The Defiant Wife (The Three Mrs #2) - Jess Michaels Page 0,15

of a city. He stayed in London rather than retreating to his country estate during holidays, so the bright, cheerful chaos of Bath was appealing. Although the happy faces of those walking the streets, enjoying their holidays, were almost an insult to the weight he carried.

He frowned and glanced at the carriage. He could see Phillipa’s face in the window. She had pushed the curtain back and was staring intently at the scene around them. Her lips were pursed, her expression lined with concern. Then her gaze slid to him and her eyes widened a fraction. Her mouth parted. The curtain fell and she leaned away back into the carriage.

He frowned as he returned his attention to the road ahead of him. He deserved the distancing Phillipa had just done. It was exactly what he’d demanded by the lake after their kiss. It was what they both needed in order to move forward with the complicated lives stretched out before them.

But he didn’t like it.

They weaved their way out of the town proper and into the more sparsely populated areas on the fringes. At last the carriage turned down a short drive and finally stopped in front of a cottage pushed back from the road. A shrubbery-lined pathway led to the door, and as he slung himself off his horse, it opened.

Two people exited, and older man and woman, and in her arms was a chubby, smiling baby. This was his nephew, the child his brother had abandoned.

In that moment, as Rhys looked at the boy, something in him shifted. It was like the air had been yanked from his lungs and he couldn’t look away as the boy was brought closer. His heart raced, swelling with emotions he had never thought to have for a child.

In that moment, Rhys knew he would do everything in his power to make sure the boy never knew grief, never knew loneliness, never wanted for anything.

No matter the cost.

Chapter 5

Pippa nearly deposited herself on her backside, she exited the carriage so swiftly. But what did a lack of decorum matter when Kenley was right there, just a few feet away? She pushed forward, past Rhys who was standing stock still at the end of the path and raced toward him.

It had been weeks since she saw the baby, but his eyes lit up as she neared and he reached for her, chubby arms flexing as he gurgled his excitement.

She swept him from Mrs. Barton’s arms and cuddled him close, speaking nonsense to him as she drew in deep whiffs of his soft, baby scent. God, they could bottle it and she would make a mint.

“He’s so big!” she declared with a smile for Mr. and Mrs. Barton, for her butler was the husband of the housekeeper. Two kinder people she never could have met. “Good day to you both.”

They returned the greeting, though she was aware of how their gazes both shifted to the man behind her. Not that she could blame them. Lord Leighton was now their employer and they did not know him. They didn’t know they had nothing to fear.

“Lord Leighton, may I present Mr. and Mrs. Barton,” she said, turning toward Rhys. He was staring at Kenley, not the servants, and she could not read his expression. “My butler…though to be fair, Mr. Barton has always been far more than that. He is a man of all trades and I could not do without him. And Mrs. Barton, my housekeeper. They have very kindly watched your nephew during my absence.”

Rhys blinked, and it was as if he’d been brought back to reality. “Good day,” he mumbled. “Very pleased to make your acquaintance.”

“My lord,” Mr. Barton said, and Mrs. Barton curtseyed slightly as a greeting.

Which left only one final duty. She moved a little closer to Rhys and smiled, hoping she could encourage him when it came to the child. “And this is your nephew, my lord. Kenley Montgomery.”

Rhys’s hand flexed at his side and trembled as he gently reached toward Kenley. Kenley tracked it, but when Rhys was about to touch him, the baby cowered a little, putting his head into Pippa’s shoulder to look at his uncle shyly.

She laughed as she cuddled him a bit for comfort, but her smile fell as she saw Rhys’s forlorn expression. “He does not like me,” he said.

She shook her head. “He doesn’t know you. Most children are a bit shy of strangers, but I assure you that within the day he’ll