Page 36 of Love and Other Disasters

He nodded. “Yes, but I’d rather have had the view the others enjoyed. I’ve never seen my friends so instantly smitten. What are you wearing under there?”

She looked at him and fluttered her lashes. “Nothing at all, my lord.”

His arm slipped around her waist immediately, and he held her tightly to his side. “You should not have told me that, madam. I can’t possibly let you wander around alone now. We’re sticking together tonight, partner, till dawn.”

She couldn’t escape the rush of pleasure that swept over her at his promise. She’d like to spend the evening doing nothing else but being with him, too.

Chapter Eleven

Jasper gazed out over the beauty of the Ravenswood Palace estate, a sense of pride filling him. Father might have run up debts everywhere but had never stinted on the estate or livestock. Of course, there were dozens of improvements he could easily see that could be made still though. He made a mental note to write them down later, something he’d been planning to do for days, but of course the party and the arrival of the child had thrown his life into utter chaos, and so had Sophie, too, in a way.

The child was more problematic, of course. For the life of him, he could still not imagine a lady of his intimate acquaintance keeping such an important event from him. They should have told him, hinted at making a marriage between them or, at the very least, applied to him for financial support.

The latter, he would not have stinted on. He wasn’t heartless. He owned up to his mistakes, and he liked his brother’s children well enough to want some of his own. But marriage would have been an entirely different kettle of fish.

Jasper had many flaws as a man; he was a third brother and, as Sophie had been quick to point out, a proud rake. He wasn’t the first bachelor any respectable lady thought about for a husband.

He patted his horse’s neck as it stamped its feet, keen to move on with his tour of the property. Jasper was impatient, too. But he was concerned by the flavor of his own thoughts since last night to want some time alone. The possessiveness in him when he was around Sophie was unexpected and troubling. He wanted more. He always had, but the what had escaped him…until now.

He turned his horse about and started back toward the distant palace, to a child who might be his and the governess he now seemed to crave more conversation with. The governess had reinvented herself in the space of one day and there was no turning back now. He liked Sophie very much—far more than he’d ever expected to.

He did not know what to do about Sophie.

She was like him in so many ways, but better at hiding her jaded experience of the world.

A flash of movement among the trees caught his eye. He wheeled his horse around and reached toward the pistol he carried strapped to his leg in case it was needed. There ought not to be anyone lurking about in the trees. Poachers were not unheard of on the estate, and he would deal with any trespassers if he must. This far from the main road, from the palace gardens, signified a stealthy incursion might just be underway.

To his surprise, a rider in an inky black cloak emerged from the trees, followed by a man on horseback. Jasper squinted at the pair, recognized the former was a woman riding sidesaddle. There was nothing furtive about their approach, though, and Jasper kicked his horse into a gallop to reach them. “This is private land.”

The woman raised her chin, revealing her entire face to him. “I am well aware of that, Jasper. Do you intend to shoot me for trespassing?”

“Of course not,” he hurried to promise, knowing full well how stupid he must seem for not immediately recognizing her. “Sister?”

Lady Laura Sweet inclined her head. “My lord.”

Jasper urged his horse alongside hers and reached out, hoping to touch her fingers to confirm Laura had come home at last. She did not oblige to lift her hand from the reins though, and he dropped his own after a moment. “I can hardly believe my eyes, but it is you.”

“It would oblige me to know where my husband is?”

Jasper frowned at the question, and the frost in her voice. “It’s good to see you again, and looking so well.”

“No thanks to your family,” she said bitterly. “Tell me where he is.”

Jasper and Laura had gotten along passably well before her departure from the family fold. Clearly, she was no longer fond of him. He’d done what little he could to protect her, but of course, Father had despised Laura’s presence by the end and wanted her sent away almost as soon as Nash’s second son had been born. She’d stayed only long enough to nurse young Liam past his first months of life and then slipped away early one morning, leaving no trace.

“He’s away with Algernon. Do you know Father died?”

“Of course,” she said, gesturing to her dark clothing. But her eyes darted about the clearing still. “When will Nash return?”

“Oh, any day now,” he lied, and Laura’s grip on the reins tightened slightly. There was definitely a furtiveness to Laura’s visit to the estate that Jasper did not care for. He felt it in the way she sat in her saddle. Poised to take flight. “So, you have come home?”

“No.”

“Your husband misses you.”

“Nash has my money, my children, and that’s all he has ever wanted from me.” A sour smile turned up the corners of her mouth. “He has found other comforts, anyway.”

Jasper drew back in surprise. How could she know what Nash was up to? Had she spied on her husband? “You have been misled,” Jasper promised. “He has been faithful to you.”