The Other Side - J. D. Robb [38]
“I know, but she told me recently that her pains have been so much worse since Cameron was born.”
“She told you that?”
“Yes, she told me.” Bettina tried for the curt tone her husband used so well.
It worked. Freeba nodded and even bobbed a curtsy.
“Bring the soother. I will stay with the countess.”
“You will?”
This time Bettina did not say a word, only looked at the maid with one raised brow. It was one of Harry’s most annoying tricks, fraught with disdain and annoyance.
Without a comment, Freeba hurried away, and Bettina returned to the bedside.
“You do that rather well,” Harry said with surprise. “Walk like a man, that is.”
“I have four older brothers.”
“Well, I have two sisters. What difference does that make?”
“As a child I followed them around as if they were gods and imitated them in everything.”
“Really? I didn’t know that, but that would explain why you are not at all missish, afraid of spiders and such.” He paused a moment and then added, “And why you are so tolerant of practical jokes.”
Bettina watched him grit his teeth, but he did not otherwise give in to the pain of the cramp.
“God, how I wish this was a joke or a bad dream I could wake up from. As it is, we must find a solution. And quickly.”
Freeba scratched at the door and handed her the soother.
“Go until I send for you.”
Freeba’s expression implied insult, but she nodded very slightly and left.
“Here, Harry, take this and lay it across your belly and lower. I find it very helpful.”
“What is it? It looks like a poor excuse for a pillow. One filled with very heavy feathers.”
“It’s a bag of soft wool filled with dried beans. You heat it inside a bed warmer and then lay it against what aches. Do you remember the time you wrenched your shoulder when you were thrown from your horse?”
Harry nodded, taking the bag from her hand. “Yes, I do. It worked wonders. Your mother invented it, did she not, and swears she could have made a fortune with it.”
Harry settled against the pillows and sighed with relief. He closed his eyes and yawned.
“Do not fall asleep.”
“I’m not!” he said, through another monster yawn.
Bettina began to pace the room, still unsettled at the thought of looking into her own face. “Let’s take a moment to reconstruct what happened last night. We may find a clue to reclaiming our own bodies.”
“Yes. All right,” Harry agreed. “It may be more simple than we think.”
Three
Bettina moved the chair and sat down again, doing her best to hide her anxiety. Harry thought this could be simple? Simple was the last word she would use. Insane. Impossible. Horrifying. The list of words only made her feel worse. What if this change was permanent? She would neither contemplate nor mention that possibility.
As usual, they sat in silence for a moment, for her part, trying to decide where it had begun. “We went to Ellsworth’s musicale.”
“Separately,” he added with censure.
“You could have waited for me. I was not being frivolous. The first dress I put on had a tear in the hem.”
She could see they were already poised on the downhill slide into their usual argument of who was at fault.
“I had to speak to Lord Osterman about my vote for his bill,” Harry explained, “and I knew he would leave early. He only attends those events to do Parliament’s business. His interest in music is nonexistent.”
Bettina was not going to start an argument by calling her husband a liar, yet she was almost certain Lord Osterman was not the only reason her husband had been in such a hurry.
“We should have left the musicale when he did,” Harry said. “That first performance was abominable. You would think the young man would be over his nerves by now.”
“He only missed one note.”
“Come now, his play was as tentative as a boy with his first whore.”
“Harry!”
“Oh, that’s right, I’m you now, aren’t I.” Harry raised a hand to pat her hair and spoke