The Earl's Inconvenient Wife (Regency Collection Book 1) (11 page)

Chapter Eleven

A
s soon as the carriage pulled up to Weston the next day, Claire breathed a sigh of relief.  Now she could finally go back to London!  Across from her, Roderick was slumped in his seat, his arms crossed, and his eyes closed.  She assumed he was asleep but couldn’t be sure.

The carriage came to a stop, and
he bolted up in his seat.  She jerked in surprise since she hadn’t expected his sudden movement.  For a moment, they stared at each other, but then the footman opened the door.  Neither one of them moved.  She furrowed her eyebrows.  Why didn’t he leave?  He hadn’t always waited for her to go first.

“
Lady Roderick?” the footman asked.

She blinked and turned her attention to him.  Clearing her throat, she said, “I am returning to London.”

“Oh no, you’re not,” Roderick argued, his tone leaving no room for argument.

She narrowed her eyes at him.  “There’s no reason for me to be here.”

“There most certainly is.  You need to give me an heir.”

Shocked that he would dare say that in front of the footman, her cheeks grew warm.  “Since you insist on bringing this up right now, I’ll inform you that I already did my part.  Now it’s a matter of waiting, unless you believe yourself inadequate to perform the task the first time.”

He gasped.  “Might I remind you that such talk is inappropriate in front of others?”

“You’re the one who brought it up.  Might I remind
you
that if
you
don’t want others to overhear what we’re saying,
you
need to keep
your
mouth shut until we’re alone?” Turning her attention back to the footman, she said, “I demand to go back to London at once.”

“She stays here,” Roderick ordered.

The footman glanced from one to the other and sighed.  “I’ll help the coachman with the luggage.”

Shooting her a satisfied grin, Roderick left the carriage.  She wa
s determined to stay right there in the carriage—forever if she had to—but he grabbed her hand and pulled her into his arms.  She wiggled against him in an effort to get away, but he was too strong for her.

“Will you behave or do I have to carry you inside like a wayward ward?” he snapped.

She grunted and pushed against him.  “Let me go!”

His hold tightened around her, and he carried her into the house, i
gnoring the servants who had lined up in front of the manor.  Had she not been so upset with him for forcing her to stay here against her will, she would have been horrified that the servants saw everything, but at the moment, she was too angry to think of what they might be gossiping about that night.

He took her to the drawing room and dumped her on the settee.  She immediately rose to her feet, but he placed his hands on her shoulders and sat her back down.  Before she could make another attempt to bolt for the door, he strode over to
the door and slammed it.

Not to be
deterred by his anger, she crossed her arms and glared at him.  “I will not stay here.”

He strode over to her.
“We did not consummate the marriage.”

She blinked.  “Of course, we did.  You came to my bedchamber.”

“To tell you I couldn’t go through with it.  I’m a civilized man.  I would never force myself on a lady, even if she is conniving.”

Her nails dug the sleeves covering
her arms.  “I’ve had enough with being insulted.  You, my lord, are either deaf or dumb, for nothing I say seems to make little difference.  You want to believe I manipulated you into marrying you, then believe it.  If you want to believe I wish to run all over London spending your money with reckless abandon, then believe that, too.  But don’t insult my intelligence by telling me we didn’t consummate the marriage.” He opened his mouth to speak, but she held her hand up to stop him.  She rose to her feet so she could look him straight in the eye.  “I could be expecting a child right now, and I can be just as pregnant in London as I can be here.”

“I promise you that you aren’t with child. 
Sorry, Claire, but until you give me an heir, you’re stuck with me.”

“You, my lord, are no gentleman.”

“And you, my countess, are no lady.” He lifted his chin in the air and looked down at her.  “If you refuse to take my word for what did not happen on our wedding night, that’s your problem.  But I assure you I did not go to bed with you.  When your monthly flow comes, you’ll discover you are not with child, and at that point, I’ll accept your apology.”

“Lack of a child won’t prove anything.  It took my mother a year to conceive my sister.”

“At this rate, it’ll take us over a year to even consummate the marriage.  You aren’t leaving Weston until I know you’re carrying a child, so if you want to go to London so badly, I suggest you be nice enough to me so we can get the matter over with.”

“Be nice to you?” she asked, appalled by his audacity.  “When you’ve done nothing but accuse me of wrongdoing from the moment we were engaged?  I suggest you start being nice to me.”

“I have been nice to you.  In good faith, I let you shop using my credit, and you thought so little of my gesture that you ran amok through the store as if you and that sister of yours had absolutely no clothes.”

“I only bought a
bonnet.”

“You brought her with you.” Roderick let out a frustrated sigh and shook his head.  “I’m tired of having this argument with you.  The fact remains that I am the lord
of this estate, and what I say goes.  You are staying here until you are with child.”

She gritted her teeth as he headed for the door.
  She closed her eyes and struggled to control the urge to throw something at his head.  The big oaf was going to do everything in his power to make her miserable.  And all for what?  To get even with her for “trapping” him into marriage?

This time when he closed the door behind him, he didn’t slam it.  Even so, the sound echoed ominously throughout the room.  Well, if it was a war he wanted, it was a war he was going to get!  She wouldn’t be confined to this horrible place just because he wanted it.  She’d show him he couldn’t control her.  Somehow, someway, she would get back to London, and she was going to do it if it was the last thing she did.

***

Two weeks passed, and Claire had no more success in
convincing the servants to let her slip out to London than she had the first day she came here.  Whatever else could be said for her obnoxious husband, he was a man who commanded unwavering loyalty from his staff.  At times, it seemed as if they must think him a god by the way they hastened to do whatever he wanted.  And since he wanted her here, they vowed to keep her here as well.

Roderick had taken it upon himself to
daily retreat to his library or take a ride on his horse.  She didn’t miss him.  Indeed, she was delighted he left her alone, especially at night.  But she was all-too-aware of the absence of a friend, namely her sister.  She wrote letter upon letter to Lilly, and Marion arranged for them to be sent out on her behalf.  But it did little to ease the aching loneliness that had become her companion.

She did everything she could to fill her days.  When she wasn’t pleading with one of the servants to take her back to London, she was often in the drawing room using her sketchpad to draw flowers that looked more like warped circles and lopsided ovals than actual flowers.  She loved flowers, especially this time of year when they graced the landscape in abundance.  She often took her sketchpad with her on her walks along the property, especially to the gazebo, and would sit for an hour trying to improve her sketches of them.  Unfortun
ately, nothing she did worked.

Another week passed, and much to her disappointment, her monthly flow came.
  She spent a day in her bedchamber, thankful for the tea Marion made to soothe her cramps but also mourning the fact that she wouldn’t get Roderick’s approval to return to London.  She’d have to probably drink more sherry to work up the nerve to have Roderick back in her room.  He was still leaving her alone, something she was thankful for, but she knew the reprieve wouldn’t last forever.  As soon as he found out there was no heir on the way, he’d insist they try again.  She could only hope the times when she needed to do her duty were no more than once a month.

Three days after her flow started, she gathered her courage to tell Roderick the bad news.  It was before breakfast, before he would run off to ride his horse or read another one of his dull books.  She waited for him at the bottom of the st
airs, fingering the edge of her yellow dress, her stomach twisting up into knots.

The sound of her husband talking to his valet directed her attention to the top of the stairs.  She watched as he instructed the valet on which clothes he’d need after his breakfast.  She rolled her eyes.  She should have known that on a sunny day such as this he’d be taking a ride on his horse.  Sometimes it was irritating to see how much he loved the horse but didn’t give her so much as a single thought.  She immediately criticized herself for thinking such a thing.  What did she care what Roderick thought of her?  Just because he was her husband, it didn’t mean he was worth her time.

The valet nodded and went to do Roderick’s bidding.  She sighed and waited for Roderick to stop inspecting himself in the hallway mirror.  Finally, he headed down the steps in her direction.

Taking a deep breath,
she stood directly in front of him, patiently waiting as he descended each step.  It was now or never.  She clasped her hands in front of her and watched him.  After he went down three steps, it occurred to her that he was going slower and slower with each step.  She furrowed her eyebrows.

“Lord Roderick
, are you in pain?”

He halted his steps, his gaze meeting hers.  “No.  Why would you think that
?”

“You aren’t
able to keep up a healthy pace.  I simply worried for your health.  I could run to London and retrieve a doctor for you, if you so desire.”

With a smirk, he twirled around and bounded down the rest of the steps.  “There’s no need to trouble yourself on my behalf.  I’ve never been better.”

“Oh.”

“You sound disappointed.”

“No, my lord.  I assure you I’m quite relieved.”

He shook his head but smiled.  “You flatter me by your concern.  Are you merely inquiring about my health this morning or is there some other, more sinister, deed at work?”

“Something more sinister I’m afraid.” She motioned to the drawing room.  “It’s something better said in private.”

His gaze went from
her to the drawing room.  With a nod, he headed for the drawing room, not bothering to look behind to see if she followed.  Not surprised, she went after him and shut the door to the room so they could have some privacy. 

S
he sat on the settee, and she wasn’t surprised when he chose to sit in the chair instead of sitting next to her.

“What did you want to discuss?” Roderick asked her
as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs.

Bracing herself, she said, “I regret to inform you that I am not with child.”

He stared at her, not blinking.  “And?”

“And?”

“I already told you that you wouldn’t be because we didn’t consummate the marriage.  So what else is there?”

“Nothing.  There is nothing else.”

She studied his impassive face.  He didn’t show the slightest bit of surprise over this news.  Could it be true that he’d been telling her the truth, that they hadn’t shared her bed on their wedding night?  She struggled to recall that night, and the only thing that came to her was that he’d been in her room, they’d kissed, and then he was taking her to bed.  But had he actually been in the bed with her?  She couldn’t remember anything else, and for the first time, she considered the reason why she couldn’t remember more was because more didn’t happen.

A commotion on the other side of the drawing room door interrupted her thoughts.  She and Roderick stood, and she hurri
ed after him as he opened the door.  In the entryway, the butler stood, listening to an irritated young man who couldn’t have been older than seventeen.

“My being here is a mistake
,” the young man said.

Roderick strode forward and intercepted them.  “
There’s no mistake about it.  You are to be our new stableboy, Mister Robinson.”

Mister Robinson
blanched.  “A stableboy?  My guardian, who also happens to be my cousin, is an earl.”

“
Fortunately, I won’t let a little thing like you being Lord Clement’s ward get in the way of putting you to work.” He glanced at the butler.  “Kindly escort Mister Robinson to his room.” He then turned his gaze to Lord Clement’s ward.  “You’ll find your clothes in there.”

“But I brought my own clothes,” Mister Robinson argued.

“There’s no need.  I have everything you need right here,” Roderick replied in the controlling manner Claire knew so well.  “This isn’t a vacation.  The sooner you learn responsibility, the better.” He gestured to the butler to show Mister Robinson to his room.