Chapter Fourteen #2
Roland ran his crooked finger up her cheek, catching her tears. “What is it, pet?” His voice was so soft it was almost a caress and had the opposite effect on Gwendolyn from what he had expected. She broke down in sobs.
He dropped down to kneel beside the bed and put his arm around her shoulders. The baby, disturbed by her mother’s outburst, opened her little mouth and yelled with all the strength of her tiny lungs.
Gwendolyn hugged the baby and sniffed back another sob. “Sorry, sweetheart. I didn’t mean to upset you. Mama is just being foolish.”
Roland empathized with Gwendolyn. He too was feeling foolish although his feelings did not produce tears.
Rather, he wanted to punch Robert and demand that he take care of Gwendolyn the way she needed to be nurtured.
His mouth tightened and the slight lines around his eyes deepened.
He didn’t think that Robert loved Gwendolyn but he wasn’t sure what she felt.
The baby’s yells dropped to a low whimper and Gwendolyn wiped her own tears away. “I don’t know why I’ve turned into such a watering pot.”
“Mrs. Ewbanks says it is normal when women give birth,” Mariana offered, but she was looking from her cousin to the baron and back again with great interest. Was she the only one of them who could see that Roland and Gwendolyn had formed a strong attachment?
They would make a perfect husband and wife, an ideal father and mother, if only Robert Walker hadn’t made such an untimely appearance.
She had little opinion of Mr. Walker, scorning his selfishness and his fickleness.
She didn’t think that Gwendolyn felt anything more for him than mild affection of friendship, and even that had waned since he had abandoned her straight after he had deflowered her.
She wondered if there was anything she could do to force Roland to declare his love and cast aside his sense of propriety and for Gwendolyn to stop thinking that the solution to her problems lay with Robert Walker.
Gwendolyn laughed huskily, sending blood rushing very inappropriately to Roland’s groin. He moved uncomfortably as he attempted to hide his swelling groin.
“At least there’s something normal about the way I am being a mother.
” She tried to laugh. The baby had fallen asleep again and Gwendolyn put her down on a pillow next to her.
“I really should think of a name for her. Her second name is to be Mariana.” She flashed a smile at her cousin.
“But it can be confusing to have two people with the same name. I want her name to reflect elegance and honor but also be romantic and poetic.” She kissed the baby’s forehead.
“In my mind, I’ve been calling her Laura. ”
“Laura?” Roland repeated sharply.
Gwendolyn looked at him, startled by his response. “It’s a perfectly acceptable name,” she said pertly.
Roland laughed. “It is, indeed. My mother’s name was Laura.”
*
Robert Walker snapped the lid of his snuff box open and glared at the contents.
“I’m almost out of snuff and there doesn’t seem to be anywhere in this godforsaken place where I can buy any.
I use a very particular blend, you know, made by a chap in London.
” He took a pinch between his fingers and sniffed it delicately.
Roland ignored his cousin and continued the letter he was writing to the mayor of Carlisle about the new school some of the factory owners were considering opening in the district.
Robert stood up and stalked to the window. “I never expected to be stranded here by snow. My groom says he believes the roads are a bit clearer. Tomorrow, I will ride as far south as I can make it and then make my way back to London as quickly as the weather permits.”
At this, Roland placed his pen in the pen holder and looked at Robert. “The snow on the road to Lower Fell Farm is packed hard, giving easy access to the house.”
Robert swung around. “So?”
“You will, I presume, wish to see your betrothed and your daughter before you leave.”
Robert scoffed. “I have no interest in seeing a woman in bed who is not there to amuse me or to spend time with a squalling brat.”
Roland was silent as he ordered his thoughts and sought for the best way to address Robert’s callousness. “Have you asked the vicar to read the banns for you and Gwendolyn?”
“What for?” Irritation flashed in Robert’s eyes, turning his handsome features sour. “Marry in haste, repent at leisure,” he quoted.
Roland’s mouth twitched and then straightened into a disapproving line.
“A marriage that has been in the offing for more than a year is hardly undertaken in haste. I will invite the vicar for dinner tonight and you can discuss the arrangements with him. And then tomorrow before you leave you can talk to Gwendolyn.”
Robert shuddered. “I cannot imagine a less appealing dinner companion or topic of conversation. Besides, I received a letter this afternoon from Marcus Cartwright. It is common knowledge that the Burroughs have completely disowned their daughter and have invited Lord Burroughs’s heir to live with them.
I am not going to waste time pursuing a dowryless chit with an illegitimate brat. ”
“That child is yours,” Roland reminded him.
“I’m not going to be the laughingstock of society by admitting a bastard is mine.
Besides, there’s a young girl I met last summer who was supposedly spoken for.
Turns out that was a misunderstanding and she’s on the marriage mart.
Her dowry is substantial and not tied up in awkward restrictions.
I need to stake my claim before someone else gets ahead of me. ”
Roland stood up, towering over his cousin. “Then you had better leave immediately. Do you have any message for the mother of your child?”
For a moment, Robert looked ashamed. “What does one say in such a situation?”