Page 83 of The Duchess in His Bed
As harsh as his earlier words had been, as much as they’d bludgeoned her heart, she found that she couldn’t dismiss him easily, couldn’t simply walk out of his life as though he meant nothing at all to her. She suspected in the future, on rare occasions, she would come to the club, simply to catch a glimpse of him. She would look forward to sharing whatever time he spent with his child. Although she’d never been comfortable with the scheme Winslow had cooked up, she hadn’t fully understood the extent of its costs, hadn’t realized what Aiden would come to mean to her. “The way you rushed out of here, I feared trouble was afoot. I remained in case you had need of me.”
He raised his eyes to her. “Thank you for helping me with her.”
“I’ll just stay until the doctor is finished examining her, in case there’s more I can do.”
He merely nodded.
“Do you know why she came to see you?”
“I met her the night I told Elverton to steer clear of you. She lied then about being my mother. I suppose the truth of things began to weigh heavily upon her. She needed to ease her guilt.”
“I can see the resemblance... in your eyes, the sleekness of your nose. Elverton’s is rather broader.”
“I thought I’d noticed similarities before, but I blamed it on my imagination and my wish she was my mother—that at long last I knew who had brought me into the world.”
Her heart ached for him. “I didn’t realize you yearned to know who your mother was.”
He lifted a shoulder, dropped it, seemed to clutch his hands more tightly. “I think every motherless child hungers to know the tale of his origins. It’s just easier to claim not to, to pretend it doesn’t matter.”
Which made it even more important that the babe growing within her never doubt its origins. Perhaps Aiden was correct that they should part ways. How much longer could she refrain from letting the love she felt for him shine through in her eyes for all the world to see? Was it fair to ask him to wait for her for a few years, to then pretend they’d only just met?
“How do you feel knowing Viscount Wyeth is your brother?”
“I always knew he was my brother through Elverton.” He studied his clasped hands. “It’s an odd thing to know that we share the same mother as well.”
His voice had hesitated atmother,and she wondered if it would have been easier to learn all this when he was younger—or to have not learned any of it at all. Would Selena’s son look for similarities in Lushing’s portraits? Would he hate her if he ever learned the truth regarding his existence?
Wandering over to the sideboard, she splashed some whisky into a glass and handed it off to Aiden.
He tossed back a good portion of it. “Thank you.”
Kneeling before him, she placed her hands on his wrists as he did little more than clasp the glass. “Even though we are not going to continue to see each other, I want you to know—Ineedyou to know—that if you are ever in want of solace or anything at all, you can come to me and I’ll be there for you.”
“But only in the shadows.” His eyes contained enough sorrow to bring tears to hers. “Even when we arrange for me to spend time with my child—it’ll have to be in such a way that no one sees us. I’m beginning to think it might be best if I simply observe from afar.”
“I want you to have the opportunity to know your son—or daughter.”
“And when he or she grows older, wiser, more aware of the world and begins to wonder why I have such a keen interest—”
“Because you’re my friend.”
He shook his head. “I wanted you so badly that I may have ignored all the possible ramifications of our actions.”
She could hear in his tone the falsehood of his earlier words. He hadn’t grown weary of her. “You’ve come to mean a great deal to me.”
“For what it’s worth, I won’t ever forget you. But for any of us to have any semblance of a normal life—”
“I think she was poisoned,” Graves announced as he came to stand before them.
As he rose to his feet, Aiden brought Selena to hers. “What do we do for her?” he asked.
“I think you’ve already done it by giving her milk. I’m glad you didn’t wait for my arrival.” It had taken him more than an hour to get to them.
“How does milk help?” Aiden asked.
Graves cupped his elbow with one hand in order to support his arm while he rubbed his chin. “I’m not quite certain of the particulars, but it seems to neutralize the arsenic if it’s not already completely digested and in the blood.”
“Arsenic? What? She had a mishap applying her face creams or powders?”
