The Heiress Bride - Catherine Coulter [106]
Colin looked at his wife then, saw her pallor, and frowned. He strode to her, leaned down, and lightly pressed his palm to her forehead. “No fever, thank God. How are you? Why are you downstairs? Philpot was more concerned about telling me that you’d been tottering about than he was about our visitors. Welcome, ladies. Now, Joan, what the devil are you doing downstairs?”
“I was growing mold in bed,” she said, and raised her hand to touch his jaw, the cleft in his chin. “I couldn’t bear it any longer. Please, I’m fine, Colin. These are my sisters-in-law. You know Alex already. This is Sophie, Ryder’s wife.”
Colin was charming but cautious. “Ladies, a pleasure. Where are your husbands?” he asked as soon as could be, still standing, still wary.
“They’ll be coming,” Sinjun said. “But it will take a while, I hope, because Alex and Sophie are smart.”
“Smarter than you were, I trust,” he said. He turned to the ladies. “We arrived in my house in Edinburgh to find Douglas and Ryder already in residence, waiting to kill me. It was my manservant’s blunderbuss that saved us.”
“And put a big black hole in the drawing room ceiling.”
“That was a sight,” Colin said. “Actually, it still is. I haven’t yet had it repaired.”
Alex looked very interested. “Odd that Douglas didn’t mention that. He did mention your house in Edinburgh, Colin, but no talk of violence. What was the other time they attacked you? He said nothing about another time, either.”
Colin flushed, Alex was sure of it. Her curiosity rose to unprecedented heights. She happened to look at Sinjun and saw that she was utterly crimson, all the way to her hairline.
Sinjun said quickly, “Colin, they got together and came to me because of the Virgin Bride.”
“Isn’t that the ghost at Northcliffe Hall you were telling the children about?”
“Children?” Alex said blankly.
Colin flushed again as he was lifting a cup of tea. He moved about in his seat. “Yes,” he said, “children.”
“I have two wonderful children,” Sinjun said smoothly. “Philip and Dahling. They are six and four, and delightful little heathens, just like all our others. I told Colin all about Ryder’s Beloved Ones.”
“You didn’t mention the children in your letters, Sinjun,” Sophie said, her voice reproachful.
“Well, no. You see—” She stalled. “Colin, the Virgin Bride came to Alex and told her I was ill. So she and Sophie came as quickly as they could get away, because they were worried about me.”
“It was more than that,” Alex said, allowing herself to be sidestepped. Another mystery. It was fascinating. “She also said you were in trouble.”
“Oh dear,” Sinjun said, and looked at her husband, who appeared sincerely puzzled. Douglas would have been sneering and carping on about idiot nonsense. Ryder would have been laughing his head off.
“There is no trouble,” Colin said. ‘Well, maybe a bit, but nothing I can’t handle. What the devil is going on here? I want the truth now, all of it.”
“We have come for a visit,” Alex said, giving him a fat smile. “A simple visit, that’s all. We will oversee things until Sinjun is well enough to take over again. Isn’t that right, Sophie?”
“Exactly,” Sophie agreed, nodding as complacently as a maiden aunt as she ate her second scone. “We both have different household talents, you see, Colin, thus the both of us are necessary so that all may continue to run smoothly. Delicious tea, Sinjun.”
Colin looked at her, one dark brow arched up a good inch. “Indeed,” he said. “Joan is blessed in her relatives.”
“Joan?” Sophie said, frowning. “Wherever did you get that, Colin?”
“I prefer it to her man’s nickname.”
“Oh. But—”
“It doesn’t matter, Sophie,” Sinjun said, adding quickly, ‘Thank you both for coming. I’m so glad you did.” She added, without thinking, “It’s been rather harrowing.”
“What do you mean?” Sophie asked, licking a dollop of sweet raspberry jam from her finger.