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Leading the stallion out into the yard, he mounted and kicked him into a gallop as if he could outrun the pain in his chest. An hour’s hard riding brought him no closer to a resolution of his feelings.

He was reluctant to tax Sarah with the possession of Lannister’s card.

If he had learned anything from their previous arguments it was to temper his propensity to jump to conclusions.

Yet he had to find some way to address the issue, but how?

Still unable to face Sarah, he sought out his steward and spent the rest of the day dealing with estate matters.

There was enough to occupy him for days if he chose to bury himself there, but he was conscious that he couldn’t hide from Sarah indefinitely.

And the longer he avoided her, the more pointed the need to offer her some explanation for his precipitous exit this morning.

He allowed Bridges to help him dress for dinner and joined his family and their guests in the drawing room.

As soon as he entered the room, Sarah came toward him.

Her expression of concern pierced his armor and softened his heart with hope.

Surely his fears were unfounded after the felicity they had enjoyed over the last few days.

“Robert, are you all right? Where have you been all day?”

With a jolt he realized he missed both breakfast and luncheon. “I’m sorry,” he said. “A crisis with one of the tenants needed to be addressed.” A slight exaggeration, but better than the truth in this instance. He knew himself to be a lousy liar and hoped that she wouldn’t detect his evasion.

“Oh, what—” But fortunately, before she could probe further and uncover his deception, Jardin announced that dinner was served, and he was able to escort her into the dining room and deflect the conversation toward her day.

*

Sarah, taking her seat to his left, shook out her napkin and snuck a covert look at him as he spoke to his mother, seated on his right and opposite Sarah.

Was it an estate matter that had taken him away so abruptly this morning and kept him occupied all day?

He seemed calm enough, but his manner was a little stiff and formal, reminiscent of his demeanor in London.

She sighed inwardly. Did I say or do something this morning to upset him?

She tried to remember their last conversation but could recall nothing that seemed a likely cause for his sudden exodus.

It must truly be something to do with the estate that has upset him. Yet—

Ashford, seated to her left, interrupted her train of thought with a question, and she recalled her duties as hostess, pushing away the problem of Robert’s unusual behavior for the moment. Perhaps when we are alone I can get to the bottom of it.

The evening seemed to drag interminably.

The men had left the ladies to play billiards and not rejoined them for tea.

At eleven she was able to retire to her room and hope that Robert would join her shortly.

She dismissed Esme and climbed into bed with a book but found it hard to concentrate.

A nagging worry had her senses alert for any sounds from Robert’s adjoining room.

When she heard the faint sounds of Robert and Bridges speaking, she abandoned her book altogether and waited tensely.

She heard the quiet snick of Robert’s external door closing, behind Bridges she assumed, and bit her lip.

Surely Robert will open the door to my room any moment?

The minutes on the mantlepiece clock ticked loudly by with agonizing slowness and she had just flung back the coverlet to get out of bed and go to the door herself, unable to wait another second, when it opened, and Robert appeared in his dressing gown.

His hair was damp, and her heart which had been racing with anxiety, settled a little. He’d been having a bath!

Relief made her smile at him and elicited a smile in return. “You’re still awake,” he said, coming toward the bed.

“I was waiting for you,” she said, lifting the coverlet invitingly.

*

Robert undid the sash of his dressing gown and slipped the robe off to join her in the bed.

He had wrestled with whether to come to her or not and decided he couldn’t bear not to.

Her welcoming smile at the sight of him went some way toward easing his anxiety, and he wondered again if he was reading more significance into that damned calling card than he should.

She snuggled into him, and he wrapped his arms round her, deciding he was an idiot.

“I missed you today,” she said.

“Likewise,” he murmured against her hair.

“I suppose it is something I shall have to get used to,” she said, tracing a pattern over his chest with a fingertip that sent tendrils of heat to his groin. “You have duties, and you’ve been neglecting them to dance attendance on me, haven’t you?”

“Somewhat,” he temporized. It was true, to a certain extent, he assuaged his conscience. He tightened his hold on her. Really, I’m a fool to be threatened by Lannister. If there was ever anything between him and Sarah, it is long over.

Just then she lifted her head and smiled, “Then we had best make the most of the time we do have,” she said.

“Oh, Sarah,” he murmured, bending his head to kiss her and push her back into the pillows.

“Oh, Robert,” moaned Sarah a little while later.

“Yes, sweetheart?” he said raising his head from between her legs.

“You’re very good at that,” she said, panting.

He grinned and returned to his labor.

In the wake of their mutual crisis, their bodies still joined and slowly cooling, he was glad he had said nothing to her of his discovery of Lannister’s card. His fears were surely unfounded, and to raise them with her would drive a wedge between them when all he wanted was harmony.

He pushed thoughts of Lannister from his mind, steadfastly ignoring the faint niggle that persisted. Why did she have his damned card? I neither know nor care! he thought, tucking his wife into his embrace and preparing to sleep. If I cannot trust her as I expect her to trust me, what do we have?