“He is getting the best medical attention here, by hisfamily. We’re keeping him clean. You risk opening his wounds and further infection by moving him. I won’t allow it.”
“You can take him to Gretna Green, but I can’t take him from this room?”
He tried to move around her.
She blocked him with her hands on her hips.
“That’s correct.”
Cassandra returned his glare with one of her own as he stepped forward.
“Stand aside.” Lord Bolderwood towered over her. “He isn’t your husband, Miss Cooper.”
“Notyet! Married or not, he’s stillmine.” She pointed to the door. “You can leave the way you entered, my lord. I trust you know the way.”
After a long stretch of silence, Lord Bolderwood took a step back and laughed, a deep booming sound. “No wonder he’s so besotted with you. If I had ten men with your pluck, the war would be over within a week.”
Cassandra considered whether this was a trick, and then the mansmiledat her. “You can lower your guard, Miss Cooper. I won’t take him from you. Your brother has been keeping me informed of his progress, but I wanted to see him with my own eyes. Does he wake?”
Cassandra sat on the sofa and sighed. “Yes, but he isn’t lucid when he does.”
Lord Bolderwood approached and gestured to the sofa. “May I?”
She nodded, and he sat beside her. Spine straight, shoulders set, he watched the rise and fall of Seth’s chest. In Lord Bolderwood’s eyes, she saw that same faraway look that Seth would get in the mornings,with the exact same shade of blue.
It was some time before he spoke.
“Not many remember, but I had a sister like you. Defiant. Intelligent in none of the ways that mattered. Too accepting of those below her station. Reckless with her affections.”
Cassandra scowled, but stopped as he continued, “Her name was Rebecca. I adored her. Almost thirty years ago she ran away with a blacksmith from Ringwood, and was never seen again.” His shoulders sagged and his brow lowered. “Years later, I was told she had died in childbirth, her lover had long since disappeared.”
Cassandra met his eyes then, to find them lost and swimming with grief.
“That blacksmith’s surname was…”
“Reeves,” Cassandra finished.
“It took years to find him.” He pulled a silver locket from his chest pocket and handed it to her. Inside was a miniature painting of a young woman with long black hair and an innocent smile. There was a familiar, mischievous twinkle in her piercing blue eyes.
“He looks like her.” Cassandra smiled and handed the locket back.
“By the time I found him, he was riddled with bad habits. He was rebellious, as she had been. He needed discipline.” He frowned. “Hollingsworth men have an obligation to make their mark on this world in service to others. As his wife, you’ll do well to keep that in mind.”
“He needs freedom,” Cassandra said. “He wasn’t meant to be caged in, my lord. It stifles him. I’ve known a different Seth than you have. It is cruel to clip his wings.”
“Freedom is a child’s dream, Miss Cooper. He needs to grow up. He’s lazy.”
“He is not lazy.” She laughed. “If you wanted to raise a hard worker, you overshot your mark, my lord. I’ve never seen a man pursue whathe wants as hard as Seth does.”
“If he’s properly motivated,” Lord Bolderwood said.
“Is that what I am to you? Proper motivation?”
“Balance,” he drew the word out. “Your father told me once that family is essential to a well rounded man, but the opposite side of that coin isduty,Miss Cooper. A mind like his is unique. It is selfish to the highest degree to allow it to rot in Lincolnshire.”
“He isn’t an asset, my lord. Is it not selfish what you have done? Training and treating him like a dog, breaking him to do your bidding?”
He narrowed his gaze. “If you knew the impact that his work could have on your country—for oursoldiers—you would not be so quick to judge my callousness.”