to his beloved Fanny Brawne.
One afternoon, Helena awakened from a short nap to find Fitz, rather than Hastings, sitting by the bed, reading a business report of his own.
“David is at a meeting with his business managers,” he informed her before she could ask the question.
“Excellent,” she said, “so he does have something else to do. I was beginning to worry that I was his whole life.”
“You don’t seem worried,” Fitz replied wryly. “Indeed you seem greatly pleased that he has devoted so many hours to you.”
She grinned and chose not to directly address that comment. “I’m surprised to see you without your wife.”
“So am I, as a matter of fact. But she has a charity committee meeting to attend, and I thought I’d profit by calling on another one of my favorite women.”
He smiled, the corners of his eyes crinkling very slightly in the sunlight streaming in through the window. Fitz had always been a handsome young man, but she could see now that he was also going to be quite a handsome older man someday.
“I’ve been such trouble to you,” she said impulsively, feeling a rush of love for this dear brother.
“I’m torn between answers.” His expression turned mischievous. “Should I say, ‘Not at all’? or, ‘We are used to it’?”
She chortled. “Either way, you—and everyone else—have been too kind to me.”
Fitz set aside his report. “Including David?”
“Yes, including Lord Hastings.”
He leaned forward in his seat and regarded her for a moment. “You like him.”
She was not yet quite comfortable admitting to an outright attraction to her husband, but she was able to say, “I could do far worse waking up to a stranger as my husband—I am quite grateful to my own good taste.”
“Hmm,” said Fitz.
She raised a brow—how wonderful to be able to use every muscle of her face without fear of pain. “Now, what does that mean, sir?”
“It means, dear sister, that I’m glad to hear my friend spoken of so highly. He was devastated when you ejected the contents of your stomach upon being introduced to him.”
She grimaced. “That was a complete and utter coincidence. My stomach had been feeling unwell from the moment I opened my eyes. The nausea happened to build to a crescendo when Hastings was presented to me—nothing to do with him at all. Besides, I’ve since formed a favorable opinion of him.”
Fitz tented his hands under his chin. “So are you ready to decamp to his house and be his wife?”
“I can’t live under my brother’s roof forever when I am already a married woman. But as for becoming Hastings’s wife in truth—I’ll make him court me a little more. Mother always said, bless her memory, that a girl ought not to bestow her favors too easily or too quickly.”
She was half jesting, but Fitz’s brow furrowed. “You are not planning to flirt, then thwart him, are you, my dear?”
That was not an opinion she’d expected from her own dear brother. “You believe that’s what I will do?”
“The truth is, I haven’t the least idea what you will do.” Fitz sighed. “I only ask that you have a care with my friend, Helena. He is entirely besotted with you, and that puts him utterly in your power. Keep in mind that while he is perfectly capable of making fun of himself, he is far from thick-skinned. If anything, he is more sensitive than most.”
This surprised her—Hastings had seemed utterly fearless. “Is he?”
“Yes, very sensitive. And very proud.”
She was disconcerted to be reminded that she’d known her husband for only a few days, that her knowledge of him, however intimate to her own mind, was far from complete. “Thank you, Fitz. I will remember that. And…” She hesitated a second. “And his heart is safe with me.”
Fitz regarded her another long moment before he smiled again. “I’m glad to hear that. Shall I ring for some tea?”
On the last day of Helena’s convalescence, Hastings was obliged to travel to Oxford to attend the funeral of a classics professor under whom he’d studied and with whom he’d corresponded regularly in the years since.
He was jittery on the return trip—the last time he’d left her for an appreciable amount of time, she’d recovered a solid block of her memory. Walking into Fitz’s house filled him with both anticipation and unease.
The time had probably come to tell her the entire truth. Her life was no longer in danger; her mind was as robust as it had ever been; it would be a discourtesy