LITMIR.BIZ

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was a hypocrite, too, she told herself, stoking her anger. He had virtually forced Piers to go back to Spain when, who knows, if he had sold out to marry her and be a father to their child, he would be alive now.

      What if, what if... No, it was a futile game to play. Piers might have walked out of his house and been run over by a cart, or have been struck down by typhoid. Every second of every day everyone made choices that could result in life or death. If Avery felt guilty, then that was his burden to carry and she had to learn to forgive him.

      It was curiously difficult to do, even when she loved him. Perhaps that was the penalty of becoming older, one saw the shades of grey in everything, in everyone.

      ‘Mama?’ Alice peeped around the door. ‘Blackie and Mab say you are poorly and I mustn’t come and bounce on the bed.’

      ‘But you may come in and sit beside me.’ Laura patted the bed. ‘I will be better soon, it is just a tummy ache.’

      ‘Papa has written you a letter. He said I could bring it.’ Beaming with importance, she handed over the note, folded but unsealed.

      Laura opened it and read: I have accepted an offer on the timber in the far woods and I must go to St Albans to my lawyers to finalise the sale and for other business. I may also need to go to Buckingham, but I will be back in four, or at the most seven, days. There was no salutation, no signature beyond his initials.

      ‘Papa has gone away for a few days on business,’ Laura said and managed a big smile. ‘So the ladies of the house are in charge. What mischief shall we get up to while Papa is away?’

      That did make Alice bounce, until Mab wagged a finger at her. They would have a picnic with nothing but cake, go riding all day, buy a puppy...

      Laura let her rattle on and told herself that it was only her present condition that made her feel so miserable. But she knew she wanted Avery back, needed to talk to him, needed to find a way through this suspicion between them.

      Alice followed Mab into the dressing room to ‘help’ her sort out Laura’s shoes and Laura smiled at Miss Blackstock, standing quietly in the corner, waiting with her usual patience. ‘Do you think we should find Miss Alice a governess, Miss Blackstock? My husband was speaking of it a while ago.’

      ‘That was when he did not know who he would be marrying so soon, if I might be so bold as to put it that way. He hasn’t said any more about it to me, my lady.’

      ‘She is still a little young. I could undertake her lessons for a year.’

      ‘That would please Miss Alice, my lady. But might it not be a problem when his lordship wishes to travel with you and not always take Miss Alice? You haven’t had your bride trip yet, for one thing.’

      That was true. Somehow Laura could not imagine Avery wanting to whisk her away alone on a romantic journey, but he might want her to act as hostess if he was sent on a diplomatic mission and Alice was becoming rather old to take around the capitals of Europe with parents who were distracted by matter of state.

      ‘A governess would give her continuity,’ Laura agreed. She stretched and rubbed her back. The cramps were easing, by tomorrow she would feel her usual energetic self. ‘Which carriage has Lord Wykeham taken?’

      ‘The small one, my lady.’

      ‘Well, in that case, I think I will take the travelling carriage and we can go up to London tomorrow and set about finding someone. Mab, Alice!’ They looked around the door, one head above the other, and made her smile. ‘I think we will have a ladies’ trip to London, just the four of us, and we will see if we cannot find Alice a nice governess. What do you think of that, Alice?’

      The child came in, her face scrunched up in thought as she considered this hard question. ‘Will she be fun?’

      ‘Of course. She will be young and cheerful and she will teach you all kinds of exciting things.’

      ‘And you won’t go away, just because I’ve got her?’

      ‘I will have to go away if Papa is travelling and needs me, but I will always come back, Alice. If we choose a governess now, then you will have plenty of time to get to know her before I go anywhere with Papa. And Blackie will be here, as well.’ Alice nodded approval. ‘In that case, ladies, this afternoon we will pack for London!’

      * * *

      Avery had intended to stay away a week, time for Laura to recover from her temporary indisposition and from her distress over the letter. Time for him to decide how to deal with a wife he desired, whom he had, undoubtedly, wronged and yet, somehow could not quite bring himself to trust. She has wronged me, a mutinous voice reminded him. She had never explained how she could shut Alice out of her life for six years. She had acted a part as Mrs Jordan. She had tried to entrap him into marriage. And yet I love her.

      Avery gritted his teeth and looked out of the window at the sight of the park rolling past the carriage windows. The sun was just setting and the stands of beech trees cast long, lovely shadows across the grass.

      He was in no mood to appreciate natural beauty. Four days he had managed to stay away, not long enough to get his own guilt and resentment under control and not long enough, he was sure, for Laura to be feeling very kindly towards him.

      His mood was not helped by Pritchett’s expression of surprise as he walked through his own front door. ‘My lord!’

      ‘Yes?’ Avery raised an eyebrow. ‘Why the surprise? I believe I live here.’

      ‘Yes, of course, my lord. It is just that her ladyship—’

      Something cold ran a finger down Avery’s spine. ‘What is wrong with her?’ Was she sick after all? He would forgive her anything. Anything at all—

      Pritchett took a step back. ‘Nothing, my lord, I assure you. It is only that her ladyship and Miss Alice left for London the day before yesterday. I assumed you knew, my lord, and would be joining them.’

      ‘Of course.’ Whatever else was happening, preserve appearances in front of the staff. One of his mother’s favourite rules. Appearances are all, never mind the hell beneath. ‘I will be joining them in London. Tomorrow.’ If they are there. Stop it. Trust her. Of course they will be there.

      * * *

      ‘I feel confident we can find someone suitable from these five, don’t you?’ Laura conned the list of young women she had asked for interview the next day.

      ‘I think so, my lady. I particularly liked that one and that one.’ Miss Blackstock touched two of the names on the list that Laura held out to her. ‘They all have the qualifications you are looking for, and are under thirty and seem to be of a kind and cheerful disposition, but those two gave me the impression of a natural firmness.’

      ‘Which is what they will need to handle Alice,’ Laura agreed with a chuckle. ‘Miss Blackstock, I hope you do not feel that I am attempting to detach you from Alice. You have been such a major influence on her and she loves you very much. But I am hoping that perhaps there may soon be someone else for you to look after...’

      ‘That is wonderful, my lady. His lordship—’

      ‘No, not yet, Miss Blackstock, but I hope it will not be too long. And I do not want Alice feeling that not only has her little nose been put out of joint by a new baby, but her Blackie has also been taken away from her.’

      ‘Of course, my lady. That seems very sensible and farsighted.’

      ‘Thank you.’ The carriage lurched as they rounded the corner into the square. ‘Almost home. I wish now I had not told Alice we were seeking a governess for her. When they call tomorrow and meet her I have no idea how she will react to them.’

      ‘Ah, well,’ Blackie said with a smile, ‘if the worse comes to the worst and she is difficult it will scare away the faint-hearted ones.’

      * * *

      Laura met Blackie’s gaze over the top of

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