Dealing With Discipline (37 page)

Laughing, Hugh ran for the maid and
asked her to put together lunch. Idly he looked at the clock. He’d
expected Irene back by now.

“Now then… how are your brothers
doing? Have you heard from them recently or only your
mother?”

The two friends chatted
through lunch, not gossiping of course although a word or two of
the latest
on dits
may have indeed been passed along. As they finished their
repast, the conversation had segued into business, seeing as Hugh
had asked Wesley to start helping him with his investments. While
his estates were prosperous enough, both he and Edwin had seen the
benefits of diversifying their interests. Most of the
ton
looked down on
anything having to do with business, but Wesley had made his
fortune at it while he’d been away. All three friends were now
financially involved in various endeavors and making quite a bit of
money doing it. As long as they didn’t discuss with Society at
large where they were making their money then it would just be
assumed that they weren’t doing anything out of the
ordinary.

Fortunately Wesley had learned quite a
bit about making sound investments and so did quite a bit of
advising for both Hugh and Edwin who were still learning the ropes.
They were debating the wisdom of investing in a certain railroad
line when the butler announced Lord Hyde.

“Brandy? Cigar?” Hugh greeted Edwin.
“Thank you for bringing Irene home, although you didn’t need
to.”

“Irene?” Edwin frowned at him as he
sat down.

“She was with Eleanor all morning,”
Hugh said, the slightest hint of a frown marring his brow. What on
earth could those two still be talking about? “I assumed that since
you were here, she had returned with you.”

For a long moment Edwin just stared at
him, snifter of brandy in hand, his dark eyes
inscrutable.

“I’m afraid Irene concluded her visit
with Eleanor hours ago,” he said very slowly, the gears of his mind
obviously turning. “Perhaps she had some shopping to
do.”

A muscle in Hugh’s jaw clenched tight,
as did his knuckles around his own snifter. He took a long draw on
the cigar in his other hand, allowing his lungs to fill up with the
fragrant smoke before blowing it back out again. The action calmed
him. Somewhat.

“Of course,” Hugh said, forcing a
smile to his face. Somehow he felt incredibly reluctant to share
the recent trials of his marriage with his friends, although they
were both studying him intently, having gotten the wind that
something was up. Wesley consistently slept with other men’s wives
and Edwin would never have to worry about Eleanor betraying him
with someone else. How could they possibly understand?

Although explaining his concerns to
his friends was the least of his worries; the largest looming in
his mind was wondering exactly where his wife was and what she was
doing. And, possibly, who she was doing it with.

******

The ostrich feathers looked ludicrous.
 They sprouted from the garish blue turban like weeds in the
middle of a flower garden.  But Irene knew that was not
what her mother wanted to hear, so she mouthed the appropriate
compliments on what the Baroness claimed was the “latest
fashion.”  After taking her leave from Eleanor, Irene had
found herself reluctant to go home and face her husband
immediately, feeling a bit guilty about her agreement to go to Bath
with Eleanor without even consulting him.  

She was torn between the conviction
that she should be angry with him, that he was a monster who beat
her and the strange awareness that there was something wrong with
that conclusion.  Not just because Alex had not supported her,
although that was part of it.  While she no longer thought of
him as a knight in shining armor, she was having trouble with the
idea that he didn't care about her or that he wouldn't protect her
if he thought she needed protection.

Which led to the obvious
conclusion that he didn't think she needed protection from Hugh.
 In fact he seemed to want to be more like Hugh; he hadn't
just been there to watch over the spanking and ensure that she was
unharmed, he'd asked questions and listened attentively to the
answers.  Alex wanted to emulate Hugh.

And what of her feelings
for Alex?  Somehow they seemed to have changed... or maybe
just her perception of them had.  Alex was as handsome as
ever, as charming, warm with her where he hadn't been with other
ladies, and yet kissing him had felt
wrong.
  Compared to what she
thought would happen.  She'd thought that kissing him would be
even better than kissing Hugh, that it would be more exciting, the
culmination of all the fantasies she'd had since she was a young
girl.  Instead he'd just still been Alex.  Warm, safe,
and without any of the sparks or arousal that accompanied her
kisses with Hugh.

That might have been because he'd been
trying to push her away, but there had been a moment when her lips
had first touched his that he'd been frozen in place.  The
lack of fireworks had been both surprising and
disappointing. 

Yet, even after spanking her, she
responded to Hugh.  

Although she'd wanted to ask Eleanor
some questions about love and marital relations, she just didn't
feel comfortable discussing such things with her when the marriage
in question was her brother's.  There were no other ladies in
London that she was particularly close with and only one who knew
anything about her feelings for Alex.  Which was how she'd
ended up finding her way to her parents' house in town.
 

They were still renting,
but they'd moved to a much more fashionable part of town following
Irene's marriage.  The house was lovely, although privately
Irene thought it was far larger than her parents needed considering
that they were the only ones occupying it.  Still, her mother
was obviously very happy with the move, as well as the new wardrobe
and fripperies that she was currently showcasing to her
daughter.

It was the first time in years that
Irene could actually remember her mother looking at her with
anything like approval.  

"I wore this one last week," the
Baroness said, showing Irene a gown of deep green cambric, edged
with gold lace.  It would have been quite beautiful if it
hadn't been so ostentatiously ruffled and trimmed.  "Even Lady
Jersey stopped to remark upon it."

"It's beautiful Mother," Irene said
quietly.  

"Yes well," her mother said, sitting
down on her bed with the air of one who was completely exhausted.
 Not surprising since she'd spent the past several hours
showing Irene one new item after another.  Irene wasn't tired
at all, not physically at least, although her head felt rather
bruised.  While she hadn't had the opportunity to bring up her
marriage or her questions yet, the thoughts spinning round and
round her head had never stopped.  "Your marriage did turn out
to do us quite a bit of good, didn't it?"  For a moment her
mother stopped and really looked at Irene, a little frown wrinkling
the center of her brow.  "You aren't here to stay for any
length of time are you?  It really wouldn't do to be seen
having some kind of difficulties with your husband so soon after
your return to the city."

Looking at her mother,
Irene wondered why she'd come to her parents’ house in the first
place.  It seemed as if she were constantly making the wrong
decisions lately.  Had she really thought to find any comfort
or helpful words of wisdom from her mother?  And yet... where
else would she have been able to go?

If nothing else, at least she'd gained
a few hours of space from her husband and her new home to just sit
and think.  But there was nothing for her here.

"No mother," she said quietly, her
hands neatly folded in her lap like the demure young miss her
mother had taught her to be.  "Hugh and I are quite
well."

"Good," her mother said stoutly,
casting a covetous gaze over the pile of fabric that had been
heaped onto the bed.  "Just keep him happy, Irene.  Your
father and I will be most displeased if you do not."

The calm resignation that settled over
her stomach made her feel rather detached;  numbed in a way
that her chilly demeanor had never quite been able to achieve.
 There was no shelter or succor for her here, that much had
been made obvious to her.  

"Come now, let's go have some tea,"
her mother said, standing and brushing her skirts off.  "There
will be several ladies coming by to visit.  I didn't know that
you would be here but since you are you might as well be of some
use to me."

By which Irene knew her
mother meant Irene's new social status, not Irene herself.
 "Yes mother."

She suddenly wondered if her mother
had really ever intended that Irene be able to find happiness as
Alex's mistress or if she just had said whatever she'd needed to in
order to induce Irene to marry Hugh.  Strangely the thought
didn't hurt her at all, it just circled around her head with all of
the others.

******

It was late afternoon when Irene
returned home.  To her surprise, Harrington House felt even
more like home than it had when she'd left that morning.
 Perhaps it was due to the fact that her parents were no
longer in the house they'd been in every other time she'd come to
town with them.  While she still felt as though their small
estate out in the country was her true home, here in London
Harrington House was the closest thing she had to a real home.
 Even if she hadn't been here for very long.

That feeling of settled comfort was
only amplified by the smiling greeting from the butler, who opened
the door as she approached.  Irene smiled back at him, feeling
a kind of weary relief.  While she might be unsure of her
feelings towards her husband and while she might be nursing both
her pride and the kind of heartache that came from broken dreams,
at least here she didn't have to deal with her mother.

Stripping off her gloves, Irene moved
down the hallway, heading to the morning room which overlooked the
small garden in back. It was her favorite room in the house and had
been from the moment she’d first been given the tour.

Unfortunately she only made it halfway
down the hall before the door to her husband’s study, which had
been open a mere inch, suddenly pulled open all the way and she
found herself facing a rather irate looking Hugh. He’d left the
door open apurpose so that he could hear when his wayward wife
returned home. The suddenness of his appearance made her jump
backwards a pace, her face flying up to look at his and his
expression made her want to stumble back a little
farther.

“Where have you been?” he snapped
out.

Irene blinked. “Where…”

“This afternoon, where have you been
all afternoon?” he asked, striding forward to loom over her as her
neck tilted backwards to keep her gaze on his. He reached out and
grabbed a hold of her upper arms, his touch surprisingly gentle as
he ran his hands down to her elbows. It was only that hold on her
that kept her from trying to step away. “Where did you go after
visiting Eleanor?”

“To see my mother.”

“Why?” He glared at her suspiciously,
not entirely sure whether or not he believed her. After all, her
mother was a harridan, why would Irene want to spend so much time
there?

“Because I wanted to.”

“Did you go anywhere else?”

“No… Hugh what is going on?”
Exasperation made its way into her voice as she stared up at him,
utterly confused. “Has something happened?”

“Other than my wife disappearing for
hours without anyone knowing where she is or what she’s
doing?”

“I was at the house my
parents are renting, having tea with my Mother.  I didn’t
realize I couldn’t visit her without asking your permission,” Irene
said a little snappishly, the spirit that had begun to break free
on their honeymoon rearing its head.  After an afternoon of
chit chat and smiling gamely as her mother had shown her off like
her father would a prize bull, Irene was feeling decidedly
temperamental.

“Well especially after last night
perhaps I’d like to know where my wife is,” Hugh snapped back, his
hands tightening a bit on her arms.

Tears sprang up into
Irene’s eyes, of both frustration and guilt.  As if she would
have gone to Alex today after what had happened last night! 
As if she’d go to any other man!  Yet she couldn’t blame Hugh
for his suspicions… but that didn’t make her feel any
better.

“Well then let me
inform
you, husband,
that when the Season ends I will be making a trip out to Bath with
your
sister
.  She would like some space and time from her husband
and so would I!” 

“Eleanor what?” 
Edwin was suddenly out in the hallway, dark eyes blazing as he came
up behind Hugh.  “My wife is going where?”

“Oh dear…” Irene
whispered.  Couldn’t she do anything right?  Eleanor had
said she hadn’t mentioned the trip to her husband yet, that she
wasn’t sure how Edwin would react to her wanting to go on a trip
without him.  While Irene hadn't quite understood why Eleanor
would want space from her husband, who obviously doted on her even
if he did spank her, she hadn't disclosed her reasons to Eleanor
either. Irene had felt the same way; she hadn’t meant to just
blurt her intentions out to Hugh.