Page 40

By the time Olivia and Louiza had returned to Northumberland, the strange unreality of the marriage had begun to settle into something almost resembling ordinary life. Glenmore Manor was enormous, far grander than any house Olivia had known, with high ceilings, long corridors, polished floors, portraits staring down from the walls, and enough rooms to make a person wonder whether the architect had been paid according to the number of doors he could fit into a building.

Servants appeared whenever they were needed and disappeared before Olivia could properly thank them, while Louiza had been given a beautiful bedroom overlooking the gardens and was already unpacking her few belongings with an expression of astonished pleasure. Olivia ought to have been doing the same, but one thought began pressing insistently against every other.

The baby.

She missed him with an ache that surprised her. She had known him for so little time, yet the memory of his tiny face, his soft sounds, and the way his little fingers had curled around hers had lodged somewhere deep inside her heart. She wanted to see him again, to hold him, to make certain that he was well, and perhaps to reassure herself that this whole extraordinary plan had not been some fevered dream.

Leaving Louiza to settle into her room, Olivia wandered through the house until she found James's study, where she discovered him standing beside his desk with several papers spread before him.

James looked up as she entered, and the faintest smile touched his mouth. "You look as though you have come here with a very important question," he observed, setting down his pen.

"I have," Olivia replied, closing the door behind her. "Where is the baby?"

James sighed, and Olivia immediately narrowed her eyes. "That sigh suggests you were hoping I had forgotten about him."

"I knew perfectly well you had not forgotten about him," he said, rising from his chair. "Come. I will take you to see him."

Olivia brightened at once, following him out of the study, but her excitement faltered when he led her through the entrance hall and toward the front doors. She stopped for a moment, looking at him in confusion. "Why are we going outside?"

James glanced back over his shoulder, amusement flickering in his blue eyes. "You will see."

That answer did nothing to satisfy her, but she followed him down the broad stone steps and into the grounds. The park surrounding Glenmore Manor seemed to stretch endlessly beneath the pale Northumberland sky. Sweeping lawns gave way to ancient oaks and elms, their branches moving gently in the breeze, while farther ahead the land rolled toward distant hills. Gravel paths curved through the estate, disappearing around groves of trees and reappearing beside wide stretches of green pasture. Olivia could scarcely take in the scale of it all. She had thought the manor itself excessive, but the park was another matter entirely, it seemed less like a garden and more like a small kingdom.

She walked beside James for several minutes, growing increasingly suspicious. "Are you certain you are taking me to see the baby and not attempting to tire me into forgetting why I followed you?"

James gave her a sideways glance. "You have been known to have considerable stamina when escaping unwanted marriages."

"I was motivated."

"You remain motivated."

Olivia smiled despite herself, but her curiosity returned as they continued along the path. "Where exactly are we going?"

James tucked his hands behind his back as they walked. "I told you before that the baby must remain a secret until it is reasonable to present him as our own child."

"Yes, but I assumed that meant keeping him hidden somewhere inside the house."

"I have done something rather more sensible than that."

Olivia stopped walking. James took two more steps before noticing and turning back. "What?"

"The baby is not in the house?"

"No."

Her heart sank. "James."

He returned to her, his expression calm. "He is living on the estate. Just not in the manor."

Olivia stared at him. "You have put the baby in another house?"

"A cottage," he corrected gently. "With trusted servants."

"That is not the point." She folded her arms, trying not to sound as distressed as she felt. "He is our son, according to the plan. How can he be our son if he is living somewhere else?"

"Because no one must know about him yet," James reminded her. "If someone discovers him here, the entire arrangement collapses."

Olivia understood the logic. She hated it, but she understood it. Still, there was something deeply unsettling about knowing that the child she already thought of as hers was living beneath another roof. She imagined waking in this enormous house and knowing he was somewhere beyond the trees, unable to reach him simply because they needed to protect a secret.