Free A Scandalous Marriage by Cathy Maxwell Page B

feels good. It helps. Thank you.” After a few minutes, she relaxed.
    Old Edith stood. “Well, it seems as if you might have an idea about how to go along after all, my fine lord. I’m going for a spell of fresh air. I’ll be back in a moment.” She left them alone, slipping outside to see to her private needs.
    “This is my fault,” Devon whispered to Leah. “All my fault.”
    “I shouldn’t have run away,” she answered in a voice slowed by fatigue.
    “I surprised you. You weren’t expecting to see me here.”
    She shook her head. “No, I didn’t mean today. I meant in the beginning. From London.”
    Devon went still. “So your parents don’t know you are here?”
    “No one knows. I left by myself.”
    “Why, Leah? Why did you run away?”
    She lifted her lashes, and her eyes flashed with irony and her old spirit. “Isn’t it obvious?”
    Why could she not have turned to the man who had done this? He didn’t ask the question that burned in his mind. Now was not the time. Instead he said, “You could have come to me.”
    “I didn’t think you would want me.” Another spasm gripped her body.
    Not want her ? He’d begged her to leave with him.
    She squeezed his hand as she rode the pain. He brushed his lips across her forehead, wishing he could bear the pain for her. He’d never felt so helpless in his life.
    Outside, the gathering storm began. Drops of ice hit the window, softly at first, and then harder. Old Edith burst through the front door and slammed it shut. “I made it just in time.” She hobbled into the bedroom. “How are you doing, lass? Do you feel the baby?”
    “Just pain,” Leah answered.
    “Any movement?”
    Leah shook her head, too tired to answer.
    The midwife rested her hand on Leah’s belly, her gaze focused on the far wall, her mind working. At last she said, “I must check the babe. I’ll have to ask you to leave the room, my lord.”

    Leah’s hands tightened their hold on his arm. “No, please let him stay.”
    “This is no place for a man,” Old Edith said decisively, “excepting, of course, the father of this bairn.”
    “I’m not leaving,” Devon replied.
    Old Edith’s sharp eyes met his. “So are you saying you are the father?”
    “Yes,” he answered. After all, what difference did it make? He’d already said as much to the Pitneys to scare off the lovesick Adam.
    Leah made a sound of protest, but Devon silenced her. “Leave it be. Think about the baby. There will be time for explanations later.”
    Old Edith performed her examination with quick efficiency. Devon didn’t watch. Instead, he cooed to Leah, knowing this was hard for her.
    The midwife folded the sheet back down and stood up.
    “Is my baby all right?” Leah asked drowsily.
    “Oh, yes, he’s going to do fine,” Old Edith assured her, but her eyes and nose had turned suspiciously red. She walked into the next room.
    “Let me get you some water to drink,” Devon said. Leah nodded, and he followed Old Edith, dropping the curtain behind him as he left. Cornering the midwife by the fire, he demanded quietly, “What is happening?”
    She refused to look at him as she poured hot water into a cup to brew tea. She replaced the kettle before answering, “I don’t know. Sometimes things don’t go easily for a first babe.” She shrugged, her casual gesture belied by her need to swipe a tear from her cheek.
    A beat passed, then Devon confessed, “She fell.”
    Old Edith considered this information. “Well, that could be the problem. She might have torn something inside. Or it could be something else.”
    Anger surged inside him, causing him to lash out, “Don’t you know anything?”
    “Aye! I know that girl can die in there and the babe with her,” she whispered furiously. “Even if I knew why her pain isn’t regular, I don’t know there would be anything I could do to help her.” She turned away.
    Rex had lost his wife during the birth of his last son. Her death had barely