The Wedding Duel (The Dueling Pistols Series) (32 page)

No, if she danced with Algany again, he would just pressure her to join him for a private or semiprivate meal.

Amelia's blue eyes followed Algany as he walked across the floor.

"Don't worry, he shall be back. He wants us to go to supper with him."

Amelia paled.

"Oh, Victor is invited too."

"What did you say?"

"I couldn't very well speak for all us," said Sophie as she smiled at a young man coming to claim a country dance with her.

She tried very hard not to notice the thin trickle of guests still making their way through the door. One more dance and the latecomers would be turned away.

* * *

Keene stuck his watch back in his pocket and cursed the time. He likely wouldn't make it before the doors were shut for the night. He'd just made it back to town when he realized it was Wednesday. He'd drove his valet crazy with jumping into evening clothes and insisting on a simple Napoleon style for his cravat. He'd had two long days of travel to think about his marriage to Sophie and her deception.

When he reached his father's house, Keene had discovered the nursery remained untouched. Instead, his wife had taken dance lessons so as to not embarrass him when she arrived in London.

She hadn't pressed her advantage the other night when he'd kissed her in the anteroom. If she'd suggested they go home then, he'd have consummated their marriage that night. Instead, she pushed him away, reminding him they were in a public place. She'd said they better go back into the ballroom, knowing his carriage was just outside. She'd withdrawn from him the morning after their marriage. If she meant to foist some other man's brat on him, would she have let those opportunities pass?

Maybe she met all his pleas for confessions with blank stares because she had nothing to confess. Could her parents both be wrong?

Lately, he hadn't seen any signs of pregnancy. She wasn't sick in the mornings. Her waist hadn't thickened. She hadn't fainted since their wedding day when she claimed nerves. She didn't look any different from the day he proposed, except for the short hair. Pregnant women looked different, softer, rounder. What if he'd waited all this time and she wasn't even with child?

Keene pressed his fingers to his temples. What if he was deluding himself because he wanted her in his bed? Her kisses left him breathless, aching, hungry for her.

* * *

The rooms were overwarm and when Sophie returned to Amelia's side she took the glass Lord Algany held out with relief. She had swallowed half of it before she held it away from her with a wrinkled nose. She would have preferred water.

"The best I can offer here." Lord Algany gave her a wry look.

Amelia laughed.

Sophie stared at her houseguest. She couldn't remember ever hearing Amelia laugh.

Algany tucked Amelia's hand into the crook of his arm and offered to take them on a turn about the floor. Sophie looked at his smug expression and decided he would feel quite too full of himself with both of them on his arms. "I'll just wait for you here."

"Are you sure?" Algany didn't look happy with her answer.

"Very sure. I'll just sit and wait." She fanned herself with her hand.

Algany hesitated a moment before walking away with Amelia.

Sophie found a chair. Out on the dance floor Victor danced with a rather horse-faced young woman. As Sophie stared, the woman threw back her head and brayed. Victor winced. Sophie glanced around to see if others had noticed. No once else was staring, but she couldn't focus on anyone else. Everyone seemed farther away than they had before.

She blinked hard. She hadn't fainted in weeks. The swimming uncertainty that had overtaken her several times in the week following her fall on her head hadn't happened in quite
some time, not since the day of her wedding. Moisture beaded

her upper lip, and the glass slid from her fingers.

Keene's carriage fell into line after the deadline. He held his breath until he made it through the door, fearing that at any moment some overzealous footman would point out that he wasn't in the queue in good order.

He searched the room, his eyes lit on his nemesis Lord Algany. Only for once he wasn't dancing court on Sophie. Amelia clung to his arm. Keene continued searching for his wife, but the oddness of Amelia clinging to anyone brought his puzzled gaze back to her.

The pair was making their way about the room. They stopped and Algany bent over and assisted a woman to her feet. She swayed. Sophie?

What the devil was wrong with her?

Algany wrapped an arm around her waist and steered her toward the entrance. Keene started for them and was waylaid by a greeting from Lady Jersey.

He held out his elbow and asked her to walk with him.

She followed the line of his sight. "You are anxious to see your wife."

He started to protest, but ended with a lame, "Quite."

Sophie crumbled. Keene nearly ran to her side. Algany held her up, while Amelia stood back, her eyes wide in her face, her hands over her mouth.

"Come, we must get her some fresh air," Algany said as Keene approached.

"Give her here."

Algany blanched as he looked up. "I thought you were out of town."

"I'm back, now." He scooped Sophie into his arms.

"Is she all right?" asked Lady Jersey.

"Probably, she's just overheated," said Algany. "It's very warm in here." He backed up, pulling Amelia with him.

Lady Jersey looked directly at Keene. "Is she . . . ?" her question trailed off.

"It's likely she is."

Lady Jersey put her hand on her lips, her eyes growing speculative. "It would be too early to know for sure. I shall send around the name of a physician who specializes in these things."

Amelia stood back while Algany whispered to her.

"Where's Victor?" Keene asked her.

She shrugged, her eyes wide.

"I'll see to it Lord Wedmont escorts Mrs. Keeting home." Lady Jersey put a hand on Keene's shoulder. "We should find your wife some feathers to burn."

"Keene, you're back!"

He looked down into Sophie's wide blue eyes. She looked a little unfocused. He set her on her feet, and she swayed against him. She looked around and turned her face into his shoulder. "Why is everyone staring at me?" she whispered.

Keene wrapped his arms around her and stroked her back. "You fainted, pet."

"I did? I dropped my glass." She bounced up on her toes and looked over his shoulder.

"Come, I'm taking you home to bed."

"You are? I don't know if you should, I don't feel so well."

Keene felt his ears grow warm, although he wouldn't have removed Sophie's head from his shoulder to save his life. She seemed to have forgotten their audience.

Lady Jersey herded the onlookers away.

"Can you walk outside?"

Sophie nodded her head, moving against his shoulder. "I'm sorry."

He whispered in her ear, "Want to tell me why you fainted?"

They stood locked together for a time until he finally felt her head shift side to side against his shoulder.

He swallowed hard. "Let's go home, Sophie."

They could hash out the truth of the matter when they arrived home. Only, Sophie was so wan and pale he took pity on her and had her maid help her to bed. He knew the truth of it, anyway. It didn't take Amelia's confirmation that they hadn't drank any spirits and that Sophie had been fine earlier in the evening. It didn't take hearing the sounds of Sophie being sick in the morning to know that she was suffering the symptoms of her condition.

He sent for the physician Lady Jersey recommended. When the man arrived Sophie was sleeping. After feeling her brow for fever, the physician and Keene returned to the drawing room where Keene told him of Sophie's fainting and of being the two mornings. The man confirmed Sophie's symptoms were those of a woman with child. He recommended very moderate exercise and fresh air, and avoiding crowds and excessive dancing, a bit of peppermint to aid her digestion and plenty of undisturbed rest.

Yes, she would have plenty of undisturbed rest.

* * *

Later in the morning, Sophie skipped down the steps. Keene came out of the library and stood at the bottom of the stairs.

"Oh, you're back."

"I brought you home from Almack's last night."

Sophie frowned. Last night was such a muddle she wasn't sure what had happened. "I thought I dreamed it."

"Are you feeling all right, now?"

Her enthusiastic bouncing down the stairs should have been answer enough. "I'm just fine."

His grimace was fleeting. "I brought your horse. I thought she might as well stay here in town. There is a hunter I have that you might prefer when we are home."

Was he giving her a horse?

He looked over her head. Had he already lost interest in her? "There was a letter for you."

He handed her a missive with her mother's spidery scrawl on it. Sophie popped the seal and eagerly read. All was well back home, if a little quiet. Her mother said she looked forward to receiving news of any coming additions to the family, and Sophie felt the burn of tears at the back of her eyelids. She was doomed to disappoint her parents in that there was no news to announce and none likely in the future if Keene didn't make her his wife in more than name.

"Your parents are well?" He leaned close to her. His dark eyes watched her with concern.

"They are fine."

He reached for the letter, but she folded it in tiny squares and tucked it in her palm. The moment stretched out and Sophie grasped for something to fill it. "So, you came back last night?"

"I missed you."

"By my reckoning, you've only lost the fifteen minutes a day we spend in the same room. Just a little over an hour. Why, we can make it up in a day."

He grinned. "Feeling neglected, Sophie?"

Yes, she felt neglected, abandoned, ignored. "I don't know what you're about."

He wound a finger into her curls and watched her with a steady gaze. "It doesn't have to be this way. Just tell me all your secrets." His breath caressed her cheek.

"I knocked a wheel off the dogcart trying to drive like you." There, that was a confidence that she hadn't wanted to share.

"Anything else?"

She shook her head. He was in a mood to tease, and she didn't want to play.

His eyes bored into hers for the longest time before his lips twisted in a wry grimace. She could hear the ticking of a clock contrasting with the irregular thump of her heart, the shallow cadence of her breathing. His finger stroked the side of her face, under her chin, down her neck.

Sparks shimmered under her skin where he touched her. They shot in fiery bursts through her, igniting a slow burn low in her body. He bent toward her. His kiss melted through her, turning her insides to fuel for the fires he started.

She wanted so much more than his slow sensual kiss. For a time he complied, his arms pulling her to him. Then he pushed her away and bent over, gulping air into his lungs.

"You're leaving." It wasn't even a question.

"Yes."

She shook her head and walked into the morning room. She didn't want to be there, but where else could she go? Keene didn't offer the option of leaving with him.

She was tired of the games, tired of having her hopes dashed. Her parents' quiet home in the country suddenly seemed appealing. At least there she knew where she stood.

* * *

"Where are the women off to tonight?" Victor asked Keene.

"Opera." Keene slouched in his chair in the poorly lit library.

"You're not going?"

"I haven't been since I . . . proposed to Sophie."

Victor studied Keene. "Since you pulled your protection from your little canary."

"There is that."

"Who is escorting them?"

"John."

"He hates the opera."

Keene shrugged and stared into his now empty glass. "I said I should relieve him of the need to see them home."

"So you are going?"

"I wouldn't be able to stay away."

"And you shall be by my apartments later, then."

The corners of Keene's mouth curled in a sneer. "Unless my wife decides to spill the soup about her baby." He glared at Victor. "Don't worry. It can't be too much longer before her belly swells."

Victor shook his head. "Your box?"

Keene nodded.

"Should you prefer, I can see them home."

Keene didn't answer. Victor left him to wallow in his self-inflicted misery. He'd be sharing it with him later, anyway.

* * *

Lord Algany sidled up beside Sophie and held out his arm. "Come with me, my angel, I have something to show you."