Page 38 of Twelfth Night Sorcery (The Cambion Club #2)

He found the ladies of the house at home.

His mother sat in her favorite easy chair, knitting and chatting.

Honora lay on the chaise longue, her head propped up on a pillow while she turned the pages of a book.

The moment he walked into the morning room, though, both women’s faces brightened with a flattering delight.

And the moment his eyes met Honora’s, his heart fluttered in his chest in a most alarming way.

“Oliver!” his mother exclaimed. “Back so soon? What a pleasant surprise!”

“It did not seem soon to me! I feel like I’ve been gone for a month.” He nodded at his mother, but he went straight to Honora to greet her first.

She rose to her feet and held her hand out in greeting. He ignored her hand, instead taking her face in both his hands and kissing her lightly.

“It seemed a long time to me, too.” Honora smiled up at him.

But then she lowered her eyes. Had it happened a few weeks ago, he would have thought she felt bashful. But all shyness between them had long since disappeared. Hadn’t it?

Valance sat on the chaise longue and tugged on Honora’s hand to get her to sit by his side.

Although his mother was watching and no doubt judging, he wrapped his arm around his wife’s waist and brushed a kiss against her cheek.

He wished his mother would take a hint and find some excuse to leave, so he could kiss Honora the way he wanted.

Instead, Mother kept asking cheerful questions about how everyone at the Hall fared, how Dora was settling in at the Abbey, and about the health of the younger Lady Carrington.

“Amelia is in the family way again,” Valance said, regarding the latter question. “And having a rather rough time of it, I believe.” Sir Roderick’s wife had spent much of her time in her own chambers, made miserable by morning sickness.

“Well, I hope for their sake it is a boy,” his mother said. “Sir Roderick is a patient man and an affectionate father, but I am sure he is disappointed to have only girl children.”

Valance shook his head. “I am not so sure about that. Roderick adores his daughters. And he has two younger brothers, so he need not worry about the succession.” Unlike Valance.

The issue of the succession had become a tricky one.

Valance did not want his title and estates to pass to some distant cousin who did not understand the land or its tenants, or who might quarrel with his neighbors.

He had never wanted that. But, on the other hand, he did not particularly want to have a son right away.

Once his heir was born, there would be nothing to keep Honora by his side.

“But what good does it do to have two brothers, if they have no intention of setting up their own nurseries? I doubt Peregrine will ever marry.” His mother made a moue of distaste and shook her head.

“And doesn’t Cosmo plan to compete for a fellowship at Cambridge?

If he becomes a permanent fellow, he will not be able to marry, either. ”

“That is a good point about Cosmo.” He was as dedicated to mathematics as Peregrine was to magic, but unlike Peregrine, Cosmo wanted an academic career, which would indeed prevent him from marrying.

Fellows were generally not allowed to have wives.

This had never bothered Cosmo, who seemed supremely uninterested in women—or men, for that matter.

“Why wouldn’t Peregrine marry?” Honora turned questioning eyes towards Valance. “He is a handsome enough young man, and doesn’t he have an independence? It is not as if good-looking bachelors with fortunes are ten-a-penny, even in London.”

“Yes,” Mother said dryly, “but I don’t believe he has ever looked at a woman. Has he, Valance?”

“Ah, well, I don’t know about that.” Valance bit his lip to keep from laughing.

Since he was the one who had introduced Peregrine to his favorite brothel, Valance knew perfectly well that his friend sometimes did more than look at women.

But that was not the sort of detail Valance could share with his mother.

She had never really understood either Peregrine or Cosmo.

He confined himself to saying: “I believe Peregrine likes a pretty girl as much as any man.” Particularly, it seemed, girls with dimples who wore their hair cropped short. But he could not say that, either.

Honora narrowed her eyes as she watched him. Valance hurried to control his expression before she asked why he was grinning foolishly. At some point, he would have to share his suspicions about Peregrine and Dora with his wife, but now did not seem the right time.

“So,” he said, eager to change the subject, “what happened while I was gone?”

His mother replied with tidbits of gossip she had heard during her morning calls. Honora talked about going to Hatchard’s to rebuild her collection of books. She had also gone riding in the park with one of her old school friends, on a borrowed hack.

Then his mother casually said, “And we finally got rid of that annoying dog. No more soiled rugs. I am so glad! I never did like house-pets.”

“What?” Shocked, Valance looked at Honora. She stared down at the floor, her hands tightly clasped on her lap. “Why would you do that? You loved that dog!” He could imagine no reason why his wife would send Bishop Barkley away.

Honora cleared her throat, but did not lift her gaze from the floor. “His owner came to get him.”

Valance frowned. “What do you mean? You are his owner!”

“I mean his original owner.” She kept her eyes averted as she spoke. “Miss Barbauld.”

Never before had Valance known what it meant for someone’s blood to run cold, but that was the only way he could describe the chill he felt. For Cherie to come to his home was a gross breach of etiquette and an insult to his wife.

“Miss Barbauld came here?” he whispered hoarsely. “And took the dog?”

“Yes.”

“I am so very sorry.” He did not know what else to say. Honora had already lost so much in the last two months. Must she lose her pet, too? “I will get you a new dog.”

The moment the words were out of his mouth, he knew he’d made a mistake. He felt Honora stiffen underneath his arm.

“No, thank you,” she said politely. “That will not be necessary. I am happy Barkley is reunited with someone he loves so much.”

“I don’t know about that.” Valance felt miserable on her behalf. “He certainly seemed fond of you. He might not have wanted to return to his original owner.”

“Oh no!” When she looked him in the face, he saw that her bleak expression contradicted the forced cheerfulness of her voice. “He was quite thrilled to meet her again. I never saw him so happy as when he was in her arms. I am sure he was glad to go back.”

The dismay Valance had experienced when he first learned Cherie had been here was nothing compared to his horror at hearing Honora herself had seen Cherie.

He’d been hoping that Weller had handled the situation discreetly.

A good butler should know better than to allow his employer’s cast-off mistress to meet the lady of the house!

“You met her, then?” The words nearly stuck in his throat.

“Yes. She seemed fond of the dog, so I saw no reason to stop her from taking him.” The trembling of Honora’s lower lip suggested she was close to tears.

“I am so very, very sorry,” Valance repeated numbly.

He was no longer thinking of that blasted dog, though. His former mistress and his wife had met in Lady Valance’s own home. He could imagine few domestic disasters worse than this. How could he possibly make things right?