Yet, as she smiled up at him, he felt something loosen in his chest, as if a weight he’d been carrying around for years suddenly detached itself and floated away.
“Okay,” he said. “I suppose just this once I can allow you to oversee the carriages.”
“I’ll send word once we’re ready for you,” she said, dropping her hand. To his surprise, he instantly missed its reassuring presence on his arm. But he said nothing. Instead, he nodded and turned and walked back across the hall to his study, the same light feeling filling up his chest and shoulders.
This is dangerous, a voice inside his head hissed, as he opened the door to his study and left the chaos of the hall behind.In a few months, once Leah is married, you and Emery will go your separate ways. If you start relying on her now, then what will happen when she is gone?
But he pushed away this thought.I still have a few more months, he told himself. A few more months of having Emery in my life.
Chapter Eighteen
“Well, you arrived in one piece!” Henry said, as he greeted them on the front steps of the Dredford London townhouse, his arms raised as if he were about to embrace them all at once and a silly grin on his face--which, Lucien suspected, meant that he knew how much of a trial the journey to London had been.
“We’re alive, yes,” Lucien grumbled as he took the steps two at a time and met his brother at the top. Henry’s arms fell to his sides, and he grinned.
“Did the girls talk nonstop the whole way?” Henry asked.
“They did.” Lucien glanced over his shoulder at where his sisters and wife were still disembarking from the carriage, laughing loudly with one another while their dogs jumped up and down, desperate for attention and to stretch their legs. “I thought I was going to lose my mind.”
“It was always like that growing up,” Henry said, shaking his head. “It wasn’t so bad for you because you would always travel separately from the rest of us, or on horseback. But I was forced to listen to them chatter to one another for whole journeys, and they never stop talking! I don’t understand how three women who spend so much time together still have so much to say to one another!”
“I don’t know either,” Lucien said, shaking his head. “This time, they mostly talked about their dogs. They really love those beasts.”
“You were very kind to let them keep them,” Henry said. His eyes, Lucien saw, were trained on Emery. “Is that her doing?”
“I suppose,” Lucien said gruffly. He didn’t particularly like his brother referring to his wife asher. It was far too familiar. Then again, they were close friends, and he would just have to get used to that.
“She’s good for you,” Henry said, with a note of surprise in his voice. “She makes you softer.”
“I wouldn’t say that,” Lucien said at once, but Henry merely smiled.
“Whatever you say,” he said, a glint of amusement in his eyes. “But come, there are some things we need to discuss.”
“I should oversee the unpacking…” Lucien began, but Henry pointed to where Emery was standing at the back of the carriage, directing the footmen, her hands on her hips.
“I think your wife has everything under control,” Henry pointed out. “She’s a very capable, competent woman.”
Lucien said nothing as he turned and followed Henry into the house.She’s a very capable, competent woman. Was Henry beginning to have feelings for Emery? Was it possible that seeing her married to his older brother had suddenly made her more appealing?
You’re being paranoid, he told himself sternly, as he followed Henry across the hall and to the study.
But why? Why was he suddenly paranoid about such a silly thing? Maybe it had something to do with last night and dancing with his wife. He had barely allowed himself to think about it all day, even when he’d been stuck in close quarters with her all day in the carriage.
And yet, it had been difficult not to think about it a little, especially whenever she caught his gaze from across the carriage and smiled. Then he would instantly be flooded with memories of how she had felt in his arms, of her sly smiles and sparkling laughter, of the way she had looked--shy and excited all at once--when he’d almost kissed her.
His throat grew dry, and Lucien cleared his throat. Closing the study behind him and Henry, he went to the sideboard andpoured himself a scotch.I need a drink if my wife is making me think such things.
“You want one?” he asked his brother gruffly.
“Go on then.”
Henry sounded cheerful enough, but when he took the glass from Lucien, his expression fell slightly.
“What is it?” Lucien asked at once, his stomach dropping. His usually cheerful brother would only look concerned if there was something seriously to be concerned about.
“It’s the rumors of your happy marriage,” Henry said, sighing before he threw back the scotch. Making a face, he set the glass back on the sideboard. “The rumors are not taking root.”
“What? Why not?” Lucien’s stomach curled uncomfortably. It was as he feared: everything was ruined, and Leah’s debut would now be a disaster.
