Midnight Bride (57 page)

"Then he is gone forever," Elizabeth asked, her face thoughtful, "or at least for a very long time?" Dunstan looked at his wife and nodded. Then he looked at Charles. On the road back to town that morning, both men had decided not to tell the others about the nurse's other function. Realizing the great wealth to be made, the man had agreed for a price to stay in China with Hartley, to keep an eye on him. He had guaranteed that the man would never return to England. Neither Dunstan nor Charles had asked him what he meant; they knew.

The afternoon was far along when all the questions had been answered and all the comments had been made. Both Dunstan and Charles were yawning. Elizabeth and the earl too hid yawns behind their hands. Finally everyone got ready to leave.

"Escort me home, Charles,"
Cecile
asked prettily, her cheeks flushed with pride as she looked at him. He looked to her grandparents for permission. They nodded. He held out his arm.

Lord
Ramsburg
walked toward the door. Then he stopped. "I almost forgot to tell you," he said, surprise in his voice.

"What?" the earl asked.

"The inquiry is almost over. The last group of witnesses has been called, and Hartley's name is not on the list."

"What?" Charles shouted. "I paid that man five thousand pounds so he would not talk and several hundred more to get rid of him, and he would not have been able to hurt us anyway? That double- crossing excuse for a human being!"

Dunstan
,
Elizabeth,
and the earl exchanged looks, letting Charles rant and rave without comment. Knowing firsthand Sebastian's ability to wreak havoc, they were just as happy to have him thousands of miles away.

"Have done, Charles," the earl finally said sternly.
"Cecile
needs to go home."

"As do we all," Lady
Ramsburg
added. She kissed both of her children and left, taking her husband and Louisa with her. A few minutes later the Westins and Charles left also. The three remaining looked at each other for a moment. Then Elizabeth hugged the earl.

"Get some rest," he urged them. "I will see you in the morning. I will tell the servants to bring me a supper tray when and if I ring, if that is all right with you, Elizabeth."

"The idea is an excellent one. I think I shall do the same." She looked at Dunstan, and he agreed. Slowly the three of them moved up the stairway.

When the door to their suite closed behind them, Elizabeth turned to face her husband, her fears and anxiety replaced by excitement. She hid her feelings behind a frown. "Did you or did you not tell me several days ago that the only way our marriage would survive is if we are honest with each other?"

Dunstan
nodded,
the tiredness he felt in every line of his face. "And then you rush off to meet Hartley, telling me as you leave that you have a plan. A plan I know very little about. Then you do not come home." The memory of her despair during the long hours of the previous night put a sob in her voice. "Dunstan, I can survive almost anything if I know what to expect. You simply dash off, leaving me to my imagination." She brushed tears from her cheeks and waved him
away. "Then there was what you said as you left. How dare you leave me like
that!
"

"You knew most of the plan, Elizabeth. I was afraid you would worry too much if you knew more." He held up his hand to stop her words. "I know I was wrong. I did not trust you enough." She smiled, just the merest curve of her lips. "But what about the other thing?" he asked. "What are you talking about?"

"You told me you loved me and then left me," she shouted, the effects of the last few days telling on her.

"Yes. I have been telling you I loved you for months."

"Never in words."
She stamped her foot. "And the day that you do, you leave as soon as you say it." Big tears formed in her eyes, and she brushed them away angrily. "Why didn't you let me say it too?"

Dunstan stopped, afraid to breathe. "Say what?" he asked quietly, hoping the answer was what he wanted to hear.

"I love you. I love you. I love you," she shouted.

He gave a shout of laughter, his exhaustion forgotten. "I love you too." He pulled her close to him, his dark blue eyes holding her prisoner. Then he kissed her, softly at first. Then as though they could truly become one, their kissed deepened. When he pulled away a few moments later to take a breath, Dunstan smiled and asked, "Don't we have on too many clothes?"

When a footman walked by their door a few minutes later, he was startled to hear laughter and soft throaty giggles coming from the room. Then there was silence. Nine months later the nursery at Clarendon held the newest member of the family.