Page 30 of Kidnapping Cordelia

“Good heavens, so you did. I remember now. How clever you are, darling, to have noticed such a thing,’ Bella said, gazing at him with such admiration Bainbridge swelled visibly.

“Nothing to it. Takes an understanding of human nature, that’s all,” he said with a modest smile.

“Excuse me,” Leo said, the familiar sensation of vexation Bainbridge usually engendered creeping over him. “But I do not see how you could have known it because I wasn’t in love with her the year before last.”

“Yes, you were,” Bainbridge said firmly, turning back to his wife. “I suppose he wants to know how to court her. He’ll make a mull of it, you mark my words.”

“I am here!” Leo protested.

“I know that, but we’re talking about you, not to you,” Bainbridge explained with excessive patience before adding. “Ava, don’t do that.”

He scowled at his daughter sternly before subsiding as the tea tray appeared. The conversation was adjourned for long enough for Bella to provide them both with tea and give each of the children a biscuit. Bainbridge swiped three for himself before they all disappeared before turning his attention back to his wife, who smiled at him and nodded her agreement.

“Yes, that’s just what he needs to know, darling, how to court Violetta, and we must be very clear, for I agree, he’s bound to mess it up if we don’t give precise instructions.”

“Oh, now come on, that’s too much,” Leo said crossly. “I’m not a blasted halfwit!”

“Mind your language in front of the children,” Bainbridge told him, which made Leo stare, for Bainbridge was the worst culprit for swearing. “And whilst you might not be entirely stupid—”

“Thanks so much,” Leo grumbled.

Bainbridge returned a long-suffering look. “Not entirely stupid,” he repeated. “But Violetta thinks you’re a loose screw. She believes you’ve taken nothing seriously your whole life, and she’s not about to give you the time of day when she thinks you’re only playing games with her for your own amusement.”

Leo stared at Bainbridge for a long moment, a little stunned. “That’s… actually, that’s precisely what it is,” he admitted, wondering if he was really about to take advice from a man he’d always considered a benevolent lunatic.

“Don’t look so shocked. I know what I’m talking about because I’ve been where you are,” Bainbridge said, looking entirely sincere. He moved from the seat he’d taken and crossed to the settee, lifted a small child from the seat beside his wife and sat down again, allowing the child to snuggle against him, crooked in his arm, while he reached for his wife’s hand. “It took me a long time to figure out how to have a wife, how to change myself to be worthy of the trust Bella put in me. But I did it, and I’m bloody good at it.”

“Yes, you are, my darling,” Bella said, her eyes shining. “But don’t swear in front of the children.”

“Bloody?” Ava piped up from her place in front of the fire. The child was sprawled on the floor with a doll in a state of indecent undress, and Bella sent him a reproving look.

“Don’t say that word, Ava,” Bainbridge said, wagging a finger at her. Naturally the little girl scrambled to her feet and set off marching about the room muttering under her breath.

“Bloody, bloody, bloody, bloody—”

“That’s a bad word, sir. You ought not to have said it to Ava,” piped up Bainbridge’s son and heir, Aurelius, looking rather sternly at his father.

“I know, I know!” Bainbridge said impatiently, before trying to return to the point of the conversation. “Leo, the only way you’re going to win that young woman is by convincing her of your sincerity, and the only way to do that is to go about it in the proper fashion. Woo her. Flowers, walks in the park, escort to whatever interminable play or exhibition she wants to go to. Prove to her you’ve got what it takes to be a dependable man. In short, grow up,” he added firmly.

“Ugh,” Leo said, slumping back into his chair. “I rather feared you’d say that.”

“He’s right, dearest,” Bella said, helping herself to a biscuit and munching contentedly. “If you want to win her and have the most blissful kind of marriage, as Bainbridge and I do, then you are going to have to work hard at it.”

Leo looked around him, at a room which looked like a small but powerful explosion had taken place, at the children alternately playing and squabbling, at Bella and Bainbridge holding hands and looking on with a look of slightly bewildered pride and happiness.

Yes, he thought, much to his own surprise. Yes, this was what he wanted too.

Chapter 8

Dearest Rex,

I hope this letter reaches you before you leave for Scotland. Please don’t come!

Understand that it’s not because I do not wish to see you. It’s only that there is nothing you can do here, and I do not wish for poor Emmeline to endure that horrid journey in her condition. I also know what a trial such a journey would be to you, and there is no need for you to undertake it.

If I decide I shall marry Muir, I will, of course, let you know, but for the moment, we are just taking some of time to get to know each other. I confess I have fallen in love with this place, if not yet with my husband to be.

Wildsyde Castle is beautiful, rugged and remote, set in an untamed landscape that is like nothing I have ever known before. Lady Buchanan has been so wonderfully kind too and has welcomed me like a sister. I have also visited Muir’s property, which is quite different and wonderfully modern, but just as lovely in its own way. I believe I could be happy in this place, Rex. It gives me a deep sense of peace and freedom that I have never experienced elsewhere.