The Fearless Miss Dinah by Laura Rollins
Chapter Four
Henry couldn’t sleep at all that night.
He hadn’t been home to Angleside Court in four months, and though he was more than happy to be back in his comfortable bedchamber, he found himself pacing the floor rather than resting atop the overly large bed. His family, all of whom lived at Angleside Court with him, had been thrilled at his return, if curious at his appearance and his arrival at such an unusual hour. Luckily, they had believed his lies about being thrown from his horse.
He didn’t tell them that soon there would be a new Lady Stanton.
That little bit of truth was still too tightly lodged in Henry’s throat for him to get the words out.
Eventually, as the early morning rays reached his bedchamber window, and after shaving the hated stubble off his face, he left the room and headed toward his office. It was where he went first thing every morning, usually at first dawn, unless he’d been working late the night before. He’d walked these same corridors, from his bedchamber to his office, at this same time in the morning for years before joining the smugglers a few months ago. This morning, he was too worn out to do anything but fall back into old tendencies. He found small solace in the habit, but it was more than he’d found staring up at the moonless sky all night. Unfortunately, all he managed to accomplish was a relocation of his pacing.
His mind wasn’t even rehashing the night any longer. He’d turned over the events so often, he was just numb.
Some time later, David pushed into the room. “Are you not joining us for breakfast this morning, Henry? Everyone’s bursting to hear what you have been doing with yourself this summer.”
He only shook his head, turning his back on his brother. The door shut and footsteps drew near.
“What the blazes is wrong? You look as though you’ve seen a ghost.”
Henry turned back around just as David was sitting himself in one of the two wingbacks by the fire.
Lud, he wasn’t in the mood to discuss this. But what was he supposed to do? Just bring Miss Dinah home one afternoon? When his family asked after who she was, what would he say? Oh, why this is my wife. Did I not tell you I was getting married this morning? Henry collapsed onto the other wingback and buried his head in his hands.
Devil take him. “I’m getting married,” Henry said between his hands.
David was up on his feet immediately. “What? That’s fantastic! Congratulations, old man. I had no idea any lady had caught your eye. Followed her home for summer, did you? That was quite sly of you, keeping her hidden from us all. Honestly, though, I think everyone’s relief at you finally marrying will far outweigh anyone’s disappointment at not being told sooner.” David’s upbeat rant pierced directly through Henry’s skull. “Gads, married?” David continued. “I guess I can say this now, but after Emily and I got married and then you never showed any interest in any woman—ever—I couldn’t help but wonder . . . after all, you and Emily had been quite close friends growing up.”
“David.” Henry’s voice has hard. “Sit. Down.” His friendship with his brother’s wife when they were children was the last thing he wanted to discuss now.
David plopped back down into the wingback across from Henry. The fact that Emily had chosen to marry David instead of himself didn’t bother Henry—at least, not anymore. Seeing how perfectly suited David and Emily were had done much to heal that wound, but it still wasn’t something he ever cared to discuss with his brother.
“I want to hear all about her.” David’s enthusiasm seemed undampened by Henry’s clear wretchedness. “When did you first meet? How long have you been secretly courting her? Are you getting married in St. James’s or traveling out to her parish?”
Henry finally dropped his hands and looked his brother square in the eye. “Yesterday. Never happened. And I don’t know, but I’m meeting with her father in a few hours to make the plans.”
David’s insipid smile froze on his face. His brow dropped, but his lips stayed up. Then his face squished itself into the most annoying half-smiling, half-shocked expression. “Come again?”
“We met yesterday,” Henry said. “I came across her and deemed she needed my help, which I offered. However, in seeing her back home, some guest of her father saw us.”
“So, you’re marrying the girl because people saw you walking together?”
He sure as the devil wasn’t marrying her because he’d fallen in love with her. Henry wasn’t built for love, something he’d learned many, many years ago. Some people were quite suited to the emotion. David, for one. But people like himself? No. He cared for people, his family and a very few close friends. But romantic love was quite against his nature, and he didn’t expect to ever wrestle with the feeling.
Henry leaned back, placing an ankle against his knee. “It was quite late at night. Due to the circumstances I found her in, Miss Dinah Mulgrave looked . . . disheveled—”
“Hold on,” David interjected. “Did you say Mulgrave?”
“Yes. Do you know the family?” The name hadn’t sounded familiar to him.
“Dear brother, all of London knows of Sir Mulgrave and his daughters. I’m surprised you didn’t hear the tale before leaving Town. It’s been everyone’s favorite piece of gossip this Season, I can attest to that.”
Ah, so Henry had been wrong in thinking of the man as mister; he had been knighted. Still, men were knighted often enough, and it rarely caused a stir so big as David seemed to think Sir Mulgrave had.
David shook his head. “Sometimes you get so focused on the few things you deem important in life, you miss everything else happening around you, I swear.”
“And what has this Sir Mulgrave done that is so gossip-worthy?”
David rocked forward, clearly eager to tell. “He singlehandedly saved the Marchioness of Blackmore from three highwaymen. Took them all out. Saved her life, they say.”
Ah, well, that would explain where Miss Dinah got her feisty disposition. “Very well, he’s something of a hero. That still doesn’t seem all that noteworthy.” Though Henry couldn’t deny that he respected Sir Mulgrave all the more now that he knew what he’d done.
“He saved the life of one of the most well-respected and well-connected women of all the haut ton. I, for one, can’t think of a single thing more gossip-worthy than that.” David grinned at him and shook his head. “And now to think, you will be marrying into such a man’s family. I have to admit, I’m quite happy for you, brother.”
What the blazes did his brother have to be happy about? “We are both being all but forced into this arrangement. I cannot find happiness in such a thing.” Henry had never considered his brother lacking in brains, but now he was sorely tempted to change his long-standing assessment.
David laughed and pushed himself to standing. “Ah, but you will. Mark my words, you will.” David waggled his eyebrows. “Being married is far more enjoyable than any bachelor likes to believe.”
Henry’s mouth pressed into a tight line. For someone like David, that might be the truth. But Henry was cut from different cloth. “I still fully expect David Jr. to inherit my title,” he said in a flat tone. “Miss Dinah and I are marrying out of necessity, not out of . . . affection.” His mouth curled at the last word. Even the vowels and consonants which made up such a notion tasted bitter.
David stilled, his insipid smile blessedly falling away. “Is this in consequence of Mother?”
Henry pushed to his feet, taking long strides toward the hearth. “I don’t know what you mean.” Once he reached it, however, he found he couldn’t just stand there. He turned around, pressing his back against the mantel until it bit through his jacket and into his spine. Still, the angry swarm of bees that seemed to invade his stomach every time he thought of the last Lady Stanton continued.
“Not every woman will—”
“Will what?” Henry demanded, pacing back toward his desk. There, where his papers were laid out in order. Where he had ledgers filled with numbers, letters containing updates regarding his other holdings, information he could sort through, organize, and then use to make plans. Plans he could count on, that he knew would pan out as expected. That’s what he needed right now. He needed to focus on what he could predict, on what he could trust.
David’s voice was soft when he spoke. “Not every woman will leave.”
Henry placed both hands atop his desk and leaned heavily upon it. He squeezed his eyes shut, blocking out the memories that his brother’s words brought to the surface.
A feminine yet cold and angular face.
An offering of wildflowers that only earned him a disinterested frown.
A wave glimpsed through the window as she rode off in a carriage.
Returning to that window day after day for nearly a year.
He’d watched for her, though Henry supposed he should have known better. She’d told him how she felt. Calm down, Henry, she’d said ever so many times. Your intensity is quite ill-suited for a future earl. It is a wonder your nursemaid can tolerate you at all.
The floor let out a low creak as David drew near him. He placed a hand on Henry’s shoulder. The touch was meant to be supportive—Henry knew as much in his head. But it felt like a burning hot coal being pressed against his shoulder blade. He and David didn’t discuss the last Lady Stanton. Henry had no desire to change that now.
Henry pushed his brother away as he stood up straight. “Sir Mulgrave is expecting me first thing this morning.” He tugged his jacket down and into place, forcing his memories back into the farthest recesses of his mind once more. “It does not do to keep a future father-in-law waiting.”
Without another word, he strode past David and out of the room.