Page 55 of An Unusual Wager

Jonnie occupied a winged chair in front of the fireplace in which a small fire was burning. He was wearing a silk banyan, one sleeve flapping loose as his splinted arm must be inside it. Someone, Kitty probably, as she was sitting at his feet on a footstool, had spread a plaid rug over his knees, and he rather resembled a grandfather in a Bath chair, but for the youth of his unshaven face. Walter and Robert were sitting on the other side of the fireplace, playing chess, but looked up cheerily as she entered.

Verity chuckled as she approached her cousins and the siblings. It probably wouldn’t be a good idea to tell Jonnie her thoughts about what he resembled.

Kitty looked up, her face wreathed in smiles. “Verity! See how much better Jonnie is. You wouldn’t think that yesterday he was dying.”

Jonnie made an unsuccessful attempt to throw off the rug. “I was not dying. That was your vivid imagination.”

Kitty put the rug back and tucked it in. “Dr. Collins said we had to keep you warm.”

He raised an exasperated eyebrow at Verity. “Not this warm. You seem to have forgotten it’s summer, child. I’ll be suffering from heat exhaustion if you have your way.”

Kitty pouted. “After you have always looked after me so well, allow me to do the same for you, please.” She shot a look of appeal at Verity. “Tell him he must, Verity.”

“Better do as you’re told,” Walter put in, winking at Jonnie. “Now she has reinforcements she’ll be unstoppable.”

Jonnie chuckled. “If you and Robert could only form a united front with me, we would outnumber these irritating women.” But he wasn’t angry.

Verity sat down beside Robert on a comfortably upholstered settee. “If you join Jonnie in calling Kitty and me irritating, Walter, I will have to forbid you the sick room.”

“The sick room?” Walter spluttered. “Thought this was the library.”

“The room Jonnie is in at the moment is perforce the sick room,” Verity retorted. “And he needs peace and quiet and, as Kitty so wisely pointed out, he needs to stay warm. So there will be no objections, thank you.”

Robert suppressed a snort of laughter. “You always were a bossy girl when we were children together. I see you’ve not changed a jot.”

Verity nodded. “And a good thing too, with cousins like you two. Bringing Jonnie down here in a bumpy carriage in his condition was almost certainly not a good idea. Not to mention pouring laudanum into him the way you did. You’re very lucky you didn’t kill him yourselves. You do know it’s possible to die from an overdose of it, don’t you? From now on, everyone is going to do what I say. Or there will be repercussions.” She shot Walter a frown. “And you are not to give Jonnie any brandy. Not combined with the laudanum at any rate. Similarly bad for him.”

“If I might get a word in,” Jonnie said. “I fancy the brandy would do me more good than the laudanum. But I haven’t had any because everyone’s afraid of disobeying you.”

Verity shook her head. “It would not. And combining them is not a good idea.”

“I’d like to know how you know all this,” Walter muttered. “Sounds to me like you’re making it up as you go along and just enjoying lording it over us men. Typical woman. Power’s gone to your head.”

Verity fixed him with a stern gaze. “You seem to forget I’ve spent thirteen years traveling around Europe. A Europe that has not always been peaceful. In that time I’ve had occasion to tend the wounds of soldiers I’ve encountered, so I can assure you I know what I’m doing.”

“That’s telling you,” Robert said. “Don’t cross her, I say. Even as a girl she was determined as hell.”

Kitty shifted on her stool. “Well, I think she’s wonderful. Just like Jonnie. And I’m glad he’s here now, and safe from those awful footpads, so thank you, Mr. Farrington, for bringing him back here to us. He hardly ever visits, and I miss him terribly when he’s not here.” She beamed at Verity. “And I’m also very glad our earl and countess are together as they’re meant to be.”

If Verity hadn’t known that Kitty knew the circumstances of her and Jonnie’s marriage, she would almost have believed this. As it was, she shot a hard stare at the girl, who’d assumed an expression of utmost innocence. Was she attempting to matchmake?

This was going to be an interesting few days. Weeks even. Would Jonnie stay now he was on the road to recovering from his injuries, or would he race back to London and assume his other persona? Who knew.

She rather hoped he wouldn’t.