The Secret Pearl(91)

She stopped and looked at him inquiringly.

“Attend me in the library immediately after breakfast tomorrow if you will,” he said.

She turned a shade paler. Perhaps she had heard that he had a tendency to conduct any unpleasant business in the library.

“Yes, your grace.” She curtsied and continued on her way.

Perhaps he should have said nothing, he thought, staring at the closed servants’ doors. Perhaps he should have just summoned her when he was ready for her. Probably she would worry all night about what she had done wrong.

“Tiny will be sad,” Pamela said, tugging on his hand. “She has been without me all afternoon.”

“Let’s go and see how happy she is to see you, then,” he said, smiling down at her.


THE DUCHESS HAD TAKEN to her bed in the middle of the afternoon after a prolonged coughing spell, with chest pains and a fever. She blamed the ride she had taken that morning with several of her guests. She did not ride very often, considering it a dangerous and generally unhealthy activity.

Lord Thomas Kent let himself into her bedchamber an hour before dinner and dismissed her maid. He sat on the side of the bed and took her grace’s hand in his.

“How are you, Sybil?” he asked.

“Oh, better,” she said, smiling at him. “I am just too lazy to get up. I will come to the drawing room after dinner.”

He raised her hand to his lips. “So beautiful and so delicate,” he said. “You do not look one day older than when we were betrothed. Will you look as young the next time I see you, I wonder.”

Her eyes flew to his face. “The next time?” she said. “You are not going away, Thomas? Oh, no. This is where you belong. You can’t go away again.”

“I have promised Adam,” he said, kissing her hand again and smiling gently at her.

“Promised Adam?” She gripped his hand. “What have you promised?”

“That I will leave within the week,” he said. “I cannot really blame him, Sybil. It is not like the last time. You are, after all, his wife.”

“His wife!” she said scornfully, sitting up and looking directly into his eyes. “I am his wife in name only, Thomas. I have never let him touch me. I swear I have not. I am yours. Only yours.”

“But in the eyes of the law you are his,” he said. “And there is Pamela to consider. She must never know the truth. It would be too hard for her to bear. I have been ordered to leave, Sybil, and leave I must. In all conscience, I must leave.”

“No!” she cried, gripping his hand even harder. She turned her head aside to cough. “Or if you must go, take me with you. I’ll leave him, Thomas. I cannot be away from you ever again. I’ll come with you.”

He drew her against him and kissed her lips. “I can’t take you,” he whispered against her ear. “I would not expose you to that sort of scandal, Sybil. And you could not leave Pamela without either of her parents. We must be brave.”

She wrapped her arms about his neck. “I don’t care,” she said. “I care only about you, Thomas. Nothing else matters to me. I am going to come with you.”

“Hush,” he said, rocking her in his arms. “Hush, now.”

And as she quietened down he kissed her again and fondled her breasts through the satin of her nightgown.

“Thomas,” she moaned, sinking back against her pillows. “I love you.”

“And I you,” he said, slipping the satin down over her shoulders and lowering his head to kiss her throat.

He straightened up when a tap at the door was succeeded by its opening.

The Duke of Ridgeway closed the door quietly behind his back. “You are feeling better?” he asked, his eyes on his wife. “I just heard from Armitage that you have been ill again this afternoon.”

“Yes, thank you,” she said curtly, turning her head away from him.

“You will wish to dress for dinner, Thomas,” he said. “You are in danger of being late.”

His brother smiled at him and left the room without a word.

“I have sent for Dr. Hartley to call on you tomorrow morning,” his grace said. “I can send for him to come immediately if you wish.”

“I have no need of a doctor,” she said, her face still averted.

“You must see him anyway,” he said. “Perhaps he can give you some new medicine that will cure you of that troublesome cough once and for all.”

She turned her head suddenly to look at him. “I hate you, Adam,” she said vehemently. “How I hate you!”

“For caring about your health?” he said.

“For not caring about me at all,” she said. “For ordering Thomas to leave again. You know we love each other. You know we always have. I hate you for ruining our lives.”