Catching Captain Nash (Dashing Widows #6)(33)

“Mrs. Nash...” Ballard, the butler, began. Then for the first time since she’d started coming here, Morwenna saw the real man overwhelm the perfect servant. He staggered back and went as white as new milk. “Mr. Robert...”

“Ballard, are you still here?” Robert moved forward to shake the man’s hand. “I thought you must have long since retired.”

At least he made some attempt to sound happy. To Morwenna’s ears, it wasn’t convincing, but the old man was in such a state, he probably wouldn’t pick up the false note.

“Mr. Robert, in all my days...” The butler’s eyes were bright with tears as he wrung Robert’s hand. Morwenna saw the footmen behind him exchange puzzled glances. They must be new since Robert’s day.

“It was a sorry, sorry occasion when we heard you’d been lost at sea. Mrs. Ballard cried her eyes out. It took me a year to believe it. I kept expecting you to turn up at the door, bright and cheeky like you always did after some piece of mischief on the estate.”

“And so I have.” Robert clapped the man on the back.

“Aye, aye, you have at that. Well, bless my soul. Will you come down to the kitchen and see Mrs. Ballard? When the news came, she took on like it was one of our own gone missing.”

“Of course I will. But first we’re here to see Kerenza,” Robert said gently.

Morwenna saw how this show of sentiment wore at him—he’d come a long way in two days, but his captivity laid a heavy burden on his soul. She couldn’t help but be glad that they’d escaped London, where reunions were likely to come thick and fast.

She stepped up and placed her hand on Robert’s arm. As expected, his frightening tension hadn’t eased. “Ballard, where is Miss Kerenza?”

The butler released Robert at last, and she admired the way her husband hid his relief to save the old man’s feelings. Ballard turned away and fished out a handkerchief to blow his nose, while the footmen struggled to stay expressionless. “I’ll...I’ll send for her, Mrs. Nash.”

Morwenna shook her head. “It might be better if we go to her. Are the children having supper in the nursery?”

“Because the day is so fine, Miss Carroll let them play an extra hour in the garden.”

Morwenna nodded. “In that case, we’ll find her there. Could you please have my room made up and let Mrs. Ballard know that we’ll be in for dinner?”

Under her instructions, Ballard straightened and became again the perfect butler, although a brightness in his eyes betrayed lingering emotion. “Very good, madam.”

Morwenna took Robert’s arm and led him through the hall and down a corridor to the morning room. He accompanied her with a docility that worried her. His eyes were glazed, and that telltale muscle pulsed in his scarred cheek.

“Do you want to stop and look around the house first?” she murmured. This was where he’d grown up. Seeing it again when he must so often have despaired of returning alive surely tested him.

He shook his head. “No.”

She firmed her grip on his arm. “We could leave seeing Kerenza until tomorrow, if you don’t feel up to it.”

“I’m up to it.” The look he sent her was fierce, like a caged eagle. “This is just a house, however many memories it holds. I’ve been without my daughter for five years. I won’t wait another day to see her.”

“Very well.” Morwenna was surprised that despite his obvious tension, he got so many words out. The night he arrived, he wouldn’t have managed. “I’m sorry if you think I’m fussing.”

His glance was sharp. “You make a very good mother hen.”

She bit back a retort and opened the French doors onto the terrace. She’d been so worried about Robert and Kerenza that she hadn’t paid any attention to the day. But Ballard was right. Yesterday’s rain had moved on. It was a glorious autumn afternoon, and long rays of golden light turned the gardens to enchantment.

Silently, striving to communicate her love through touch, she brought Robert through the formal gardens to the pretty little pavilion overlooking the rose beds. At this time of year, they were well past their best, but a few brave blooms clung to the bushes.

As if waking from a dream, Robert looked around in surprise. “This isn’t where the children usually play.”

Morwenna gestured for him to sit. “No. But I think it’s best if I fetch her, so you don’t have an audience.”

“You’re concerned about her reaction?”

Actually she was worried about both her husband and her daughter, but she wasn’t prepared to admit it. Long term, she hoped that Kerenza and Robert would build understanding and affection. After all, they were so heartbreakingly alike. But at this first meeting, with Kerenza caught unawares and probably overtired after a day with her cousins, and Robert strung so tight, he threatened to snap, she was worried sick.

“I think she’s going to be overwhelmed.” That was true. “So meeting you somewhere quiet is the best choice.”

“You know her, after all.”

She shouldn’t read that as an accusation. They were both on edge. “Trust me to handle this, Robert. You’ve loomed large in her life, even in your absence. We all talked about you so much that you’ve become like someone out of a story.”