Light to Valhalla (36 page)

Charley swallowed back a mouthful of nerves
.
T
he
famed
party was to be their first event as a united couple
, and Alex’
s
surly
attitude hardly boded well for
the course of the evening
.
“Are you anticipating trouble?”

He didn’t
immediately reply and lightly kissed the tip of her nose
.
“You’re cold.”

“You’re avoiding my question.”

Alex sighed and slumped against the seat.

“What are you hiding from me?”

“Hiding?
”
Alex scoffed, incredulous
, but the pensive, forlorn lines in his face betrayed him
.
“I’m not hiding anything
.
I’m—I’m… protecting you.”

“From what?
 
Who?”

He refused to meet her gaze
.

The carriage swayed and slowed
.

This is about
me,
r
ang through her mind
.
Her heart sank as understanding dawned
.
“
Protecting me or protecting
yourself
?
”
she
accused
before the door opened and the opportunity
to
glean some answers slipped away
.
“
What is going on?
”

“Charley, you must understand, my life—my name—cannot take more scandal
.
Not now.”

She scooted closer, resting a
n encouraging
hand on his thigh
.
“I don’t understand
.
What Scandal?
”

His head sagged, resting in his palms
.
“Two years ago—”

The door swung open, revealing their immaculately clad footman
.
“My lord, my lady.
”
He bowed respectfully, not even a hint of interest lining his formal façade
though he must have heard at least part of their
conversation.

“
Ah, hell.
”
Alex
raked both hands through his hair
.
“We’
ll finish this later
.”

Later?
 
She’d had her belly full of
laters
.
“Alex.
”
She
grasped his arm with both hands, halting his flight
.
Apprehensively he turned and s
he explored his face
.
“Just tell me everything will be alright
.

Piercing, broken eyes fixed on hers
.
“
Do you want me to
lie
, Charley?
”

She gulped, dread pooling in her middle
.
Just what did that mean? 
“
Lie about what?
”

Alex
took one long, fluid step
from the carriage, tugged his uniform into place, and turned back to face her
,
completely composed, even regal
.
“Ready?”

Tremulously she nodded
.

“Good.
”
Garbed in his clean cut
red uniform, neatly trimmed with intricate
b
lue and gold thread,
Alex appeared every bit the proper English gentleman, his decorum beyond r
eproach, but beneath the stuffy cravat
lurked an aura of danger
.
This was not a man of weak conviction, but one who knew exactly who he was
.
H
er heart sank as she slipped her fingers into his proffered hand
.
Charley was beginning to fear
she
did not know
her husband
at all
.

Alex helped her from the coach, tucking her
ungloved hand within the crook
of his arm
.
“
Wait
.
M
y gloves
.
I forgot them in the coach.
”
She turned back
to retrieve them
.

“
They’re of n
o matter.
”
Alex half dragged
her toward the
Brumble
manse
.
“And don’t look so sullen
.
We must keep up appearances.”

“Keep up appearances?
” she grumbled
.
“
You sound just like your mother.”

Alex winced
.
“That’s not fair, Charley.”

“Keeping secrets is hardly fair or a good means of earning my trust.
”
She may have said more but the
dec
orative
arched door, flanked by black clad footman,
loomed
.
Whisked out of the chilly air
and
thrust
into the receiving line
Charley found any opportunity to question her
him further
thwarted
.

L
ater
.
She ground her teeth,
reign
ing in her impatience
.
L
ater I will confront him
.
For the moment she would smile prettily and pretend she was the happiest woman alive
.
She dipped into a flawless curtsy before Lo
rd and Lady
Brumble
, hardly hearing as they expressed their joy at seeing Alex safely home—their own son, Jason, had been claimed by the war
.

Arm and arm she walked with Alex into the ballroom, a benign smile
pasted on her lips, and t
he breath physically left her body
.
She may well have walked into a dream for ne
ver had she seen a celebration so grand
.
Soft golden candlelight
illuminated the immaculate
hall
.
White velvet
drapes hung from
high peaked windows, pooling gracefully on the shining marble floors
.
Jewels glimmered and jangled from
every foreseeable facet of
human clothing
while sprigs of holly
splashed color
across
the white linen table clothes
.
Elegant couples bobbed and weav
ed in time to the exquisite music drifting along the high ceilings
.
Charley swayed lightly with the rhythm
.
A
bit of the
evening
’
s ma
gic seeped into
her
.
Perhaps the night, her marriage, could be salvaged yet.

She squeezed Alex’s arm
.
“We should dance.”

E
ver the composed gentleman Charley found her husband’s reddening neck equal parts amusing and puzzling
.
He
leaned close
.
“Charley
,
you know as well as anyone that dancing is not on my list of accomplishments.”

“Then we will blame our lack of grace on your limp.
”

He opened his mouth, presumably to protest further—

“
Coverstone
!”

Alex physically cringed at
the call
and Charley’s stomach dropped
.
He’d been looking over his shoulder as though expecting the devil to charge him for days
.
She turned, spotting the elderly Lord Belleview weaving through the crowd, and plastered a smile on her face
, tightening her grip on Alex’s ar
m as he moved
away
.

The old man approached and stopped before them
.

“
Coverstone
, I had
no idea you’d be attending this evening.
”
Belleview flashed a fatherly—or
,
in
evidence of his advancing age,
grandfatherly—
smile
.
“Good to see you my boy.”

“And you, sir.
”
Alex
nodded
pleasantly
,
placing a hand on the small of
Charley’s back, pulling her in just a bit
.
Her heart warmed
,
if just a little
,
by the gesture of togetherness.

“My thanks to you and all our boys in uniform
.
Lord only knows
we need you lads
on the continent
to keep Bonaparte at bay.
”
Belleview pumped Alex’s hand, and clapped his shoulder
.
“I’m sure your wife is more than happy
to have you home.
”
He winked at
Charley
before moving on
.

“
This is hardly a disaster,” she
said with a teasing smile
.

“Just wait,” he breathed
.
“
Just wait.”

*
             
*
             
*

Catastrophe
was sure to arrive at any moment
.
Alex could feel it in his bone
s
.
The same unnatural calm he experienced before a battle
.
Every sense was heightened
as he waited for that first shot to crack the air… the first explosion…

“
There’s your disaster,
”
Charley muttered
dryly
.
“Your mother is headed
right for us.”

Inadvertently his stomach clinched
.
He’d insisted he and Charley travel to the party separate hoping to avoid her for at least the first thirty minutes
.
Alas he should have known better
.
His mother had keen ability for snif
fing out her prey
.
“I daresay, i
s that my mother or a male peacock?
”
Adorned in bright, shiny green with layers of green gauze to match, Regina wore enough colored gems to rival the crown jewels
.
Feathers bedecked a ridiculously high
hairstyle and he was relatively certain she’d combed lampblack through her hair to mask the gray streak lining her face
.

“Alex, for shame,” Charley scolded though she was unable to swallow back a laugh entirely
.

“Tell me it isn’t
true.”

“I live by the motto ‘if there is nothing nice to say—”

“—say nothing at all,” he finished
.
“So you don’t deny it.”

“Who could?”

“Charlotte,” Regina snapped, “I need you
immediately
.
Mrs.
Laciter
and I are discussing Alex’s coming home party
.
Your input and assistance
are absolutely necessary
.
It would be quite unseemly if his
wife
did not plan the occasion.”

“Of course.
”
Charley cast a disparaging glance up to Alex as Regina dragged her away.

Oh, Christ
.
Alex scooped a champagne flute from a footman passing with a tray balanced neatly on one arm and quaffed the liquid in one long gulp
.
Just what he needed
.
A party
.
Nothing about his homecoming warranted celebration
.
Once Witherspoon arrived…

Obviously the general hadn’t
reached London and if he had he certainly hadn’t begun spewing
accusations of murder
.
Yet
.