Games of Pleasure (50 page)

AMBROSE KICKED AT HIS QUILT AND SQUALLED LIKE A SEAGULL. Ryder picked him up, then carried him to the window, where his son could gaze out on his future inheritance. The baby gurgled and reached out his hands toward the distant ocean, as if he had already fallen in love with the far reaches of Wyldshay.

After the triumph of the wedding, autumn had drifted by in the mellow beauty of Wrendale, where Dillard and his family always found a ready welcome. Amanda and her brothers had discovered the glories of a rocking horse with a real leather saddle, even though their father—soberly rebuilding his business—was too busy to visit very often.

When winter threatened to close in about the Peaks, Lord and Lady Ryderbourne had returned south. The Whitchurch Wing had been completely refurbished. No trace of the fire remained, and Wyldshay was always splendid at Christmas.

The duchess threw parties. Richard Avedon and Sir Robin Hatchley were among the guests, yet they each seemed strangely forgetful, as if they had never met Miracle before. Certainly, they had never seen her like this: carrying a child in her womb, and in love with a husband of her own.

Ryder had felt no qualms at all as he welcomed them with their wives to his home.

Spring had called all the St. Georges back to London. The duke must attend to his duties in the Lords. Ryder had been reelected to his seat in the Commons. He had tried and failed to buy the mill where Miracle had once been apprenticed, but he was dedicating himself to reforming the law regarding conditions in all the new factories. It was a cause that would probably take him the rest of his life.

Meanwhile, society awaited the duchess and her lovely, mysterious new daughter-in-law, whose life had been so tragic and so romantic. Yet, alas, Lady Ryderbourne was in an interesting condition and expecting her first child, so she couldn't be expected to appear much in society.

No one was surprised when her husband took her home to Wyldshay before the Season was over, yet the last vestiges of Ryder's concern for Miracle had anyway faded away into nothing.

When packets of letters arrived from India, they perused them together. Jack's wife, Anne, was also expecting a baby. They were coming home.

Lord Dartford, after once again losing heavily at the tables, had decided to take a tour of the Continent.

“Your mama suspects,” Ryder said to Ambrose. “Though she'd never breathe a word, I know she approves. You owe him more than you know.”

The baby laughed at his father and kicked with renewed vigor.

“That's right,” Ryder said. “I paid off his gaming debts. Yet Dartford said he'd only acquire new ones, and he'd rather do so in Rome. Your mama would seem to have left a trail of broken hearts. I am a very lucky man, sir, for she has only healed mine.”

Something rustled behind him. Ambrose flailed his arms and legs, and smiled like a sunbeam. Ryder turned to see Miracle standing in the doorway.

“The carriage is ready,” she said, walking forward to take the baby. “And I'm nervous! I know I shouldn't be, but I am.”

He leaned down to kiss her. “Don't be!”

“Yes, I know you bring order from any chaos,” she said. “It's your greatest gift, Ryder.”

“As yours is to add depth and richness to every day. Anne will love you, and Jack probably already does.”

 

 

THE ship from India stood out to sea, her sails furled, as her rowing boat scraped on the shingle. The sailors grinned and doffed their hats as their passengers disembarked: a tall, dark-haired man who lifted his heavily pregnant wife in both arms, then carried her through the surf to the beach.

She laughed up at him, both arms wrapped about his neck. He set her down, kissed her, then strode forward to clasp Ryder by the hand.

“The prodigal returns yet again,” Jack said. “But Anne and I will stay around for a while this time.”

“God, Jack!” Ryder said. “All I care about is to see you both safe and happy!”

Laughing and hugging, the brothers pounded each other on the back.

Knowing her flutter of nerves was silly, Miracle walked forward, smiling. Ambrose squealed and laughed at the small splash of waves.

“You must be Anne,” she said. “I'm so glad to meet you at last. You write such wonderful letters!”

Gray-blue eyes smiled back into hers as Anne held out both hands. “So do you! You already feel like a sister, Miracle. And this must be Ambrose?” She caught the baby's flailing fingers. He locked dark blue eyes on her face and gurgled. “I'm so glad that my baby will have a cousin almost the same age. May I hold him?”

Miracle laughed. “Of course! I'm all in favor of cousins.”

“So am I.” Anne hefted the baby in her arms, then glanced about. “But where's Guy? I thought he'd be here, too?”

“He promises to visit you very soon, but he thought Ryder and Jack should have this first meeting to themselves. Even the duchess agreed, though the whole family is longing to see you both.”

“Ah, the duchess!” Anne met Miracle's gaze, and both women laughed. Ambrose clutched at a wisp of her brown hair. “But Guy's a generous soul. He isn't married yet?”

“No.” Miracle swallowed a small grief at what she suspected might be part of the reason. “Though I'm sure that he'll meet someone who can win his heart soon enough.”

“I hope so.” The baby chortled and flailed his arms, smiling up at his aunt. Anne smiled back. “And when he does, she'll be almost as fortunate as we are.”

 

 

RYDER caught his breath, then stepped back to grin at his brother like a fool.

“Come,” he said. “We can't keep Anne and Miracle standing out here on the beach.” He gestured. “My carriage awaits.”

Jack glanced at the two women. Miracle was radiant as she took Ambrose back from Anne.

“Still stunning,” he said with a wicked smile, though his eyes were filled with nothing but love for his own wife.

Ryder laughed. “More so than when you knew her years ago?”

“Absolutely! You must be good for her.” Jack winked. “And I'm beyond delighted that Miracle is already the mother of a lusty son and heir. It was always my fear that you'd neglect your plain duty, and saddle me with the bloody dukedom in the end.”

“I'd have had no compunction in doing so,” Ryder said. “But if you and Anne insist on adventuring about the world, I may yet outlive you.”

“No,” Jack said. “With our own baby due any minute, the adventuring is over. I can't tell you how glad I am that it is.”

“Once you've paid your due respects to the family at Wyldshay, you'll be going back to Withycombe?”

“Yes, of course. I'd like our baby to be born there. We'll be only a few hours away.” His dark eyes searched Ryder's face. “I trust you and I will always remain close?”

“For God's sake, you're my brother,” Ryder replied. “And I owe you more than you know.”

“The same goes for me.” Jack reached into a pocket. “By the way, I have something for you.”

“Brought back from the ends of the earth?”

Jack laughed and nodded.

Ryder unwrapped a small package. A perfect little horse, carved from jade, lay in his palm. He swallowed hard, studying the fine hooves, the ripple of green mane: an almost exact replica of the gift he had destroyed in a heartbroken rage the year before.

Though he had asked Jack to bring him another, Ryder had not really thought it possible.

“You know that I'll always treasure this,” he said. “Yet I treasure you, my own flesh-and-blood brother, even more. I owe you all my happiness, Jack.”

“Your happiness? That's not in Miracle's lovely hands?”

“Yes, of course! But if it hadn't been for you, I'd never have had the chance to fall in love with her. So I owe you Miracle, and Ambrose, and my sanity.”

Jack gave him a puzzled glance. “But I wasn't even in the country!”

“No, my dear brother.” Ryder held out his hands to take his son as Miracle and Anne walked up to join their husbands. “But you've always been in my heart.”

Miracle's detailed knowledge of astronomical facts and figures dates from 1816, when Sir Benjamin first gave her a book that had just been published that year. Having read the same book, I can vouch for the accuracy of her memory, though obviously astronomy has learned a great deal more about the universe since then.

Anne met and married Ryder's brother, Jack, in
Night of Sin,
my first book about Wyldshay, initially published by Berkley in trade paperback in January 2005.

Details may be found on my website at
www.juliaross.net
.

Julia Ross
was born and grew up in Britain. A graduate of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, she has won numerous awards for her novels. Julia now lives in the Rocky Mountains. Visit her website at
www.juliaross.net
.