Page 57 of Sir Hugo Seeks a Wife
“Now go back to bed and don’t fret about me.”
He kissed her briefly, and she was thankful to see that he accepted her assurances.
A quick wash behind the screen made Athene feel better.Although it was hard not to be self-conscious, when her new lover was in the same room, listening.She supposed by the time she’d become used to sharing his bed, she’d be inured to this lack of privacy.
When she emerged, Hugo wore his spectacular robe and he’d poured two glasses of wine.A plate of delicacies waited on the small table between the armchairs.A sign that he intended to pause in their sensual journey.
He gestured to the upholstered chairs in front of the fire.“Will you join me?”
“I’d love to.”Oh, dear, that word yet again.She needed to banish “love” from her vocabulary quick smart, before it took up permanent residence.
Hugo waited for her to sit before he took his seat and passed her a glass.She’d always liked his manners.Since leaving her family, she’d learned to appreciate the less spectacular common decencies.Partly because when aristocratic clients dealt with underlings, the decencies weren’t nearly so common as they ought to be.
He raised his wine in her direction.“To us.”
“Hugo…” she said, then realized that she didn’t want to tell him to back off.It was too late anyway.She was drowning, yet she couldn’t summon the will to swim for shore.Keeping her misgivings to herself, she lifted her own glass.“To us.”
He sipped his wine then placed it on the table.“Are you hungry?”
Athene didn’t rush to reply.Wine of this quality deserved her attention.“Starving.Dinner feels like a long time ago.”As if to confirm her remark, the clock on the mantel struck five.
Hugo offered her the plate.Cheese and crackers, savory pastries, nuts, and dried fruit.She took a ham vol-au-vent and bit into it, appreciating the salty flavor.
She drank some more wine and relaxed back in the chair.“Tell me about Hampden Crags,” she said idly.
He looked at ease, too.She couldn’t help remembering how on edge he’d been this afternoon when he made his last-ditch attempt to convince her to have him.He looked ten years younger than that distraught suitor.“I’d rather talk about you.”
“I wouldn’t.”
The look he sent her told her that she merely deferred his questions.But he accepted her tacit request for a little more time, thank goodness.He offered her a cracker with cheese and she took it.“I’ve lived there all my life.It’s on the moors, a few miles from Halifax.Sheep mostly, although we raise some cattle, and I’ve started to breed horses for the army in the last few years.”
Athene imagined that he was a good manager.She’d always recognized his competence.“It sounds heavenly.”
His snort expressed denial.“Most people would say it’s empty and desolate.Cold and wet and windy.High hills and heather.”
She knew the country he spoke of, although she’d grown up in a kinder northern landscape than his.“Big skies.Clean air.Room to move.”
“You’ve been there?”
“Yes.”
Her clipped response warned him that he’d agreed to put off delving into her background.“Dramatic outcrops.Waterfalls and tumbling streams.And yes, space for a man to breathe.”
“London must have been a trial to you.”It had always been one to her.
A wave of his hand dismissed her remark.“It had its compensations.Unless I’d come to London, I’d never have met you.”
Strange to think that if she hadn’t run away with George, she and Hugo would probably have attended the same assembly or house party.Would she have liked him as much as she did now?Would she have accepted him as a suitor?Or had she been so starry-eyed over George’s cheap attractions that she’d dismiss Sir Hugo Brinsmead as too dull for words?
She liked to think that she’d value Hugo straightaway for the man he was.But she’d been an exceedingly stupid girl, so who knew?
Perhaps Hugo wouldn’t have singled her out either.Usually she cut off thoughts of might-have-beens.They were just too painful.That was the problem with lowering her barriers.She couldn’t control what came over them anymore.
She took another sip of wine.“I’m glad you came to London.”
He looked surprised.And pleased.“Are you?”
She gave a wry laugh.“Hugo, don’t be a blockhead.I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t utterly besotted.”
