Though she'd been exhausted and had craved sleep all through the night, she would gladly repeat the night to once more share the cozy bedchamber with Adam. How fortunate were married couples who could sleep each night with their loved one.
It did not escape her notice that Lady Sophia's hand, swathed in red gloves today, rested in William's. Both of them looked so utterly content.
“How many nights will we be at Lord and Lady Agar’s?” Emma asked.
William’s brows lowered. “You didn’t know?”
“Know what?”
“Nick’s decided he can’t be away from the Exchange for that long,” William said.
She wondered how he would manage attending Parliamentary sessions, but Adam had said those typically did not start before four in the afternoon. “The aristocrats, I am told, seldom rise before noon,” he told her. She thought sleeping a terrible waste of daylight.
Adam touched her forearm. “I hope you’re not too disappointed.”
“While I am disappointed, I’m grateful that I’ll be able to meet your mother and Verity.” Emma's eyes narrowed. She faced her husband. “I shall be obliged to address her as Lady Agar instead of Verity, will I not? What do you fellows call your sister?”
“Verity,” they both said at once.
“Do you never say to other people my sister, Lady Agar?” Emma asked.
Both brothers laughed. “It sounds . . . pompous, I suppose,” Adam said. “I’ve never been one to crave connections with the aristocracy.” He turned to Lady Sophia. “Not to disparage your class, my dear lady. I am very happy to be connected to you.”
Lady Sophia started to giggle.
“I picture Verity in much the same way I picture Ladies Fiona and Sophia," Emma said. "Impeccable taste and manners with a confident and gracious air about her.”
The brothers locked gazes. William’s brow rose. “Do you think your wife’s off the mark?” he asked Adam.
Adam nodded. “Most certainly. Verity is . . . Verity. She’s not at all like her brothers.”
Lady Sophia raised a hand. “Except she is possessed of an unerring eye—as are all the Birmingham brothers.”
“True,” William agreed. “But our sister is shy. She is the anomaly of a woman of very few words.”
Lady Sophia poked her husband in the ribs.
“And despite that she’s pretty, always beautifully dressed, and highly intelligent, she gives the impression that she lacks confidence,” Adam said.
William nodded at each word Adam had said. “You have perfectly described our sister.”
Emma understood. Despite all the advantages of the wealth she was born into, Verity would naturally have felt self-conscious among the nobility. Even if she had joined their ranks.
“The Agars and your mother will join us at the electioneering assembly?” Emma asked.
“Yes. Verity’s keen for us to see her baby,” William said.
“And our mother, who neither expresses herself nor shows emotion, wouldn’t miss the opportunity to see Nick standing upon the stage.”
William agreed with Adam. “She would never speak of how proud she is of Nick, but don’t think that she’s not! I’ve always thought she had a soft spot for her firstborn.”
“I have, too,” Adam said, “but she’ll never admit it.”
Lady Sophia directed her attention to Emma. “Don’t be put off by the woman's chilliness. That’s just her way.”
That comment was met with more nods.
“Actually we’re to assemble in Stenson Keyes, at the assembly rooms there tomorrow morning,” Will said. “That’s where Mama and the Agars will come. For them, it is only a two-hour ride."
"Nicks says we should make the town’s inn around nine tonight—if the roads stay good,” Lady Sophia added.
Another night at an inn! Emma would love it.
* * *
The inn in Stenson Keyes was vastly different than the Golden Fleece. It was much larger and much newer. No half-timbered walls or thatched roof here. The u-shaped building of gray stone offered a huge livery stable, and the tavern area of the Blue Roost comprised several chambers, each with a blazing wood fire.
They ate good and plentiful food in their own private chamber on the ground floor before the exhausted travelers walked up the wooden staircase to their rooms. First was Nick’s and Lady Fiona’s, then Adam’s and Emma’s, then William’s and Lady Sophia’s.