Captain Hardy had clearly been saving this for last.
Perhaps he hadn’t meant to say it at all. But hewas accustomed to winning and he knew how to do it.
Delilah and Angelique froze.
They were both careful not to look at each other. But the news was frustrating and infuriating.
It certainly answered the question regarding why Captain Hardy and Lord Bolt had suddenly appeared in the little reception room uninvited.
But Mr. Pike, their footman, was meant to report tothem. He ought to have brought his concern straight up the stairs to the little sitting room.
Granted, he might have been worried about being stampeded by Dot.
It was one more controversy in a week characterized by them.
“Are you questioning our judgment?” Delilah asked evenly.
“Yes,” Captain Hardy said, with infuriating patience. As if this should have been self-evident.
A fraught, taut little silence ensued.
“So you and Bolt are saying our new footman has better judgment than either I or Angelique do.”
Delilah said this deceptively pleasantly. As if giving him one final opportunity to scramble to take it back.
Angelique drew in a surreptitious breath. Very few people ever guessed that Delilah, who was almost unfailingly kind, gentle, sensible, and good-humored, possessed a temper. Angelique knew it.
So did Captain Hardy. He’d once—it seemedso long ago now—been coolly evicted from The Grand Palace on the Thames at Delilah’s behest. And at the time, he’d deserved it.
Lord Bolt’s eyes widened in a warning to Captain Hardy.
He was no fool, Captain Hardy. Damned if he replied, damned if he didn’t, and he knew it.
He chose wisely.
He took a half step toward his wife. “Delilah...” He’d lowered his voice.
Everything he knew and felt about her was in the way he said her name. Unshakeable love, humor, a peace and passion and understanding neither had dreamed they would know in this lifetime.
But it was shot through with an ache, and something like an exasperated plea.
They seldom argued. They were both soreasonable. They both had muscular senses of fairness and a healthy respect for rules.
He was a private man. There was more he wanted to say, and he was telling her he would not say it in front of Angelique or Bolt, as much as he liked them.
And just like that, she wanted to protect him from making himself vulnerable. She couldn’t help it.
But Delilah was suddenly unnervingly certain she would never again win an argument if he was really determined to win. He was a man for whom ruthless vanquishing of foes had been a way of life.
“Tristan...” she said hurriedly. “I know whatyou’re about to say. Iknowin the past I’ve erred on the side of giving someone—well, two someones—the benefit of the doubt and it turned out rather badly. It was how we met, in fact. But I am not as naive about people as I once was, in large part thanks to you. And I so want it to be true that Daphne is happy and safe. And... and... loved.”
Her voice dropped on the potent little word.
No one spoke. Tension and unspoken things held all of them fast.
A long, four-way stare concluded when Captain Hardy’s head fell back on a sigh.
Then he swiped his hands down his face in frustration.