Willoughby 03 - A Rogue's Deadly Redemption (6 page)

Robert braced himself against the fourth bone-jarring bump he’d felt in twenty minutes. He pounded a hand against the carriage side. “Can we keep it to the roads and stop running up the sidewalks?”

He was late. The carriage ride to his meeting had gone at a snail’s pace. No, a snail would have made it faster.

“Perhaps we’d best postpone this,” Edwin suggested with a grimace. “We’re late as it is, and I don’t know how safe it is to travel in this fog.”

“How far have we come?” Robert reached over, and pushed the curtain aside so he could peer through the window. A veil of white was all he saw. “I can’t make out a single building.”

“I don’t know.”

Robert grinned at Edwin. “Nervous? I don’t recall ever seeing you nervous before.”

“I don’t wish to argue with nature,” Edwin replied. “She will always win.”

Frustration laced Robert’s sigh. “Damn it, but you are right. No sense in getting ourselves killed on the way.” He reached up to pull the latched door open. “Pull to the side and let’s wait a bit, see if the fog clears as well.”

“Very good, my lord.” The driver seemed relieved.

Robert tapped a hand against his leg. The delay was aggravating. He needed this meeting. The organization held opportunities for him, the only chance for him to drive his own future, his family be damned.

Every step he took deeper into the organization was a step away from his family. From Lily.

That needn’t be a consideration any longer. Tonight, he’d return to an empty house. Somehow, even though they’d rarely spoken when Lily was there, the idea held little appeal.

How had she filled up so much space?

It was the question that baffled him. Annoyed him. The question he couldn’t stop asking.

She always had, he realized. With her smile. Her becoming blushes. The way her eyes danced with intelligence when they had discussed her favorite books. The curve of her hips, her waist, when she didn’t know he was watching. The way she’d held his gaze when they made love, when he entered her.

Heat rushed to his groin, and he shifted in his seat to alleviate the keen ache. It had been so long, years since he’d touched her. Or even talked with her on anything but the weather.

Robert shook his head and dropped his head back against the carriage interior. “Idiot.”

“I beg your pardon?” Edwin asked.

“Not you,” Robert said with a dismissive wave. “Go back to sleep.”

Edwin snorted, but tilted his head to the side and closed his eyes. Robert knew Edwin wasn’t sleeping, but he had an uncanny ability to look deep in slumber then rise bright-eyed a second later.

Lily was leaving the continent. That was the reason he couldn’t stop thinking about her. He’d get over it.

She’d made her wishes clear, and if he’d done little else right in their marriage, he could at least honor them. She deserved that much.

She deserved so much more than him.

The carriage made a sharp, lurching turn and Robert thrust his arms out, slammed his hands against the walls of the carriage. “What was that?”

Then the carriage lurched, tilted again. Another lurch before it shifted and fell completely on its side. Robert and Edwin crashed down against the wall of the carriage. There were yells, screams from above, beside them.

“My lord, let’s get out by the—”

Edwin’s words were cut off as the carriage lurched again and rolled. They landed against each other with a hard crunch and pain exploded in Robert’s head then roared through his body.

The world closed in around him, and all he could see was Lily.

Then nothing.

***

Lily stared out the front door of Robert’s townhome. The air was so thick with fog, you could take a spoon and stir it.

“My lady, you can’t leave,” Mrs. Tandy said. “It’s too dangerous, and it’ll be dark soon.”

Lily nodded. Her stomach had tangled and flipped a few dozen times.

They had stopped in to pick up the books, and Lily found them with ease. They were right where she’d left them, tucked into a far corner of the sitting room where she’d spent so much time reading.

Nothing had changed. The house should have shifted shapes, changed colors, thrown up new wallpaper in her absence. Anything to seem more than a lonely building with no one but the servants to make it a home. Was Robert ever going to come home again? Lily couldn’t make herself ask. She and Anna had visited for a bit with Mrs. Tandy. It hadn’t been more than an hour, but…well, the housekeeper was right.

They couldn’t leave.

That meant staying the night.

What would Robert think if he came home and she was there?

Lily turned away, ignoring the insecurity that coated her insides like quicksand, threatened to pull her under. “I don’t want my family to worry, though, so we’ll send a servant first thing when this clears.”

“Very good.” Mrs. Tandy tried to hide her smile, but nothing could disguise the glee in her hands rubbing together or the spring in her step as she turned away. “I will get Cook to make you something to eat then. Something warm and hearty, I’m thinking.”

She disappeared out the door and Lily looked about the room. It had been her favorite, where she spent most of her time. But it didn’t feel comforting now. Pushed by a nervous energy, she moved out to the corridor and wandered until she found herself at the closed door of Robert’s study.

She put a hand out and wrapped her fingers around the doorknob. Stopped. She took in a deep breath to stop the invisible hands that shoved against her chest, as though warning her away.

She couldn’t make herself open it.

This was where he’d closed the door, shut her out and lived his life separate from her. The rest of the house had been hers but this was his, and she had never been welcome.

She dropped her hand. She shouldn’t want to be welcome here. She had moved out, moved on. Just because she had to be here for a night didn’t change anything. It wouldn’t change anything.

With a few steps back, she turned and walked back to the parlor. She settled into her favorite chair, dropped her head against it and closed her eyes.

It was going to be a long night.

***

Lily startled awake.

Where was she? She blinked her eyes to adjust to the dark, as the fuzziness of sleep began to wear off. Her neck argued when she stretched from her awkward position in the chair.

In her house. She’d spent the night.

It was deep into night, the room had grown dark and shadowed, and the cold had set in, disregarding the slow simmer of the fireplace.

What had woken her up?

Thump.

The loud noise set her heart on a gallop and she swung the blanket off her legs and stood up.

Thump. Thump.

Her heart raced.

“My lady.” Lily jumped at Mrs. Tandy’s frantic tone. The housekeeper stood in the doorway, a candle in one hand. “You must come.”

“You hear that as well? What is that noise?” Lily rubbed at the grit in her eyes.

“It’s Mr. Melrose. They are bringing him upstairs.”

“Bringing him upstairs?” Why wasn’t he walking of his own accord?

She followed Mrs. Tandy into the entryway, twisting her fingers in front of her.

Edwin and Jonathon stood inside the front door, which had been flung open. Edwin was drenched in mud splatters, his mouth a grim line as they carried a lump between them.

That lump was Robert.

“Is he in his cups?” Not that she had ever seen him return home in such a state.

“He’s unconscious.” Edwin and Jonathon hefted Robert between them and moved toward the stairs.

“What happened?” Lily followed them as they moved into Robert’s room. They placed him on the bed. “Did someone go for the doctor?”

“I sent Charlie to his residence. It’s the fog, it’s caused accidents left and right.”

“You were in an accident?” Edwin was a motley mess, covered in dirt, grime mixed in with…her heart dropped as she realized the splatters and splotches on his chest were blood. “Are you hurt? Is Robert…?”

Lily stopped in the doorway. Shock grabbed at her throat at the sight of the man who lay so still, seemed so fragile.

“The driver couldn’t see,” Edwin said, “so we’d pulled to stop and wait it out. Another carriage bore down on us, going too fast. It crashed right into the side, pushed the carriage clear over and into a ditch. We dug him out, and he’s been unconscious ever since.”

“You saved his life,” she said, lifting her gaze to Edwin.

“It is what I do, my lady.”

It was an odd statement, but she didn’t question it. They’d been through an ordeal.

“Was Thomas hurt?” she asked about their driver.

Edwin shook his head. “The driver was Wayfair’s man.”

Lily looked up in surprise. “The Marquess?”

“Yes. He sent his carriage and driver.”

Lily couldn’t say what surprised her more—Robert coming home in this shape or that he’d gone to visit his brother.

“I hope he’s all right,” she said, her words slowing as she moved closer to Robert.

There was blood and dirt at his temple, matted against his hair and the side of his face. Dried streams of blood ran down the side of his face.

He was so pale. So unlike the man she knew.

“Get me some water, some fresh towels.”

In minutes, Mrs. Tandy had brought the items to her.

“He hasn’t woken up once?” she asked.

“No.” Edwin stood nearby, stoic as always, except for the hands at his sides that clenched and unclenched.

“Robert? Can you hear me?” No reaction.

Lily dipped the towel into the basin of cool water and rung it out. She pressed the cloth against Robert’s forehead, wiping away the grime a bit at a time. With every wash, she revealed more of the mottled purples and blues that rose on his forehead.

“Robert?” she called his name every few minutes, but he never responded. He never moved against her touch.

An hour later, Lily stood to the side of the room as the doctor inspected Robert.

“It’s a nasty bruise,” he said as he closed his bag. “I can’t say much more until he awakens.”

“But he’ll be fine?” she asked, stepping forward. She couldn’t take her eyes from Robert, certain he would make a move, wake up, do something.

“I don’t know, Lady Melrose,” Dr Levenlell said. “He needs to wake up before I can fully assess what is wrong. Please send for me when he does.”

Frustration raced through her, but she clamped her lips shut. It wasn’t the doctor’s fault. But why was it they could never seem to offer more information than one could see for themselves?

“Mrs. Tandy will see you out. Thank you for coming in the middle of the night,” Lily told him. Her manners never failed her, hammered to such an instinct she didn’t think about it.

Lily brought the chair up close to his bed and sat.

“I can stay, my lady, if you wish to get some rest,” Edwin offered.

At that, Lily reached forward and touched her hand to Robert’s. It was warm against her cold fingers.

She remembered that about his touch. It had been so long since she’d felt it, but she remembered how warm his hands always were. In the beginning, when their marriage held a trickle of hope.

“I think I will stay a while, Edwin. You may retire for the night.”

He hesitated, and Lily looked up at him. Saw the indecision etched in his brow. “How about an hour or two? I’ll remain until you return. He won’t be alone.”

Edwin gave a short nod. “Very well, my lady.”

But she could tell he was reluctant to leave. He closed the door with a soft click behind him, and Lily looked at the prone form in front of her. His wet, muddy clothing had been removed for the doctor to examine him, and Robert was tucked in, with a blanket snug about him.

She took his hand, laced her fingers with his. Her heart skipped a beat and she dropped it.

“Stupid, Lily.” Berating her silly reaction to touching him, she picked up his hand again and held it between them. “You must recover.

“I don’t want you dead, you know,” she told him. “I am angry at you. Furious, you might say. But I never wished harm upon you.”

She gave a sigh. “Well, all right. So that isn’t entirely true. A little harm perhaps. But not this.” She squeezed his hand. “Never this, Robert.”

She watched for any sign of understanding. But he remained still.

Lily remembered the glimmer in his eye the first time she’d seen him.

“Do you remember?” she wondered. “That day, that very first day.” He wasn’t awake. He couldn’t hear. Yet she wanted to know he remembered. That the memories of her life, the good ones, weren’t complete lies.

“You came to the house to call upon Cordelia.” That day remained clear. The warm, muggy day outside, the parade of suitors vying for her sister’s attention. Adam had his duty as Cordelia’s chaperone but he hadn’t wanted to go alone, so he’d cajoled her into going into the room with him.