He tugged at his cravat. Maybe he could get out of this jaunt with Francesca. Maybe he could go home and draw a cold bath. Or better yet, find himself a willing woman with long chestnut hair. And if he was lucky, blue eyes as well.
“I’m sorry about that,” John said, once Francesca had left.
Michael’s eyes flew to his face. Surely John would never mention Francesca’s innuendo.
“Her nagging,” John added. “You’re young enough. You don’t need to be married yet.”
“You’re younger than I,” Michael said, mostly to be contrary.
“Yes, but I met Francesca.” John shrugged helplessly, as if that ought to be explanation enough. And of course it was.
“I don’t mind her nagging,” Michael said.
“Of course you do. I can see it in your eyes.”
And that was the problem. John could see it in his eyes. There was no one in the world who knew him better. If something was bothering him, John would always be able to tell. The miracle was that John didn’t realize why Michael was distressed.
“I will tell her to leave you alone,” John said, “although you should know that she only nags because she loves you.”
Michael managed a tight smile. He certainly couldn’t manage words.
“Thank you for taking her for a walk,” John said, standing up. “She’s been a bit peckish all day, with the rain. Said she’s been feeling uncommonly closed in.”
“When is your appointment?” Michael asked.
“Nine o’clock,” John replied as they walked out into the hall. “I’m meeting Lord Liverpool.”
“Parliamentary business?”
John nodded. He took his position in the House of Lords very seriously. Michael had often wondered if he’d have approached the duty with as much gravity, had he been born a lord.
Probably not. But then again, it didn’t much matter, did it?
Michael watched as John rubbed his left temple. “Are you all right?” he asked. “You look a little…” He didn’t finish the sentence, since he wasn’t quite certain how John looked. Not right. That was all he knew.
And he knew John. Inside and out. Probably better than Francesca did.
“Devil of a headache,” John muttered. “I’ve had it all day.”
“Do you want me to call for some laudanum?”
John shook his head. “Hate the stuff. It makes my mind fuzzy, and I need my wits about me for the meeting with Liverpool.”
Michael nodded. “You look pale,” he said. Why, he didn’t know. It wasn’t as if it was going to change John’s mind about the laudanum.
“Do I?” John asked, wincing as he pressed his fingers harder into the skin of his temple. “I think I’ll lie down, if you don’t mind. I don’t need to leave for an hour.”
“Right,” Michael murmured. “Do you want me to have someone wake you?”
John shook his head. “I’ll ask my valet myself.”
Just then, Francesca descended the stairs, wrapped in a long velvet cloak of midnight blue. “Good evening, gentlemen,” she said, clearly basking in the undivided male attention. But as she reached the bottom, she frowned. “Is something wrong, darling?” she asked John.
“Just a headache,” John said. “It’s nothing.”
“You should lie down,” she said.
John managed a smile. “I’d just finished telling Michael that I was planning to do that very thing. I’ll have Simons wake me in time for my meeting.”
“With Lord Liverpool?” Francesca queried.
“Yes. At nine.”
“Is it about the Six Acts?”
John nodded. “Yes, and the return to the gold standard. I told you about it at breakfast, if you recall.”
“Make sure you—” She stopped, smiling as she shook her head. “Well, you know how I feel.”
John smiled, then leaned down and dropped a tender kiss on her lips. “I always know how you feel, darling.”
Michael pretended to look the other way.
“Not always,” she said, her voice warm and teasing.
“Always when it matters,” John said.
“Well, that is true,” she admitted. “So much for my attempts to be a lady of mystery.”
He kissed her again. “I prefer you as an open book, myself.”
Michael cleared his throat. This shouldn’t be so difficult; it wasn’t as if John and Francesca were acting any differently than was normal. They were, as so much of society had commented, like two peas in a pod, marvelously in accord, and splendidly in love.
“It’s growing late,” Francesca said. “I should go if I want that spot of fresh air.”
John nodded, closing his eyes for a moment.
“Are you sure you’re well?”
“I’m fine,” he said. “Just a headache.”
Francesca looped her hand into the crook of Michael’s elbow. “Be sure to take some laudanum when you return from your meeting,” she said over her shoulder, once they’d reached the door, “since I know you won’t do it now.”
John nodded, his expression weary, then headed up the stairs.
“Poor John,” Francesca said, stepping outside into the brisk night air. She took a deep inhale, then let out a sigh. “I detest headaches. They always seem to lay me especially low.”
“Never get them myself,” Michael admitted, leading her down the steps to the pavement.
“Really?” She looked up at him, one corner of her mouth quirking in that achingly familiar way. “Lucky you.”
It almost made Michael laugh. Here he was, strolling through the night with the woman he loved.
Lucky him.
Chapter 2
…and if it were as bad as that, I suspect you would not tell me. As for the women, do at least try to make sure they are clean and free of disease. Beyond that, do what you must to make your time bearable. And please, try not to get yourself killed. At the risk of sounding maudlin, I don’t know what I would do without you.
—from the Earl of Kilmartin to his cousin Michael Stirling, sent in care of the 52nd Foot Guards during the Napoleonic Wars
For all his faults—and Francesca was willing to allow that Michael Stirling had many—he really was the dearest man.
He was a horrible flirt （she’d seen him in action, and even she had to admit that otherwise intelligent women lost all measure of sense when he chose to be charming）， and he certainly didn’t approach his life with the gravity that she and John would have liked him to, but even with all that, she couldn’t help but love him.
He was the best friend John had ever had—until he’d married her, of course—and over the last two years, he’d become her close confidant as well.
It was a funny thing, that. Who would have thought she’d have counted a man as one of her closest friends? She was not uncomfortable around men; four brothers tended to wring the delicacy out of even the most feminine of creatures. But she was not like her sisters. Daphne and Eloise—and Hyacinth, too, she supposed, although she was still a bit young to know for sure—were so open and sunny. They were the sorts of females who excelled at hunting and shooting—the kinds of pursuits that tended to get them labeled as “jolly good sports.” Men always felt comfortable in their presence, and the feeling was, Francesca had observed, entirely mutual.