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“I shall miss you.”
“I am not leaving yet, you maudlin chit!” Sarah laughed and went to retrieve her bath oils.
Bridget removed her underthings and stepped into the warm bath, feeling cheerier. The prospect of Sarah finding love had greatly lifted her spirits.
She sat at the vanity after her bath, and as Sarah gathered her hair to put up in a coiffure, Bridget heard Harry in their bedchamber. Without waiting for her hair to be styled, she got to her feet and went to him.
Chapter 34
Harry was already hurrying to dress for dinner when she entered the room. His mien softened when he saw her and he held out his hand.
Bridget tried to guess his thoughts and what might have happened as she walked into his arms but found nothing. Perhaps he did not wish to worry her.
“You look lovely,” he whispered.
She wanted to ask him what happened but the fact that he had said nothing restrained her. She believed he would tell her when he thought the time was right. He held her for a moment, then kissed her cheek before pulling away and striding to the dressing room.
Bridget returned to Sarah to have her hair dressed before returning to him. Lander was tying his cravat when she found them, and Harry smiled at her through the mirror.
She was feeling the most anxious she had ever felt but did not allow him to see it. Thus, her smile was broad, and when he took her hand to lead them to dinner, she pulled his head down and kissed him.
Belinda’s laugh greeted them when they entered the drawing room. She was seated while Gerard stood beside her. Bridget looked up at Harry suggestively, and he grinned. Her father was standing near the fire with Drew and Andrew, talking animatedly. Everyone but Belinda straightened when they walked in.
“I am very pleased to see you are better,” Gerard said as he bowed at her entrance.
“And so am I,” Drew said with a broad grin.
“Thank you, Gerard, Drew,” she replied pleasantly. As she sat beside Belinda, she noticed Harry and Drew exchanging a meaningful look.
She was aware of their interactions throughout the evening, and every time one of them spoke, her attention was immediately drawn.
“Won’t you stay until fall?” Belinda said when her father revealed to her that they would be departing Suffolk the following day. Bridget already knew.
“There is business that I must attend to in town, Lady Belinda,” Mortimer explained, “but I shall return for the hunting season.”
“We look forward to that, then.” Belinda turned to her. “Bridget, we should host a house party once the repairs are complete. What do you think?”
She decided to announce the ball then. “Harry and I wish to host a ball before the summer ends. Perhaps in a fortnight.”
Belinda clapped her hands in delight, just as pleased as Bridget had predicated. “Oh, that is splendid!”
“Perhaps I will stay if there is to be a ball,” Andrew said with a laugh.
“Please do,” Belinda encouraged.
Harry’s hand found Bridget’s beneath the table and clasped it. When their eyes met, his thumb stroked the back of her hand. His expression still betrayed nothing but his touch was comforting.
“I have been considering something all evening,” Harry said as he sat in the cards room with Gerard and Drew long after dinner. “You are my friend and I know I can trust your advice.”
“What is it?” Gerard asked.
“Will it be best to have Bridget travel to London with her family tomorrow? She might be safer in London.”
Drew immediately shook his head. “I do not believe she will be safer in London.”
“She might,” Gerard countered. He was not aware that they had found Miller. He did not even know who he was. Harry was sometimes tempted to tell him everything because they hardly had any secrets between the two, but few people needed to be aware of Drew’s investigation.
“What if they follow her to London?” Drew argued. “No matter what, she has people here who will take care of her better than her father and brother could.”
