Bridal Favors - Engaged in Wickedness (18 page)

Robert already had the bottle of brandy in hand when there was yet another knock on the library door. It was barely three in the afternoon, but after a morning such as today, brandy was the only choice to combat the headache growing behind his right eye.

"My lord?" asked Dribbs as he pushed open the library door unbidden.

"No, Dribbs," Robert said quite firmly.

"Well, yes, my lord. There is a visitor."

"No, Dribbs, there is not."

"But she is most insistent."

"No, Dribbs, she is not. Because there is not a visitor to see me." To further make the point, he dispensed with the swirling and airing of the alcohol and took a healthy swig straight from the bottle. It was almost gone anyway.

"Well, yes, my lord, there is."

"No, Dribbs, there cannot be. My father has already been here today, so he cannot have purchased another mine or an interest in a gold venture in Antarctica or discovered the secret to stuffing genies into bottles to grant his every whim."

"No, sir, it is not the earl."

Robert exhaled in relief. "Thank God—"

"It is a woman."

"No, Dribbs, it most certainly cannot be a woman. Because, you see, I have already spoken with Gwen about her upcoming nuptials just this morning. My mother is in bed where she always is at this hour. And as for all those future in-law women who have let the house next door, I have just this moment escaped from the upstairs salon where the baroness and her sister were rearranging Mama's figurines. They were arguing about whether sunlight was bad for a porcelain shepherdess. Porcelain, Dribbs. Why would anyone ever be concerned about a porcelain complexion? Especially since the damned thing has a bonnet!"

Robert forced himself to take another swig of brandy. When had his life become so dashed ridiculous?

"Very true, my lord. Most odd. But the woman who wishes to see you is not destined to be your relation."

"Thank heaven." He dropped down behind his desk, pushed aside the mountain of papers to set the bottle down, then looked up in confusion when Dribbs had still not disappeared. "You can go now."

"Well, no, sir, I cannot."

"Of course you can. Just step backward and shut the door."

"Well, yes, I could do that, my lord, but if I were to do such a thing, you would damn me for it in a day's time. Perhaps even sooner."

"Perhaps. But at least you wouldn't be damned right now."

"Excellent point, my lord. But you see, the lady in question is a Mrs. Mortimer. And she has a trifling matter for you to deal with."

Robert snorted. In his opinion, all female matters were trifling. But that didn't stop them from plaguing him with their nonsense day and night. Still, something about the name tickled the back of his brain. He knew that name, but from where?

"She is the dressmaker for your sister's wedding," supplied the butler.

Ah! There it was! Gwen had been waxing eloquent on the lady's dressmaking skill just this morning. The woman had done this and that, tucked something in or let something out. And then Gwen had blushed a deep pink. That was what stuck in Robert's mind: that his sister had blushed a deep, embarrassed pink. Because the dress made her look more attractive. In a sexual kind of way. And dashed if that was something he absolutely did
not
want to know about his sister.

He took another swig from the brandy bottle, only to discover that it was empty.

"I shall find you another bottle directly, my lord."

"Good man."

"But first you must speak with Mrs. Mortimer."

"No, Dribbs. I must not."

"But if you don't, she will inevitably tell your sister that she was denied your presence. And then your sister will commence quietly sobbing in her bedroom because this wedding is already more than she expected and you will of course hear her or notice her red eyes. And then you will find out the reason for her tears and be furious with yourself for being such a callous brother. And then, my lord, you will instruct me most specifically to not allow you to say no to visitors anymore."

"I would never say such a thing!" he said indignantly.

"You did say such a thing just last week when your mother was distraught over a lost delivery of perfumes."

"I most certainly..." His voice trailed away. Damnation. He most certainly had. "Bloody hell."

"It is a trifling matter, my lord. Best deal with it now and be done. Then no more tears, and you can have your brandy straight away after it is finished."

Robert released a heavy sigh. "Damnation, Dribbs, I don't know whether to sack you or double your pay."

"Double my pay, sir. Indeed I believe you promised me that last week."

"I most certainly did not!
That
I would remember."

Dribbs paused a rather telling moment. Then he tilted his head. "Are you sure, my lord? Are you absolutely sure you would remember?"

"Yes. I most certainly am."

Dribbs released a dramatic sigh. "Yes, I am afraid you would." Then the man straightened to his full height, stepped backward into the hallway, and pulled the library door wide. "Mrs. Mortimer to see you, my lord. She will not take more than ten minutes of your time."

That last was added with a stern look to the lady in question. The lady of course nodded sweetly in acknowledgment, but Robert saw the martial gleam in her eyes. He also saw her full cleavage, her sweetly rounded hips, and the dark red lips of a woman who obviously wanted to be kissed.

Good Lord, what had he just been thinking? She was a dressmaker, for God's sake. Who would want to kiss a dressmaker? That would be like fondling the bootblack. True, it was often done, but not by him! And yet here he was thinking of just where he would fondle her.

"My lord?"

Robert came back to himself with a start. "I beg your pardon?"

"No, I beg your pardon," she said. "You sounded as if you were choking."

"No. No. Just... um... mourning the loss of the brandy. Empty bottle, you know." He lifted the bottle and shook it about as proof. Then he sheepishly set it back down again. Really, what was he doing? One did not discuss empty brandy bottles with servants. Unless it was the servant's job, which it was definitely not for her. Damnation, he was addled! "I believe you wanted something?"

"Yes, my lord. I am afraid I require payment."

"You're afraid of payment? Well, if that's a problem for you, you needn't bother visiting."

She paused a moment, her brows lifting in surprise. Then a glimmer of a smile skated across her lips. "Er, no, my lord. I apologize deeply. I misspoke. I have no fear at all in me, and thus I am here at your door asking for payment. Now, if you please."

He sighed. Dribbs was right. Best to be done with it. The thing was, what with his father's recent investment whims and his sister's trousseau, he was rather tight on ready cash. The repairs and like at the mine alone had depleted the earldom to the point where they all must economize. Add in a bride's trousseau, and he had no idea where the funds would come from.

"Really, Mrs. Mortimer, there is a process for this. I have a man who brings the bills directly to me. You need not come visiting—"

"I have already spoken to Mr. Starkweather. He said I should speak directly to you."

He frowned. "The devil you say. Can't imagine Starkweather doing such a thing. He is usually most officious about his place. Likes to keep the riffraff away from me, he says. Good man, that Starkweather." Robert smiled at the empty brandy bottle and wondered when ten minutes would expire. Soon, he hoped. Though he did like the view of Mrs. Mortimer's bosom, especially when seen through the exaggerating distortion of his empty brandy glass.

Then he had cause to look up from this glass. Was the woman blushing? Enough that her cleavage had turned a rosy pink? Why, she most certainly was! Extraordinary. Especially since with her figure she must be used to being ogled, and not just through a brandy glass.

He frowned. Obviously, he was missing something significant, but for the life of him he couldn't quite grasp what. He set his glass down, pulled in his feet so that he sat straight in his chair despite the way that made his temple throb, and forced himself to be serious.

"I have had a most trying morning, Mrs. Mortimer. Please tell me why I should talk with you and not with Mr. Starkweather?"

"Because I am not riffraff, my lord, and never have been." Her voice was clipped and cold despite the blush that still pinked her skin.

He blinked. Had he said that? Oh, yes, he supposed he had implied it at the very least. And yet, some devil in him could not resist tweaking her.

"Ah, well, you certainly don't appear to be riffraff, Mrs. Mortimer, but you are a bill collector attempting to circumvent my man Starkweather. At a minimum, that suggests you are Riff, if not exactly Raff."

Far from deepening her blush, it actually caused her color to cool and her eyebrows to arch. "I can see you have a love of the ridiculous, my lord."

"Well, I certainly love my family, and if that is not a love of the ridiculous, then I don't know what is."

She had no answer to that. Good thing, because he really ought not to say this sort of thing to a stranger, servant or not.

He relaxed backward in his seat, trying to decide exactly what he should do with the lady. Any other day, he would have already paid her just to be rid of her. But he found himself smiling at her in an absent sort of way. She was lovely to look at, and she sat there all prim while he spouted all manner of nonsense. It was really quite fun. Until she spoke, her voice low, her manner almost soothing unless one actually listened to her words.

"Do you know how humiliating it is to come begging for honest payment, my lord? To stand hat in hand before some clerk on a high stool who curls his lip at one merely because one's birth is not as exalted as yours?"

He blinked, startled by what she said. "Starkweather does not sit on a high stool." Then he frowned. That was not at all what he meant. As far as he knew, Starkweather was a fair and honest man, but of course, he did not know that for certain. Neither did he know if the man ever curled his lip at honest tradesmen. All he knew was that the man sat at a desk like a normal person. And so that was what blathered out of his mouth.

Naturally, she took his statement as the stupidity it was. "I was speaking metaphorically, my lord."

"Were you?" he wondered aloud. "Nevertheless, it's not quite the thing to accuse a man of being high in the instep if he was not actually on a high stool. Makes me wonder if you were speaking of Starkweather at all."

Ah, he had her there! He could tell by the way her gaze canted aside and the color in her bosom flushed again. Most beautiful, he decided. And rather distracting. Thankfully, he was spared more of this odd discussion by a firm knock on the door. He didn't even need to say a word because he knew who it was. Ten minutes was up and Dribbs was pushing open the door.

"My apologies for the interruption, my lord," said Dribbs with a faint smile. "But your next visitor has arrived." He lifted the bottle of brandy into the air.

"Excellent," Robert said with a grin. "I am sorry, Mrs. Mortimer, but I am afraid I leave all matters of bill payment to Mr. Starkweather."

The lady pushed to her feet, but not to leave the room. Instead, she stepped forward to confront him across his desk. "No, my lord, you shall not. Do you think I cannot see the bottle of brandy in his hand?"

Robert raised his eyebrows in surprise. Her back was to the door, so how could she see anything that was in Dribbs's hand?

She snorted. "The reflection, my lord." She waved airily at the polished black marble of his fireplace. From her angle, it would provide the perfect reflection of Dribbs.

"Ah. Most clever of you."

"I am not clever, my lord. Just stubborn. It will take the work of a moment for you to write me a bank draft. I insist you do so. Unless you wish it to be known that the Viscount Redhill does not pay his debts."

Now that was a serious allegation. "You would not say such a thing, Mrs. Mortimer, because I would have you ruined in a heartbeat. I pay my bills."

"Then pay this one." She stepped forward and slapped a paper down on his desk. It was a bill, neatly itemized and tabulated in a fair hand.

He picked it up with a frown, perusing the list to the best of his ability. It was his sister's trousseau, he supposed. Dresses, ribbons, underclothing, and the like. He even doubled-checked the math on the list and found it to be accurate. But such a total! The sum was exorbitant!

"This cannot be right," he murmured.

"I assure you it is. Would you care to summon your sister to verify it?"

God, no. He had no wish to engage Gwen in yet
another
discussion of clothing. And from the look of triumph in her eyes, she knew it. What was more, she chose that moment to shift into a beautiful smile. It was warm and winning, and it transformed her face from merely lovely to one of sweet seduction.

"Come now, my lord. Merely write the draft and then I shall personally pour you that glass of brandy. Mr. Dribbs's arm must be getting very tired holding that heavy bottle aloft."