“Did I do something to make him think ill of me?” she asked.
Outside, Baxter handed a small carpetbag to a footman, who placed it securely on the luggage rack. Hugh strode through the chaos, giving them all instructions.
“Not that I know of,” Amelia said. “The dinner was a success, and he has been happier over the past month than I can recall him being.”
Christiana blushed a little, but the pleasure faded at the thought of the way Hugh had looked at her that morning.
Had her father’s death really changed so much?
Or perhaps her insistence on going had. He would never have chosen to. Did he resent her for wanting him with her?
“He’s going to Yorkshire for you,” Amelia said, knocking her elbow against Christiana’s arm. “For Hugh, that’s an act of love.”
“I asked him to.”
“He assumed he would be,” Amelia said. “Andthenasked if you wanted him to. I was there, remember? Believe me, that says volumes.”
What also said volumes was the way he wouldn’t look at her. The way he hadn’t kissed her.
The mask he wore so steadfastly on his face. All the progress they’d made, and it was as though they had gone back to the very beginning.
“He said he wanted to speak to me about something when we got back,” Christiana said, then she shook her head. Why was she confiding in Amelia, anyway? The girl had an agenda of her own; she would hardly be impartial. “Never mind. I’m sure everything is fine.”
“I can speak with him,” Amelia suggested. “There’s a good chance he’s just being a big, strong man who doesn’t realize he’s behaving like a—”
“No,” Christiana said hastily. “Really, there’s no need.”
“He’s my brother. And if he’s being a pig, I ought to speak to him about it.”
Christiana sighed, but all too soon, it was time to leave. Hugh clasped her hand, wearing his gloves once more, and she thought she saw a spark of earnestness in his eyes behind his mask. “Safe travels,” he told her, and she believed he meant it.
When this was over, she would get to the bottom of whatever this was.
There were eyes on them, which was why Christiana didn’t lean up for a kiss. That, and she wasn’t sure he would kiss her back. That would be a blow her heart would not be able to handle. And so she merely squeezed his fingers in silent thanks as he handed her into the carriage.
“See you soon,” she said to him, then leaned past him to Amelia. “I’ll be home soon. Goodbye!”
Home. The word had left her lips before she could stop it, and Hugh’s expression had gone blank as he stepped back. The coachman flicked his whip, and the horses lurched into motion. Christiana sat back in her seat, feeling as though she were leaving part of herself in the house that faded from view.
Strange, how she had never felt that way leaving her father’s home, no matter how much she’d thought she loved the old house.
“Well,” Baxter said comfortably, settling in the other seat with an air of finery. “Don’t look too concerned, Your Grace. I’m sure we’ll see your father soon.”
Christiana nodded, unable to find any words. Baxter meant well, but Christiana was on the receiving end of her father’s cruelty without the in-built love that came from sharing blood. Her father had engineered his life so that the only person who might mourn his passing was the person who had no choice about it; biology, not logic, dictated that part of her still cared for him.
And how she wished she didn’t.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Amelia wandered aboutthe empty house. Without Miss Byrd’s fussing, it seemed quieter than usual. Hugh didn’t often travel for business, which meant she felt the emptiness of his absence more acutely. Especially after having Christiana’s presence for two months now.
Had it only been two months? Amelia half felt as though she couldn’t remember a time when Christianahadn’tbeen a part of their life. All her scheming had paid off—Hugh had fallen in love, if romance books had anything to say on the matter. Amelia might not have fallen in love personally, but she knew what it looked like.
Hugh was, most definitely, infatuated. And Chris, too.
So why had he been so cold with her?
After all this, Amelia simply refused to stand by and let them throw away what was otherwise an extremely promising romance. Which meant she had to find the cause of the problem and eradicate it. Hugh hadn’t given her a chance to ask what the matter was before he’d left, so that left only one option.