Free Realm 07 - A Touch of Honor by Regina Jeffers Page A

Sir,” she said with concern. “Have you not slept? You cannot serve your wife well if you permit illness to dog you too.”
    Surprisingly, John did not find the lady’s remarks offensive; it was strangely comforting to have someone take note of his appearance. “I have made a pallet upon the floor in the baroness’s quarters. I would prefer to tend Satiné personally. In sickness and in health…”
    “Yet, you did not expect to be called upon your vows so soon,” Miss Neville cautioned.
    “No,” he said with faultless courtesy. John shifted the child in his grasp. “However, I would like to think my wife would show a like devotion if the situation were reversed.” A hard knot formed in his stomach as quickly as the words left his lips. His mind screamed, If you were Henrí, perhaps. However, would Satiné come to your rescue? Somehow, he doubted it.
    Miss Neville scolded, “I insist, Baron, this evening you find your bed while I sit with the baroness. I will not have you both unwell.”
    John chuckled as he directed her steps away from the turning mast. The lady had paid no more attention to the change of the ship’s line than did he, and he suspected Miss Neville an experienced traveler. Only those familiar with the ways of sailing ships walked freely upon the deck. “Perhaps I might agree to your company while the baroness sleeps. Do you perchance play whist or chess? It would pass the time, and I think it acceptable with Satiné in the room.”
    “Even though the baroness rests heavily?” she asked skeptically.
    John admitted, “I had thought the idea of my wife’s companion assisting her would draw attention from the growing speculation on the nature of the baroness’s seasickness. During breakfast, several of our fellow travelers commented on Lady Swenton’s continued withdrawal.”
    The lady smiled up at him, and John felt an unfamiliar tug in his groin. “You, Sir, are dangerously devious. I shall not quickly forget the fact.”
    *
    “Your father was aboard the Tagus ?” John asked in disbelief. They had set up a chess set on a small table in the corner of his wife’s quarters. Earlier, John had rigged a rope across the space and had draped a blanket over it to block the light from invading the area where his wife rested.
    “Yes, but, in truth, I have been unable to discover any record of his actually boarding the ship. He was part of Giovanni Lusieri’s team,” she explained.
    John knew of the controversy in Parliament over the removal of antiquities from Athens and the surrounding area, but he did not know much of Lusieri. In England, Thomas Bruce, seventh Earl of Elgin, was the face of the debate on what was known as the Elgin marbles. “When we reach England, I will ask my friends, Sir Carter Lowery and Mr. Aristotle Pennington, to assist in your search. As part of the Home Office, they have numerous resources.”
    “And Sir Carter and Mr. Pennington would act upon your request?” the lady asked suspiciously.
    John smiled easily. “They are my dearest companions. Sir Carter and I served upon the Continent together, along with five others. You likely heard me speak to the baroness regarding those among my company. My wife’s sisters are married to two with whom I served: the Earl of Berwick and the Duke of Thornhill.”
    Miss Neville’s response was a befuddled shake of her head. “I understood you to possess no siblings, Baron. How came the heir to a barony to King George’s service?”
    A pang of ice pierced his heart: John had rarely spoken to anyone of his reasons for joining Wellington’s army; yet, he thought the woman who shared his wife’s cramped quarters trustworthy. It seemed a bit ironic he had not shared such intimacies with his baroness, but Isolde Neville made him feel “safe” with expressing his thoughts. It was odd, but John would not complain of the connection: Perhaps it was the idea after her services were no longer required, Miss Neville would disappear