Chapter Thirty #2
In that moment, he didn’t look like a stone-cold war general, a man that could move mountains with the force of his willpower and a glare.
He looked like an old man with a heavy burden that needed easing, but she could provide him no comfort.
Lord Bolderwood and Seth were long past the point where their relationship could be salvaged.
Too much hurt had been inflicted for too long.
When Seth looked back in time, he would see Lord Bolderwood as a man who had wronged him, caged him in more ways than one, and placed him in the line of fire.
“I don’t believe he’s capable of forgiving you.”
“I don’t need forgiveness,” Lord Bolderwood snapped and stood. “I don’t expect you to understand. Send word when he’s awake.”
He turned on his heel and walked through the door, his footsteps echoing down the hall.
Cassandra frowned. This man was so much like Seth in his eyes and posture, and so different in temperament.
Not Seth’s father, but his blood, family when it was difficult to find.
Lord Bolderwood would be a permanent fixture in her life.
His treatment of her husband would have an impact of its own in her marriage.
But what could she do with a stubborn animal that would be difficult to treat with? Unless…
She jumped to her feet and rushed down the hall after him. She reached the top of the stairs as he reached the bottom.
“Lord Bolderwood?”
He stopped and waited with a raised brow.
“Yes, Miss Cooper?”
“Would you like to stay for tea?”
“I’m a busy man. I don’t have time for tea.”
“Even busy men have time for tea.” She descended the stairs and stood in front of him. “Our new cook made some apple tarts fresh this morning, I’ve been meaning to try them. Would you care to share them with me?”
He considered this.
“Do you have the shortbread you served in Lincolnshire?”
“Yes.” Cassandra smiled. “It’s a family recipe. I could have it sent over, you should have it, considering we’ll be family soon.” Her gaze fell to the floor, and she whispered, “Hopefully.”
A long moment passed, and Lord Bolderwood put his large hand on her shoulder. As she looked into his blue eyes, she could see the family resemblance, especially when he smiled.
“Tea sounds lovely, Miss Cooper.”
***
Cool air hit Seth’s shoulders, rousing him. Everything throbbed, his right side in particular. He was shirtless. His throat burned. He had never been so thirsty in his life. When he squinted his eyes open, lantern light flickered on a ceiling he didn’t recognize. A shadow stood over him.
“Good morning.”
It didn’t look like morning in the darkness. His surroundings were silent aside from a creaking floorboard as the person moved forward, with familiar dark eyes and curly hair.
“Are you… with us?”
A hand waved over Seth’s eyes. Dizzy, he swatted at it.
Cooper came into full focus.
“Well, I’ll be.” He laughed. “Cassandra is going to be furious.”
Cooper moved to the bedside table and handed him a glass of water. While Seth took a drink, he noticed a pull from his gut. With no small amount of effort, he moved the blanket from his chest.
“I wouldn’t do that,” Cooper warned.
Seth lifted the blanket anyway. He had lost a substantial amount of weight, the bones in his ribcage were more prominent. White bandages covered his right side near the hip. And by God, it hurt. The last time he felt like this was when—
“I was shot,” Seth said.
“You were,” Cooper agreed.
Images slammed into him. The world spun. Memories slashed together, all culminating in the sound of Cassandra screaming.
He jolted up.
“Cassandra?!”
“She’s asleep.” Cooper pushed him back down. “I’m not going to wake her right now. She’s exhausted. She hasn’t left your side in days.”
“Was she harmed?”
“Not at all.” Cooper’s face softened with his voice. “Do you know who shot you?”
Memories sifted like grains of sand through his fingertips. The harder he tried to hold on to one, the faster it slipped from him. Hyde Park. Fighting with Cassandra. A man with a pistol, his face a blur. He had looked right at him, and for once in his life, Seth had the experience of amnesia.
“No.” Seth knitted his eyebrows. “I looked right at him. I knew him, but I can’t remember.”
“It’ll come to you,” Cooper said. “In the meantime, Blackmoor is doing an investigation. He checks in every day. I believe he has security stationed around the house, but Caroline can’t find them.”
If Adrian was handling it, there would be nothing to worry about in the immediate future. Then, a word Cooper said registered in his mind.
“What day is it?”
Cooper took a deep breath before responding. “As of one hour ago, Saturday.”
Saturday.
He missed his own wedding.
Gripping the bedclothes in his fingers, he tried to stave off a crippling disappointment that hurt worse than his injury.
Cassandra. She had been right there; they had been so close.
They would be married already. He would have spent yesterday making love to her.
In this very moment, he would be holding her in his arms, watching over her as she slept in their own bed.
Even without knowing the full extent of the damage, he had weeks of recovery time ahead of him, pushing that dream of marrying her further into the future.
Precious time, stolen from him by a madman whose face he couldn’t even remember.
When he reached for the glass on the table, his fingers slipped against it.
How could he hold Cassandra now? He couldn’t hold a glass of water.
“Take it easy.” Cooper handed him the glass. “You’re on enough laudanum to down a horse. You’ve been feverish. I’m not surprised your brain is scrambled. Are you one hundred percent lucid?”
“I think so,” he grumbled. “Head hurts.”
“Even better.” Cooper crossed his arms. “I’ve had a lot of time to think about what I would say to you when you woke up, and you’re going to sit there and listen to it.”
He took a breath and glared at him.
“I’m not sorry for thrashing you in Hampshire,” he said.
“You deserve worse for what you did to Cassandra. Had you been any other man, we would have dueled. You disrespected me, you ruined my sister, risked the safety of my family, and I’m not sorry for pummeling you for it.
My only regret is that I wasn’t the one who shot you. ”
“That’s fair,” Seth croaked.
Cooper paused before continuing, “You want to know the worst part? If at any point you had asked for her hand, I would have given it to you.”
“I tried to tell you,” Seth said.
“No, you didn’t. If you tried to tell me you would have.
” Cooper scoffed. “I was waiting for you to ask me. You kept acting like a kicked dog about it, so I wasn’t going to drag it out of you.
I thought that if you wanted her you would have been man enough to ask permission, instead of going behind my back. ”
“How long had you known?”
Cooper pursed his lips.
“I suspected you had feelings for each other for months, but you both confirmed it when you waltzed. I definitely had it figured out in the library.” Cooper’s eyes narrowed to slits.
“Cassandra’s reading a book upside down, and you’re hauling around Miss Moffet and Muffins?
It’s not like either of you were being discreet.
You look at her like you’re starving and she can’t look at you at all without blushing. ”
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Seth choked, voice raw. Cooper handed him the glass back and sat on the sofa.
“I promised Cassandra I wouldn’t interfere.
” Cooper jabbed a finger at him. “So I didn’t.
Not in the library, not in the field. I understood that, I truly did, because if it had been Lady—” He sighed.
“I would have done the same had it been a woman I loved.” Cooper’s voice hardened into a hiss, “But what you did behind the bakery—really? The bakery?—I should have dragged you to the altar at gunpoint. I would have pummeled you then had three men not beat me to it. You lied to my face when I asked you point blank, and I catch you in her room the very next morning?”
“I’m sorry—”
“I’m not finished,” Cooper snapped. “I thought you would back off after being disqualified, let the dust settle at least. But no, you hunkered down further. Figured you signed a contract with Lord Bolderwood and your marriage to my sister was a done deal? She had been paid for, so why wait?”
Seth flinched.
“And then you go and get yourself shot.” Cooper groaned. “Do you know how difficult it is to hold a grudge against you now? I’m managing, of course. But it has been difficult. You’re still marrying Cassandra, as soon as you can stand.”
“Bring in the priest, I’ll do it now.”
“Cassandra is asleep. Didn’t you hear me? Or did you hit your head too hard?” Cooper sighed, long and drawn out. “Don’t tell me I have to make that speech again, I practiced it in the mirror twice.”
Seth might not remember the man who shot him, but he remembered the fear of seeing a pistol pointed at Cassandra’s back. After they married, he ought to send her away, back to Lincolnshire, where he knew she would be safe, but he couldn’t bear the thought of living without her.
“I love her, Cooper.”
Cooper sighed.
“I know.”
His expression turned pensive.
“You signed that contract for Cassandra, didn’t you? You gave up your freedom to Lord Bolderwood so that you would have the means to marry my sister. Must have been difficult.”
In truth, it had been the easiest decision of his life.
“I would sign a lifetime contract for her.”
“You’re about to.” Cooper grinned. “I hope my sister is worth it, because there isn’t going to be much left of you when Aunt Valentine is through. Treaties between warring countries are smaller than the marriage contract she’s drafting up.”
“Give Cassandra everything.” None of it meant anything without her.
Cooper laughed. “That’s the gist of it, yes.”