Punishing His Ward (Domestic Discipline 3)

Wesley cleared his throat, suddenly uncertain as how to broach the subject of his marriage with his mother. It had all seemed remarkably easy before he'd stepped into the room and actually faced her; just announce that he and Cynthia were getting married, and that was that. Now, looking down at his mother, he found himself feeling rather young an

d awkward; neither of which he was accustomed to feeling. Would she approve? He certainly wanted her to, he realized.

To buy himself some time, he pulled a chair closer to her bed so that he could sit facing her. She watched him, one eyebrow arching as if in amusement over his hesitance. The dressing gown she was wearing over her night rail made her look softer, more approachable, and yet he was still having difficulties finding the correct words. After all, it wasn’t something he had much experience in.

Clearing his throat again, Wesley reminded himself that he wasn't in trouble. "I ah... as much as I appreciate your um... enthusiasm for procuring a marriage for me next Season, I've actually decided that I might want to marry ah... sometime before that."

There, that was a good introduction.

"Oh! Did you have someone already in mind, dear?" The Countess put down her toast on her plate, her forehead crinkling a bit in concern. Cocking her head at him, she studied his face. "I apologize, darling, I didn't even think to ask if you already had a tendre for someone, I just assumed..." Her voice trickled off as she waited for his answer, since obviously he’d told her just a few days ago that he had no interest in marrying, much less anytime soon.

"No! I mean, that is, I didn't..." Oh bloody hell, might as well just get it over with. Wesley braced himself. "I've decided to marry Cynthia."

"Wesley!" the Countess screeched. He ducked the piece of toast that was flung in his direction, wincing at the shrill tone of her voice. "You compromised her last night, didn't you?!"

"No!"

"You didn't?"

Wesley eyed his mother suspiciously, and not just because she was now holding a second piece of toast. Did she sound just a little bit disappointed? Surely not.

"No... well, not really. Not completely, but it could have had the appearance of... anyway, what I mean to say is I've grown rather fond of the chit and I know she's been a handful to you, but I'll make sure she behaves herself from now on and..." His voice trailed off as he realized his mother was beaming at him. Did his mother really not care who he married as long as he married someone? Or was there more going on here than he realized?

Wesley had the sudden suspicion that he’d been set up.

“This is wonderful! Marie!-“ she called out for her maid. “Marie come here at once! I need to get dressed!”

“Mother…”

“Oh do be quiet Wesley and get out, there’s a great deal to be done and I need to be dressed to do it!”

******

When Edwin and Eleanor arrived, after receiving Wesley’s note, it was to a house that was clearly in turmoil. Eleanor could hear the strident tones of the Countess echoing down the hall, obviously setting her troops in order. Looking rather harassed, Manfred showed them to the library where Wesley was obviously hiding out; he looked like a man under siege. Rather than sitting down, he was pacing around the room with a large glass in hand – looking at the crystal tumbler, Eleanor blinked. She recognized whiskey when she saw it. Then again, going by the way the Countess sounded, he probably needed some serious fortifying.

“Wesley! Congratulations!” Edwin gave his friend a hug, and then Eleanor caught him up, laughing as Wesley squeezed her tight with one arm. The other was busy holding onto his drink. She hugged him back, adding her own congratulations to Edwin’s.

“Thank you… welcome to the madness. I told my mother this morning and I don’t know what she’s doing exactly, but apparently there’s quite a bit that needed to be done today, immediately, if I’m going to be married in two weeks.” He looked rather exasperated and Eleanor had to snicker. Men. They just didn’t understand the time it took to plan any event, much less a major one like a title Earl’s wedding. She sighed a little. If she’d had the wedding of her dreams it would have taken far longer than two weeks to plan…

“What needs to be done today?” Edwin asked, looking equally baffled. Eleanor restrained herself from rolling her eyes.

“I have no idea, but my mother’s been on a tear ever since I broke the news.”

“I’m going to go see what I can do to help,” Eleanor said, smiling. As much as she wanted to question Wesley, she was even more curious about what Cynthia thought of all of this. Despite Wesley’s attempt at being exasperated, he looked remarkably cheerful under his harried exterior, so she knew that he was happy about the turn of events even if his mother was driving him a bit batty. Besides which, she was spending as little time around Edwin as possible at the moment.

“They’re in the drawing room. I think,” Wesley called after her.

Eleanor shut the study door behind her and let out a sigh of relief. Being around Edwin was particularly hard right now because she was exhausted and doing her best to cover it. It had taken her longer than she liked to realize that she was pregnant, although her fatigue had certainly been worrying; it wasn’t until she’d begun feeling nauseous in the mornings and had counted back the days that she realized the cause for her symptoms. She was worried that if she spent too much time around Edwin, he would realize that her little illness hadn’t been any such thing and what the real issue was.

She didn’t know how she felt about her pregnancy. Protective, certainly. She cherished the idea of the life in her belly and a part of her thrilled to the very specific idea of bearing Edwin’s child. But she was also terrified. Edwin had been so attentive, so affectionate since arriving in Bath… but it’s not like there was much here to distract him. The slow top still hadn’t declared himself, so she was still feeling uncertain about his feelings towards her. And she was still a bit worried that once he knew she was with child, she would discover that his love was more of that towards a friend that he had married. Not the kind of passionate, delightful and despairing love that she felt for him. A pregnant wife wasn’t much fun, and she knew that, in many ton marriages, the wife’s pregnancy usually heralded the infidelities on both sides of the relationship.

After all, he'd gone to the Assembly last night without her. When she'd plead fatigue, he'd insisted she stay home, but then he'd gone anyway. Ostensibly in case Wesley needed assistance watching over Cynthia, but Eleanor couldn't help but worry about the other ladies that were there. Granted, she hadn't seen any at the previous Assembly they'd attended that she'd feel threatened by, but as the Season ended there would be more of the ton coming to Bath. What if just being tired, unable to attend the public events, gave another woman the opportunity to seduce Edwin? Part of her said she was just being silly, but another part of her was too terrified to take the risk yet.

So she was keeping the news to herself, which wasn’t unheard of. After all, she could be mistaken. And, in the meantime, she was cherishing every moment she had with him, searching for some kind of verification that he loved her the way she loved him. He seemed to, sometimes. But there was no proof, no certainty. The blasted man never said the damned words. Sometimes they almost slipped from her lips, but what if he didn’t say them back? She’d be devastated.

Eventually she would run out of time, but right now she just wanted to keep pushing it back and back…

Entering the drawing room, she saw Cynthia sitting on the couch looking rather out of her depth, while the Countess had the servants bringing in various color samples.