Loving the Marquess (15 page)

Nicholas was grateful for two
things. First, that the drive back to Overlea Manor was a short one, and
second, that he’d chosen to drive his curricle last night. The latter meant he
could concentrate on the task of handling the horses instead of finding himself
in the far more intimate setting of the Overlea carriage with his wife. He was
still almost painfully aware of her, especially after what had nearly happened
that morning, but he wasn’t in a position to do anything foolish.

He realized now that he had been an idiot to ask Louisa to
be his wife. Perhaps he should have proposed to Mary after all. But no, he
discarded that thought almost as soon as it occurred to him. Mary might be
meek, but she never would have agreed to the arrangement he had in mind and
would have wasted no time telling her mother and brother about it.

He tried to imagine other alternatives, but in the end he
knew Louisa had been his only choice. Her lack of parents, the fact that she
had two younger siblings to care for, her desperate situation—all combined to
present him with the one woman he knew would agree to the proposition he was
about to put to her.

He glanced at her, but her face was turned away. His mind
shied away from any thought that he was treating her as shabbily as his cousin.
However, remembering the hurt confusion he had seen on her face when he’d
rebuffed her attempts at conversation over breakfast made him feel like a
bastard who’d kicked a wounded puppy.

He went over their upcoming conversation in his mind. The
conversation he’d had with Kerrick was nothing compared to the one he was going
to have with his wife later that day. He knew that soon enough she would hate
him, and he would be unable to blame her.

He breathed a sigh of relief when the curricle finally
approached the manor house. He’d sent his valet and her maid back to Overlea
Manor that morning with a message about when they’d be returning, but it was
still a surprise when his grandmother met them in the front hall.

“I’m glad the two of you are back so soon. We need to speak
with you,” she said before turning and entering the drawing room.

He met Louisa’s bewildered gaze.

“Do you know what this is about?” she asked.

For a moment he suspected his grandmother had somehow
learned about his plan for an heir. The only other person who knew, however,
was Kerrick, and his friend wouldn’t have told her.

He shook his head. “No.”

Looking a little nervous, she went into the drawing room and
Nicholas followed. Catherine was already there, sitting on the settee, and she
looked miserable. Lady Overlea sat in a chair, opposite her, but she remained
silent.

“Catherine?” Louisa went to her sister and lowered herself
onto the settee next to her. “What happened? Why are you so upset?”

Nicholas remained standing by the door, hesitant to intrude.

Catherine raised her head. The deep breath she took before
replying was shaky. “I’m so sorry, Louisa. I tried to stop him, but he wouldn’t
listen to me. We argued about it. Your friend,” she said, turning to look at
Nicholas, “he saw us, but he didn’t know why we were arguing.”

“Are you talking about John?” Louisa asked.

Catherine nodded and held out a small, folded piece of paper
he hadn’t noticed she’d been holding in her lap. Louisa took it, bewildered.
She unfolded it, her hands trembling, and began to read. Nicholas moved behind
the settee and read the note over her shoulder.

Louisa,

Now that you
have married Overlea, it wouldn’t be appropriate for me seek employment as a
tutor. Fortunately, I remembered about Father’s old friend, Captain Farrows. I
believe he is in London now, or he was when he sent his condolences a few
months ago after hearing about Father’s death. I know we’d decided not to take
him up on his offer of charity, but now that you and Catherine are taken care
of, I need to make my own way in the world. I plan to approach him about
sponsoring me in purchasing a commission in the military.

My mind will
not be changed. You have chosen your own path. Please allow me to do the same.

John

“No,” Louisa said, shaking her head as she stared down at
the paper and reread it. “He can’t do this. He’s supposed to go to Oxford.” She
turned to Catherine. “When did he leave? We might be able to stop him.”

Catherine shook her head. “He left last night, shortly after
we noticed you and Overlea were missing. He asked one of the guests who didn’t
stay over if he could join them when they returned to London.”

Louisa stood and moved around the settee to where he was
standing.

“You can stop this,” she said to him. “You must stop this.
You can send someone to follow him. He’ll be with Captain Farrows. I can give
you his direction—”

Nicholas reached for her hands, which were clutching the
note, and stilled their trembling. He took the note and handed it back to
Catherine before turning back to Louisa.

He said the words he knew she wouldn’t want to hear. “He is
old enough to make this decision. We can’t force him to do what he doesn’t want
to do.”

She made a strangled sound and Nicholas had to resist the
urge to pull her into his arms.

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “He wanted to go to
Oxford. To enter the clergy.”

“That may have been true at one point, but no longer.”

“His mind was made up,” Catherine said. “I threatened to
tell you, but it was no good. He said there was nothing you could say or do
that would make him change his mind, and I didn’t want to ruin your wedding
night.”

“You did the right thing,” Lady Overlea said, speaking for
the first time since they’d entered the room. “Nothing would have been gained,
and John would still have left, only he would have done so on bad terms with
you and Louisa.”

“This wasn’t supposed to happen,” Louisa said. “We had it
all planned out.”

“Things don’t always go according to plan,” Nicholas said,
speaking from his own cynical knowledge of just how off course one’s life could
go.

Needing to offer her comfort, he raised her hands to his
lips and brushed soft kisses on their backs. His eyes locked with hers and the
power of her mournful gaze went right through him. Shaken, he dropped her hands
as though he’d been burned.

“My head tells me you’re right, but my heart…” She shook her
head, unable to continue for several moments. “I need to be alone right now.”

Nicholas watched her leave, yearning to go after her but
knowing he couldn’t do so.

“You did the right thing,” he said, turning to Catherine.

The corners of her mouth lifted a fraction in response, but
the weak smile didn’t meet her eyes.

He left the room then, knowing that Grandmother would do
what she could to comfort Catherine, and made his way to the study. Going over
the account books for the estate was the very last thing he wanted to do at
that moment, but the job had to be done. The tedium of the task would also help
to take his mind off his wife and the mess that was his life for the afternoon.

Nicholas sat down at his desk and opened the estate ledgers.
It would take him the rest of the day to wade through the accounts, a task he
always hated. He ignored the headache that was starting to pound at his
temples, knowing it to be an aftereffect of the episode he had suffered the
previous night.

It was an hour later when a knock sounded at the door.
Without waiting for his reply, Kerrick entered. Normally Nicholas wouldn’t have
minded the interruption, but the cursed throbbing in his head always made him
irritable, to say nothing of the reminder about why Kerrick hadn’t returned to
London with the rest of the guests.

“How long are you planning to hide in here?” Kerrick asked.

“You have an estate. You know they don’t look after
themselves.”

Kerrick either couldn’t tell he was annoyed or he didn’t
care. He closed the door behind him and took a seat across the desk.

Nicholas made a show of closing the ledger and giving his
friend his attention. “Is there something I can do for you?”

“You wife is a beautiful woman,” Kerrick said.

A jolt of annoyance shot through him, but he strove to
ignore it. This was what he’d hoped for, after all. His longtime friend was
more likely to agree to his proposal if he found the woman in question
attractive.

“Have you seen her today?”

“No. I thought it best to speak to you first. Have you told
her what you have planned for us?”

Nicholas shook his head. “I’m planning to tell her tonight.”
He hesitated only a moment before asking, “Are you agreeing to help me?”

Kerrick shook his head. “I haven’t made up my mind. Besides,
the point might be moot if she decides to leave you after you tell her.”

Nicholas knew Louisa wouldn’t leave. She had nowhere else to
go. She could, though, outright refuse him.

Kerrick made a great show of examining his nails before
continuing. “It seems to me that you’re putting off telling your very lovely
wife that you wish her to bed your best friend.”

Nicholas found it difficult not to flinch at the words. His
idea for conceiving an heir hadn’t seemed quite so objectionable when he’d
originally thought of it. The more time that passed, however, and the more he
was around Louisa, the more distasteful the whole thing was to him.

“You wouldn’t happen to have any idea how best to introduce
the subject, would you?”

“Me?” Kerrick said with a bark of laughter. “This is your
insane idea, one I have not yet agreed to help you with. You’re going to have
to figure this one out on your own.”

“Did you come here just to harass me, then?”

“Actually,” Kerrick said, leaning forward in his seat, his
expression serious now, “I came here to see if you had come to your senses.”

“It was while I was lucid that I realized this was the only
way I could fulfill my duty and provide an acceptable heir to the title.”

Kerrick waited a moment before saying, “I saw the two of you
together last night.”

Nicholas raised a brow. “I believe everyone saw us together
last night. That was rather the point of the whole thing.”

“You know what I mean.”

“No, I don’t. Why don’t you enlighten me?”

Kerrick leaned back in his chair. “I believe your new wife
has developed a
tendre
for you. And if I am not mistaken, I think you
are not unaffected by her.”

“I will be the first to admit that Louisa is a very
beautiful woman. She barely knows me, however, and certainly not enough to have
developed any romantic feelings for me. I have taken care not to encourage her
in that direction.”

He had to tamp down on the guilt that speared through him
when he remembered how hurt she’d been when he’d rebuffed her attempts to
engage him in conversation. It was better for everyone involved if his wife
learned that the last thing he wanted or needed was for them to become close.
It was difficult enough staying away from her now.

Nicholas met his friend’s curious gaze, careful to keep his
own neutral. Kerrick exhaled loudly and stood.

“Will you be at dinner? Since I know you won’t be otherwise
engaged with your new wife, I thought you’d want to spend some time making sure
your best friend doesn’t expire from boredom.”

Nicholas frowned when his thoughts went immediately to what
Kerrick might soon be doing to relieve his ennui. He struggled to keep his
voice casual when he replied.

“I’ll see you at dinner. It will be a good opportunity for
you and Louisa to get to know each other before I speak to her tonight.”

Kerrick merely nodded before leaving.

Nicholas sat staring at the door through which his friend
had departed for some time before turning his attention back to the ledgers. He
didn’t want to think about the conversation he would soon be having with his
wife.

* * *
* *

John’s leaving had shaken Louisa to her core. Things weren’t
going at all as she’d hoped. The very last thing she’d wanted was for John to
sacrifice his future. She still couldn’t quite believe he’d tossed aside the
opportunity to attend Oxford, which had been guaranteed by her marriage to
Nicholas. The irony was not lost on her that she’d tried to keep the knowledge
of Edward Manning’s proposition from her brother, knowing he would confront
Manning if he learned of it, because she’d wanted to keep him safe. And now he
had run off to enlist in the military.

She was also having a hard time anticipating husband’s
moods. She never knew from one moment to the next if he would be the open,
friendly man who she had glimpsed from time to time, or the man who seemed to
barely tolerate her presence.

She hesitated outside the dining room door, smoothing a hand
over her dress reflexively. The pale yellow color complemented her coloring and
she found herself hoping Nicholas would find it becoming. She wondered what
mood he would be in tonight.

She relaxed slightly when she entered the room and saw her
husband hadn’t arrived yet. Catherine and Lady Overlea were already seated and
were chatting about some of the plants in the conservatory. It comforted her to
know that her sister, at least, was finding herself at home in Overlea Manor.

She’d just taken her seat when Nicholas and Lord Kerrick
arrived. She’d been told her husband’s friend would be staying for a visit but
hadn’t seen him yet since returning. Perversely, she wondered briefly if he,
too, were avoiding her.

Nicholas greeted her with a smile, but she noticed it didn’t
reach his eyes, which appeared to be shadowed with strain. She wanted to ask
him how he was feeling but knew he wouldn’t welcome her concern.

In her position seated across from Nicholas, she had an
excellent vantage point from which to observe him, although she tried not to be
obvious about it. He was avoiding her again, engaging everyone in conversation
but her. He spoke to her only briefly and only when necessary. His friend,
however, who was seated next to her, seemed to go out of his way to make up for
her husband’s lack of attention.