Page 28 of The Thorn and the Rose

“I’m so sorry for keeping her from you. I wish I had not. I wish I’d had the courage to face you before now. I… I just felt like I needed to achieve something, to prove to you that I was not the kind of irresponsible fool I might appear to be.”

Pip stared. He knew he was forgiven, that his father truly was proud of him, but he needed him to understand it all.

Montagu nodded and rested a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “I understand and, whilst I regret missing those years with Tilly, it is only because she is a delight and a credit to you, and I am entirely besotted with her.”

Pip laughed at that, regarding his father with pride and love and knowing once more that those feelings were reciprocated. “Ah, so she’s conquered you too, has she?”

“Demolished seems a more appropriate description,” Montagu replied with a rueful smile, his silver eyes warm and full of laughter now. “She’s got me wrapped around her little finger and she damn well knows it.”

“Join the club,” Pip said with a sigh. “Her nanny is the only one who can keep her in line.”

His father nodded, suddenly thoughtful. “Yes, a most formidable female,” he said softly.

Pip snorted at that. “She terrifies me.”

They returned to stand at the balustrade, staring out at the view once more as Montagu took up his wineglass and sipped appreciatively.

“Father,” Pip said after a long moment had passed. “Did you really know? About Tilly, I mean.”

His father was silent, taking another sip of his wine before he turned to regard his son. “I considered all the reasons that might have made you act as you had. I knew the problem was not financial. You have never been a spendthrift, and you have a knack with money that Goshen Court is now proof of. If you had killed someone, whether by accident or design, you would have come to me, that much I felt certain of. Only shame or regret would have kept you away, and that much I could see in your eyes. It was not so very hard to reason out what might make you feel that way. Once the idea was in my head, everything else fell into place and I became certain I was right.”

“Then you never investigated, never…?”

His father sent him a sharp look. “You are a man now, Pip. Your affairs are your own. I will never interfere unless it is too dangerous to let go. If, for example, your life had been threatened. If I had known how serious things were with the club, I admit I would have stepped in if I had known Thomas was at risk. As it is, I trust you all have the matter in hand now. But with you, that was not the case, and I knew you would come to me, to us, when you were ready to do so. As you have. It was not for me to force the issue. I might have caused a rift, resentment, and I could not risk that.”

“Thank you,” Pip said quietly. “For trusting me. Even if I was a damned fool.”

His father smiled. “Good God, Pip, you know my history, and you have a very long way to go before you become the fool I was. I nearly let your mother go, remember? Can you imagine? Even saying the words makes me feel sick and terrified at what might have happened if she had not been so very courageous, far more than I was. No man on earth would have been a bigger fool if I had not come to my senses and persuaded her I was worth marrying.”

“It seems hard to believe,” Pip agreed, smiling at his father’s rueful expression. “You’ve always seemed a perfect fit for each other.”

Montagu laughed at that. “There is no such thing as perfection, only honesty and love and forgiveness, not to mention a good deal of give and take.” He stared at his son thoughtfully and then took a breath. “Pip, I have sworn not to interfere, and I meant it, but that does not mean I won’t give you advice or tell you what I expect of you.”

Pip’s stomach dropped. He had a fair idea of what his father was going to say next, and he really didn’t want to hear it. “Of course not,” he said, wishing he’d made his escape before the conversation had taken the inevitable turn.

“It’s high time you were married.”

Swallowing down a host of inadvisable words, Pip forced himself to nod. “Yes, sir.”

“Pip, you have discovered the dangers of having a mistress and dallying in other ways holds perils of a very unsavoury sort. You’ve experienced all that any young man could possibly dream of and more, I don’t doubt. But you have a daughter now, a home, and you are no longer a boy. I hate to put pressure on you for the sake of the title, but…”

“I know,” Pip said, suddenly breathless. “I need an heir.”

Montagu made an impatient sound. “Not just an heir. You need a partner in your life, a woman who challenges you and interests you and makes every day new and exciting. I’m not asking you to marry some suitable china doll with no brain in her head but impeccable breeding, Pip. I want you to fall in love and be as happy as your mother and I, but you need to meet someone in order to make that happen.”

“I know,” he said again, at a loss for anything more comprehensive.

“Well, I’ve said my piece.” Montagu patted his shoulder. “Just don’t leave it too much longer, son. I would like to meet all my grandchildren before I shuffle off, you know.”

Pip watched him go, a sudden shaft of fear in his heart at the realisation that one day, he would be Montagu, because his father would be gone. Not that it was a surprise, but it was something he’d not allowed himself to think of in anything but an abstract manner.

Not for a long while yet, he reassured himself, watching his father walk away. He was still as straight as an arrow, and if his white-blond hair really was white now, it did not diminish the strength and vitality that shone from him. But his parents wanted their grandchildren, and time was passing, and Tilly needed brothers and sisters.

Pip groaned and poured himself another glass of wine.

Chapter 10

Ashton,