Page 26 of An Accidental Elopement

“Will you please tell me what is happening?”

Cecilia felt herself tense again. He had to feel it too, since he was laying up against her with his arms around her. Perhaps that was why he simply placed featherlight kisses down her throat without prodding.

“I don’t know why I can’t... do it,” Cecilia finally managed to say in a voice that she felt herself sounded quite normal.

Twelve

Archie hummed to himself as he looked at the gray sunlight outside the window of the carriage. They were still traveling along the border of his estate and not his father’s and he might as well take the time to examine the fence around his property. Could be that it needed changing in some places that his steward might not have noticed.

In the seat opposite him, Cecilia seemed just as determined to examine the view out the other window. Although probably not looking at fences. The fifteen minutes that they had spent in the carriage so far was the longest stretch of time in the past three weeks they had spent alone since the second night of their marriage. Of course, they had dinner together every night, but then there was at least one footman in attendance. Often, they had tea together in the afternoon, but then there would also be the presence of a maid going back and forth and often enough visitors.

His mother and Hester had been by four times. They had mostly talked about Hester’s upcoming wedding. Archie had studied the interactions between his wife and sister, but Cecilia did not seem to be harboring ill feelings towards his sister.

“Which flowers will there be, Your Grace?” Cecilia had asked the first time they had been there. “Millie,” Cecilia had croaked a moment later, as his mother sent her a mild scolding look. This was at least the fourth time that Cecilia referred to her by her title and not her given name as his mother had requested.

“We will have some from our hothouse,” his mother had answered with a look to Hester who looked utterly indifferent.

“Yes, not many are in bloom in the garden,” Cecilia had agreed. “And you, Lady Hester... Hester, do you have any flowers that you prefer?”

Hester looked up at her, almost surprised that she was asked to give an opinion on this. Archie had hidden a smile behind his hand.

“I like spring flowers: daffodils, winter aconite and snowdrops, but Mother says that they would not be fit for a wedding table even if they were in bloom.” There was a tightlipped edge to Hester’s voice and Archie hoped that it was merely the remnants of a fight she had evidently had with their mother over flowers and not ill feelings on her part towards Cecilia.

“They are lovely,” Cecilia had said, a small smile playing around her face. “I was planning on peony and dahlias for my wedding...” Cecilia began, but then trailed off with a horrified expression at first him, then her mother and Hester. “I mean, it was just... The service at Great Farleigh Hall was absolutely lovely and I adored the flowers that you had picked, Your Grace... I mean, Millie,” she said flustered.

Archie felt the urge to put a hand on her arm to reassure her that everything was alright but was not certain whether she would welcome it.

“No harm was done, Cecilia,” his mother had gently stated. “This is all so new, and I dare say the situation is a little... well, a lot, unorthodox.”

She rose to sit in the chair next to Cecilia and then she put her hand on Cecilia’s arm. Archie clenched his hands into fists at his sides. He should just have touched her. There had to be a flaw to his personality that he could not simply behave naturally around her.

“And it’s not...” Cecilia began and looked at Hester. She gulped audibly. “I really am happy for you and Flint. Or should I call him Lord Lambourn now?”

She looked at Archie’s mother as if she needed assistance.

“I see no reason why you cannot keep calling him Flint. He will be your brother by marriage soon,” his mother reminded her mildly, but it was clear from her intense gaze that she was studying Cecilia just as fiercely as Archie was.

“Yes, well.” Cecilia’s voice had become a bit fragile, and she latched onto his mother’s hand, which was still resting on her arm. “What I meant to say was that it is clear that you and he... suits, was all I was going to say. In a way that he and I never...”

For the first time during the visit, Hester smiled. It lit her violet eyes as if a light was shining from within even though the curve of her mouth was only small.

“Thank you. I feel the same,” she told Cecilia in a voice that suited a shy child better than a grown woman. But her love and devotion for Lord Lambourn shone through. For what it was worth, at least Archie had not muddled their lives by exposing them to Cecilia.

Archie had felt a stab in his midsection at the thought that Cecilia might never say that of him. That she felt they suited. Which of course was ridiculous. Because did he even want that? Right now, he would settle for what they had as long as they were also sharing a bed...

His mother and Hester had departed not long after. As Hester and Cecilia were saying goodbye, his mother had held onto his hand.

“Why is she unhappy?” she had demanded in the sternest voice that he had ever heard his mild-tempered mother use.

Archie had quickly cast a glance in Cecilia’s direction where she and Hester seemed to be struggling through a few minutes of conversation. At least both women’s smiles were a bit strained by the look of it.

“She’s not,” he answered hesitantly because truly he had no idea what went on in his wife’s mind.

“She is, and you should make her happy, because I feel certain that she has the ability to do the same for you,” his mother snapped, which had made Archie let go of her with a mixture of shock and surprise.

“The weather looks fine for the season,” Cecilia noted as the carriage towards Great Farleigh Hall now scrambled onwards. It was the first comment she had made since she thanked the footman for helping her into the carriage.

“Yes, it seems fine weather to go hunting,” Archie commented and stretched to be able to see the gray sky above them, where the sun was visible in the places that the layers of cloud thinned.