Page 67 of Beguiling the Baron

Chapter 45

“Well. Goodness. Gracious.” Mama fell silent a moment, regarding Tia anxiously. “But how could something as momentous as this come to pass and I not be aware of it? He always seemed so cold, so distant.”

With a shake of her head, Mama rose from her seat beside Tia’s bed and began a perambulation of the bedchamber. “He must have seen your value as a tutor to Polly, and how you get on with all the servants and thought you would make a good helpmate.”

Tia would have laughed had she not been traumatized. “I like to think he hasn’t been quite so calculating, Mama. He told me he loved me.”

“Now I’ve heard everything.” Mama spun back to face her. “I wasn’t certain the man even had a heart anymore. Though he’s been unbending more of late and coming out of his mourning clothes.”

Thank goodness Mama didn’t know exactly how much Hal had come out of his clothes.

“I wondered if that was all due to you. But it’s most remiss of you not to tell me the way the wind was blowing.”

“I hardly knew it myself,” Tia countered. “I accepted him, but we quarreled in the folly, and I changed my mind.”

How could she have been so rash? She loved him. She should have been prepared to wait for him to prove he loved her in return. Maybe this disaster could have been averted.

“When I ran out, he came after me and must have slammed the door behind him. I don’t know—I was too distracted. One moment he was standing at the top of the steps and the next, they simply disintegrated. I thought I’d lost him. It would have been all my fault.”

She could no longer hold back the tears. As the first painful sob burst free, Mama rushed forward and held out her arms. “Come, Tia, don’t be ashamed. You’re never too big for a mother’s cosseting.”

Sinking into her embrace, Tia gave vent to all the fear, guilt, and hysteria threatening to overwhelm her, sprung from the awful moment she believed the man she loved was dead.

After what seemed like hours, her tears lessened, and she became aware of a subtle tapping coming from the door to the adjoining room.

Hal. Who else could it be?

“Mama, I think I need to sleep now. Please go and take some rest yourself.”

“Are you sure you’ll be all right?”

“Quite sure. I’m so weary, I could slumber for a week. Thank you.”

Mama stood. “Rest. I shall return with some palatable refreshment in an hour or so.” She left the room.

Easing herself stiffly out of bed, Tia padded across to the door and put her ear to it, then whispered against the crack, “Hal, is it you?” Her heart thudded in her chest as she awaited the response and when it came, she almost sank to the floor in relief.

“Of course it is, foolish woman. Who else would it be? How is a man supposed to rest with all this ruckus coming from your room?”

Scarcely able to contain her joy, she turned the key and flung the door open.