A Matter of Principle (8 page)

“
God help me!” Rickard slapped his knee. There was no sign of amusement on his face. “I’m done in!”

Chapter Six

Nicolas turned Fyrste north toward home. He was barely past the Atherton yard when he heard a woman’s voice ahead, mewling in distress. He urged the stallion toward the sound, and caught sight of a flutter of yellow.

“
Who’s there?” he called, dismounting.

“
Nick? Is that you?” Lily’s thin voice wavered through the wet trees. “Thank God!”

“
Lily?” Nicolas followed the voice until he reached the woman, sprawled on the damp ground in a striking gray silk riding habit and long yellow scarf. “Your clothes blend in with the day, madam. Were you thrown?” He reached down a hand.

“
No, I was intending to ride, but then I just kept walking.” She smoothed her skirt, ignoring his gesture. “I’m afraid I’ve twisted my ankle.”

Nicolas groaned. “Let me take a look, then.”

He knelt on the carpet of dead leaves, their chilly moisture seeping through the knees of his nankeens, and lifted the edge of her skirt. He took her slim ankle in his hands and bent it a little.

“
Ouch!” Lily reached toward her leg, her gloved palm alighting on Nicolas’s forearm. “That hurts.”

“
It isn’t swollen. How long have you been lying here?” Nicolas sat back on his heels.

“
I—I’m not sure. I was in such a state when I left the manor.” Lily’s lashes fluttered and her other palm rested against her cheek.

“
Well, I suppose we should get you back.” He moved to stand.

Lily’s grip on his forearm tightened. “Nicolas, I am in such a precarious situation. Please help me!”

He tipped his head toward Fyrste. “I’ll take you back, Lily. I’ll not leave you here.”

Two small gasps preceded her tears. “That’s not what I was referring to.”

Nicolas knew in his gut that he should stand up. He should walk to the stallion. He should ride away. But Lily’s sorrowful resemblance to her sister Lara, his dead wife, softened his heart; though all the while a molten rock burned in his belly. He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “What is it Lily?”

“
I need money,” she wailed.

“
You told Sydney that your husband was wealthy. Did you lie?” Nicolas demanded. A wet chill trickled down the back of his neck.

“
No! No, Nick he is. And very generous. It’s only that…” She paused and pulled off her gloves. She wiped her flooding eyes with manicured fingertips. “I have some debts.”

“
What sort of debts?”

Lily lowered her gaze. “When I left Cheltenham in such a rush, I didn’t have my affairs in order. And I couldn’t ask my mother for money, she was already ill when I arrived. So, I borrowed.”

“
How much?” Nicolas didn’t care that the question was rude.

“
Little bits at a time, I don’t know. And then I placed a couple of wagers in an attempt to win enough to satisfy them.”

Nicolas shook his head and grunted in frustration.

“
I know it was wrong, Nick! But I was desperate!” She gripped him again. “Please don’t think poorly of me!”

Nicolas raised one brow. “Desperate enough to marry a man more than twice your age?”

Lily pulled back as those words burned through her façade.

“
What did he promise you, Lily?” Nicolas probed.

She stared hard at him. “It’s what I promised him,” she whispered.

“
You struck a bargain?”

She nodded. “He needs an heir.”

“
So you promised to play the dutiful wife and give him a son? In exchange for what?” Nicolas waved a finger in her face before she could speak. “Let me venture: the life you wish to lead?”

“
It’s somewhat that way.” She blushed.

Nicolas sneered, “Somewhat? What part did I miss?”

Lily lifted her chin and fixed her turquoise eyes on his. “He isn’t able.”

“
Able?” he repeated stupidly. Did that mean what he thought?

“
Don’t play the fool, Nick, it doesn’t suit you,” Lily snapped.

He would not have counted it possible, but she had shocked him. “Oh, my Lord, Lily. You’ve made a devil’s bargain, haven’t you? You are to give him a son, through any means, and he’ll support you in the life you want!”

Lily’s eyelids drooped seductively. “You always were the most intelligent man I ever knew.” She turned toward him, and pulled the yellow silk scarf from her neck. Her breasts rounded over the tight bodice of her riding habit. Her reddened lips parted.

His eyes traced the path of her invitation without his being aware. He was still trying to grasp the ramifications of the unnerving situation.

“
Give me a baby, Nick.”

“
What!” The word exploded, originating deep in his chest. “No!”

“
Please? Please, Nicolas?” She crawled closer, her warm hand high on his thigh. “Plant your seed in me, I beg you. There is no one else whose babe I wish to carry!” She cupped him firmly.

Nicolas knocked her hand away and stumbled to his feet. He brushed angrily at the forest’s detrital bits clinging to his danp breeches.

“
Even if I had a mind to be party to this horrible game—which I do not!—I’ve taken vows. I will not break them!” he thundered.

“
Not even for Rickard?” she taunted.

“
How is this Rickard’s predicament?” As soon as he said the words, he knew the answer. “For the love of God, Lily, don’t tie this to Rickard!”

“
I would drop my claim…”

“
Your claim is invalid! And besides that, the estate would founder! How can you think to ruin your brother this way? Your last living kin!”

“
You are my kin, Nicolas. You married my sister.”

Nicolas ground the words out. “You understand my meaning, Lily.”

“
Do you understand mine?” She grabbed Nicolas’s fist and pulled to stand. “Give me a baby and I’ll leave Rickard alone.”

“
I cannot do that, Lily.”

“
Cannot? Or will not?”

“
Both!” he shouted and yanked his arm from her grasp. “Have you learned nothing from your past manipulations and their consequences?”

Lily glared at him. “This time, I have the means to see it through.”

“
Don’t do it, Lily. It cannot end well,” Nicolas warned.

“
For whom?” she taunted. “I believe I shall come out with everything I want!”

Nicolas swept her with a disdainful gaze. “You are appeared quite recovered, madam. I shall take my leave of you, then.” He spun on his heel and stomped through the damp drifts of dead leaves. Pulling himself seamlessly into Fyrste’s saddle, he kicked the startled stallion to a run.



Nicolas turned Fyrste over to Jeremy and headed toward his house. He needed to search out Sydney and tell her what transpired in the forest with Lily.

Oddly enough, it never occurred to him not to tell her, he realized with a start. Their year in Christiania had changed him. When they had only each other to rely on in the midst of the royal family’s political maneuverings. When they needed to trust that the other person stood true to their course. His first response now was to confide in her, knowing that together they would face whatever situation arose.

It did not make the telling any easier, however.

Sydney sat at her dressing table, her face carved in granite and just as mottled, and listened without interrupting. In fact when he finished, she still did not speak.

“
Min presang
?” He pushed her straight, dark hair back over her shoulder.

Her gray-green eyes slowly lifted to his.

“
What are you pondering so solemnly?” he asked, his tone as tender as he knew how to make it.

She reached for his hand. “The very first time I laid eyes on you, I knew you were a beautiful, beautiful man. Even as you stood at the foot of the bed and glared at me, so cold and so stern, your anger could not diminish your beauty one whit.”

Nicolas blushed, one corner of his mouth lifting in self-effacing embarrassment. “Sydney…”

She pulled him close enough that he knelt beside her. She took his stubbled face in her smooth, cool hands. Her gaze was intense as it traveled over his features.

“
I didn’t realize that, even though we were married, so many women would ask you to ignore your vows.” She blinked back the moisture that welled behind her lower eyelids. It caught in her lashes, sticking them together. “I now see that it will always be a cross I must bear.”

“
No one but you,
min presang
. No one but you, now and forever!” Nicolas’s voice was low, making it even more powerful. “I swear before God that I will hold true.”

“
You are a man of honor, Nicolas. I trust you. These women are
my
cross, not yours.”

Nicolas pulled Sydney close and held her against him. She fit him so well. Sturdy enough that he knew he could not crush her with his bulk, yet pliant enough to mold to his body and melt into him. For a moment, he couldn’t breathe, so deep was his love for her.

“
Will you tell Rickard?” she whispered.

“
No. Unless there comes a reason.”

She nodded against his chest.

November 5, 1821

The Hansens climbed the steps of the Atherton porch once again. With a shared squaring of shoulders, Nicolas rapped the heavy knocker. Soon the door opened and they were ushered into another evening with Lord and Lady Ezra Warpold Kensington. After the usual pleasantries, and much fussing over the infant Glynnis, the gathering moved to the dining room.

A familiar newspaper was folded on Nicolas’s plate.

“
What’s the meaning of this?” he demanded of Sydney.

“
Sydney had nothing to do with it!” Rickard stated. “Why would you think she had?”

Nicolas shook his head and moved the newspaper to the sideboard. “Never mind.”

Sydney picked it up. “Rickard, do you think this might apply to Nicolas?”

Rickard took the paper from Sydney and waved it under Nicolas’s nose. “It’s the logical answer to all his fretting!”

Sydney raised one brow at Nicolas. “I agree.”

Rickard turned to her, surprised. “You do?”

“
I told him the same thing when I read it!”

“
Read what?” Lily pulled the periodical from her brother’s hand. Her brow dipped as she scanned the article. Then she looked at Nicolas. “Are you considering running for office?”

“
No. I am not.” He pulled out Sydney’s chair and waited for her to sit.

“
Why not?” Lily pressed. “I think you would be magnificent!”

“
Will you sit, darling?” Nicolas urged his wife. She shot him a look, then lowered slowly into the proffered seat. He sat in the chair beside her and folded his hands, waiting silently.

“
Why are you such an ass?” Rickard laughed and held the chair for Bronnie.

“
Are you considering politics in America at all?” Ezra asked, holding Lily’s chair.

Nicolas pulled his attention to the elderly man. “I had not.”

“
And why not?” Bronnie asked. Seeing his glare she glanced over at Rickard, then back again. “I only wondered what your reasoning is, is all.”

Nicolas sat back in his chair. “I have enough to do at the estate.”

“
No you don’t,” Sydney quipped.

Nicolas frowned at his outspoken wife. “Yes, I do.”

She leaned toward him. “No, you don’t. Jeremy and Jack are doing almost everything, and Leif works hard when he’s not in school. Even John pitches in.”

“
Why are you pushing this so hard, wife?” he grumbled.

“
Because you want to change the world,” she and Rickard stated in unplanned tandem. The room bubbled with laughter.

Nicolas blushed. “So maybe I said that once before.”

Rickard pointed at Nicolas. “Brother, you harbor the romantic notion that the world might be fixed.”

“
And you have your experiences with the
Storting
in Norway to draw on!” Sydney added.

“
And you are well-educated!” Bronnie the erstwhile school teacher added.

“
And very, very presentable,” Lily purred.

“
And popular, so it would seem!” Ezra posited.

Nicolas did not know what he felt. Part of him wished to remain secluded on his estate and deal only with his newly expanded family. But another part of him, the part that pushed him to buy Jack and Sarah even though he was vehemently opposed to slavery, the part that sent him to Norway to explore the possibility of the throne though he was a staunch American, the part of him that came alive again with Sydney, niggled at him to do it.

“
It’s too much,” he demurred. “I don’t even know if anyone outside this room would ever consider me.”