Rosalind

by Brianna York

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  “Tell me which room is yours, my dear,” Longford said as he strode down the long hallway with closed bedrooms on each side. “Or I shall be forced to look in each one and guess if it might be yours or not. Very awkward to accomplish for us both but I shall do it if need be.”

  Rosy chuckled softly. “Last door at the end of the hall. My maid is named Hester and you could call her once you have put me down.”

  Longford managed to wrangle the handle of the bedroom door without putting Rosy down and carried her across the soft carpet to lay her on the bed. She sighed with relief once she was no longer being jostled about and willed her riotous insides to calm down. She heard Longford puttering about and called to him, “If you ring the bell on the dressing table, Hester will arrive posthaste.”

  “There is no need,” Longford argued, pouring some water into a glass and bringing it over to the bed. “I see that she has left out all the things that you might need to help with this type of fainting spell. Shall I bring you over a bit of bread? She had left some with the water.”

  Rosy sat up awkwardly and sipped at the water gratefully. “Some bread would be lovely, yes.”

  Longford came back with a small slice of the brown bread that Sarah was so good at making. Rosy nibbled on it and felt some of her strength returning. She sighed and smiled fondly at Longford. “Thank you for your assistance. I fear that I am a terrible hostess in my current state. At least no one else had arrived yet to witness that little scene.”

  Longford regarded her for a moment, one brow arched thoughtfully. “You have not told Rob, I take it?”

  Rosy blushed and shook her head. “There was not time. I realized after he had left.”

  The Viscount sat down on the bed next to her. “I assume that he is not at town for business? He never has had much of a head for such things and I should not think that he has gained one in the past month.”

  To her frustration, Rosy felt a tear slip down her cheek. She swiped at it angrily and sipped at her water. “We had a terrible row,” she said softly. “He left and asked that I send his things to town. I have heard nothing from him and so have decided to go about my life. There is an estate to be run and no one but myself to do it. It is the one thing I seem to be good at.” She sniffled a little. “Maybe I should have been born a man.”

  Longford laughed softly. He reached over and took the glass of water and the bread from her and placed them on the bedside table. Without a word, he gathered her into his arms. “That is such nonsense. You are entirely too pretty to be a man,” he chided her with a teasing lilt in his voice. “Besides, couples often fight and are yet able to resolve their troubles. Rob will come to his senses and come back.”

  “Do you truly think so?” she sniffled, her voice stifled against his lapel.

  Longford squeezed her shoulder gently. “I know so,” he assured her. “Besides that, town is beastly hot and boring this time of year. No one should want to stay in London for the summer longer than a few days.”

  Rosy chuckled at that. “Perhaps you are right.”

  “This seems to be an experience that we are all making a habit of.”

  Rosy and Longford broke apart, startled. As she drew away from Longford, Rosy felt her stomach plummet as she met Rob’s eyes. He positively radiated fury and she found that she could not think of a single thing to say.

  “This is all easily explained,” Longford said, rising from the bed and straightening his jacket.

  Rob eyed him with a gimlet stare. “Indeed? I do not believe that finding another man in bed with one’s wife is something that often arises from a reasonable turn of events.” He turned his angry attention onto Rosy. “Cecily indicated that my wife would be abed, but she did not state that she would find herself entertaining gentlemen at the same time. I confess I hurried in unannounced fearing that you had fallen ill,” he went on, his voice growing louder and louder, “only to discover that your actions were a pretense to allow the Viscount access to your rooms.”

  Rosy held out a hand to stop him. “Wait for a moment and allow me to explain, Rob.”

  “I should call you out,” Rob stated flatly, his gaze leaving Rosy’s pale face and coming to rest on Longford’s. He felt the pain of betrayal knifing through him as he stared at the other man’s handsome and eerily calm face.

  “I do not think that anyone need question the honor of the lady in such a way,” Longford said reasonably. “She can explain my presence in her rooms if you will only listen a moment.”

  “I shall not!” Rob shouted, taking a few threatening steps toward Longford. “You shall not tell me how I shall feel about my wife taking up so quickly with another man. I was only in town a few weeks! Did you merely trade places with me or did it take you a week to relocate to my home and take up residence in my bed?”

  “Rob!” Rosy gasped. “Please listen to me!” She glanced back and forth between the two men, Rob’s palpable fury and insulting words finally appearing to be having an effect on the Viscount. “The Viscount carried me up here because I fainted in the drawing room. It is a common thing to happen when one is in my condition.”

  “Your condition?” Rob repeated, momentarily thrown off.

  Rosy swallowed heavily, her stomach protesting her emotions and her continued half upright state. “It is not at all uncommon for women to feel faint early in their pregnancy.”

  “Pregnancy?” Rob again echoed, chiding himself for sounding like a myna bird. “You did not say anything to me before I left.”

  Rosy shook her head sadly, pressing a hand to her forehead. She felt the room slowly revolving around her but she tried to gain control over herself. “I did not realize until after you left. Once you were gone, I could not think of how to tell you.”

  Rob’s eyes snapped with emotion again. “How to tell me? Shall I assume that the child may not be mine?” He glared at Longford again.

  Longford held out an elegant hand at this. “Hold now, my good man. That is an impossibility. There is no way I could be the father of the child. I thought you should be glad to know you shall soon have an heir.”

  Rob’s heart hammered in his chest. He felt as if he had been running for miles rather than standing in one place in his bedroom and shouting at an old friend and his wife. “It is an impossibility you say? Remember that I saw you two in the park. I know how you feel about my wife and I know that she has held a tendre for you in the past. You now ask me to believe that it is not possible for you to be the father of the child she is carrying?”

  “Rob,” Rosy pleaded, her heart aching and her head spinning. “You saw that I bled on our wedding night. I did not come to you a ruined woman.”

  “A thing easily faked,” Rob snarled out. “It is not so hard to fool an eager bridegroom about such a thing.”

  “Coulthurst!” Longford snapped, finally becoming angry himself. “That is a shade too far!”

  “What is a shade too far is both of you thinking that you could pull the wool over my eyes in this fashion!” Rob shouted.

  Rosy saw Rob advance on the Viscount and made a move to get out of bed. “Rob, stop!” she cried out, her voice sounding very far away. She almost wondered if she had spoken at all. She managed to struggle free of the covers and rise. Swaying perilously, she attempted to get closer to the men. “Please don’t fight,” she whispered.

  Through dimming vision, she saw Rob throw a punch at the Viscount. Longford uttered an oath and threw a punch back at Rob which connected. Rosy stumbled forward and caught Rob’s arm in an attempt to prevent him from retaliating. With a curse, Rob attempted to wrench his arm from her grasp. The room spun wildly as she stumbled, her arms wind milling as she tried to regain her balance. She thought she cried out in fear before she hit the floor but the impact barely registered. The last thing Rosy saw was blood running down Rob’s face and his shocked and furious expression. Then the world grew dark and she knew no more.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

&n
bsp; Rob fussed with the chain of his pocket watch nervously. The doctor had been with Rosy for the past half hour and he was growing anxious. His mind kept replaying the sight of her slender arms reaching out to him in entreaty before she fainted dead away at his feet. He fingered his bruised face and grimaced. He must look a fright.

  “Let me help you, My Lord.”

  The voice belonged to Cecily who had arrived at his side with a bowl of water and a cloth. He began to protest her ministrations but subsided when he realized that he was in no mental state to summon his valet and remove himself to his rooms to clean up properly.

  “Thank you,” Rob said with a sigh. “Where has Longford gone?”

  Cecily met Rob’s eyes briefly before returning her attention to cleaning the blood of his face. “He decided to remove himself to his room. He told me that we might be asked to leave on the morrow, so I should not unpack my things. Is that correct?” She dabbed at the last of the blood on Rob’s face carefully, inquiry in the quick glance she turned on him as she did so.

  Rob sighed and pushed away her hands. He cradled his face in his palms, trying to order his thoughts. He wished Longford as far away as the moon but did not wish to cause any more of a scene than he already had done. Certainly, Cecily should not be held accountable for her cousin’s gaffe. “No, you shall not have to leave. This is my wife’s house party. She can decide who is going to stay and who is going to leave.”

  Cecily internally gnashed her teeth. That was not the answer that she wished from him but it was better than being asked to leave. She decided to try another tactic. She perched herself on the arm of the chair that Rob was seated in and leaned closer to him. “I am sorry for all the trouble that my cousin has caused as well as the difficulties that seem to have descended upon you recently.” She put on her best coquettish smile as she looked down at him serenely.

  “It is not your fault,” Rob said dismissively, but she saw his eyes linger a moment on her figure. “Sometimes things that seem difficult sort themselves out with time.”

  “That is a very wise attitude,” Cecily said sagely, shifting a bit on the arm of the chair to present her bosom to advantage and accentuate the slimness of her waist. She was rewarded with Rob’s sudden attention to her curves before he managed to look away. “I do hope that the Countess will be all right. It is such a pity that you should find out about her being with child in this manner.”

  Rob set his teeth and nodded tersely. “Indeed. I should hope that the child will survive her fainting spell today. It would be very hard on her to lose the baby, I am sure.”

  “Oh, I am sure that the baby will be quite all right,” Cecily said sweetly, daring to place a hand upon Rob’s lapel. “You must have some faith in the strength of your wife.”

  Rob scoffed a bit at her words, seeming not to notice the hand on his lapel for the moment. “She is strong willed if nothing else,” he said a bit bitterly.

  “They do say that sweet and biddable wives are the best kind to pick,” Cecily said softly, her fingers toying with the edge of Rob’s lapel as she spoke. “I know that women with fire and boldness get more notice but what of those of us of a meek disposition? Might we not prove to be the better companions?”

  Rob met Cecily’s eyes, suddenly aware of her proximity. He remembered dancing with her before he had proposed to Rosy. She had been sweet and diffident as well as compliant and gentle. He pondered if she might not have been a better choice for a life companion. Perhaps Rosy’s dowry had blinded him to a more earnest and biddable wife? His heart ached with unresolved anger, frustration and betrayal. Was the child that Rosy carried truly his? He felt that it would be unlikely for it to be any other man’s, but Rosy was not yet absolved of the possible affair she may have been conducting with Longford. He had no wish to be saddled with a wife who would ignore him and parade lovers under his nose as Rosy had done today. She had not even felt the need to inform him of her pregnancy. He knew that she was aware of his requirement for a daughter to help prevent the loss of the properties and investments that kept his Earldom together. How could she withhold such important information from him?

  “You are woolgathering, My Lord,” Cecily said softly, leaning closer to him. Rob looked up at her again and realized with a start that her lips were mere inches from his. He swallowed hard, his mind blank of anything to say. “You can tell me anything that you want,” Cecily went on. “I am a very good listener.”

  Rob was rescued from a response to this blatant bit of flirtation by the arrival of the doctor. He sprang away from Cecily and crossed the room to guide the doctor to a chair. “Will you have a drink, sir?” Rob asked diffidently.

  The other man waved a hand at Rob. “Nay, but I thank you.”

  “How fares my lady wife?” Rob asked carefully, his heart pounding. As angry as he was with Rosalind, he could not wish her any ill and the thought of her suffering in any way due to his actions made his chest contract painfully.

  “She is resting. I have given her a sedative as she was quite distraught during my examination, asking after the health of the child and of yourself. I assured her that you were quite all right but she could not restrain her emotions. She will sleep until the morning but she should feel better when she wakes.” The doctor began to pull on his gloves as he spoke.

  “What of the child?” Rob said, fearing the worst.

  The doctor shrugged slightly. “She is quite early in the pregnancy. Often a fall at this stage is not as deadly to the baby as it might be later on. Time will tell. She will likely not require my assistance if she does lose the babe as it is quite a normal process, but I have advised her maid what to look for in case she suffers complications.”

  “There would be bleeding, I presume,” Rob pressed, wanting to know what to expect.

  The doctor glanced at Rob, a question in his eyes. “Probably quite a lot, yes. For a couple of days, that would be quite normal. If the bleeding should not stop after 3-4 days or should continue in extremity, send someone to fetch me. I will be honest with you that if she should bleed for many days, there may be nothing that I can do for her or the babe.”

  Rob felt his stomach drop in fear. He had never considered that Rosy might also lose her life along with the baby’s. He suddenly wished back his impetuous anger and his actions towards the Viscount. Guilt poured through him at the thought that he might have caused her such harm simply by losing his temper.

  “Thank you for your time,” Cecily said to the doctor after Rob’s silence had stretched on for too long. She glanced at his ashen face and turned back to the doctor. “Come with me.” She gestured toward the front hall and led the doctor into the foyer. She paid him from her tiny purse of coins which was still on her person as she had not had time to change her traveling clothes since she had arrived at the Coulthurst estate. She watched the doctor walk through the foyer, then glanced back at Rob. He was still standing in the middle of the drawing room, his hands clasped tightly on the back of a chair and his face drawn with unhappiness.

  Cecily’s clever mind considered her options. She had planned to attempt to force a wedge between Rosy and the Earl during the party. This new turn of events might resolve all of her troubles without her having to lift a finger. She decided that she would simply remain flirtatious and available. If something should happen to Rosy, she wished to be as close to the Earl as possible in order to pick up the pieces. She suppressed her qualms at wishing such ill on another person. The die was cast and was of Rob’s own making. Should Rosy lose her baby or even die, the Earl might become a free man again. The woman who helped him to recover from such a loss would likely have every hope of becoming his next wife.

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  Her arms felt like lead and her heart felt as if it were fluttering in her chest. Rosy tried to swim out of her unconscious state but every time she felt she might break the surface into true wakefulness, she succumbed to the weight of her useless limbs and sank again. She felt a coolness on her brow and thought may
be gentle hands were attending to her needs but was not sure.

  She wanted to ask where she was and why she felt so strange. She wanted to ask for Rob. She felt very alone in a cocoon of discomfort but she could not remember why she should feel so lost. Her addled brain suddenly recalled the tiny life growing inside of her and she struggled again for the ability to ask a question, to assert that she wanted to know if the baby was all right. She felt again that she was almost able to form words that might be understood but then slipped away into the depths again with an angry cry.

  Hester watched her mistress moving restlessly on the mattress. She placed another cool cloth on her forehead, trying to help her to feel more comfortable. There was no bleeding yet, but the doctor had said it might start in the morning. Rosy was not out of danger yet.

  Hester thought of the women she had known who died of a fever after losing a babe. Her heart constricted in her chest at the thought. She loved Rosalind and could not imagine losing her. Setting her mouth in a firm line, Hester reached out and took Rosy’s hand in hers. She felt Rosy’s restless fingers grasping hers tightly. If no one else would do the right thing by her mistress, Hester would be there for her and do so gladly.

  A small stirring of the covers caught Hester’s attention. She looked toward the foot of the bed and smiled at the sight of Horus wobbling his way across the covers. He made his slightly awkward way across the softness of the bed and curled into a fat little ball of fur near Rosy’s shoulder. His tiny purr filled the silence.

  “You little scamp,” Hester said quietly to the kitten. “You must have snuck out of the kitchen.” She pondered removing the animal and taking him back to the kitchen where His Lordship had wished him to stay but decided against doing so. Rosy seemed to have slipped into a more peaceful sleep now that the kitten had joined her.