“No, Simms. The way of honeymoons is only a path for brides and grooms.”
The young man demurred. “If you say so, sir.”
“I do. One day you may decide you wish to marry.” Halsey had noticed how the fellow watched the new upstairs maid with a glint in his eyes. “I hope to send you off alone. Now leave me!”
Simms disappeared through his special valet’s door in the far corner.
Halsey inhaled, taking one last look at his new formal black wedding attire. His tailor had once more done a splendid job. He ran a hand down the silver embossed buttons of his satin waistcoat.
A knock came at his far hall door. He rounded his dressing room alcove. Whoever it was, he hoped they could be brief and then be gone! “Come in!”
“Good morning, my darling.” His mother stepped into his sitting room. She was attired in her favorite pearls to complement the morning gown of palest blue and sapphire. “I will not detain you.”
He went to her and took her offered hand, kissed it, and led her to one of his two chairs before the fireplace. “But you have come to give me a message on my wedding day.”
“Indeed I do, sir. What kind of mother would I be if I sent you off to your new life without a few words of wisdom?”
He sat in the opposite chair and absorbed the warmth from the fire and the heat from her affection. Folding his hands, he arched a brow. “I am ready.”
“I like her.”
“I know. I am pleased.”
“I am most certain I will soon love her.”
As I do.“I am delighted at that, too.”
“What she has done, the life she has lived before she came to our shores, we—meaningyou—may never know.”
His mother had always been very perceptive of others’ character. “I am very aware.”
“You are a man who possesses a wealth of insight into the world at large.”
He took that as the compliment it was and waited for the rest.
She pursed her lips in thought, then said, “I know you advise the prime minister. I know you work with Carlisle and Durham. I suspect you may even have persuaded Scarlett Hawthorne to share her secrets with you about her influence on the Continent.”
“I am not at liberty to confirm or deny that.”
“I know. I say that only as a preamble to my main message, my dear.”
He tried to smile, but the effort was weak. He feared what she was about to impart was not the positive message he had hoped to gain from her this day. “What worries you, Mama?”
“You have decided upon this union in a matter of days. Some take months or years.”
“I am sure of this.”
“I trust that. You have a good understanding of the nature of men and women.”
“So then, I ask again. What worries you?”
“We know that your bride is a woman of breeding and education. She walks like a breeze upon the earth. She talks with humor and wit. She speaks in that sultry voice that connotes an understanding of the trials and tribulations of not only her family, but of her friends and her country.”
“Yes, Mama. She is here because of them.”
“I know. So this morning, I ask you if you have an inkling of what is said of her?”
“I do.” He read newspapers and gossip sheets. Hell, he had men who reported to him on everything from the priceof grain in Yorkshire to what perfume Empress Josephine employed this month. He knew that the gossips had so little to go on about the background of his bride that they’d had to speculate on her past. Some of their conclusions were not pretty. In fact, they were nasty. “I know people talk and that they try to understand not only who she is, but why I would marry her. I know not every deed she has ever done, Mama. Who does when they marry?”
