Page 28 of The Viscount in her Bedroom
“He wants you to enjoy your life. Just because he can’t ride doesn’t mean you shouldn’t.” Louisa frowned as she watched Lord Wade slow the boat as he reached the far side, turn it around, and then begin rowing again at a quick pace.
“Why does he row so fast?” she asked.
Miss Wade shrugged. “I think he likes being tired afterward. He says he thinks and works out his frustrations.”
He must have had a lot of frustrations, because although they spent a half-hour walking all the paths in the garden, Lord Wade continued to row.
As they were heading back to the manor, Miss Wade said, “So you really think Simon wants me to enjoy my life?”
Louisa glanced at her in bemusement. “Of course.”
“Grandmama, too?”
“Surely you know that your family loves you.”
“I know. And I’ve done nothing but embarrass them,” she said softly.
“You mustn’t think that, Miss Wade.”
“I just wish…oh, I don’t know what I wish.”
Louisa studied the girl thoughtfully.
~oOo~
“Miss Shelby is watching, my lord,” Manvil said suddenly.
Simon wiped his wet face on his arm, and tried to ignore his ridiculous surge of pleased satisfaction. “And you thought I’d want to know that?”
“I did. You’re spending time with her, aren’t you?”
Simon frowned and continued to row, picking up the pace until his muscles ached with the strain. He spoke between breaths. “She’s my grandmother’s companion. We’re both living in the same house. I can’t help but spend time with her.”
“I’m living in the same house too, but I don’t see her as much as you do. Not that youseeher,” Manvil added casually.
Simon splashed him.
But he had to admit that a buried part of him was glad Miss Shelby knew he rowed.
Was he so vain that helikedknowing that she was watching him? He didn’t row to put himself on display. It was simply freedom to him. It washispower moving the boat,hisability making something happen. His life was sadly lacking in that.
Lately, it was only full of frustration. Besides the puzzle of Miss Shelby, he was in the middle of an all-out war between two of his grandmother’s tenants. They were arguing over who had the rights to a tiny orchard that straddled their property line.
Just listening to them, Simon could not understand why they weren’t solving the problem on their own. In times past, he would have understood from their faces, from the way their eyes looked confidently at a man, or scurried away in guilt. Later when he questioned Georgie, she simply thought they were foolish, but you couldn’t tell a man that. Simon felt…blind to a solution that would satisfy everyone.
So he rowed. And when he was exhausted, he slept better. He was able to fight off the need to roam the halls at night in the dark.
He didn’t need to keep running into Miss Shelby, although he certainly wanted to. He’d only touched her stomach through clothing, and he wanted more. He imagined her hair down, reclining on his big lonely bed. He’d cover her and—
And he rowed harder.
~oOo~
Lord Wade did not join them that night in the drawing room, and in the morning he immediately disappeared into his study. Louisa wondered why he was avoiding his family, but couldn’t very well ask him.
That afternoon, Louisa and Lady Wade were reading their novels silently in the drawing room when Miss Wade entered and sank down with a sigh next to Louisa on the sofa.
Lady Wade closed her book and smiled at her. “Did you and Simon have a productive morning, Georgie my child?”
