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Grey light filteredthrough the drapes when Rob returned to the drawing room. The candle had guttered out. He reached down and picked up the coverlet that had slipped to the floor next to the settee. Lucy’s face, peaceful in sleep, soothed him. The sight of her bunched skirt and tangled legs awoke parts of his body and soul better left dormant. He covered her as gently as he could, pulling the coverlet up over her shoulders.
“News?” Her sleepy voice came from behind him, where he stood at the door, poised to leave.
He turned to speak to her. “None. Farley came up an hour ago but saw no change. He’s sitting with Emma. She slept in the chair much of the night.”
Lucy swung her legs down and sat up, the coverlet wrapped around her. She ran her fingers through her hair, the moment painfully intimate.
“I hear your housekeeper in the kitchen. I’m on my way to see if there might be breakfast.” He left her to her privacy and sought the cold practicality of Agnes Spears bustling about the kitchen.
“Those as don’t eat are useless to everyone else,” the housekeeper muttered, putting down a slice of ham in front of him. “Bread’ll be out of the oven soon. I let it rise in the night. For now, here’s a bit of yesterday’s.”
Rob finished his second coffee before Eli stumbled in, drawn by the smell of sizzling ham and fresh bread. Rob raised a brow in question. Eli shook his head. “Was it you brought Farley and Emma coffee?”
