An Affair to Remember (29 page)

“Damn Greyley,” Anna muttered. How like Rupert to be worried about her only for the sake of saving his own skin, though she doubted Anthony would care. He was far too busy with his precious Charlotte to give any thought to her. To Anna’s horror, tears rose to her eyes and she had to fight a depressing need to gulp back a sob.

“Perhaps I should get the landlady,” Rupert said, backing away when he saw the tears, a wild expression in his eyes. “I daresay your head hurts and Mrs. Tuffins will know what to do.”

“I don’t want Mrs. Tuffins,” Anna said, gathering herself. She pressed a hand to her head and found that she possessed a bandage that matched Rupert’s in size. After touching it gingerly, she unwound it, wondering at the state of her hair. “I just want to get back to London.”

“We’ll get there,” he said grimly. “One way or another.”

It was that “another” that bothered her. She ran a tentative hand over her forehead, glad to find nothing more alarming than a knot the size of a walnut over one eye.

Heavens, but she must look a fright. Sighing at the thought, she pushed herself upright. Black spots swam before her eyes, but she grit her teeth and waited for them to subside.

“Maybe you need a glass of water? Or some ale. There’s some excellent brandy here, too. I think it must be smuggled because even Greyley doesn’t have stock like this—”

“Rupert,” Anna said through her teeth, “if you must prattle, could you please not mention Greyley?”

“Lud, you’re touchy, aren’t you? There’s no need to get in a snit,” Rupert said in a sulky tone.

Anna swallowed a retort. They were both in ill humor and right now all she wanted was a little quiet so that she could collect herself. But even as she sat on the old worn settee, her head against the high back, her eyes closed against the annoying throbbing behind her forehead, she was on the verge of a torrent of tears. It was as if all her emotions had gathered behind her eyes and were determined to leak out.

She heard Rupert take a chair nearby. He sighed loudly, but Anna ignored him. After several more sighs, he said, “I’ve messed up everything.”

A tear slipped from beneath Anna’s lashes and fell down her cheek. She wiped it away, fairly certain Rupert hadn’t seen, for he said in a dismal voice, “I should have listened to you and been more careful.”

“How…” She swallowed the lump in her throat. “How will we get to London now?”

“I’ve asked to hire a curricle. It’s old and it will be uncomfortable, but the phaeton is a complete loss. One rear wheel was crumpled and the shaft was broken in two. It will take weeks to fix it.”

Anne pressed her lips together to keep them from quivering. Good God, but this was untenable, she
never
cried. Yet another tear joined the first, closely joined by something that sounded suspiciously like a sob. Anna gulped, miserable and embarrassed, but unable to stop.

“Anna, don’t.” Rupert moved to the edge of the settee and pulled her head to his shoulder, all brotherly solicitude. “Damn my pride. I should never have driven so wildly.”

Rupert’s shoulder wasn’t as broad as Greyley’s. Nor was he able to make her feel completely and totally surrounded, yet it was comforting to have a shoulder to cry on and Anna made the best of it, sobbing loudly against his coat and letting the tears fall. They finally subsided and Anna was left with nothing more than a hiccupping gulp. Still, she pressed her face against Rupert’s shoulder while he rested his head against hers, taking comfort in the embrace as much as she.

Thus it was that Anthony, following the mangled trail of the runaways, found Rupert and Anna sitting in a little ivy-covered inn, enfolded in what appeared to be a lovers’ embrace.

Anthony froze on the spot, his wet greatcoat dripping a steady stream of water onto the worn carpet, his heart thudding painfully. He’d arrived at the scene of the accident just as they were hauling the ruined phaeton away, and the sight had chilled him to the bone, especially when no one seemed to know the condition of the occupants, except that someone seemed to think the young lady had been injured, for she’d been carried from the scene.

For the next twenty minutes as he galloped wildly for the nearest inn, Anthony had been haunted with visions of Anna pale and injured, calling his name, or worse, cursing him with her last breath. Which was why seeing her locked in Rupert’s embrace was something more than a rude shock.

“What the hell is this?” Anthony roared.

Rupert stumbled to his feet, his face pale. “Anthony! I didn’t think you’d—I mean, I never thought you—”

“Obviously,” Anthony growled, all pretense at civility burned away in one hot second. “She’s mine, damn you!”

“Yours?” Anna stood, forcing her weak knees to stiffen. “Since when?”

“Stay out of this,” Anthony ordered, his attention on his
opponent. He yanked off his greatcoat and threw it in the corner, then undid his coat.

Rupert’s eyes gleamed and he yanked his cravat free and pulled off his coat.

“What are you doing?” Anna pressed a hand to her stomach. It felt queasy and she guessed it had less to do with the bump on her head than it had to do with the two lumps who were getting ready to fight before her. “I can’t believe this. Anthony, please—”

“Rupert, you are a dead man.” Anthony unbuttoned his waistcoat and yanked it off, his gaze locked on the younger man. “I hope you’re prepared for this, for I owe you a good trouncing.”

Rupert’s waistcoat was already gone and he stood, fists poised, excitement and anger equally melded in his expression. “Are you through yammering yet, Greyley? Or are you going to fight?”

Anna sank back onto the settee and closed her eyes. It was worse than trying to reason with the children, and she was just too tired to deal with it. Besides, what would be the use? The worst thing that could happen would be that one of them would end up with a black eye, and somehow, in the overall events of the day, that didn’t seem all that horrible.

So Anna quietly sat while the two men circled each other warily. Anthony landed the first blow, and it almost lifted Rupert from his feet. He staggered back, recovering at just the right moment, then returned with amazing fury to land a punch to Anthony’s chin.

Anthony shook it off, but his gaze narrowed and he was more careful after that. If it hadn’t been for Rupert’s evident anger, they would have been sorely mismatched. As it was, the younger, slighter man was giving as good as he got.

Anthony feinted to the right, then came around with a smashing left hook that sent Rupert head over heels into the table. Chairs tumbled over and Anna noticed Rupert was slow to rise.

She took the opportunity to intervene. “That’s
quite
enough.”

Anthony’s gaze met Anna’s. A frown passed over his face. “Anna! What happened to your forehead—”

Rupert landed a punch on Anthony’s left jaw and Anthony, his attention riveted on Anna, stumbled backward, hit a low stool, and fell to the floor, hitting his head on the hard plank floor.

“Ow!” Rupert hopped up and down, holding his fist in his other hand. “My thumb!”

“Serves you right, you stubborn whelp,” Anthony muttered, climbing back to his feet, his gaze still fixed on Anna. Ignoring Rupert, he made his way to her side.

He placed a finger under her chin and lifted her face to his, drawing in a sharp breath when he saw her forehead. “Is that from the ride here?”

“Yes, we had a little accident.”

The door flew open and a small figure dressed in pale blue stood in the bright light.

“Charlotte!” Rupert cried, tucking his bruised hand into his pocket as if to hide it.

Charlotte caught sight of Rupert’s face and gasped. Besides a lump on his head, Rupert’s left eye was rapidly swelling shut and a bloody cut graced his chin.

Stiff with outrage, Charlotte turned blazing eyes on Anthony. “What have you done to him?”

Anna opened her mouth to explain, but Anthony’s hand closed painfully over her elbow. She noticed that his gaze was on Charlotte, his expression intent. A slow, lazy smile
flitted across his face, and he shrugged. “Rupert insulted my honor. We were just settling the issue when you arrived.”

Charlotte went to Rupert, who immediately placed an arm about her shoulders. He held her to him, a beatific expression on his face.

Charlotte nestled there for only an instant before she leveled a look of blazing contempt on Anthony. “You are a beast! I never want to see you again!”

Once again, Anna opened her mouth to speak, but Anthony was quicker. He slipped an arm about her waist and pulled her against him. Still a little wobbly, she allowed him to hold her there.

Anthony glinted a smile at Charlotte. “I take it our betrothal is at an end?”

“I will never marry you.
Never
!”

Rupert turned his beloved in his arms and looked into her face. “Charlotte! Your father—”

“I don’t care about my father. Rupert, I love you. And if you’ll have me…” A lone tear streaked down Charlotte’s face. “Oh, please say you meant it when you said you’d wait for me, that you loved me.”

“Oh, Charlotte, I do love you! So much! We’ll go to your father and we’ll talk to him. I’m not a rich man, but I can take care of you. I’ll have to sell off my stable, but I can do it. I have it all figured out and—”

Charlotte kissed him, pulling his mouth to hers and leaning against him as if her entire heart was held in his arms.

Anna blinked. “Well,” she said after a moment, in which she and Anthony silently watched the younger couple. “That was certainly surprising.”

“No, it wasn’t,” Anthony said, sending Anna a stern glare. “And it would have happened much sooner had you not been so intent on interfering.”

“Interfering? I was trying to help.”

“Did it ever occur to you, my delightful troublemaker, that I did not want my betrothal saved? That I wished for the timid Miss Charlotte to break it off?”

That was certainly welcome news, but Anna managed a sniff. “I thought you said she was the perfect wife for you.”

“It has been many weeks since I realized Charlotte was far from being the perfect wife for me,” he returned gruffly. He put his arms about Anna’s waist and looked down into her eyes. “You are the perfect wife for me, every troublesome, irritating inch. If you will have me.”

Happiness swept through Anna, so powerful that it almost made her rise on her toes and place a kiss on Greyley’s handsome mouth. “It will cause a scandal; I’m just a governess.”

“I don’t care.”

“People will talk.”

“They always do.”

“They will say you are an Elliot after all.”

He brushed his fingers over her chin, her cheek, as if trying to memorize her features. “I don’t give a damn what they say. I love you and only you.”

Warm in the circle of his arms, Anna toyed with his shirt buttons. “Really?”

“Really.” He grinned. “Besides, Charlotte wasn’t tall enough for me. I can’t even hug her without straining my neck.”

“Hm. I can see where that might have been a problem.”

Anthony nodded. “And her hair was far too blond. I prefer red hair myself.”

“You do?”

Anthony’s eyes glinted with something that made Anna’s heart pound.

She pursed her lips. “How do you feel about…proud noses?”

He smiled, lifting a finger to touch the tip of hers. “They add character. Small, pert noses are a decided irritant.”

Anna sighed her satisfaction and permitted Anthony to draw her head to his shoulder. For a moment they stood thus, heart to heart, their bodies absorbing the warmth of each other.

Anthony didn’t think he’d ever felt so completely whole. So alive. Or so in love. Life with Anna would be busy and troublesome and never quiet, and he was certain they’d argue at least ten times a week. But afterward…He smiled, thinking of all the ways they would make up for their disagreements.

She stirred against him. “There are a few things we need to discuss.”

“Oh?” He asked, placing a gentle kiss beside the bruise that marred her forehead, the memory of his fears when he’d seen the broken phaeton beside the road returning.

“Anthony, I want to keep the children.”

She did, did she? “Even Desford?”

“Especially Desford.” She hesitated. “And I would like for you to build that house you promised me…only for Desford. He needs a house of his own.”

Rupert looked up from where he had been talking quietly to Charlotte. “Desford can afford his own house.”

Anthony frowned. “How?”

“Apparently my brother made some better investments than we’d realized. Desford owns a ruby mine.”

“
That’s
why your mother wanted the children,” Anthony said.

Rupert nodded.

“That’s the end of Lady Putney staying at Greyley House.”
He eyed Rupert for a moment. “I don’t suppose you’d consider taking her off my hands.”

“No,” Rupert said. “Never.” He reached over and gathered his coat, pulling it carefully over his bruised hands, Charlotte helping him. “If you don’t mind, Greyley, Charlotte and I will be off. I need to speak with her parents before my mother causes any more problems.”

Anthony grinned. “Very well, whelp. And while you’re out, see to it that you put something on that eye of yours. You look like hell.”

Rupert chuckled. “So do you. Take care, Greyley.” With Charlotte tucked beneath his arm, Rupert left.

Anna watched them go with a sigh. “I do hope Lord Melton won’t cause too much of a problem. Rupert is a dear boy, but life hasn’t left him with much.”

“If it will make you happy, I will see to it that Rupert is comfortably fixed.”

“Do you have enough money to do that?”

“Oh, I think I can find it somewhere.” He lifted an arrogant brow. “I’m a wealthy man, Anna.”

“How useful!” Anna pursed her lips. “Perhaps we can assist Lady Putney, too. As much as I dislike her, I hate to see someone displaced. I wonder if we can’t just let her stay at Greyley until—”

Anthony kissed her. Kissed her so hard and so thoroughly that it was several moments before she could think, much less speak, and when she could speak, she only managed a rather weak “Oh my!”

“Get used to it,” he said roughly. “That’s the way I’m going to keep you from focusing your meddling on anyone other than me or the children.”