Page 54 of An Unusual Wager

Might he even have killed one before? A question for another time, if ever. She shrugged.

He nodded at his broken arm. “Although this might have been the result of the blow of a cudgel, I’ll allow.”

“It’s going to take some weeks to mend, your doctor informed me.”

He frowned. “I know. I suppose it will give me a match pair, as I fell out of a tree as a boy and broke the other one. I was nine and found it an infernal nuisance to have to wear a splint for weeks on end. I sympathize with my nine-year-old self. It’s going to be even more of a nuisance now, I fear.”

“No more boxing at Gentleman Jackson’s,” Verity said with a smile. “And you need two hands to drive your curricle. Probably your doctor will also tell you to desist from riding.”

“I can see a life of indolence lies ahead of me.”

“For a little while.”

Silence fell between them. Verity stifled a yawn.

“I bore you?”

She shook her head. “Not at all. I’m just a little tired. Yesterday was quite hectic with you arriving back overdosed on laudanum by my well-meaning cousins, and having to send for the doctor, and cope with Kitty throwing hysterics because she was convinced her beloved brother was dying.”

His eyes narrowed. “You have assured her I am well now, I trust? Well and on the way to a speedy recovery. She has no one else but me to care for her.”

Verity smiled again. This was a different side to the Jonathan, no, Jonnie, she’d seen in London, and she liked it far better. She liked his genuine concern for his sister. “She will be asleep still, I think. She found yesterday very trying and sat with you for some of the evening until I had to order her to bed with a hot posset. Otherwise, when you awoke, you would have found her here as well, having to prop her eyes open to stay awake. I judged it better that she get some sleep. She’s very young.”

“Fifteen. Nearly the age I was when I inherited Luxborough.”

Was that a hint of bitterness in his voice? That there was some mystery about how his father had died seemed obvious. A mystery that involved Kitty. But now was not the time to pursue it. “She’s a lovely girl.”

His eyes softened again. “She is indeed.”

Had he been about to say more?

He closed his mouth into a thin line and shook his head, changing the subject. “If you would call one of the footmen—I don’t imagine Walter took it upon himself to bring my valet along with him yesterday? No? Well, I’ll temporarily promote William. He’ll do well as a stand in. Trust Walter not to have thought of that when he made his precipitate plan to kidnap me. No wonder he overdosed me with laudanum. I need help to get up and dressed. I’m not lying in this bed a moment longer.”

“I can help you.”

He gave her a measuring look. “No. Send for William and take yourself off back to your own bedroom, I think, for some well-earned sleep. Off you go.”

Verity hesitated, moved by the fact that for the first time in their acquaintance he was putting her needs before his own. “I won’t go until William is here. You shouldn’t be alone. You had a very bad blow to your head. Several, in fact, by the look of you. You should perhaps refrain from looking in the mirror for a few days. Even now a blow to the head could still prove dangerous.” She paused. “That is why I sat with you.” A bit of a lie, but what did that matter? “I’ll ring for William.”

“You are a strict nurse, I see.” But he was smiling and it was still the friendly, likeable Jonnie before her.

“Strictness is what you need.”

He gave a burst of laughter and winced, clutching his chest. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

She rose to her feet. “Then don’t. Lie still like a good patient and wait while I call William.”

Once William arrived and it had been explained to him that his master wished to get up, get some decent clothes on and go downstairs for breakfast, with strictly no brandy to be imbibed on pain of severe punishment, Verity left and hurried to her own room, which of course was only next door, as befitted the wife of the earl. This time she didn’t bar either the door onto the hallway nor the one to Jonnie’s room. After all, he was in no fit state to come knocking and demanding his conjugal rights, was he? Something she found to her surprise was slightly disappointing.

However, it did mean she could remove her peignoir and climb into bed. Within minutes, she was fast asleep.

She didn’t wake again until after midday. A tug on the bell pull brought Bessie hurrying to wait on her mistress, and within forty minutes she was dressed in a pretty morning dress, courtesy of Aunt Josephine, and was descending the wide staircase.

She met Lucas at the foot of the stairs. “His Lordship is in the library and requested that you should join him as soon as you were up, my lady.” He sounded a little disapproving, as though he felt Jonnie should still be lying in bed like a proper invalid.

Luckily she knew where the library was, as Kitty had given her such an informative tour of the house. She asked Lucas to bring a tray of tea and cake and left him in the hall.

The library opened onto the side of the house that looked out over the lake and was a long room with four wide windows giving onto the view. As one would expect of a library, it lived up to its name and all of the walls were covered in shelves of books that looked suspiciously as though they’d been bought in a job lot to make its owner look good.