Page 71 of Inconvenient Honor
“Our word for Lily. One warning, my lord,” Sahin said. “Miss Thornton’s position here is at the will of my aunt. The Valide Sultan has conceded a deception that would reflect poorly on her if it were to be known.”
Richard shrugged.
“Take me seriously, please,” Sahin insisted. “Court the widow Thornton—as well you should—but do not demand the return of an unmarried Englishwoman. We will not allow it.” His implacable look gave teeth to what was without question a threat.
Richard leaned into his face. “Make no mistake. I’ll do whatever it takes to bring Lily home. She belongs with me.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
The bathhouse echoed with every move Lily took. The high ceilings and ornate tiled walls normally rang with the happy voices of women starting their day. Lily came late the day after her confrontation with Richard, late and without pleasure. She bathed alone with a single attendant seeing to her needs.
“Does the lady wish rosemary oil?” the little bath attendant asked in an effort to elicit a response from Lily when she rose from the warm water.
Lily shrugged. A sleepless night punctuated with bouts of tears left her wrung out. “Please, yes,” she murmured more out of concern for the girl than because she cared.
I deserved his anger,she repeated to herself for the hundredth time.
The attendant began helping her dress. This morning Lily didn’t notice the feeling of silk sliding on skin, the sensation she normally loved.
He ought to have raged at me, but he didn’t. Cool, calm, and in control. That’s the Marble Marquess.
Richards’s immovable self-control made her irrationally irritable. Just once I’d like to see him lose control. Just once. Lily hoped she wouldn’t be on the receiving end if that ever happened.
She thought of the look on his face when he recognized her pregnancy, the wonder in his eyes when he felt the baby move.Just because he stays in control doesn’t mean he doesn’t care.
The attendant bowed out. Lily, alone in the warmconfines of the bathhouse, lingered. Memories of Richard’s friends and family ran circuits in her mind as they had all night: Richard teasing with Chadbourn and Catherine, Richard’s affection for the Mallets in defiance of his parents, Richard minimizing his mother’s sharp unkindness to wallflowers at the ball. Above all, she kept coming back to Richard in the foyer of Aunt Marianne’s house, discreetly helping his friend Baron Ross financially.
He cares for them all. He takes care of those he loves; he?—
Grief stabbed Lily to the heart.I’ve been an idiot. He takes care of those he loves.She fought the storm of tears that threatened to overcome her and rose to leave.
She reached the anteroom by the outside door when a group of older women entered, the Valide Sultan and her closest attendants. Lily opened her mouth to give a proper greeting, but anguish froze it in her throat.
The Valide Sultan gestured the other women on and put out her arms to Lily. The attendants passed by with curious glances and respectful silence. Lily sank into the older woman’s arms and began to sob.
“One has worries for you, Zambak. Your tears in the night did not go unnoticed.”
“I’m sorry,” Lily sniffed, struggling for control. “I didn’t know anyone heard.”
“You should know by now most things come to my ears eventually.” The woman smiled down at her. “Better?”
Lily nodded.
“Most but not everything. Was that English lord unkind to you, Zambak? I would not have permitted the meeting if I thought you would be harmed.”
“No! He had reason to be angry with me, but he was not.” Tears threatened again. “He had a shock, seeing me like this and—” Lily swallowed hard, twice.
“I’ve been an idiot!” she exclaimed.
“Hardly that, Zambak, but perhaps you’ve behaved foolishly, no?” The older woman gently touched Lily’s belly.
“I told him I would not marry him. I rejected him in insulting terms.”
“You rejected this wealthy, powerful man’s offer of marriage?”
“Three times,” Lily mumbled.
“Foolish behavior indeed, almost as foolish as conceiving this child in the first place. It is his child?”
