She stared at him. “Tomorrow?”
“Indeed.”
If he had given any other excuse, she might have ignored it, but she was anxious to make a good impression upon his family members. She needed to prove to them that her new position, that her new marriage, was a thing ofgreatimportance, and she could not very well begin that endeavor properly if she was exhausted.
She chewed her lower lip in thought. “Very well, I will go, but I shall leave the warm milk for you. It seems to me that you need it more than I do.”
Turning, she got halfway across the room before she hesitated. But when she glanced back at him, he was sitting diagonally in the reading chair, in the same position he had used in the carriage upon their journey there, and his eyes were closed. She knew he was not sleeping, but she also knew that the conversation was finished.
As she left him alone in the library, questions began to whisper in her mind—two of them louder than the rest:What on earth happened to you, Lionel? What horrors do you see when you fall asleep?
She had a feeling that the two were connected, and perhaps Lady Rebecca and the Dowager would be the very people to enlighten her.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The carriage came to a standstill at the bottom of the porch steps. Lionel was already waiting, standing out in the cold to greet his beloved family. Meanwhile, Amelia had chosen a more reserved spot in the entrance hall, with her maid and Mrs. Scanlon flanking her.
Is she trying to hide between them?Lionel wondered, certain that all would be well after the initial introductions. Rebecca and Caroline would accept Amelia, they would all become dear friends, and he would not have to worry about what the future might look like, knowing they all had each other to rely upon.
Unsurprisingly, the glass of warm milk had not helped him to sleep last night, his mind too loud for slumber—and not merely because of his nightmares, but also the memory of seeing his wife in her nightgown. A vision that had refused to abandon him and seemed to make him clumsy every time it popped back into his head. He had already spilled his morning cup of weak coffee and dropped jam on himself because of it, forcing him to change into a different waistcoat.
Still, the prospect of seeing his sister and grandmother again had refreshed him.
“There they are!” Lionel said, heading down the steps. “Two fair maidens, safely delivered from the evil clutches of London.”
Rebecca burst out of the carriage, not bothering to wait for a footman or her brother to open the door for her. She flew the last few paces and threw her arms around Lionel, hugging him tightly.
“One would think you had been away for months, rather than days,” he teased, hugging her back in kind. Most of his life was spent being proper and restrained, but that was impossible when it came to his family.
Though I almost let her touch me…His thoughts flitted to the previous night, how Amelia’s hand had reached for his chest and his scars. He still possessed his quick reflexes, but they had been woefully slow in the face of her concerned curiosity.
“It hasfeltlike months!” Rebecca cried, her voice pulling him out of his thoughts. “Can you believe that I was actually excited to leave London? I did not think I would ever see such a time where I was gladder to be returning here for afreezingwinter than enjoying the endless delights of the city in a cozy townhouse.”
“You have never been cold here in all your seven-and-ten years,” Lionel pointed out, chuckling. “I know because Mrs. Scanlon makes complaints about your fuel consumption.”
“She does not!” Rebecca grinned. “How dare you incriminate her like that.”
Lionel smiled back. “Well, you go on and greet Mrs. Scanlon while I help our grandmother out of the carriage. It would appear you have at least left your manners behind in London.”
“Manners?” Rebecca scoffed playfully. “I never had any to begin with.”
She scampered on up the porch steps while Lionel crossed to the open carriage door, offering his hand to Caroline. She took it gratefully, grunting and groaning as she stepped down onto the gravel.
“I shall need a new spine after that journey,” she complained, wincing. “Every road from here to the Capital has gained at least twenty more ditches and runnels since we first departed. And my bones felt every one of them.”
Lionel pulled her arm through his, walking her to the entrance. “I might first suggest trying new cushions for the carriage. If that does not work, then we shall see about a new spine.”
Caroline smiled up at her grandson. “Speaking of new things, how is your mysterious wife faring? It cannot be going so well if you arethisexcited to see the two of us during the first week of your honeymoon.”
“It is… fine,” he replied, nearly missing the porch step as the image of Amelia in her nightgown, reaching to touch him, infiltrated his thoughts again.
“Fine?” Caroline pulled a face. “What a terrible word. If your grandfather had ever described our marriage as ‘fine,’ I would have sewn a fish into his favorite tailcoat.”
Lionel chuckled, but it echoed hollow. “Very well—it is as expected.”
“That is no better, darling,” his grandmother replied, as they reached the front doors.
In truth, I do not know what to make of it…Until Amelia had demanded a shared dinner, he had been managing well enough. He could have easily spent the rest of their honeymoon in his study, hearing about her welfare through an intermediary. But she had burst in and ruined his plan, as she seemed to have a habit of doing.
