His Lady Mistress

Elizabeth Rolls279A stifled sob decided him. If Verity needed to cry, this timeshe was not going to do it silently, without anyone to holdher and comfort her. He tapped lightly on the doorframe.‘I’m quite all right, Henny. And I ate my supper, thankyou. Please go to bed.’ Her voice was soft, controlled. Toosoft, too controlled.His heart tearing, he kept his own voice gentle. ‘I’m sureHenny will be pleased to hear that. May I come in?’ He sawher freeze. Saw the way her head lifted sharply. She turnedvery slowly.‘Why are you here?’‘For you.’‘For me? Why?’He nodded. ‘Because...I was an idiot last night. When Irealised what I’d done...why you came to me...and whenRichard told me...’ He went to her and knelt beside the chairreaching for her hands.She pulled them away. ‘No. It doesn’t matter.’ Then, warily,‘What did Richard tell you?’He lifted one small hand to his lips and brushed a kiss overit. ‘Amongst other things he told me that I am to be a father.Dearest, listen—’‘No! It’s all right, Max. Please. Don’t do this to yourself.I...I didn’t understand with Papa. I thought if I just lookedafter him, helped him, told him I loved him it would be allright. He’d get better, stop taking the laudanum. It never occurredto me that just seeing me was a nightmare for him.That he literally couldn’t bear the sight of me... that I wasthe problem...until it was too late.’Ignoring her efforts to stop him, Max grabbed her handsand gripped hard. ‘What the hell are you talking about?’‘Last night. I came to tell you—’He broke in. ‘I know why you came. It was this week thathe died, that he was buried. If I’d realised then—’She cut him off. ‘That wasn’t the reason, I came to tellyou about the baby, but then I thought you were upset about