Reese's Bride. Kat Martin

thought back in that direction.

      Reese’s stomach instantly knotted. He looked over at his friend. “She is hardly my Elizabeth. We are barely civil to one another. I told you, she is only here because she asked for my protection.”

      “But she is beautiful.”

      He gave up a sigh. “More beautiful, I think, than she was as a girl.”

      They turned away from the fields and headed back toward the house. Reese made it a point to walk every day to exercise the muscles in his stiff leg. One day he meant to climb into a saddle, though he grudgingly admitted he wasn’t up to it yet.

      “So what do you plan to do? About the woman, I mean?”

      As they reached the top of a rise and looked down on the whitewashed, slate-roofed manor draped with ivy, he blew out a breath.

      “I wish I knew. She isn’t completely recovered. Once she is, I imagine she’ll go on to London. She was her father’s only heir. When he died, he intended she would inherit his fortune, including the family mansion, Holiday House. As I recall, it’s quite a place.”

      “Will she be safe there?” Travis asked.

      It was a question he didn’t want to consider. An unwanted kernel of worry swelled in his chest. “I’ve sent a letter to an investigator named Morgan. Royal has used his services in the past. I’ve asked him to find out what he can about Edmund Holloway and his brother, Mason. Once Elizabeth returns to London, I’ll have him arrange some kind of security for her protection.”

      “But still you are worried. I can see it in your face.”

      He smoothed his features into blandness, but he and Trav had been friends too long to play games.

      “Jared is still just a boy. Elizabeth is frightened for him. After my run-in with Holloway, I don’t blame her.”

      “Perhaps they are better off here.”

      His stomach tightened. Having Elizabeth there was the last thing he wanted. “For the time being, they are. My aunt is due to arrive any day. At least that will staunch any possible gossip.”

      Travis smiled. “I’ve met your aunt. Lady Tavistock is quite something.”

      The edge of his mouth curved. “She is definitely a force to be reckoned with. I don’t envy Elizabeth. Aunt Aggie considers her little better than a harlot.”

      Travis chuckled. “It’s a definite coil. I’m glad I’ll be leaving before your aunt arrives.”

      Reese tossed him a glance. “Coward.”

      Travis just laughed.

      They walked along in silence, Reese pondering his good friend’s words. Elizabeth and her son were in danger. Of that he had no doubt. He couldn’t stop thinking of the boy. Seeing him there in the stable gazing with reverence at the mare, he could have been Reese’s own son.

      The notion had occurred to him, of course. There had been that single night, a fumbling, desperate coupling between two people who hadn’t meant for things to go so far. Looking back on it, he was sorry Elizabeth had suffered his amateurish efforts. She deserved a better initiation, not a bumbling attempt by a novice to the act himself.

      He wasn’t that green lad anymore. During his years as a soldier, he’d had dozens of women. He had learned from skilled courtesans how to pleasure a woman and in doing so gain more pleasure for himself.

      But that single night with Elizabeth, he hadn’t even spilled his seed inside her. He had known that much, at least. He had been determined to protect her, and his brother had unwittingly told him the way.

      Jared wasn’t his, he was sure. His hair wasn’t black but a dark chocolate brown, the same deep color as his eyes. His features were softer, less carved than his own. His manner was different, as well. He was extremely withdrawn.

      Reese had been a little shy as a boy, but neither he nor any of the Dewar brothers had been anything like Jared.

      The boy belonged to Edmund Holloway and Reese couldn’t help wondering how soon after Reese had left for London, the earl had enjoyed the woman Reese had already made his.

      Travis left the following morning, an hour before Aunt Aggie’s carriage pulled up in front of the manor. The weather had turned blustery and cold and his frail aunt leaned against him, the wind whipping her skirts, as Reese led her along the brick walkway toward the front porch.

      She sighed as they entered the house out of the weather and Hopkins closed the front door. Shoving the hood of her cloak back from her gleaming silver hair, she smiled, resilient as always.

      “You’re looking well, nephew, if perhaps a little strained.”

      More than a little, he thought, with Elizabeth under his roof. “It’s good to see you, Aunt Agatha.”

      She cast him a glance. He usually called her Aunt Aggie—much to her distress. “That desperate, are you? It’s a good thing I have come.”

      He smiled as he settled her on the sofa in the drawing room, thinking how good it was to have her there, though he wished she couldn’t read him quite so well. “Thank you for coming, Auntie. As I said in my letter, Lady Aldridge has a son. It’s important her reputation be protected.”

      His aunt merely grunted. “She didn’t seem to mind the scandal when she tossed you over for that no-good Aldridge.”

      He tried not to smile. His aunt had always been prejudiced in her nephews’ favor and far too outspoken, even if he did agree.

      “She and the boy are in danger. She asked for my protection and I couldn’t turn her away.”

      She harrumphed this time, but didn’t argue. Though she might disapprove of the woman in his house, she would have expected no less of him.

      “You must be tired from your journey,” he said. “Why don’t you go up and have a rest? Hopkins has already seen to your baggage. The housekeeper put you in one of the rooms overlooking the garden, though the grounds are a bit ragged yet.”

      She released a tired breath. “I’m sure you will see to it soon, and yes, I believe a rest would suit me very well.”

      Afraid he might not be able to see her safely upstairs, hampered as he was by his damnable leg, he glanced round for Timothy and spotted him hovering in the hall.

      “See her ladyship up to her room, will you, Tim? The housekeeper knows which one it is.”

      “Aye, Major.”

      “What did you just call him?” Aunt Aggie lifted a silver eyebrow and Tim began to stutter.

      “I—I meant to say, aye, your lordship.”

      “That is far better.”

      Reese just smiled. Things would be different while his aunt was around. As much as he liked her and looked forward to her visit, he would be glad when both women were gone.

      “I’ll see you at supper,” he called up to her as she made her way toward the top of the stairs, leaning on Tim’s solid arm. Reese wasn’t worried about her. Tim would risk life and limb before he would let the old woman fall.

      He smiled again. It felt good. He hadn’t smiled much since he had awakened in an army hospital bed, his leg hurting like blazes—unable to remember his name.

      Then he spotted Elizabeth coming down the hall and his smile slid away.

      Elizabeth jerked to a stop in the middle of the hallway. Traveling the opposite direction, Reese walked toward her, his blue eyes icy cold and fixed on her face.

      “Good … good morning, my lord.”

      “It’s closer to noon, but I’m sure that’s still early for you.”

      She had been up for hours, but she didn’t say so. It didn’t matter