Page 65 of The Baron Takes a Wife

“You better. I don’t much like the direction this country is going in.”

“Yes, Aunt Sophie,” he said, parroting Irene.

“I will be in touch about the business.”

“You have handled it marvelously since I have been gone.” During her visit, they discussed how they would manage things in the future. Now that David had returned, he wanted to take a more active role but did not want to take anything away from Sophie, who had a keen mind for business.

“How do you like your new secretary?” Elena asked.

“Oh yes, I’ve been meaning to thank you, Elena. She has been a find. Writes wonderfully in Italian. Fiery little thing, too, not afraid to stand up for herself. I don’t mind having her around.” Which was very high praise coming from Sophie.

“And her past, it does not bother you?”

“Why should it? It’s not her fault this world is run by terrible men.”

Elena, who was usually so restrained, threw her arms around Sophie as if overcome by the moment. Sophie, rarely caught off guard, looked stunned, then gingerly patted Elena’s back.

“Oh, I do love you, Aunt Sophie,” Elena exclaimed.

At that utterance, David and Irene were the ones caught off guard, and he saw his own shock mirrored on his sister’s face. He had never heard Elena express love for anyone in the present tense before, not even Goliath. Even though he knew he shouldn’t get his hopes up, the sentiment still blossomed traitorously in his heart, and as Irene looked over at him in surprise, he gave a bemused shrug. He could only trust that this new part of their marriage, of going to the estate, would help open up her heart more fully. David had returned to the Foreign Office the previous day to learn there was no news of Anatole. However, the man he spoke to mentioned that he had heard of several families who had fled Dobruja and stayed in Constantinople after the invasion but had no names or contacts. He had promised to write immediately if he heard anything, and David believed him, the solemn civil servant he seemed to be.

He was torn on whether to tell Elena—even though they had agreed to honesty, he sensed every time she got her hopes up just to be dashed again that something died a little inside her, and he hated to cause her that kind of pain. He wondered if his hesitation in telling her was also tied to his belief that she would fall in love with the estate and never want to leave, but he swallowed that down. He would tell her if he heard more, he resolved.

Elena pulled back from Sophie, looking a little embarrassed. Sophie caught her hand, again, not what one would expect from his aunt.

“Elena? Are you afraid to leave?”

Elena looked down.

“Don’t let the estate intimidate you, girl. You’ve been to battlefields, for goodness sake! The English countryside should not scare you.”

That was not precisely true, as the hotel and hospital had been away from the battlefield, but David knew better than to correct his aunt in this moment.

“My sister had the same look on her face over thirty years ago when she left to become the previous Lady Grayston, the title you now hold. And I’ll tell you what I said to her then: Hold your head high when you walk through that door, and fear no man.”

Elena, whose gaze was riveted on Sophie, nodded slowly, lifting her head as if to stick out her chin.

“There you are.” Sophie reached to tap her under the chin but withdrew her hand and paused, a fleeting sadness crossing her face. “I don’t think my sister could have ever imagined you, my girl, but she would have liked you. I know it in my bones. “

He watched Elena swallow and offer a small smile. As he glanced to his side, he saw Irene’s eyes were full of tears, and his own felt in danger of going the same way. He gripped his cane and made his way closer to the two women.

“Well, I ought to be off. One more thing, Elena.” Sophie turned back.

“Anything.”

Sophie looked down, and he saw something he had never seen in his entire life. Was she blushing? David looked away, stunned and a little embarrassed, as if he had seen something he shouldn’t.

“Could you send me Mrs. Raeburn’s address? I should like to start a correspondence with her.”

Elena blinked and swiftly recovered. “Of course, Aunt Sophie.”

“You will give Goliath my best.”

“We can send for him,” David began, but Sophie cut him off.

“No, you know how I hate drawn-out goodbyes. I will come to the estate when I can. I can see him then.”

“Yes, Aunt Sophie.”