Frowning, he moved to the chair Richard had just vacated and settled into it, his mind going back over his childhood and his parent’s interactions. What he recalled were a lot of fights and yelling, usually every time his mother came back from visiting one or another of their boarders or had tea with a friend. Which was almost daily. He recalled his father shouting accusations and his mother responding with frustration and despair. He hadn’t understood at the time, but supposed now that his father had been accusing her of meeting a lover or being unfaithful. And since Robert had usually been with her on those visits and knew she hadn’t been . . . well, all those battles had been for naught. They’d been nothing more than paranoia and false accusations against a woman who hadn’t deserved them.

It must have been unbearable for her, Robert thought with a frown. How had he never seen this before? Somehow as a young man he had ended up taking his father’s side in everything, sure he was right and she was nothing more than a faithless whore. And, yes, in the end she had turned to another man. But was it possible his father had driven her into the arms and succor of another man with years of what really amounted to abuse? To give her credit, the only affair Robert was even sure his mother ever had was the one with Gower and that had not started until his parents had begun to live apart.

This was casting an entirely new light on his parents . . . not to mention his beliefs in the supposed curse on the Langley men. It was possible it was nothing more than a case of believing it would happen bringing it about. Had Lisa consented to marry him, would he have driven her to leave him and take up with another for comfort?

“Jesus,” he muttered.

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen

“You are sure Robert is not up yet?” Lisa asked Bet for the third time as the maid finished with her hair.

“Aye. Handers said Lord Langley was up pacing in the office most of the night, and Lord Radnor said to let him sleep. He’s sleeping.”

Lisa nodded on a relieved sigh. “And Richard is gone already.”

“Aye. He was up with the dawn and gone,” Bet repeated, also for the third time.

Lisa nodded again, but this time with a grimace. She had hoped to talk to him about hiring a guard today so that Robert could leave. But there was nothing she could do about that now if Richard was gone. Still, she wasn’t going to sit about here for Robert to lure her into bed again.