And he was ready to collect the debt.
“Pack your things,” he ordered. “We’re going to Summerwind House.”
*
“Ambrose! Ambrose, Ifear something is wrong.” Bursting into her husband’s study, Mara waddled to his desk and slapped downthe letter she’d just received. “This was delivered a few minutes ago.”
After a glance at his wife’s distressed countenance, Ambrose took the letter and read it quickly, then read it again to ensure he wasn’t missing anything of obvious importance. Carefully folding the paper back in on itself, he reached across the desk and took his wife’s (adorably pudgy) hand. “Mara, dear, I fear this last-minute trip, while a good idea in theory, is proving to be too much in execution. Why don’t we simply stay here? I know it isn’t what you want, but you’ll have Kitty right down the row, and—”
“Did you read the letter?” Withdrawing her hand, she snatched up the post and waved it in the air. “Did you?”
“You... know that I did,” Ambrose said cautiously. “You just watched me do it.”
Once upon a time, in his far younger years, he had gotten a fancy in his head to go hunting for brown bears in British North America. While he’d ultimately decided that his efforts were better spent elsewhere, he had devoted quite a few weeks of research into the subject matter. Research he was now grateful for, as he found himselflivingwith a bear. A bear that was adoring one moment, and ready to cleave his head from his shoulders with a mighty swipe of her paw the next.
“Then you must realize that Dr. Chadwick is in distress!” Mara cried. “Perhaps even imminent danger!”
Ambrose frowned. “Is there more written on the back? Let me just see—all right,” he said hastily when his darling, gentle wife bared her teeth at him and growled. “All right. Never mind. Ah... from whatIread, the letter is merely a request for you to ask your sister if Jack can watch Dr. Chadwick’s cats while she is away. Admittedly a somewhat odd request but, well, Dr. Chadwick can be a bit odd, can she not, and... why are you looking at me like that?
“Like what?” Mara asked with syrupy sweetness.
He looked down at the porcelain cup on his desk, then up at his wife. “Like you’ve put poison in my coffee.”
“Why would I do that, dear?”
Out of an abundance of caution, he nudged the cup aside and then patted his thigh. “Come here, Mara. Let me rub your shoulders.”
With a very bear-like grumble, she grudgingly acquiesced to his request, perching on the very edge of his lap before a few expert squeezes of his hands had her all but melting into his chest. “I’m sorry,” she sighed, closing her eyes. “I fear I’m not feeling at all like myself these days.”
You don’t say, Ambrose thought silently, but as he valued his life, wisely kept the words to himself.
“You are approaching the end of a very arduous journey that you’ve undertaken for the both of us, my love.” He kissed her head. “Iam sorry that I haven’t been able to carry more of the burden.”
“This doesn’t change my worry that something untoward has happened to Dr. Chadwick. She may be occasionally odd in her mannerisms, but she is the smartest person I’ve ever met. She is also wholly devoted to her cats, and she wouldneverleave them behind. When she left here this morning, it was to package them up for travel!”
His hands stilled. “How does one package a cat?”
“You just . . . put it in a package.”
“Yes, but how?”
“I don’tknow, Ambrose! You justdo!”
“Quite right.” He resumed the massage. “Foolish of me to ask.”
“Furthermore, if she had changed her mind and planned to keep them here in London under Jack’s care—which in and of itself is a rather questionable decision—why dash off a letter?”
“Ah—”
“Why not return here and ask me in person?”
“Well—”
“Unless she’s not coming back here, but she assumed we would still travel to Southwick, and thus wanted me to reach out to Jack on her behalf before we departed, as she has a closer relationship with me than with my sister.”
“How—”
“Which leads me to assume that he’s found her, and he is taking her somewhere. His country estate, perhaps. Thatiswhat husbands do with wives they find inconvenient or are cross with, is it not?” With a tiny grunt of effort, Mara turned halfway around to glare balefully at him. All things being equal, Ambrose would rather have taken his chances with a real grizzly.
