Page 11 of The Thorn and the Rose

“Yes, Mother.”

The doctor left prescriptions for various ointments and medicines and saw himself out.

“Oh, darling boy,” Matilda exclaimed, hurrying to him and sitting on the edge of the bed before flinging her arms around his neck and sobbing.

Thorn sent his father a look of sheer panic and Montagu glared back at him with the clear demand that he do something about it.

Feeling utterly wretched for having caused such pain, Thorn hugged his mother and, when the sobbing did not abate, gently patted her back. “There, there, no harm done. I’m all in one piece. The doctor said so. It’s quite all right.”

His mother sat up and blew her nose. “It is not all right!” she exclaimed furiously. “It is not the least bit all right. Who did this, Thomas, and why? And why the devil did you not come to your father when the trouble began? What were you thinking?”

“I believe he, and his cronies, were thinking they were grown men and well able to take care of their own affairs, Matilda,” his father said gently, much to Thorn’s relief.

“And see how that’s ended!” she said, turning to glare at Montagu. “Lucian, do something!”

“Pa!” Thorn said, sitting up and staring at his father in horror. “You can’t.”

“What precisely would you have me do? I do not know what this is about and do not expect anyone at the club is going to want to give me any answers supposing they have any. It is not my affair, love, and I have no right to interfere. I remain at their disposal if they have need of me, which I am sure both our sons are aware of, but they are men now, not boys. I am confident they can deal with their own difficulties. However, I trust that steps will be taken to ensure the safety of everyone else involved so this cannot happen again,” he said, his tone hard as he looked back at Thorn.

“Larkin told me they have already increased security, and no one walks alone at night any longer. This won’t happen again, Mother, I promise you.”

“It’s already happened to you, though,” she persisted. “Oh, if I ever get my hands on whoever did this, I shall make them wish they’d never been born!”

Thorn looked at his mother in alarm. He had always known she was a formidable woman and that her slender beauty was not to be underestimated. Never had he heard her speak with such unrestrained violence, though. Thorn darted a look at his father, who returned an understanding smile.

“Come now, my love. Thomas is home and safe and there is nothing for you to worry about. Let us visit Ottilie and see what the little minx is up to now. She seemed to be rearranging the nursery the last I saw.”

Matilda sniffed and wiped her eyes before kissing Thorn’s cheek and getting to her feet.

“Do. Not. Move,” she told him, pointing a finger at him, her blue eyes fierce.

“I’m going nowhere,” he promised her with a smile.

She sighed and reached out to ruffle his hair before leaving with his father. Thorn sighed and closed his eyes, only to open them a few moments later as he heard a knock at the door.

“Come in.”

Thorn smiled as his brother came into the room.

“You look bloody awful,” Pip said with a grimace. “I didn’t know a face could turn that many colours.”

“You should see the rest of me,” Thorn said with a soft laugh.

Pip came to sit on the edge of the bed. “You scared us half to death, you do know that?”

Thorn nodded. “I’m getting the picture.”

“Larkin said you sent a letter to him?”

“I thought I had. Marie said she’d post it for me. I can’t understand what happened.”

“Ah, yes, the mysterious Marie. Seems a bit fishy, doesn’t it?”

Thorn frowned, unwilling to believe ill of Marie despite the mounting evidence against her.

“It is odd,” he admitted. “But she saved me, Pip, and cared for me, tended to my bruises, fed me and entertained me, and she didn’t take so much as a farthing. If she had nefarious intentions, why would she do all that, and then just let me go? No. She was afraid of her brother, though. Perhaps he interfered somehow and took the letter… but then she wanted me out before he discovered me, so that makes no sense.”

“I don’t like it,” Pip said gravely.