Eleanor poured Lord Henry another cup of tea. With the continuing war, he seldom had time away from the Horse Guard to spare an hour for an old friend of his dear deceased wife, and she was enjoying catching up on news of Susana’s children. Eleanor often saw her goddaughter, Susan, now married to a naval officer, and with small children. But the boys had all followed their father’s footsteps and were overseas with the army, or their maternal grandfathers, into the navy. Harry and Alex, the soldiers, were on foreign soil fighting for King and country, and Jules, the youngest, was doing the same far away on the other side of the world with the navy.

Rick was Henry’s main concern today. Invalided home, he had undergone painful medical treatment to be able to walk again, and had recently left town, much to his father’s and sister’s dismay. “He is going to Portsmouth, where he thinks the naval doctors may be able to get him back to full health more quickly,” Lord Henry said. “I wish he hadn’t chosen to ride, Eleanor. He says he will stop early and often, but I worry. We thought we would lose him, you know.”

“Yes, Susan told me. She has been very anxious about him.”

Lord Henry sighed. “That is part of the problem. My dear daughter has been hovering over him constantly, and I believe he has run away from her care as much as to his naval doctors.”

“It is hard not to fuss when those you love are in pain,” Eleanor commented.

“I can only hope he finds what he needs, and not trouble,” the concerned father said.

***

Rick Redepenning finds trouble and what he needs in the form of his former admiral’s daughter, in Gingerbread Bride, now available as part of the anthology Holiday Escapes.