“Of course.” Placing her fingers lightly on his arm she allowed him to lead her a short way away from the carriages and servants. “Have you added to the number of staff?”
“Both your mother and grandmother suggested a footman in addition to my own, a maid and a housekeeper who can also cook were necessary. I agreed.”
Geoff couldn’t very well argue with her. After all, both women had more experience than he did in setting up a household in a foreign country. “Very well.” He glanced back at the coaches just as Riddle, his groom, drove his phaeton up and was startled not to see his Roan Blues hooked up to the vehicle. “I take it there was not enough room in the second coach for all of the servants?”
“No, as a matter of fact, there was not.” Elizabeth’s tone was still slightly below freezing. He was beginning to detest being in her black book. “Vickers, my maid, will have to travel in our coach.”
He had no idea if Elizabeth did not wish to spend time alone with him, or if the servants’ coach really would have been too crowded. Not that it mattered. She’d already sent the other servants on their way. “You don’t happen to know where my pair is, do you?”
“Yes.” She gave him another too-polite smile. “All the horses we are taking with us have been sent ahead. Your father has posted some of his horses along the way. After keeping us here for so long, he wished to ensure we made good time to Harwich. This way we will not have to spare the horses.”
That would not have been difficult for Father to do. Geoff just wished he’d been told about it. “Do you happen to know when he sent them?”
“The day before yesterday. Your father told me before dinner last evening.” She raised a brow, and regarded him with eyes that seemed to be devoid of emotion. “I assume if you had bothered to come home, you would have known about it before this morning.”
He thought about how his mother would have reacted to his father failing to appear for dinner and not sending word, and decided Elizabeth was not being nearly as hard on him as she could be. Then again, who knew what punishment she had in mind for later?
The option of riding his horse had been taken away from him. He cleared his throat. “Would you mind if I drove my phaeton?”
“You may do as you wish.” She walked back to the coaches and then turned to face him. “We must depart.”
Geoff knew it was an act of pure cowardice that had kept him from Elizabeth’s side. She was upset and rightfully so. He simply did not know how to make it better.
Before he could assist her into her coach, his mother beckoned from the door. “I wanted to see you off.” Mama hugged Elizabeth and whispered to her. Next she embraced him. “I wish you great joy in your marriage, but to have it you must come to care for Elizabeth as you should.”
“I do,” he whispered back.
“No, you do not.” Mama stepped back from him. “You will have to figure it out on your own, but I have faith that you will. Your father and grandfather certainly did.”
Geoff was more confused now than he had been before. Leaving the house yesterday had obviously not been one of his better ideas. Or should he have demanded to be let into Elizabeth’s bedchamber? “I hope you’ll visit when things settle down.”
“Perhaps we will.” She gave him a little push. “Go help your wife.”
He got to his carriage just as a footman was getting ready to assist Elizabeth into the coach. “Please allow me, my dear.” Again, she regarded him with an apathetic gaze, but placed her hand in his. After she had arranged her skirts, he helped her maid into the vehicle. “I shall see you at the first stop.”
“Until then.” Elizabeth did not even turn her head to look at him when she spoke.
Guilt warred with growing anger as Geoff closed the door, and went around to his phaeton. He did not enjoy being treated this way. Her mood can’t last long, he told himself, praying he was correct. “I’ll drive ’em.”
The second groom jumped down. “I’ll be happy to sit with the coachman, my lord.”
Climbing onto his carriage, Geoff said, “I’ve never seen him before.”
“No, my lord. That’s Farley. He’d be her ladyship’s groom.”
Riddle climbed on the back, and Geoff started the pair. “Motion for her ladyship’s coach to follow. That way we won’t have to deal with their dust.”
Although the residents of Mayfair were, for the most part, still in their beds, servants, drays, and other wagons were rapidly filling the streets. He worked his way through the morning traffic, keeping an eye out for Elizabeth’s coach. By the time they reached the first toll on the other side of the metropolis, they had been on the road for almost two hours.
“I hope we’ll make better time now.” He also needed time to think about what had happened with Elizabeth and the meaning of what his mother had said.
He thought he had been treating his wife properly. Yet, obviously, neither his mother nor wife agreed. It was his going out so shortly after their marriage that was the problem. He would have been better off staying at home. Even Nettle had been miffed with Geoff. Still, all he could do was give her a few days to mend her temper and not make the same mistake twice.
At the first stop to change the horses, he was met with the news that they would have luncheon at the Queen’s Head in Chelmsford.
Arriving just ahead of her, he strode to the vehicle carrying his wife, opened the door, and let the steps down. “Do you wish to stretch your legs? We can walk around the yard until our refreshments arrive.”
“Yes, thank you,” Elizabeth said. She seemed to be in a better mood than earlier.
