She said she found out what she needed to know. She came here to prove something to herself and failed.
He slumped down in the bed and pulled the coverlet as if it could cover the chill that filled him.
She was using me.The accusation offended his sense of fair play, but it nagged at him.
He had no business dallying with her anyway, no matter what the fool woman wished to try out on him. He reviewed his list of all the reasons an honorable alliance with the Dowager Duchess of Glenmoor would never work. Her stricken face kept interrupting.
“Randolph never stopped.It hurts,”she’d said. Present tense. Did I hurt her? She was terrified by a nightmare before she even came. Maybe I should go after her. Talk about it again. Perhaps if she told me more about the old beast who married her…
Seeing that for the foolish quest it was, he pulled on his clothes and went to check on the guard. Again.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Maddy helped HelenKendrick create red bows, while the younger children made paper chains.
“Thank you so much for convincing the earl to let us do this, Your Grace,” Helen said. Maddy had been unable to find a comfortable name for the Kendrick children to call her. Her Christian name wouldn’t do, but “Grandmother” still wasn’t comfortable, and so she remained “Your Grace.” She could only hope that “Grandmother” might come in time.
As to her brother, the earl had stated in terms he believed brooked no disagreement that his butler had hired a firm skilled in decor to prepare the ballroom for the ball planned for the final night, now only one day away.
Maddy had laughed at him. “That leaves a lot of the house for the rest us.”
“Pine and holly—Christmas frippery, isn’t it?” he’d grumbled.
“You’re right, my lord,” Helen had declared earnestly over breakfast, “but the season isn’t over. As long as we take it down after Twelfth Night, we’ll be safe.” Tradition dictated bad luck to those who left it up longer.
The earl had had no argument for that.
Maddy had insisted on the project. Using her injury to manipulate her brother to fill Clarion Hall with decorations created by children probably wasn’t fair, but the little ones needed activity and had been promised holiday decorations. Sometimes the earl needed a push in any case. He was becoming entirely too stiff-rumped for his own well-being.
Of course, the men had anonymously refused to let Maddy and the children loose from the house to actually gather greens. Not with Jessop haunting them. For her part, Maddy believed he was long gone, but the men hadn’t budged. After some tense negotiating over breakfast, David had dispatched a troop of servants to do the job, rolled his eyes, and retreated to his study with Eli to discuss estate business.
Rhys Morgan had retired to his room to see to his business correspondence, but Gideon and Phillip had surprised her by declaring the need for an outing. She’d had yet to see them singling one another out before this. It signaled progress, she thought. They had wrapped up and joined the expedition. She had seen nothing of Brynn. If he had breakfasted, it had been early and in the servants’ hall.
Lucy arrived midday with holly from Willowgrove and jars of honey promised to the Clarion kitchens. Rob announced his plan to relieve Brynn, who had, in turn, relieved Goodfellow, who had been up all night overseeing the security arrangements.
When the foraging party returned with piles of pine, Brynn joined their guests for luncheon, and she saw him for the first time since the catastrophe in the middle of the night. He looked weary, as if he hadn’t slept. He looked burdened, as if the weight of Jessop’s threats lay on his shoulders alone. He looked so dear that she longed to go to him and soothe his troubles. She bit her lip against that idea and kept her eyes resolutely away from the man.
The children set about binding pine boughs together and hanging them with more enthusiasm than style. Amid the laughter and confusion, it was harder to avoid Brynn. The man almost seemed to be deliberately putting himself in her way. If she helped Helen tie branches with twine in the entranceway, he stood nearby hanging them. If she showed Marj and Jessica the best spots for holly in the drawing room, he carried in armloads of the stuff. When she bent to lift Daniel to put a silver star on a mantle, Brynn took the boy from her, his nearness covering her in his warmth, sending her emotions careening up and down. Her breath caught.
“We’re out of twine, Your Grace,” Helen called from her spot in the entranceway.
“Finish up tying the bows on the stair railing, and I’ll fetch more.” Maddy could, of course, have dispatched a servant. She scurried off before anyone could stop her, grateful for an excuse to escape Brynn’s overwhelming presence if only for a few moments.
Failure nipped at her heels in the form of Brynn Morgan. The wretch followed her. “We need to talk.”
Talk? Can he be serious?
He glanced around and grasped the nearest door. It opened into the now empty breakfast room, its east-facing windows in shadow as afternoon sped on. He reached for her hand, pulled back when she didn’t respond, and gestured to the room.
She almost refused. She almost melted into a puddle. She almost ran.
Madelyn Caulfield Tavernash, you are made of sterner stuff.She let him follow her in but objected when he closed the door. He ignored her and locked it, sending panic ricocheting through her.
“We didn’t finish our conversation last night. I don’t think you wish to be overheard.”
“Here? Now?” she squeaked.
“Better here than my room in the middle of the night and both of us…” He faltered briefly and went on, “…too emotional for rational conversation.”
