Page 37

Hanover Square, Mayfair

Westminster, England

A lexander came into the drawing room of the townhouse he shared with his wife, and he grinned to see her sitting on a low sofa with a cheerful fire dancing behind an ornate metal frame.

Well, Lydia was napping if truth be told, while their sixteen-month-old son Andrew quietly fussed from his position tucked against her side with her arms about him.

With a mop of red-brown curls and hazel eyes, the boy resembled them both.

“What’s wrong, little man?” he said in a soft voice as he scooped the boy up and cuddled him against his shoulder.

“Mama not paying attention to you?” He chuckled as he carried the baby to a sofa across a table from where Lydia slept.

After sitting down, he bounced the baby on his knee, made silly faces at him until his tears dried and giggles replaced them.

“That’s my sunny boy. No time for fussing, huh? ”

From what they’d figured, the child had been a result of one of their couplings during that turbulent August when they’d first met.

After Alexander had won the bout against Lydia’s former fiancé, he had been true to his word and used the coin he’d earned as a down payment on a modest townhouse.

They’d chosen Hanover Square for its location.

It was close to the Stapleton Boxing Salon on Brook Street as well as the Tetford Clinic located in a nearby cul-de-sac just off Brook Street as well.

On the days when Lydia’s father didn’t work in the clinic, she filled in, and when she wasn’t spending long hours there, she’d embraced her role as Viscountess Wexley with the same strength and determination that she did everything else in her life.

Once little Andrew George had come along, she dropped down to two days a week at the clinic with the caveat that she would return to five days once the boy was more self-sufficient.

To compensate for her loss and since the clinic was quite popular with the general public, as well as healing the aches and pains rendered in the boxing salon, her father had hired another male doctor, a young man with ideals of his own.

Fortunately for him, he didn’t ruffle Lydia’s rather forward-thinking mindset, so all was well there.

As for Alexander himself, he had been the official manager of the boxing salon since January of 1818, just as his brother Lewis had promised.

Under his leadership, the salon had nearly doubled its membership as well as its private client roster.

That meant Lewis was now exclusively taking care of the private clients, whether those lessons happened at the salon or at a private residence, and he was even in the process of creating a small salon of his own out of his home for the same purposes, as well as keeping his countess happy so she could practice sparring without needing to come into the salon.

In addition to running the salon, Alexander had taken on a few speaking engagements to various groups and clubs that taught people the basics of self-defense and how to stay vigilant in their own environments.

During some of those talks, he would demonstrate the basics of jujitsu, for he and Lydia had continued to study that form of combat with a man from Japan after their marriage.

As for Duncan. Well, his younger brother had had quite the time of it before he’d finally found his own wife, but then, perhaps it had been the best to fit with his personality.

His story was certainly an entertaining one, and sometimes he told the tale when they were all out in the club enjoying some time away from the family.

It was odd how the Stapleton brothers’ lives had all changed in one fell swoop of a year.

When a flailing baby fist smacked Alexander in the nose, he was wrenched quickly from his wandering thoughts. “Don’t like it when Papa woolgathers?”

The boy giggled and grinned, showing a few teeth that had come in.

Lydia awoke at that moment with a start and a gasp. She glanced about in disorientation, and when her gaze fell on him with the baby, she sighed in relief. “Good heavens, I thought he’d fallen out of my arms.”

“Not a chance. You had him well contained.” Alexander smiled at her, and once more he thanked whatever deity was listening for putting her into his life. “When I came in, you were dead to the world. No doubt everything on your schedule has exhausted you.”

“Perhaps, but I do need to speak with you about that.” With a yawn, she put herself into a more upright position but still lounged against the high back of that piece of furniture. The emotions in her eyes were difficult to read.

Knots of worry tugged in his gut. “Are you ill?”

“No.” She shook her head, but then exquisite happiness lit her eyes. “When I was last in the clinic, I asked our midwife to come examine me.” Another yawn interrupted her. “Where I thought I’d caught a summer head cold turned out to be another pregnancy.”

“What?” He must have appeared frightening to his son, for the boy gave him a pout coupled with tear-filled eyes. Quickly putting on a happy face, he bounced Andrew on his knee again. “Did you hear what Mama said?” With a glance to her, he asked, “Is it true?”

“Yes.” She gave him a happy nod. “That is the reason I’m so exhausted and why I’ve been a watering pot of late.” Then she met his gaze. “We’ll have a new addition to our family in March. Are you happy, Alexander? You won’t mind another baby?”

“Do I mind?” He peered at his son, then put tiny kisses all over the chubby cheeks, his chin, his forehead, and his belly through the gown until the boy giggled all over again.

“I’m gloriously thrilled, sweeting. To have another child as a result of our love for each other?

” Scooping Andrew up into his arms, Alexander stood, then relocated to Lydia’s sofa.

As soon as he sat beside her, the boy reached out his arms to his mama.

“I’m so glad.” Once she’d settled their son in her lap, she found Alexander’s gaze.

“After we are certain this second child will thrive, I would like to take measures to stem any more pregnancies for a time. It will take all my energy and strength to look after two, as well as return to doctoring.” Pleading mixed with hope in her eyes. “Are you of a same mind?”

“Of course.” Did she not know by now he’d do anything for her?

“I’d rather have you and the children in good health than keep you increasing for the next ten years.

” He leaned over and brushed his lips against hers.

“Besides, I’ll still have you, and that is all I have ever wanted since meeting you. ”

A faint blush filled her cheeks. “Rogue.” But she smiled, and then the baby did too. “Ah, Alex, we are so fortunate, and I couldn’t be any happier.”

“I know exactly what you mean.” He slipped an arm about her waist and pulled both her and the baby close. “And I am still in love with you.”

“As I am with you.” She laid her head on his shoulder. “Even if you are more of an arse than you should be,” she added with a note of teasing in her voice.

“Managing baggage,” he rebutted in a whisper but with a grin.

Life had a way of surprising a man, but the key to surviving all the turmoil was simply not to try and control it. Like the wind, sometimes a good push in a different direction led a man to places he’d never thought to go on his own.

The End