Training Lady Townsend

by Joseph, Annabel

  They both understood Lord Warren was the obstacle he meant.

  “Not that I could ever please you as he seems to,” the man continued. “Pardon my plain speaking, but all of us expected the worst in this marriage. We expected our friend to drive you out here to Somerton and leave you, and go back to town so he might live the way he used to. But he did not.”

  “Because my father wouldn’t allow it,” Aurelia said. “That’s the only reason he didn’t.”

  “Even so, if he had the choice now, he wouldn’t take it. He could have gone to Wroxham’s party last night or even all week without your father knowing. We invited him to come with us, imagining he would be desperate to escape the bonds of marriage even for a short time, but he said no. None of us could fathom it. But then, none of us are in love.”

  Aurelia frowned. “If you understood about love, you would never have invited him to go in the first place.”

  “I assure you that I am ashamed of my behavior. I can never atone for the grief I’ve caused you.” He stood and paced across the room, turning his hat about by the brim. “But I’ll go looking for your husband and return him to you, I swear it. I have an idea where he might be found.”

  She stood to join him at the window. “I’ve been watching all day. What if something happened to him?”

  “Nothing’s happened. I’ll send him right home, and then I’ll be off for London.” He paused in the act of pocketing his handkerchief, and offered it to her. “Will you need it anymore?”

  “I have others.” She made herself smile, only because he looked so bereft. “Just please bring my husband back to me. We must endeavor to sort ourselves out.”

  “I’m certain you’ll manage it. Since you’ve been at Townsend’s side, I’ve seen a strength and steel within you that I never knew existed. Despite the rather distressing history between us, I would be honored to count you as a friend, if you can bear to put our pasts behind us.”

  Aurelia only thought for a moment before she nodded. “Of course we can be friends. I don’t harbor romantic feelings toward you any longer. I have changed, you see.”

  He gave a small bow, along with a genuine smile. “I admire you for casting your misguided yearnings aside. I’m a devil of a fellow, I assure you, and I pity the woman who’ll have to marry me. Pardon my language.”

  “Perhaps this unpleasant episode will spur you to lead a better life. Perhaps that is how you must atone. You shouldn’t continue to dally with your gentlemen friends, and tempt my husband to do bad things. You are far too fine a person to linger at dissolute parties and consort with loose women.”

  He blinked at her rather cross scolding. “Am I?”

  “Yes. I have always believed you are. You’re handsome and polite, and very respected in Parliament. You’ve practically raised Minette from a child, and she’s delightful.”

  “Now you are baldly lying to me, my lady. Minette is a scamp.”

  “She is delightful,” Aurelia repeated stubbornly. “Please tell her I miss her.”

  “I promise to do so.” He began to draw on his gloves. “I hope you’ll call on her when you and Townsend return to London. In the meantime, I shall do my best to find your absent husband and send him home. And once I do, dear Lady Townsend”—he took her hands and gave them a light squeeze—“the rest shall be up to you.”

  *** *** ***

  Hunter awakened to the not-so-gently prodding toe of a riding boot. He cracked his eyes to the harsh light of day and took in the room around him. Tables and a chaise, a rumpled bed, painted silk wallpaper. Some chamber at Wroxham’s? He winced as his head gave a throb. He groaned against his pillow only to find it shifting from under him.

  “That’s a good girl, Big Bess,” said a faraway voice. “Go find some other bed.”

  “I’ll find a more comfortable one than the floor anyway,” she said with good natured grumbling. “Will ’is lord be all right then?” She peered down at him. “Done nothing but cry upon me bosom all the night, much as I tried to steer him otherwise.” She made a ribald gesture to the area between her generous thighs.

  “Don’t take offense, Bess.” That was Arlington’s voice now. “The man is rather enamored of his wife.”

  “Oh, poor thing.”

  As the woman moved away, Hunter’s head fell back and hit the floor. He barked out a curse, stretched his aching limbs, and blinked up into Warren’s hard features.

  “If you nudge me again with your boot,” Hunter growled, “I’ll rip it off and shove it up your arsehole.”

  “Get up,” Warren snapped back. “I want you on your feet before I lay you on your back, you pestilent son of a bitch.”

  Hunter slung an arm over his eyes. “I’m not getting up if you’re only going to deck me. I can’t get up anyway. My head’s pounding.”

  “You’re getting up, man.” Warren put his hands on Hunter’s disarranged collar and dragged him to his feet. Then, as promised, he socked him so hard in the face he went down again.

  “You fiend,” Hunter yelled. “Take yourself off to the devil.” He opened one eye to find his assailant still glaring down at him. “I brought Aurelia here because she loves you, goddamn you. I’d do it again too. She’s my wife. Mine.”

  “We all know that,” said Warren in a cool voice. “And that lick wasn’t for bringing her here. I’m a big boy and I can handle a bit of well-earned embarrassment. No, that was for hurting her afterward and making her cry.”

  Hunter turned on his side, probing his cheekbone, inspecting the damage after its run-in with Warren’s fist. How pathetic he was, sprawled on the floor in this house of degeneracy. His stomach clenched in self-loathing. “I made Aurelia cry. I know.” Then fury washed over him again. “How did you know?”

  “I’ve just been to see her,” Warren announced. “She’s worried about you, so you need to bugger off home.”

  “You went to see my wife?” Despite the pain, despite the threat of Warren’s fists, Hunter lurched to his feet ready to do murder. Arlington, the tiresome bastard, got in his way. “She’s seen enough of you lately, hasn’t she?” Hunter bellowed at Warren.

  “Thanks to you, she’s seen more of me than she ever should have. Now stop squawking and make yourself presentable, you bleeding arse.”

  “Why did you go see my wife?” Hunter demanded to know, as Arlington steadied him on his feet.

  “I went to apologize.”

  “You stay away from her. Just stay away. She doesn’t care for your apologies.”

  “Perhaps not,” said Warren. “But I rather hoped you and I would stay friends when this little crisis of yours is over, and that means staying on good terms with your wife.”

  “Staying on good terms,” Hunter mimicked bitterly. “Is that what you’ll call it now? I’m sure she received you eagerly as soon as you showed up on the doorstep.” He infused the word “received” with filthy connotation.

  “I ought to blacken your other eye for that, but I fear it might cause Aurelia distress.” Warren gave him a hard look. “For your wife’s honor, I’ll tell you that when she received me she did not so much as invite me to sit down. We exchanged words of polite apology and regret, and then she started to cry over you. She’s anxious to ‘fix things.’ She’s also worried to death since you haven’t come home.”

  The throb in his head turned to an ache. He collapsed into a nearby chair. “One of you bastards give me some water. Or more whiskey. Either one.”

  “No more whiskey for you,” said Warren. “We’ll have no more drunken-man-in-love antics.”

  Aurelia was worried. She wanted to fix things. She must still love him, at least a little, even after the things he’d done to her the night before. By sheer force of will, Hunter stood under his own power. His head spun for a moment, but a glass of water relieved the hot scratchiness in his throat. “I have to go home and see my wife. I have to make myself presentable. What did I do last night?” he asked, inspecting his person. He was still dressed, and relatively c
lean. “I only meant to have a drink.”

  “You had about ten drinks,” said August as Hunter crossed to the wash basin. “Then Big Bess sat in your lap and you started crying, and you confessed to a regrettable amount of poor behavior while she patted you and murmured, ‘That’s all right, me lor’, that’s all right.’ Finally you passed out and fell from the chair, Bess on top of you. After we had a good laugh about it, we let you lie.”

  “Bugger the lot of you.” Hunter had a horrible thought. During his drunken rambling, had he revealed all the sordid things he’d done to his wife? “Did I talk about Lady Townsend?” he asked.

  They exchanged glances. “Only Big Bess knows what you talked about,” said August. “And anyone who overheard was probably too drunk to remember.”

  “Pay attention, man. You’re splashing water all over the place.” Warren handed him a mostly-clean towel. “Don’t worry about Big Bess. Worry about getting yourself home to the woman who loves you.”

  “Have to shave,” Hunter said, scrutinizing his gaunt, scruffy visage in a nearby looking glass. “Arlington, can I borrow your razor?”

  The man handed over his shaving things with a skeptical look. “Need any help?”

  “I can do it myself,” Hunter lathered his stubbled cheeks, then threw back his head and let out a groan. “Why did Aurelia ever agree to marry me? Why hasn’t she left me by now? Why am I even here? Why did I come back to Wroxham’s instead of staying with her?”

  “Because you’re a stupid arsehole?” asked August.

  “Those were rhetorical questions,” snapped Hunter.

  “It was a rhetorical answer.”

  Hunter ignored his friend’s mocking tone and applied himself to wielding Arlington’s glinting razor. “How often does your man sharpen this thing?” he asked, thrusting his chin forward.

  “Every day,” said Arlington. “Doesn’t yours?”

  Hunter hissed as he nearly nicked himself beneath the chin.

  “For God’s sake. Be careful, would you?” said Warren. “I’ve promised Lady Townsend I’d get you home alive and in one piece.” He wrestled the razor from Hunter and began to flick away his stubble with firm, smooth strokes. Hunter thought that if their situation was reversed, he’d be tempted to slice his friend’s throat.

  But Warren wasn’t that sort of chap.

  “I’m sorry,” he said gruffly, closing his eyes. “I’m sorry for what I did to you, and her.”

  “I’m inclined to forgive you, only because I understand. I mean, I don’t understand. I don’t know this person you’ve turned into, but I know you make Lady Townsend happy, so I’ll restrain myself from beating you to a bloody pulp.”

  Hunter was rather grateful for that as he regarded his bloodshot eyes in the glass. Warren hadn’t left him with any bruises or black eyes to frighten Aurelia. Though he could have—and probably wanted to—his friend hadn’t hit him with all his strength. Hunter used the towel to rub away the last of the shaving soap. “Thank you, Warren,” he said, and he wasn’t only thanking him for the shave.

  Across the room, August and Arlington broke into appreciative applause.

  “We’ve had apologies and peaceable grooming. It appears we shall all remain friends,” said Arlington.

  “Yes. All is forgiven,” agreed August. “Right?”

  “Wrong,” said Hunter, collapsing in a nearby chair. “There’s one more person who has to forgive me, and it’s the person with the least reason to do so.”

  “Aw, Towns.” August waved a hand. “Big Bess will forgive you. She’s a hell of a gal.”

  Arlington punched the younger man on the arm. “He doesn’t mean Big Bess, you idiot. He’s talking about Lady Townsend.”

  “Oh.”

  A mood of gravity descended on the company. Arlington was the first to speak. “Judging by the way she looked at you when you emerged from the woods together that day, your wife cares for you very much. It was clear for anyone to see.”

  “That was before,” said Hunter. “Last night, I...I was frustrated. She was upset about Warren, and I lost my temper. I said and did unpardonable things. I don’t know how I’ll face her when I get home.”

  “Might I suggest facing her on your knees, with apologies spouting from your lips? She’s an understanding sort of person,” said Warren. “If you had to fall in with the Doting Love-Shackle Brigade, I’m glad it was because of her, because I think she’s worthy of all the angst you feel.”

  August rolled his eyes. “The Doting Love-Shackle Brigade. God save us.”

  Arlington chuckled, then nudged Hunter on the shoulder. “Go on then, Townsey. The longer you wait, the harder she’ll be to face. You can borrow my horse, if Warren will go with you and bring it back again. Then the three of us will probably head back to town before we trouble your marriage any further.”

  Hunter looked at Warren. “Will you ride with me? I’m sorry for the way I’ve acted these few days. You’ve always been a good friend to me, whether I deserved it or not.”

  Warren clapped him on the back with a grin. “You don’t deserve it, you tiresome bastard. But yes, I’ll go. I promised to deliver you home to her, and that was almost two hours ago.”

  Chapter Seventeen: Danger, or Bliss

  Aurelia awakened to the softly spoken prompt of her name. She sat up on the window seat to find her husband looking in at her, framed by the draperies. He was in breeches and shirtsleeves, and he looked every bit as woebegone as she felt.

  “When I first saw you curled up in the window seat in London,” he said in a soft voice, “you seemed too beautiful for words. Certainly too beautiful to belong to me.”

  “Oh.” She remembered that moment. It seemed so long ago. “I was hiding there from you.”

  The smallest quiver of a smile touched his lips. “I knew you were hiding. I didn’t blame you then and I don’t blame you now.” The smile went away, and he looked so sad. “I need to apologize and explain, and beg for forgiveness, but I don’t think I deserve it, so I don’t really know what to say. May I come in, Aurelia? Please?”

  He had never asked for permission before. She granted it with a small gesture, since her throat felt too tight to speak. He ducked within the space and sat beside her.

  “I wasn’t hiding here,” she said once she regained her voice. “I was watching for you at the window. I suppose I must have fallen asleep.”

  “I’m so sorry for what happened last night, darling, for the way I hurt and frightened you. How wrought up you must feel.”

  Tears gathered in her eyes. “A little.”

  “And then I left you alone. I thought you would want me to go. I didn’t know what to do, how to face you. I didn’t know how to explain what came over me. I felt angry and jealous, and impassioned by suspicions that weren’t true. I’m not making excuses. God knows there’s no excuse for treating you so roughly. For making you…cry.”

  She was very close to crying again. She wanted to break down sobbing, and hide her face in the soft pleats of his sleeve. “I was so worried,” she finally managed to say. “I was afraid you’d never come back.”

  His hand covered hers on the bench between them, tentatively, as if he feared she might pull hers away. “I was afraid you wouldn’t want me back. Aurelia, look at me.”

  She could hardly do it. But they had to speak now, just as she’d had to speak with Lord Warren earlier. She met his gaze with as much directness as she could, and then he spoke in a gentle, somber voice.

  “I promise you, I’ll never behave in such a way again. My idiotic accusations—how I hate myself for them now. I know you’ve never encouraged Warren, and that you’ve resigned yourself completely to our marriage.”

  She couldn’t bear to hear him say it that way. “I haven’t resigned myself to anything, Hunter. I came to love you.”

  “Do you still love me?” His voice roughened with emotion. “Even a little? Please don’t cry, my darling girl.”

  “I don’t want to cry.” She
took her hand from his to press her fingers against her eyes. “I want everything to be sweet again, and comfortable between us, the way it was.”

  “I want that too. I’ll do anything to regain your trust.”

  “Just don’t frighten me so.” She reached out to him and buried her tear-dampened face against his neck. His familiar scent and warmth enfolded her. Oh, she had been so afraid he was lost. “Don’t leave me again. We have to trust each other, and have discussions about what we’re feeling before things turn into a snarl. Don’t you think so?”

  “Yes. We must be open and honest with one another about everything.”

  “You should know Lord Warren was here,” she said, drawing back from him. “I received him in the drawing room. Nothing untoward happened, I promise.”

  He brushed away her tears. “I know. I saw him and he told me.” He cradled her head in his palm, then took her hand and pressed kisses to each of her knuckles, and then the sensitive underside of her wrist. She shivered, momentarily lost to sensation.

  “You saw Lord Warren?” she asked when her thoughts cleared. “Where?”

  “At Wroxham’s estate.” He paused in his tender ministrations and looked up at her. “Nothing untoward happened, I promise. Just an unfortunate amount of drunken self-recrimination. Aurelia, forgive me for the terrible things I said to you last night, and the things I did. For my rude and petty jealousies, and my unconscionable attempt to force you. I know I don’t deserve your forgiveness, but I’m asking it anyway. I’m so unworthy of you.”

  “No, that’s not true.”

  He turned her face to kiss her forehead, and both her eyes. He pressed a kiss to her temple and slid his lips down to her ear. “I’m afraid it is true, little grasshopper. If I were a better man, I wouldn’t shame you the way I do. I’d let you go. I’d let you live away from me.”