Page 36 of A Scandalous Bargain
“Thank you, Baines.”
“How are your hands?” the butler asked tentatively.
Thomas splayed his hands and held them in front of his face. The abrasions on his knuckles were red and raw. The wounds stung, but less now than when he’d arrived home. “Cook had a poultice that Mrs. Henley insisted I use.” His valet had applied it twice already. To a person, no one had asked how he’d sustained the injury. Baines, however, had asked if he was all right.
“You’re certain you’ve no other injuries?” Baines asked.
“Thank you for your concern.” Thomas gave him a weak smile. And then, because he would have to tell his aunt a story, he said, “It’s been a trying time. I’m afraid I took out my agitation on the tree in the garden.”
Baines stared at him a moment. “I see. Did that…help?”
Thomas shrugged. “In the moment, yes. But now I have sore hands to contend with.” The smile he generated now was more genuine. Or he hoped it was, anyway.
Baines nodded. “Mrs. Holcomb is in the drawing room. She has a gift for Miss Devereaux.”
That would be the third gift Aunt Charity had brought for Regan this week. She wanted to make sure Regan didn’t miss her mother, which wasn’t really necessary.
“Thank you, Baines.” Thomas stood and left the study to make his way upstairs.
Situated at the front of the first floor with a pretty view of Grosvenor Square, the drawing room was where they gathered as a family. Aunt Charity sat in the central seating area, a box tied with a bow on the settee beside her.
“Good afternoon, Aunt.” Thomas walked toward the seating area. “Thank you for bringing Regan another gift, but it’s not necessary. She is almost entirely unaffected by…what happened.”
“You’re lucky she’s so young. And that her mother was a poor excuse for a parent.”
Thomas acknowledged things could be much more difficult, and for that, he was grateful. Not for his sake, but for Regan’s. He didn’t want her to be sad. Yet sadness and disappointment were part of life. He’d learned that at a very young age. Which was precisely why he didn't want his daughter to experience it. She had plenty of time to feel hurt and despair and loss. His chest stung—how he wished he could protect her from such things forever.
Aunt Charity stood and came toward where he stood near a chaise. “Goodness, what on earth did you do to your hands?” She took them in hers and frowned down at the wounds.
“I expended my energy on a tree. It relieved some tension.”
She let go of him and gave him a wry stare. “You can’t just drink excessively or gamble or take a mistress like other men?”
“I’m doing my best with the drinking.”
“Pffft.” She waved her hand. “I don’t believe you. And I know you don’t gamble much, and you certainly haven’t taken a mistress. God knows you should have.”
So many people had encouraged him to do that. His valet. Friends. And now his aunt. At what point would he take the advice?
He knew who he wanted in his bed, but she wasn’t someone he could take as a mistress.
Aunt Charity returned to the settee, and he took the armchair with a high back that reached his shoulders. She studied him intently. “You’re sure it was a tree?”
Thomas shifted uncomfortably. “Yes. Why would you think otherwise?” He regretted the question as soon as it passed his lips.
“It just seems an odd thing to do. But if it made you feel better, you must do as you need.”
Regan skipped into the room, her nurse following more sedately. “Papa! Aunt Charity!” She was on her way to Thomas, but he could see the exact moment her attention caught the wrapped package next to Aunt Charity. She veered to the left and bounded onto the settee. “Is this for me?”
“Yes,” Aunt Charity said, smiling. “It’s the last one, however. Your papa thinks I’m spoiling you.”
This mattered not a whit to Regan as she didn’t so much as look at Thomas. He chuckled.
“I never used the word spoiled,” he said.
Regan tugged at the ribbon and then removed the lid. She squealed and reached inside. Her small hands clutched a book larger than her lap.
“This has all sorts of animals in it,” Aunt Charity said. “I know how much you like animals.”
