Reese's Bride (25 page)

“Royal told me you and Reese were renting a house in town until your business is completed,” Lily said. “You know you are more than welcome to stay with us.”

“If it were just the three of us, we would love to stay with you. But as you can see, we have brought along a small entourage. It seems half the household has come to London with us.”

Lily glanced toward the entry, where Jack Montague stood watch. “Yes, I see what you mean.” The maid returned with a tea tray and set it on the Sheraton table in front of the sofa. Elizabeth poured refreshment for them both.

Lily sipped her tea. “This whole affair must be terribly trying. I’m sure you will be greatly relieved when all of this is over and Jared is finally safe.”

“You can’t begin to imagine.”

“Royal told me the adoption was approved.”

“Yes, and we are so very grateful. Reese is a wonderful father. I can already see a world of difference in my son.”

Lily smiled wistfully. “I can’t wait to be a mother.” Her cheeks turned a pretty shade of pink. “In fact, that is one of the reasons I wanted to stop by. You see, I have just discovered I am going to have a baby.”

“Oh, my heavens!” Elizabeth felt a rush of gladness that must have shown in her face. “I am so very happy for you!” She set down her cup and saucer, leaned over and gave Lily a hug. “The duke must be ecstatic.”

Lily grinned. “The man is walking on air. He is already making plans to refurbish the nursery at Bransford. We’ve been working on the house, bit by bit, but the nursery was not at the top of the list until now.”

“I can’t wait to tell Reese he is going to be an uncle.”

Lily took a sip of tea and eyed Elizabeth over the rim of her cup. “Perhaps in the future, you will make him a father again.”

Some of Elizabeth’s joy slipped away. She glanced down at the cup and saucer in her lap. “Perhaps.” But she wasn’t sure Reese would ever return to her bed. Perhaps he no longer desired her. Or as she feared, had turned to another woman.

She pasted on a smile for her friend. “So what names have the two of you picked out?”

Lily laughed, the sound like the tinkle of water over
stones in a brook. “We haven’t got quite that far yet. Perhaps we will discuss it tonight.”

“I think we ought to go shopping. You are going to need a world of baby clothes.”

Lily’s smile lit her whole face. “It’s going to be so wonderful to have a child.”

Elizabeth thought of Jared and how much she loved him. “There is nothing more marvelous than being a mother.”

“Except, perhaps, having a husband who loves you.”

Sadness overcame Elizabeth. For a moment it was hard to speak. “You’re very lucky, Lily.”

As if she read Elizabeth’s thoughts, Lily’s happy smile slid away. “Give him a little time,” she said, reaching over to take hold of Elizabeth’s hand. “In time, he’ll work things out.”

But he still hadn’t come to her bed and she worried he never would again.

A thick fog shrouded the redbrick buildings and floated snakelike through the narrow, cobbled streets. Reese turned up the collar of his heavy black overcoat and tightened the woolen scarf around his neck.

Philip Keaton, Lord Sandhurst, moved at a brisk pace ahead of him, into an area of middle-class establishments. Four nights in a row, Reese had followed him, waiting outside the earl’s expensive Mayfair town house until he left his dwelling, entered his carriage, and the coach rolled off down the street.

Reese had hired an unobtrusive dull black conveyance and ordered the driver to follow at a discreet distance, careful to keep the Sandhurst carriage in sight. The first three nights, the earl had simply made stops at a
number of gentlemen’s clubs about town, including Brooks, the Carlton, and White’s.

Tonight, the Sandhurst coach was heading in a different direction, taking the earl into a far less respectable area of town. It wasn’t a rough neighborhood, just not the sort a wealthy, titled gentlemen usually frequented.

When the coach rolled to a stop and Sandhurst departed, leaving instructions for the driver to return three hours hence, Reese waited until he had walked a ways down the block and climbed out of his rented vehicle, advising the coachman to wait. Then he followed at a discreet distance behind the earl, mostly hidden by the dense fog that nearly obscured his quarry.

Sandhurst paused in the doorway of an establishment called the Rose and Thorn, and Reese stepped back into the shadows, flattening himself against a wall. He waited. Sandhurst disappeared inside, but Reese didn’t move. Minutes ticked past.

He had just started toward the tavern when a man appeared out of the fog, walking toward the tavern from the opposite direction. He was tall and slenderly built. The hair beneath his stylish beaver hat gleamed like pale gold in the lamplight streaming out of the tavern window.

There was something familiar about him: the recessed chin, the elegant nose and graceful way he moved, and yet Reese couldn’t recall where he might have seen him. He stepped out of the shadows as the man disappeared inside the tavern.

He had no fear that Sandhurst would recognize him. Reese hoped the blond man wouldn’t know him, either.
Making his way along the damp, muddy street, he shoved open the door to the tavern and walked into the taproom.

The place was low-ceilinged and smoky, but quieter than he might have expected. On the far side of the room, he spotted Sandhurst, seated at a table with the slender blond man. Reese moved to a scarred wooden stool at the bar, ordered an ale, and watched them from the corner of his eye.

There was something in the close proximity of the two men, something in the way the blond man’s head tilted toward the slightly older, far more masculine man. There was something in the soft smile on the younger man’s face when he looked at Sandhurst that put Reese on alert.

As soon as the pair had finished their drinks, they walked toward the stairs leading up to the second floor. There were rooms for hire up there. Rooms available for a night or a week. The men took the stairs side-by-side and as they passed by the lamp that lit the stairwell, Reese got a clear look at the younger man’s face.

His jaw hardened. Reese had his answer.

Though he wasn’t in his lieutenant’s uniform, the man with Sandhurst was Colonel Thomas’s young, blond aid.

A
lthough he had come home in the late hours last night, Reese was up and dressed and ready to leave before the rest of London had risen from their beds.

Jack Montague’s second-shift man stood guard at the front door as Reese approached. He needed to see Travis this morning, to tell him what he had found out last night, see what Trav had discovered that might help their case.

He had almost reached the door when he heard a firm pounding outside. He waved Montague’s man away and went to answer the knock himself. When he opened the door, the man he needed to see stood outside on the porch.

“I found him!” Travis said, his hazel eyes gleaming behind the glass in his spectacles. “I know who he is!”

Trav didn’t seem the least surprised to find Reese up so early. Both of them were used to army life and Travis knew him well. Reese cocked his head toward the study and both men headed in that direction. Once inside, Travis quietly closed the door.

“His name is Boris Radonyak. He never approached me because someone in the Foreign Office tipped him that I was working undercover for the government.”

“How’d you find him?”

“A big Russian named Nikolai Godunov. He knew my mother. He knows just about everything that goes on in the neighborhood. Maybe Radonyak mentioned my name to Nikolai, or maybe to someone else and word got back to him. Nikolai said he brought his family to England to start fresh and that Radonyak was a threat to him and the rest of the community.”

“He’s damned well right.”

“Boris is our guy, but I haven’t figured out where he’s getting his information.”

“I think I know exactly where he’s getting it.”

“You do?”

“An aide in the colonel’s office. A young lieutenant. I saw him last night with your good friend, Sandhurst.”

“You think Sandhurst is involved?”

“I’m sure of it. The earl is getting information from the lieutenant, then selling it, apparently to Radonyak, who is delivering it to the Russians.”

Travis took a minute to digest the information. “If you’re right—”

“It all adds up. Until a couple of years ago, Sandhurst was nearly broke. Then miraculously, his finances changed. He found out about your journal and pointed a finger at you to divert suspicion from himself. All the while, he’s lining his pockets by selling out his country. I don’t think it’ll be all that hard to follow the money he’s been getting right back to good ol’ Boris.”

“Nice work, Major.” Travis smiled and Reese slapped him on the shoulder.

“Come on. Let’s take what we have to the colonel.”

“You think he’ll believe us?”

“Thomas is smart. We give him the pieces, it won’t take him long to put the puzzle together.”

The men left the house, heading for the building that housed the Foreign Office. Thomas would want to verify the facts for himself, but Reese was certain, once he did, that Travis’s name would be cleared.

And the young lieutenant, along with the Earl of Sandhurst and Boris Radonyak, would come under investigation for treason.

As they climbed into Travis’s carriage, the burden on Reese’s shoulders felt lighter than it had in weeks. At least one of his worries was about to be over.

“So how are you and Annabelle getting along?” he asked, settling himself back in the seat.

Travis’s features turned grim. “I’d rather not talk about it.”

Reese hiked a brow. “That bad, is it?”

Travis made no reply, just turned to stare out the window.

“At least if you decide you want her, you won’t have to worry about hanging.”

Trav’s attention swung back to Reese. His hazel eyes glinted behind the lenses of his spectacles. “Oh, I want her. Make no mistake about that.”

Reese said nothing more. Annabelle Townsend was beautiful and desirable and, fortunately for Reese, she was Travis’s concern.

Reese had kept his promise to help his friend.

But he couldn’t help wondering what Travis would do about the lady who had, apparently, managed to burrow very deeply under his skin.

The security guard, Jack Montague, answered the knock at the door. Hearing a woman’s voice out on the porch, Elizabeth rose from the sofa and started in that direction. Stoop-shouldered and silver-haired, Reese’s aunt Agatha made her way into the house.

Elizabeth’s heart beat dully. She had known this moment would come. By now, the old woman knew that Reese had discovered the truth about his son. Both his brothers knew and they were not wont to keep secrets from the matriarch of the family.

What would the dowager say when she discovered that Elizabeth had not been able to earn her nephew’s forgiveness? That there would be no loving family and no more children, as the dowager seemed to wish? When she found out that Reese had abandoned her—that Elizabeth wasn’t able to make him love her?

Fighting to hold back tears, she took a deep breath and pasted on a smile. “Lady Tavistock…please do come in.”

Leaning heavily on her cane, the frail old woman looked her over from head to foot, and her thin silver eyebrows pulled nearly together. “You look puny, my girl. Are you sick?”

Sick at heart
, Elizabeth wanted to say. Though Reese had brought good news yesterday about Captain Greer, believing his friend’s name would soon be cleared of any suspicion, he had spoken with her only briefly then left her alone.

He had spent several hours with Jared, accompanying
him and Mr. Gillespie on a walk to the stable in the park. He had not come that night to her bed. He was keeping his distance, she knew, determined not to risk himself again.

Elizabeth led the dowager into the drawing room, a journey that took a little extra time with the older woman’s slower pace.

“Why don’t we have some tea?” Elizabeth suggested as Lady Tavistock seated herself on the burgundy sofa. She started for the bellpull but the dowager shook her head.

“Had enough tea already. Want to know what is going on between you and my nephew.”

Elizabeth bit back an urge to tell the old woman it was none of her business, but of course in a way it was. Aunt Agatha loved all three of her nephews like the sons she never had. She had a right to worry about Reese.

Elizabeth steeled herself and sat down on the opposite end of the sofa. “He knows Jared is his son. I presume you’re aware of that.”

“Of course I am. We don’t keep secrets in this family.”
Not like you
, were the unspoken words.

“I should have told him myself. I shouldn’t have waited.”

“You should have told him eight years ago. But that is water under the bridge. The important thing is that the two of you are married and you have a child to think of. The past is past and it’s time to move forward.”

Elizabeth glanced away, blinking against the sting of tears. “He won’t forgive me. I told you that before we were married.”

“Poppycock! The man loves you. Always has, always will.”

He might have loved her once, Elizabeth thought. Not anymore. She stiffened her spine. “Reese doesn’t…he no longer comes to my bed.”

The old woman pondered that, then she grinned. “My nephew loves you even more than I thought.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Reese loves you desperately and it frightens him to death. My nephew is a very virile man—all the Bransford men are—and certainly not one to ignore the physical needs of his body.”

Elizabeth said nothing. She had no idea how Reese felt about her. Or even if he might be satisfying his desires with another woman. She only knew that he had abandoned her as she had once abandoned him.

“So what about you, Elizabeth? How do you feel about Reese?”

The tears she had been fighting welled in her eyes. There was no use lying and certainly not to a woman as perceptive as the dowager countess. “I thought I loved him when I was a girl. And I suppose in a way, I did. But I am a woman now and for the first time, I truly know what love is. I love Reese, and I would do anything to make him love me in return.”

The old lady flashed a satisfied smile. “And so you shall.”

“But how, my lady? Reese doesn’t trust me. He’s built a wall around his heart and he’s afraid that if he lets me in, I’ll only betray him again.”

“But we both know you would never do that.”

Elizabeth brushed the wetness from her cheeks. “No. I would die before I would ever do anything to hurt him again.”

The dowager seemed pleased. “Then you will win his
love. You will do what every woman has done for a thousand years. You will seduce him into loving you.”

Elizabeth straightened. “Good heavens, I couldn’t possibly do that! I wouldn’t even know how to begin.”

Aunt Agatha eyed her shrewdly. “You are no longer the naïve young girl you once were. You know something of a man’s physical likes and dislikes. I imagine with Reese as your husband, you know a great deal about what he enjoys. Instead of waiting for him to come to you—you, my girl, will simply go to him.”

For several long moments, Elizabeth just sat there. Could she do it? Could she actually seduce him? Was she willing to risk herself that way? But she would do anything for Reese, even risk his rejection.

She felt an odd, tingling excitement rising inside her. Memories of Reese’s heated lovemaking had the color rushing into her cheeks. A coil of desire tightened low in her belly at the thought of making love with him again.

Elizabeth looked over at the dowager and smiled. “I’ll do it, my lady. I promise you I shall do my very best to win him.”

“That’s my girl!” The old woman’s wrinkled face brightened with something like glee. She eyed Elizabeth shrewdly. “You know, ’tis bitterly cold outside. I think I’ve changed my mind. I would very much enjoy that cup of tea.”

Elizabeth smiled, thinking that each time they talked, some of the old woman’s enmity faded. Perhaps one day friendship would grow between them.

In the meantime, she had a seduction to plan.

“What is it?” Lily asked as the butler appeared at the door leading into the drawing room.

“Your friend, Lady Annabelle, Your Grace. She has asked to see you. She says that if you are busy, she will come back some other time.”

Lily smiled, delighted at the prospect of company. “I am certainly not too busy for her. Ask her to come and join me.”

The butler bowed. “Yes, Your Grace.”

A few seconds later, Annabelle hurried through the drawing room door, her full, dark-blue silk skirts floating out around her. “Thank you for seeing me, Your Grace. I know I should have sent word, but…” Then Annabelle broke into tears.

Lily hurried toward her. “Good heavens, what in the world is the matter?” Slipping an arm around her friend, she urged her over to the sofa and Annabelle sank down heavily.

“I know I promised I wouldn’t come here and cry on your shoulder, but there is no one else I can talk to.”

“You know you are always welcome here. Now…tell me what has happened.”

Annabelle pulled a handkerchief from her reticule and dabbed it against her eyes. “It’s Travis.”

“Yes, well that much I guessed.”

“I thought…I thought I was mature enough to deal with an affair. I thought I could see him on occasion, make love with him, and everything would be all right.”

“But it isn’t.”

“No, it isn’t. Every time I am with him, it is more wonderful than the time before. Until it’s time for me to leave. The minute I walk out the door, I feel sick inside, and utterly and completely empty. I need him, Lily, and not just on occasion. I am so in love with him I am sick with it.”

“Oh, Anna.” Lily leaned over and hugged her, allowing
the woman to rest her head for a moment on Lily’s shoulder. “I know how much it hurts. Perhaps you would be better off to end the affair before it gets even more painful.”

Annabelle straightened away. “That is what I have been thinking. I just…I don’t know if I have the courage.”

“Perhaps you should simply tell Captain Greer the truth. That you love him and that it hurts too much to go on as you have been.”

“I don’t know, Lily. I…I think he was afraid something like this would happen. He tried to protect me. He tried to warn me away but I wouldn’t listen.” Fresh tears welled and Annabelle wiped them away. “This is my fault, not his. I don’t want him to blame himself or feel guilty for what we have done.”

“Poor Anna. Your heart is broken and yet you worry about Captain Greer’s feelings instead of your own. You truly do love him,” Lily said softly.

“I have always loved him. Now that we’ve been together, I love him more than ever.” Anna reached for Lily’s hand. “Tell me what to do.”

Lily shook her head, moving the silver-blond curls on her shoulders. “I can’t tell you that. Only your heart can tell you. But you must choose some course, Anna. If you wait, you will only wind up hurting each other more.”

Annabelle nodded. She released a weary breath. “You’re right, Lily. I have to do something—for both of our sakes.”

“Indeed, you must. Doing something is always better than simply worrying and doing nothing.”

Annabelle blew her nose and rose from the sofa. “Thank you, Lily. You are a very dear friend.”

Lily’s heart felt heavy as she watched Annabelle leave the drawing room. She knew exactly how it felt to lose the man you loved. She rested a hand protectively over her stomach, where Royal’s child nestled peacefully inside her. She hadn’t told Anna. She didn’t want to cause the poor woman more grief. Unlike Anna, she had been lucky. In the end, Royal had discovered that he loved her, too.

Lily said a silent prayer for Anna and Travis. She hoped God would help them find a way to be together.