Lord Grenville's Choice (15 page)

“No. I only wished for some way to prove my devotion,” he said. Setting the tray across her knees, he unfolded the napkin with a snap of the wrist and tucked it against the bodice of her pirate shirt. “We really must see about getting you changed out of this absurd costume. We do not want another observer taking you for a man. Although, I must say, I think the ruffian had to be half-blind.”

She said, “Dr. Caldwell thinks the danger to the baby has passed.”

Alex’s smile vanished as his face froze. “I had not even once considered the baby. My thoughts were all for you. Thank the Lord all appears to be well.”

“Yes,” she agreed. Looking down at the broth before her, she felt her stomach lurch.

The physician handed her a glass of water into which he had stirred her headache powder. “This should make you feel better, my lady. Drink it up, and then the broth.”

She drank the contents of the glass and then looked down at the broth once more. “I really do not think I can manage this,” she said.

Alex sat down beside her and took up the spoon, filling it with the soup. He lifted it to her lips. “Just a few spoonsful,” he said.

“My lord!” she said with a slight giggle. “Now you have turned nursemaid.”

“Anything to see you well, my darling.”

My darling?
She could not recall that Alex had ever used such an endearment.

Her eyes locked with Alex’s. She barely noticed as the physician took his leave.

“Very well,” she said. “A few spoonsful. Only to oblige you, mind.”

After half the broth was drunk, Felicity leaned back on her pillows. “Someone must see to Papa. He is worn to a thread and must get to bed.”

“Richards and I will walk him to the room we have had prepared. Do not worry.”

“Thank you. All I want is to sleep.”

“I will send Martha to you first. We really must get you out of those awful clothes!”

*~*~*

Felicity woke to find that it was morning. Sitting up, she dangled her legs over the side of the bed and decided that she felt well enough to get up. Her knees were a bit wobbly, but she managed to walk to the window and open the curtains. Two finches were at war in the flowering cherry. Undoubtedly, that was the sound that woke her. But she was not sorry. Her head was much better, the hammering pain having subsided to an ache. Ringing for Martha, she felt suddenly weak and sank into her armchair before the fire.

Driven by a consuming desire to be cleansed of her harrowing experience, Felicity bathed and dressed, but exhaustion claimed her and she finally succumbed to her daybed by the window. She was dozing when Alex entered.

“How are you this morning, darling?”

“Better, thank you. How is Papa?”

“I think yesterday took the wind out of his sails a bit. He is still abed.” He bowed down to kiss her forehead. “Speaking of which, should you be up?”

“I craved a bath. I am fine here by the window, I assure you.”

“You are certain?”

“Perfectly. Have you been to see Jack this morning?”

“I have. He is doing well. Nanny Owen will bring him down if you wish to see him.”

“Tell her I would love a short visit. What are you going to do today?”

Alex’s brow furrowed. “If you are well enough, I should go out for a bit. The Whigs are bringing a new bill before the House. I am on the Lord’s committee to hammer out the presentation. We are supposed to meet at the club this afternoon. It may run on through dinner.”

“My lord, are you quite well?”

“Perfectly. Why need you ask?”

“Never before have you needed my permission to go to your club.”

Alex’s eyes were somber. “Never before were you at the point of death, Felicity.”

For a moment, she was incapable of speech. “Surely it was not that bad?”

“It might very well have been. Dr. Caldwell could give me no assurance.”

I nearly died? No wonder everyone is making such a to do.

“Well,” she said, investing her voice with a heartiness she was far from feeling, “you need not worry about me any longer. I am only a bit weak. I shall be perfectly well. Go to your meeting.”

“Very well.” He paced before the fire, his hands clasped behind his back. “Has my aunt been to see you this morning?”

“Not as yet.”

“She is probably preparing for the charity meeting this afternoon. Were you aware that the first bandage rolling is to take place in our drawing room today?”

“No,” she said. “I had no idea.”

“While you were ill, Anabella bought supplies and wrote notes to the ladies who had indicated they wished to help.”

“Perhaps I can go down for a little while.”

Alex shook his head. “But do you not agree that a room full of chattering women would be the very thing to cause a corker of a headache, darling?”

“Perhaps you are right,” Felicity said, leaning back with a sigh. “I am certain I shall feel much better tomorrow. That was very good of Anabella to arrange everything.”

“If you want to know the truth, I think my dear sister has her eye on the good doctor.”

She smiled. “I suspected as much. She is very eager to gain his good opinion.”

“Unfortunately, our Dr. Caldwell has eyes only for you,” he said. “He all but took me to task after you were coshed. I believe he holds me responsible.”

Felicity laughed. “You are imagining things.”

“I think he wants to run away with you to North Africa to study rare diseases.”

She laughed a full laugh. “Alas, I am confined to this very comfortable address where I shall give birth this autumn. I refuse to even think of giving birth in Africa, no matter what the inducements.”

“I am very glad to hear it,” Leaning down, he gave her a tender kiss, framing her face with his hands. “I must go be attended to by Richards, so that I appear to be a serious Parliamentarian. Then I will be on my way.” For a moment, he listened at the door. “I believe that the bandage rollers have arrived, which is my signal to escape. Be well, my darling. I will call upon you on my return.”

*~*~*

Alex was so attentive, Felicity did not know what to make of the situation. Her near death appeared to have shaken him greatly. She suspected that soon enough, when she was more fully recovered, he would return to his normal self. But for a little while, it was delightful to have him wait on her hand and foot. She only wished she had the mental presence to match his wit.

She called Martha to bring her a couple of bandages to roll as she sat in the day bed, listening to the finches and breathing in the scent of the cherry tree. Her eyelids were drooping and she was nearly dozing when the door opened and Lady Elizabeth, Marchioness of Beaton, floated into the room.

“Am I bothering you, Felicity? I thought you might enjoy some conversation.”

The last person Felicity wished to converse with was her rival. Her heart speeded up and her head resumed its pounding.

“How kind of you,” she said through clenched teeth. “Will you not take a seat?”

The dainty figure in black taffeta seated herself on an armchair facing the daybed. “Are you aware that both your eyes are black?” she asked.

Startled, Felicity eased her way off her the daybed and walked to her vanity. It was true. Both her eyes were ringed with purplish black. She looked a fright.

“Never mind,” she said. “I have not frightened Jack, which has to be my greatest concern. I am surprised that Alex has been so forbearing.”

“What precisely were your injuries?” Elizabeth asked.

Felicity gave a light account of her apparent brush with death.

“So you are now whole and sound?” her visitor inquired.

“I am confident I shall be up and about tomorrow. How is the great project proceeding downstairs?”

“Well. Lady Henrietta and Anabella have everything in hand. In addition to myself, five other ladies have come to help. They shall make short work of it, I am certain.”

Felicity swelled her chest and sighed. Did Elizabeth have a particular reason for her visit?

“I am glad you are nearly well, for what I have to say will not wait, and I am well aware that it will upset you.”

A flutter of panic moved through Felicity’s chest.

“Not to put too fine a point on it, Alex loves me and I love him. I have been his mistress these five years.”

At first, the words made no sense. Looking at Elizabeth’s serene face, and hearing what she was telling her was like some kind of divided reality. But some part of her made sense of it because the room spun around Felicity and the edges of her vision began to go black. Only by consciously gripping the edges of the daybed did she manage not to faint. When she was finally able to take in the brutal words, she began to tremble. Her head throbbed so hard, she was almost unable to see.

“Why do you admit this? Why do you tell me now?” Felicity asked, throwing Elizabeth a challenge.

“We have been very discreet, but now that I am no longer married, our attachment will be more generally known.” As she said these things, Elizabeth’s face was earnest but not one whit sympathetic. “I came to warn you, for I know you will not tolerate it. You will not want your marriage to go on as before.”

“You know nothing of my relationship with Alex.” Felicity narrowed her eyes, feeling anger coming to her rescue.

The woman smiled in a parody of sweetness, “Oh, but I do. I know all about your marriage.”

Again, Felicity could not take in the words.
They could not be true
. Thinking of Alex’s actions since her injury, it made no sense to her that Elizabeth had always been his lover. She was suddenly belligerent. “I don’t believe you. I think you are lying to me.”

Elizabeth extended forth her right hand. On the third finger was a large sapphire. She twisted it off her finger. “Read inside,” she instructed.

With trembling hands, Felicity took the ring.

To my goddess: Love for all time, Alexander Lambeth, Fifth Earl of Grenville.

Tears stung Felicity’s eyes but she blinked them back. Her heart and head struck their blows in tandem at this very tangible evidence
. It must be true. But it cannot be true. I cannot believe it.

“Since you are the fortune teller, tell me what I am going to do,” Felicity said bitterly. “I must say I am very disappointed in Alex’s taste. You are a nasty, selfish woman.”

Her words did not dent Elizabeth’s serenity. “Alex and I have discussed it. Jack is to remain here with us. You may keep the new baby with you in the country, wherever you should decide to settle.”

Fury engulfed her. They thought they could keep Jack? Not while she was alive! She would go to the country, all right! And they would never see her or Jack again! “And why, may I ask, are
you
telling me this, and not Alex?”

“He is too soft-hearted. Your accident made things difficult for him.”

Felicity barely controlled the urge to slap the self-satisfied woman across the face. “Go,” she said. “Get out of this house. And whatever you do, do not come into it until I am gone.”

The woman rose from her chair. “I am sorry, Lady Grenville, but this was all decided long ago. Before I even married my husband. Before you even met Alex.”

“I requested you to leave. Go, before I throw something at you!”

Her anger seemed to give her superhuman strength. Before Elizabeth had even quitted the room, Felicity rang for Martha. When she arrived, she asked her maid to pack her complete wardrobe in her portmanteaux.

She knew she must be efficient, for she had little time. She did not intend to see Alex ever again, if she could help it. Besides, concentrating on details kept her from thinking of the enormity of what she was contemplating.

Felicity was wondering how she was going to manage with her Papa when Dr. Caldwell made an appearance.

“How does my patient, today? I see the women downstairs are busy with my bandages, and you seem to be, as well.” He indicated the abandoned bandages by her side.

Suddenly, she saw what she must do. The physician was a Godsend.

“Please be seated, Dr. Caldwell. I am urgently in need of your aid.”

His eyebrows shot up and he took a seat in the chair Elizabeth had abandoned.

“You have been so very good to my family, and I know I can count on your discretion. I really have no choice.”

“What is it, my lady? You alarm me exceedingly.”

“I must leave this house immediately and go into the country. I require your help with my father. Will he be able to make the journey, if we can get him into the carriage?”

“I believe your
father
will be all right at this point. But
you
are liable to suffer greatly, my lady. Traveling over rough roads is not going to be comfortable in your condition. Why must you leave so suddenly?”

She hesitated. She had scoffed at Alex’s words, but even she had noticed that the doctor seemed to have a partiality toward her. Felicity did not want to take advantage of it, but it seemed at the moment that there was no other choice.

“I have just been made aware that my husband has been keeping a mistress these five years. They wish me to leave so that she can move into this house,” she said, barely able to maintain a level tone. “His lordship is at his club until sometime this evening. I plan to be gone by the time he returns. I do not wish to see him again.”

“The devil!” The physician sprang from his seat. “Pardon my language, my lady, but this is beyond anything. I thought him to be unusually fond of you.”

“You are certainly pardoned.”

“I will do whatever I may to help you.”

“Thank you so very much,” Felicity said. His willingness brought sudden tears to her eyes. “If you could just go to Papa’s room and explain to him for me. I cannot bring myself to do it. And I do not want him to be overly upset.

“Tell him we will go to Tywyn House. Have him send his valet to Morecombe House to pack his things.”

“At once,” Dr. Caldwell said.

Felicity rang again for Martha.

“I am sorry to interrupt your work,” she said when the maid entered. “Could you please go up to the nursery and ask Nanny Owen and Jack to come down to speak with me?”