Page 82 of Once Upon a Reckless Rogue

He hated that he had lied to them. “For the last couple of years, yes.”

“But you were in the army,” his mother said.

“I was but I had a special arrangement, especially after Napoleon was captured the second time.” He looked at his mother. “I could not tell you the truth, even though I wanted to tell you so many times.”

“Does your wife know?” his aunt asked.

“Yes. I am afraid she was dragged into my mess too. Lord Stafford was my spymaster, but he had turned double agent and was selling information to the French and the Prussians. You need not fear him, for he is dead.”

“So, can we return home?”

He held out his hand to his sister to give her reassurance. “Of course. That is why I came here.”

“Are you sure it is safe?”

“I am and if anything happens, I will be there. I have resigned my commission from the army, and I am no longer a spy. For better or worse I am just Mr. Markham from now on.”

“Oh, that makes my heart feel so much lighter,” his mother said. “I am afraid we sold the carriage, so we had funds. We did not want the bad men to be able to track us by bribing the bank as to where we were extracting money.”

“Very wise. We will hire a conveyance for our way home. I will organize one today. If all goes well, will you be packed to leave tomorrow? I am anxious to return to Elena.”

“She must be some woman to have caught the heart of my fearless brother,” June said smiling for the first time.

“She is indeed. She was a doctor in Spain.”

His mother shook her head. “A female doctor? I have never heard of such a thing.”

“Well, I call her a doctor. She treated me when I should have been dead. She knows all about herbs and flowers and what they can do for healing. She knows how to knit broken bones and how to sew up a wound.”

“She will be handy to have around I’m sure, though I am not sure how Doctor Edgeworth will take it if she starts seeing his patients.”

“We can work around the good doctor, I’m sure.”

Aunt Linda pulled the bellpull. “I think we all need some tea.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Elena was thankful to have Mister Davis around as her interpreter; together they were able to make a certain amount of changes she would never have been able to express on her own. The house was much bigger than she was used to. Kingsley gave her a tour of the house, and she was shocked to find there were ten bedrooms, not including the servants’ quarters.

She showed Cook how to make tea the way she liked it and though she gave the pot a funny sniff at first, Cook soon mastered the new ingredients. It was all very strange to have all these people around doing work she would have done herself back in Spain.

She had Tomas’s mother and sister’s rooms all cleaned and the bed linens washed, ready for their return. It was optimistic, but she was sure that Tomas would be able to persuade them to come home.

Elena missed Tomas terribly and worried all over again if his family would like her. She devised a plan to initially stand back and ask her new mother-in-law if she could help her learn how to run an English house. Hopefully, this would serve to give them time to bond and not make it look like she was going to take over without consultation. She did not want to push his mother out of the way. This was her house for so many years, and frankly Elena needed help to learn what was expected of the lady of the house.

At night it was the loneliest. A maid would come in and warm the bed with a huge pan filled with coal and then leave. Elena would braid her hair, wash and put on her nightgown, and get into the enormous bed. Alone. They had not slept without each other since she had met Tomas. Doing so now seemed strange. Still, she knew he would soon be home and in her arms again.

She was almost certain she was with child now, but a few more weeks would confirm it, once her belly started to show. Would Tomas be happy? She hoped so and dreamed of what the child might look like. Would it have its father’s eyes or her hair? Putting her hand over her belly, she closed her eyes and slept.

*

Thomas could not sleep in the carriage on the way back to Elena. He was angry about what Stafford had done to his family. If the man were not already dead, he would have killed him. Although he had to admit that had he not been sent to Spain, he would not have met Elena. She was the one good thing that came out of that whole situation.

He had spent hours telling his mother and sister about everything that had happened and all about Elena. He hoped it would help that they understood her situation before meeting her. Both could speak French, so hopefully, they would help Elena settle in and teach her some English along the way.

His arms ached to hold her and hoped she had missed him as much as he had missed her. Once he was home and everything was back to normal, he could picture his life as being consistent and comfortable. Tony had warned him he might get itchy feet and long to travel again as he was not used to being in one place so long, but he had no intention of ever getting back on a ship again. He doubted he would even get Elena to step foot on a dock after their trip here.

When dawn broke on their third day, he could see the gates of Milford in the distance. He felt like jumping out and running up the drive, but he did not want to disturb his mother, who was still sleeping soundly.