Page 5 of The Homecoming (The De Montforte Brothers #6)

Chapter Four

H er apartments were exactly as she’d last seen and remembered them, though the bedroom itself seemed more grand, more pretentious, more exaggerated, and a bit too over the top compared to what she’d become accustomed to in her new home across the sea.

They had put little Aidan in a bassinet near the hearth, where Ruaidri read him a story that he invented as it came to him, until the child was fisting his eyes and yawning.

Eventually, he fell asleep. Holding hands, his mother and father watched him for a long moment, then each leaned down to kiss his soft curls.

Nerissa pulled a blanket up over his tiny shoulders and then turned toward the bed.

“I know it’s early, but I do feel the need to rest. Perhaps we should take the evening meal on trays and make our appearances at breakfast instead.”

“Whatever suits ye best, lass.”

She stood there, looking at her old bed in the rich, warm candlelight.

The silver and blue hangings, once so richly sumptuous, now seemed extravagant. The gilt this, the gilt that, felt overdone. Excessive. The high ceilings and ornate plasterwork seemed almost gaudy. Nerissa spread her hand across the coverlet, thinking.

Ruaidri came up to her. “Are y’ well, lass?”

“It feels different, now,” she said a bit wistfully.

“When I last slept in this bed, I was a girl who believed she was a woman. A bird in a gilded cage, who thought her life was mapped out for her, who was meant to marry a man she’d known since she was a child.

A girl who took all that for granted. Now .

.. I return as someone very different. I return as a wife, as a mother .

.. all grown up, now. And I don’t feel as if I quite belong here anymore, if that makes sense. ”

“Ye’ll always belong here, mo grá . ’Tis your childhood home.”

“Yes.” She turned and went into his arms, laying her cheek against his heart. “And that’s just it, is it not? Childhood home. But I’m not the same person I was when I left here all those months ago, Ruaidri. I’m different. Changed.”

“We all get older and wiser. And none of us can go back to our childhoods.”

“And I anticipated a better homecoming. Things felt so very awkward down there. What did I subject you to? I don’t know what I was thinking.”

His hard-calloused fingers stroked the back of her neck, pulled out one of the long pins that held her thick ivory hair in its elaborate coif. “It actually went better than I thought it would,” he confessed.

“Really?”

“Well, think of it. Gareth and Charles have never met me. To them, I’m an evil pile of shite who took their little sister away, forever and for good. They have good reason to despise me, as I would them if the situation was reversed.”

“It’s not Gareth I’m worried about. It’s Charles.”

“Ah, love. Maybe when he realizes how happy you are, he’ll come around.”

She shrugged, remembering the cold hurt in her brother’s pale blue eyes, his barely contained anger. “I don’t know, Ruaidri. But even if he does not, it doesn’t change things between us. You are my husband. I love you with my whole heart, my entire being. You know that, don’t you?”

“Of course, I do.”

“And I know how hard it must be for you to keep your own temper in the face of such ill treatment ... such insults.” She closed her eyes, her lashes fluttering against his shirt. “I wish we had never come here.”

“Here now, Sunshine. Give it time. We only just arrived.”

“I know, but if Charles doesn’t come around—”

“If ye’re worried that yer brother and I’ll get into a duel, rest assured I won’t let that happen. I tangled once, and only once, with Lucien. I’ve no taste for going at it with yet another brother.”

That got a smile out of her, as he intended it would, and she felt herself relax, just a bit.

She stood there, enclosed within the protective circle of his arms, his heartbeat steady and reassuring beneath her ear.

He was here, he was holding her, he was her life now, along with Aidan.

It didn’t matter if she had grown in ways that made her feel almost like a stranger here, now.

It didn’t matter that it was raining outside and growing dark, that she felt suddenly homesick for Newburyport, that the wonderful homecoming she had imagined had been a fantasy, that she just wanted to cry.

Nothing mattered, except the feel of her husband’s strong arms around her.

It would be all right. With Ruaidri, it was always all right.

She listened to the rain beating against the ancient leaded windows, a sound she had known for all of her life.

Home.

England.

Ruaidri.

“Do you think they liked the puppy?” she ventured, after some time.

She felt his lips in her hair. “Well now, who doesn’t like a puppy, eh?”

“This one is such a little scamp ... so much energy, and he’s devious.”

“Aren’t all puppies? He’ll be a good dog, someday.”

“Someday,” she agreed, dubiously. “I hope that when the children meet him tomorrow, they’ll have a good name for him. He’s been cooped up for a month ... aboard the ship, aboard the coach ... maybe after he gets some exercise, he’ll settle down.”

Ruaidri laughed.

“Well, we can hope!”

“No matter what, he’ll liven this place up. And I’m sure the little ones’ll love him. They’ll tire each other out. Children and dogs ... doesn’t get better than that.”

She stood there within the circle of his arms, listening to the rain outside.

The fire snapping in the hearth, the deep stillness all around her in the thickening gloom.

As bad as things had been tonight, perhaps things would be better in the morning after they’d had a proper night’s sleep.

A fresh start. God knew, they all needed one.

He spoke her thoughts, as he so often did. “Tomorrow’s another day, Nerissa.”

“Yes, Ruaidri. Another day.”

“And it’ll be a good day. We’ll make it so.”

She pulled back and looked up at him. He smiled down at her, a solid, steady presence, reassuring, optimistic.

She would never get tired of looking at his arresting face with its arching brows, bold nose, and hard angles.

The violet eyes that were fringed with long lashes, warming now in unspoken invitation.

“An early bedtime, mo grá ?”

“I thought you’d never ask.” She pressed close, lifting her face to his as she sought his lips. “Undress me, my dear husband.”

But his hands were already working their magic.

Several hours later and a few doors away, Celsie and Andrew were also in bed. Unlike the new arrivals, they weren’t asleep.

And it looked as if that desired state might elude them this night unless drastic changes were made to their sleeping arrangements.

Or rather, the sleeping arrangements of the puppy.

“This wasn’t a good idea,” Andrew grumbled, his body already contorted at an unnatural angle to accommodate Esmerelda curled up against the back of his legs, a small white turnspit named Moll who had insinuated herself between himself and Celsie, much to his lament, and now the puppy, who seemed to possess the energy of a racehorse pumped up on oats.

Or a child who’d imbibed too much sugar.

On a floor cushion on his side of the bed, the fat and aging bulldog, Pork, was already snoring and farting up a storm.

Clouds of gas wafted up, more potent than normal, and Andrew felt his lungs seize up in protest.

He yanked the sheet up and buried his nose in it, trying to filter the air so he could breathe.

“He’ll settle down,” Celsie said dubiously as the puppy sprang out of her embrace, jumped onto Esmerelda in an attempt to get her to play, received a warning growl to back off, and then leaped off the bed and promptly began sniffing the floor.

“Tell me again why he’s in here with us?”

She climbed out of the bed and grabbed him before he could squat. The puppy squirmed in her arms and licked her chin. “Well, where else is he supposed to stay? It wouldn’t be fair to poor Nerissa and Ruaidri to take him after such a long trip. They’re probably exhausted and need sleep.”

“I need sleep too. Besides, this bed isn’t big enough for two people and now three dogs.”

“What’s one more? Besides, he’s little. He won’t take up much room.”

“He could stay in the kennel like a proper dog.”

“A little puppy? In a kennel? Oh, Andrew, how could you...”

He rolled his eyes, knowing it was a losing battle when it came to dogs. “Well, neither one of us are going to get any rest—”

“He’ll settle down once we blow out the candle,” Celsie assured him. “Even puppies need to sleep.”

“This one doesn’t look ready, willing, or able to sleep. How do we know what he’s going to get into once we both drop off? I think I should go hunt down a box of some sort to put him in for the night and bring him down to the kitchens.”

“He’ll howl up a storm and keep everyone awake.”

“I’m sure he will.”

“And I’m sure that with some time and training, he’ll be a very good little dog.” She kissed the puppy’s head and then gazed deeply into his black button eyes. “Won’t you, little angel?”

“Little hooligan, more like.”

“He’s a terrier. He can’t help that he’s got energy.”

Andrew just rubbed his eyes, the need to sleep weighing on him.

Celsie didn’t look any more tired than the puppy in her arms. “I can’t wait until tomorrow.

To get all the children together, to get to know our new brother-in-law .

.. their little boy favors him, don’t you think?

And doesn’t he just adore Nerissa! The way he looks at her!

I’m so glad things didn’t work out with her and Perry and that Ruaidri came along when he did.

They were meant for each other, don’t you think? ”

“I wasn’t convinced at first, but as I’ve come to know the fellow, yes, I agree. They are very well suited. I just hope Charles comes around.”

“Well, as you’ve said, Charles and Nerissa were always close ... and unlike you and Lucien, he has not had the chance to get to know Ruaidri. I have faith he’ll eventually accept him. Besides, he’s probably worried about Amy and the coming child, and the stress of that can’t be helping things any.”

Andrew stifled a yawn. “I’m sure you are right, my dear.”

“We’ll throw a party for Amy’s birthday. That should help put Charles in better spirits.”

Andrew nodded and rubbed his eyes again. “Let’s hope.”

“Children, dogs, and a birthday party. So much to look forward to! We should try to get some sleep, Andrew. Oh, puppy! You’re going to have to settle down. Do you need to go outside one last time?”

“I’ll take him out,” Andrew said, getting out of bed, donning his robe, and reaching for the terrier.

“Thank you, Andrew.” She smiled a bit apologetically as she handed the squirming dog over. “We’ll both sleep better knowing his bladder is empty before we blow out the candle.”

“You and I both know that neither of us are going to sleep tonight.”

A soft pffffftttt issued from the back end of the bulldog, still snoring on his bed on the floor, and Andrew pinched his nostrils shut and breathed through his mouth. “What in God’s name has Lucien been feeding that dog?”

Celsie’s mouth twitched with humor.

“Right, I’ll be back shortly. Keep my side of the bed warm.” He gave a rueful glance at Esmerelda, who had stretched and expanded to claim the space where he had just lain. “If you can get to it.”

“You are an angel, Andrew.”

Pffffftttt. “Trust me, I just want some fresh air.”

Celsie crawled into bed, slid Esmerelda’s heavy weight over so Andrew would have room when he came back, and moved Moll over as well.

It would be tight quarters tonight with her and Andrew sleeping board-to-board to accommodate the dogs, but she didn’t mind, as a crowded bed meant she was all the closer to her husband.

She lay in the bed, looking up at the hangings and counting her blessings.

A handsome, intelligent, loving man who put up with her dogs. Life was good.