Virginia Heath - Regency Rogues - Wicked Seduction - Her Enemy at the Altar / That Despicable Rogue

Connie woke early and, in the absence of any maid or any breakfast tray, dressed herself in a more forgiving habit and headed downstairs to find her husband. Yesterday he had offered to take her riding again and she needed to tell him about Mr Thomas. The first person she collided with was the housekeeper.

‘Good morning, Mrs Poole. Have you seen my husband?’

The older woman shook her head apologetically. ‘Sorry, Lady Constance, but we have not crossed paths this morning. Perhaps he has gone out for an early morning ride. He does that most mornings, usually before the sun is fully up. He is awake before the lark most days.’ The smile on her face faltered and she looked down briefly, as if she were considering her next words carefully. ‘On that subject, I am very worried about him.’

‘You are?’

‘If you would permit me to speak out of turn, Lady Constance, I have known Master Aaron since he was a boy and he is not the same man who went off to war. Something is very wrong, yet half the time he appears to pretend that those five years never happened and that he is exactly the same devil-may-care lad who went away. I am not convinced that he is. He disappears for hours on end some days, much like he has done this morning, or he locks himself away in the library. He never used to be so solitary or so preoccupied. He doesn’t sleep well either. I hear him up at all hours of the night; sometimes I hear him screaming. Deaks went in to check on him one night and Master Aaron was furious. He threatened to move out if anyone disturbed him like that again. He never sleeps past dawn. Wild horses would not have dragged him out of his bed before noon before he went away. I have asked him about it, but he will not confide in me. He just pretends that nothing is amiss and that I am imagining things. I thought that now he has a wife perhaps he might open up to you in time. I hope he does.’

The housekeeper’s concerns reminded Connie of what she had witnessed last night. Aaron’s behaviour had been odd in the extreme and Connie could not shake the feeling that it had something to do with seeing her blood. It made her wonder if he had deliberately gone out without her to avoid explaining it. Then there had been that brief flash of temper when he had let slip that he had witnessed the horror of men going to their deaths petrified and screaming, and she had seen for herself how deeply that still affected him. Something was definitely not right with Aaron. However, discussing it further with the housekeeper felt disloyal to him. He would hate that, she already knew, because he was so very proud.

‘Thank you for telling me. I shall certainly keep an eye out for him.’

Mrs Poole looked relieved. ‘Thank you, Lady Constance. That is a weight off my mind.’

Connie continued her search for her elusive husband to no avail, but she found his father in the breakfast room, reading the newspaper.

‘Good morning, my lord,’ she said politely from the doorway, ‘I am looking for your son. Have you seen him?’

To her surprise the old man beckoned for her to join him. ‘Deaks, bring Lady Constance some tea and set another place for breakfast.’ Connie had no choice but to sit down. To do otherwise would be unforgivably rude and Viscount Ardleigh did appear to be making an effort. Whether that was truly the case, Connie supposed she was about to find out.

He offered her an approximation of a smile. The corners of his mouth turned up ever so slightly so she responded in kind, noticing that his did have a bit of a blue tinge to them. ‘Aaron went out over an hour ago, I believe. Am I to guess, judging by your attire, that you expected to go with him?’

A cup of tea appeared miraculously at her right elbow, giving Connie a prop to hide behind if she needed it. She picked it up and used it to cover her disappointment. ‘Perhaps he forgot. It is of no matter.’

‘It is not like my son to be absent-minded. More likely he was avoiding trouble. He does that a great deal. Did the two of you have another fight?’ It was obvious, by the knowing glint in his dark eyes, that he was regularly appraised about her and his son’s relationship. The servants must have seen Aaron storm out of her rooms last night and assumed that he had done so because he was angry at her. But they had not fought and, since her illuminating conversation with Mrs Poole, Connie was even more convinced that it had been something more sinister that had sent him running away.

‘Things were cordial between us last night.’

At the viscount’s immediate smug smile, she realised that he had just misinterpreted what she had said. ‘Well, that is splendid! I am glad to know that the pair of you are using your evenings properly.’

Connie gave him a brittle stare and took a sip of her tea. Aaron wanted the old man to think that they were going to provide him with a grandchild. She could hardly correct him in that belief, no matter how much she wanted to. The man was dying.

‘With any luck you will have some news in the next few weeks.’ She was not going to discuss their non-existent attempts to create a child. The very idea was as preposterous as it was improper. ‘These things take time. It might even take many months. We all have to be patient.’ She said the last quite pointedly in the hope that he would get the message. Unfortunately, the viscount simply laughed.

‘Nonsense! We Wincanton males are very vigorous. Why, my wife was carrying Aaron within a month of our marriage.’ He said this so proudly that Connie almost missed his eyes flick to a portrait of a woman over the fireplace.

‘Is that Aaron’s mother?’ His good humour was suddenly a little subdued when he nodded. ‘She was very beautiful.’

‘Indeed she was. I think Aaron has also inherited a great deal of her personality. Elizabeth was always more affable. She died when he was a year old, but I think she would have been proud to know the man he has become.’

Something about the way he said this made Connie wonder if he was actually capable of something akin to genuine affection. He had never remarried, which was unusual for men with titles. It would have been expected that he produced another son in case the unthinkable had happened. Her own father would have, she knew. Had the roles been reversed, he would have got over the death of his wife quickly in order to cement the succession. Hadn’t he repeatedly complained of his disappointment at having been given a daughter first? Especially such an outspoken and ungainly one. Perhaps, underneath all of that bluster, Viscount Ardleigh would soften towards her in time. Already, he had invited her to break her fast in his company. Surely that was something?

Connie stood and began to help herself to the covered breakfast dishes. If her father-in-law wished to have a convivial breakfast with her she might as well eat. It was not as if she had anywhere else to go, seeing as Aaron had disappeared without her. ‘Aaron told me that you were unhappy with his decision to go into the army.’

‘Of course I was. It was a reckless decision that could have killed him. But he is stubborn and went anyway. I am eternally grateful that he came back in one piece.’

‘And by all accounts he came back a hero, although he is very closed lipped about it. What did he win his medals for?’

Connie had expected to see pride shining in the old man’s face, but instead the viscount appeared irritated. ‘He won them for putting himself at risk! Officers should lead from the rear, not the front. But, of course, Aaron has no regard for proper rules so he was always in the thick of it as far as I can tell. He won one of them at Badajoz, where he apparently went after a few of his men who had been taken by the French and took them back, single-handed. Like a blasted fool. He should have left them there. The second was at Ciudad Rodrigo, for another foolhardy act of selfless bravery. I cannot say how he came by it because he refuses to talk about it. Those damn medals do not seem to bring him any pleasure at all.’