Another tug.
“So I am being given the choice between being a heartless cad for abandoning my seriously ill mother in her time of need or a traitor to my family for abandoning my sister in her time of desperation. That’s just bollocks from every angle.”
Philip laughed and clamped him on the shoulder. He stood up. “I need to walk. I will tell Beth.” He bent to kiss Emalyn on the forehead, then left the room.
Robert watched him go, then lowered his voice. “He needs sleep, Mother.”
She squeezed his arm, then pointed at the doorway.
“He will not listen to me. He never has. I will mention it to Thomas.” He nodded at the other side of the bed. “If he does not want to leave you, he should sleep there. Every servant in the house already knows the two of you sleep together every night. I cannot think it would be less proper for it to be in here instead of his bedchamber.”
She pointed at her left side.
“Oh, please. Anyone who thinks he would be untoward while you are an invalid has either never met my father or they belong in Bedlam.”
The right side of her mouth tipped upward and she squeezed his arm.
“Because I have always been able to read your mind, and I could always make you smile. That’s what I do. It’s a gift.” He stood. “I need to let Fletcher know plans have changed. Again.” He kissed his mother on the cheek and turned to go, just as Philip returned.
“Your sister is thrilled.”
“I am delighted.” On impulse, Robert touched his father’s arm, then pointed at the bed. “You need to take a nap. There. Next to her. No one will care. I doubt they’ll even notice.”
“Robert—”
Robert looked over his shoulder at his mother. “I told you he would not listen.”
“I beg your pardon?”
Ignoring his father, Robert returned to the hall and had turned toward his bedchamber when Grant greeted him from the top of the stairs. The butler carried a small silver salver. “Lord Robert?”
He stopped. “Yes?”
“My lord—” He stopped and cleared his throat.
“Is something wrong, Grant?”
“Ah. Sir. You have a visitor, my lord.”
Robert scowled. “A visitor? Who?”
Another throat clearing. “A young woman. Sir.”
“A woman.”
“Yes, sir. I asked her to wait in the drawing room.” He held out the salver.
In the center lay a single calling card, which Robert reached for slowly, almost afraid to see the name.No. It couldn’t be.He looked at the card and closed his eyes for a moment, regaining control of his breathing. “Is she alone?”
“There is a maid with her, sir, but...”
Robert nodded and opened his eyes. “Quite right. Ask Lady Rose if she can join us.”
Grant’s face relaxed as he let out a breath in pure relief. “Excellent, sir.” The butler headed off to find Rose, while Robert stood in the middle of the hallway, trying to grasp whyanywoman would visit him alone, unannounced, and without invitation, but especiallythiswoman.She has to know what she is risking. What is she thinking?
But Robert knew with a dreaded certainty that there was only one answer to that question.
She thinks you can help find her brother.
