Andrew Lord of Despair(38)

“Why in the hell won’t he marry her?” Fairly asked. “Astrid’s adorable, she’s long since had a tendresse for him, and by now they’re probably copulating like rabbits.”

Copulating was a medical term, while the consternation in Fairly’s eyes was purely fraternal.

Gareth drew the curtains over the French doors because the night was nippy. And yet, Andrew had gone into the darkness without an overcoat. The saddle room held a few old riding jackets, but no scarf, no proper winter cloaks, no real protection from the elements. “I understand him, Fairly. He won’t marry her, because he cares for her and doesn’t feel worthy of her.”

Fairly looked as if contradictory symptoms were refusing to add up to a diagnosis. “Much as you had to be convinced to offer for Felicity. What made you change your mind about yourself?”

“I didn’t,” Gareth said with a snort. “I just hurt too goddamned unbearably much to carry on without Felicity, and when our paths crossed again, I grabbed her literally and figuratively with both hands, and I’ve been holding on ever since.”

“And that,” Fairly countered with a half smile, “probably describes most of the happily married men on earth. It does not, however, bode well for Andrew and Astrid’s immediate future.”

“Perhaps not for their immediate future,” Gareth said. “But Andrew is as smitten as I’ve ever seen a man, and he and Astrid, connected by marriage, will have to continue to deal with each other for years to come. I am not abandoning hope yet.”

Not nearly, and neither was Felicity.

“Spoken like an older brother, Heathgate, who doesn’t mind seeing his sibling twist a bit in the breeze. I remind you, though, that my younger sister has already suffered through two years of marriage to a buffoon, and I’ll not tolerate anybody abusing her sensibilities further.”

Unlike Andrew, Fairly was not prone to outbursts of sentiment. He set his glass down very softly and left Gareth alone, standing before the fire and wondering how to present the latest worrisome developments to his exceptionally pregnant marchioness.

***

“I shouldn’t have awakened you,” Andrew said on a sigh, disentangling himself from Astrid long before she was ready to let him go. “I wasn’t going to. I went for a long, hard ride. I bathed and climbed into my own bed…”

He sounded bewildered, as if his arrival into her bed, into her very body, had been the work of fairies.

“I am glad you aren’t in your own bed.” To her relief, Andrew settled down under the covers and spooned himself around her.

“You shouldn’t be. Your in-laws will be here tomorrow, and that will put a period to our frolic, dear heart. If Douglas pressures you to return to Town with them, will you go?”

Frolic? This ache in her heart, this longing in her body was frolic? Astrid kissed the smooth curve of Andrew’s biceps, grateful for the darkness. “I won’t want to leave here.”

Leave him.

“Astrid, listen to me.” Andrew’s voice did not sound like a lover’s, but rather like he bore bad tidings. “I’ve learned things you should know, things I ought to let your brother or Gareth tell you.”

“But you won’t make me wait to hear it from them, because the news is unpleasant,” she finished for him.

He held her fingers against his cheek, his skin both warm and rough. “I won’t make you wait. The truth is, sweetheart, your funds are gone. Your widow’s portion was both badly invested and flat-out pilfered. Fairly will make sure you have some cash on hand at all times, and I would not tell anyone—not your lady’s maid, not the housekeeper, no one—that you have this money. Sew it into a cloak, hide it in your embroidery basket, but keep it where you alone have access to it.”

As he spoke, his embrace became more snug.

“You are scaring me, Andrew. You are telling me I am poor?”

“As far as your widow’s portion is concerned, you are destitute.”

“Who took my money?”

“Herbert, as near as we can tell.”

Andrew would not lie to her, and for that, as well as the security of his embrace, she loved him all the more, even as anger made her want to shout. “Why would my husband have stolen from me?”

“I don’t know, love, but the family is in serious debt. According to your brother, they have enough assets to turn themselves around, but it would mean liquidating the stables, the unentailed property, that sort of thing. I don’t see Douglas taking on such a project willingly, not when all of Society would be instantly alerted to his circumstances by such behavior.”