Chapter Twenty #2
Pippa was so proud of her friend, watching Millie flash a bright smile at Flaherty as she ducked beneath his elbow and slipped between him and Garahan. They’d perfected that tactic and used it more than once over the years when they’d disobeyed their fathers’ orders to stay out of the stables.
“Millie?”
The anguished sound of Millie’s name had tears welling in Pippa’s eyes. She watched her friend close the distance until she stood a step away from the husband. “They told me you were dead,” Millie rasped.
Captain Trentchester brushed the tips of his fingers along the curve of her cheek. “I’m not. You promised to write to me, Millie,” he said. “I never received any letters.”
“I wrote to you every day,” Millie told him. “I was devastated when you did not reply to my news about our babe.”
“Colonel Stanhope rescued me from—well, I cannot tell you where…yet…if ever—and he explained that the War Office had reasons for withholding our correspondence. My superiors must have read them and confiscated them,” he murmured, “and decided the news would distract me from my assignment. Do we have a daughter?”
Millie’s smile was tremulous. “A son… I named him after you.”
Captain Trentchester’s Adam’s apple bobbled, and Pippa’s heart went out to the injured soldier as he wrapped his arm around Millie and gazed down in wonder at their babe…his son.
“’Tisn’t a lie, then, Millie?” Flaherty asked. “This man is yer dead husband, come back to life?”
Captain Trentchester’s head snapped up. “Who are you and what business is it of yours?”
Flaherty waited a beat before answering, “Name’s Flaherty, and as it happens, yer wife is going to live with me.”
“Over my dead body!” Captain Trentchester growled to the echo of snickers. He glanced over his shoulder at the three men who were laughing. “I’ll gut Flaherty where he stands. You won’t be laughing then.”
“Well now, that depends on yer technique,” Garahan said. “Me name’s Garahan, cousin and member of the duke’s guard along with Flaherty and our cousin O’Malley here. As I was saying, there’s some who think they know the proper placement of a blade to the gut…but they don’t.”
Pippa rolled her eyes at Garahan’s claim, wishing the tension would ease.
It was making her head ache. She wondered why neither Garahan nor O’Malley introduced their wives, then noticed the baron had not done so either.
Mayhap they were waiting until the brewing confrontation had either risen to a head or calmed.
“Aye, messy for certain, but not lethal,” Flaherty remarked.
Pippa spoke up. “Husband, do tell Roarke the rest of what I asked of you.”
A familiar deep voice called out, and Pippa sighed. Her brother Randolph was always the most outspoken. “So the rumors are true, Pippa? You’re married.”
“Yes, Randolph,” she answered. “Allow me to introduce my husband, Dillon Flaherty, one of the Duke of Wyndmere’s private guard.”
The men eyed one another like opponents ready to do battle.
She sighed. “I’d like everyone to meet my brothers, Winston is a colonel in the army—though we have never had confirmation of which regiment he is attached to. Millie and I suspected for some time now that he is not at liberty to tell anyone what role he plays. We think he’s a sp—”
Winston interrupted, “That’s quite enough, troublemaker.”
Pippa smiled at him before nodding to the brother on Winston’s left.
“Randolph is a captain in the navy, and Miles is a lieutenant in the marines. Our eldest brother George is currently working with Father’s estate manager, learning all he will need to know to take care of the estate and everything the barony entails. ”
As no one else seemed ready to do so, Pippa took it upon herself to do the rest of the introductions.
“Brothers, meet my husband’s cousins, Ryan Garahan and his wife Prudence, and Thomas O’Malley and his wife Caro.
Both men are also members of the duke’s guard, stationed here at Summerfield Chase protecting the duke’s sister, Lady Phoebe, and her husband Baron Summerfield.
Lieutenant Tremayne was in the dragoons and currently works for Captain Coventry, the Duke of Wyndmere’s London man-of-affairs and very good friend. ”
Garahan and O’Malley nodded without saying a word, and Tremayne mumbled a barely audible greeting. Her brothers did not acknowledge the introduction—they were too busy trying to stare the Irishmen down.
Pippa threw up her hands. “The polite thing to do would be to offer a hand or nod to my husband and his cousins. But I should have known my family would not care about my happiness.”
“We care.” Miles looked at his brothers. “I told you she would do anything to protect Millie—even marry a man without Father’s permission.”
“You forgot to mention that he is the man I happen to love, Miles,” Pippa replied.
“Ye’re a lucky bugger, Flaherty,” Garahan said.
“We knew it the moment we heard the lass shot ye,” O’Malley added.
“I know it, lads.” Flaherty turned toward Pippa and slid his arm around her waist. Tucked against his side, he bent and kissed the top of her head. “I’ll never be forgetting to tell ye I love ye, lass.”
Pippa sighed again, reveling in the emotions swelling inside of her. It was as if her mother in Heaven was giving her approval. Emboldened by the idea, she demanded, “Why are the two of you here?”
“Have you forgotten that I’m here, too?” Winston interrupted. “What of the rest of the rumors?”
Pippa bit the inside of her cheek to keep from shouting at him.
“I was not entirely ignoring you. But since you mention it, I wrote letters to the three of you, and not one of you deigned to respond. I can understand why Randolph and Miles didn’t—they were on ships at the time.
You weren’t. Why should I answer you now? ”
Flaherty tucked her more firmly against him. “I’d have made the time to answer yer letters, lass.”
She smiled up at him, but before she could speak, Winston grumbled, “It seems you are still causing trouble for our father, hellion.”
Flaherty tugged on Pippa’s hand and eased her behind him.
Garahan and O’Malley moved to stand in front of their wives, while Tremayne moved to stand behind Flaherty and Pippa, protecting their backs.
“Ye’ll apologize to me wife for the insult,” Flaherty warned.
“She’s courageous and protected Millie and her babe with her life. ”
“She did shoot you,” O’Malley reminded him.
“Though only because she did not know who you were,” Garahan added, “even though you offered aid.”
Pippa did not know whether to be happy that O’Malley left out the fact that the shooting was an accident, or be irritated that her cousins-in-law were airing her private business in front of her brothers. She decided to ask what she needed to know: “Why are you here armed to the teeth?”
Flaherty grumbled, “Yer brothers and I are going to settle this, Pippa-lass. Ye can ask yer questions later.”
Pippa noted her brothers were staring at Flaherty, and for once, she was relieved not to have to butt heads with her siblings.
“Wonderful idea, Flaherty,” Millie said. “My husband looks exhausted and has yet to be properly introduced to his son.”
Ignoring her brothers, Pippa turned to Millie and Roarke and asked, “Is he not the most beautiful babe you have ever seen?”
“He’s got a voracious appetite, just like his father,” Millie said.
“I want to know what in the world you were thinking moving in with a married man,” Captain Trentchester said.
“I thought you were dead…and then when Grant—”
His face lost all expression. “Then that part of what we’ve heard is true, too?” Millie and Pippa nodded simultaneously. “I should have known my brother was involved in this.”
“He’s involved in far more than you know,” Tremayne said.
“Why do you say that?” Captain Trentchester demanded.
“Working undercover for Captain Coventry, your brother hired me to find your wife and son and deliver the babe to him,” Tremayne replied.
“You blackguard!” Trentchester lunged toward Tremayne and was immediately restrained from behind. He looked over his shoulder. “Let go, Winston.”
“Let’s hear what Tremayne has to say first,” Winston replied.
“Enough!” Baron Summerfield barked at the group, calling their attention to him.
“You have arrived at my home, presenting arms that you obviously have every intention of using. I have a problem with that. Most are welcome at Summerfield Chase. In fact, when Flaherty brought Pippa, Millie, and her babe here for their safety, I did not question it. I accepted the responsibility of housing them under my roof. In addition to a mother and her newborn son, I have the responsibility of three”—he glanced at Pippa, tilted his head to one side—“possibly four pregnant women under the protection of the duke’s guard, myself, and my staff.
If anyone is going to be answering questions, the four of you shall be answering mine! ”
The baron didn’t wait for anyone to reply—he started walking back to the house.
“We shall take this discussion inside, where our wives will be comfortable, and can see to Captain Trentchester’s injuries.
They appear to be recent.” Summerfield nodded to two of the footmen who’d accompanied the women outside.
“Tell Mrs. Green to expect a large party for tea—with all the trimmings. Our guests look hungry.”
“At once, your lordship.”
“Now then, Colonel Stanhope, your horses look as if they could use a good rub-down before they are cooled, watered, and fed.”
The tenor of the volatile discussion having been shifted to one of practicality, as far as the baron and baroness were concerned, the colonel replied, “Thank you for the offer, your lordship—”
“Summerfield,” the baron said.