“For the better?”
He nodded.
“Good.” She patted her stomach. “Now, let us hurry. I am st—extremely hungry.”
He smiled softly at her correction and slipped his hand into hers once more as they strolled up the beach at their leisure, and he helped her up the steep, slippery steps.
As they reached the edge of the woodland, however, he suddenly knelt before her, his back turned.
“Do you not need to stand a little higher?” she asked.
He shook his head. “I’m going to carry you on these obscenely wide shoulders of mine if you’re willing?”
“You will never let me forget that, will you?” she groaned, rolling her eyes.
“One day, maybe.”
Gingerly, she climbed up onto his shoulders, gripping tightly to his face as he rose to his feet. For a dreadful second, she thought she was going to topple forward, but his arms locked around her ankles, holding her safely in place. If it was inappropriate, neither of them cared, for there was no one around to see them. Besides, they were married.
“I am astallas the trees!” Matilda gasped, jittering with excitement as he proceeded through the woods, carrying her with ease. “I can see things up here that I could never see from the ground! There is a nest! Doves, my darling! My darling, there is a woodpecker! I can see it! Goodness, it is such a bright red! Albion, I feel as if I could touch the sky!”
Through all of her animated cries and exclamations, he just chuckled and kept going, allowing her to delight in her surroundings however she pleased.
“I can almost see the summer house!” she yelped as they reached the rolling lawns. “That glint in the distance—ithasto be the summer house roof. Do you think?”
“It could be,” he replied.
She turned her gaze to the right, shielding her eyes from the golden sun. A figure was coming down the driveway; rather, they weremarchingdown the driveway with purpose in every stride.
“Albion?” Her good cheer evaporated as swiftly as the seawater on her skin.
He peered up. “Yes?”
“I think your mother is coming.”
CHAPTERTWENTY-FOUR
“If you wish to see me, you should send word ahead of you,” Albion chided, standing by the French doors in the Sun Room. “If you wish to see me without having to send word, you know well enough what you have to do. If you can’t give an apology in-person, I’ll accept a letter.”
Constance scoffed so hard she began to cough.
“Some tea?” Albion offered drily.
His mother scowled at him, clearing her throat. “This ismyhome, Albion. I have been here far longer than you. I have taken care of this house for almost forty years while you once did all you could to stay away from it. I do not need to write to you before I come to my own home; I have remained at the Dowager House as a courtesy that has now run out.”
“Consider what you just said,” he replied coolly, transforming into the respected Captain he used to be.
She sniffed. “What?”
“It is called the ‘Dowager House’ for a reason.Thatis your residence now.”
“Your father said I could stay in my own chambers forever! Your brother agreed to the same terms!” she fumed, her voice still raspy from coughing.
Albion folded his arms behind his back, standing tall and straight. “They are dead, Mother.Wehave not agreed terms.”
“It is my right to be in this house!”
“No, it ismyright to decide who resides here. And you know my condition for your return.” He held his mother’s irate gaze. “My wife is my priority. Until she is comfortable in your presence, you will stay where you are.”
