Spring Fires (24 page)

Now the pleasant spring allureth,

And both place and time invites;

Out, alas! What heart endureth

To disclaim his sweet delights?

After death, when we are gone,

Joy and pleasure is there none.

THOMAS LODGE

(
1556
?-1625)

Chapter 21

April 27, 1793

Meagan leaned forward to look out the window of the post
chariot as it turned into the drive leading to the villa. Her smile was more than a little mischievous.

"I wonder how Lisette is faring, now that she no longer has her work to hide behind. Nicholai Beauvisage may be injured, but I'll wager that she's acutely aware of him as a man."

Lion laughed softly and shook his head. "You're a sly minx. Are you sure that you aren't going to all this bother so that Lisette will no longer be susceptible to
my
considerable charm?"

Turning on him, Meagan made a face and cuffed his arm. "I thought we agreed to forget my momentary derangement! Besides, I happen to like Lisette and I admire her..."

"But?"

"Well, she seems to have a tiny blind spot when it comes to men."

"And you are administering a cure?"

"In an indirect and subtle way," Meagan admitted frankly. "Love is difficult enough to discover and then keep... I can't see anything wrong with giving Lisette a tiny nudge in the right direction."

As the post chariot drew to a halt, Lion put a hand under his wife's chin and leaned over to kiss her. "You are enchanting," he said sincerely. Meagan's gown of gray satin was set off by a cherry red sash around its raised waistline. The ribbon encircling her neck and the fillet that wound through her glossy upswept curls were also of cherry red silk. She made a captivating picture as she stepped out of the carriage into the morning sunlight, while Lion went around to fetch a portable deer-hide trunk from the driver.

At that moment, the front door opened and Lisette came out to greet them. Since she had no other clothes, she continued to wear the breeches and shirt, but her hair and skin glowed from recent scrubbing.

"Good morning! So, you are off to Virginia!" Color crept into her cheeks. "I feel a bit strange, welcoming you in your own house. As a matter of fact, I feel a bit strange about a great many things!"

Meagan laughed as though it were all an amusing adventure. "You will adjust, and I'll wager that the change will do you good. Here you can sleep late and read and generally pursue some enjoyable diversions rather than working from dawn until midnight." She looked at Lion.

"Meagan is absolutely right, Lisette," he added hastily, stifling an urge to laugh at his wife's performance. "Think of it as a holiday."

Lisette raised an eyebrow, considering this, and Meagan asked, "But tell us—how is Nicholai? Are you managing all right? Has he been awake at all? Lucid?"

As they went into the entryway, Lisette replied, "He has made amazing progress. He has
definitely
been awake, and never more lucid." Her wry tone suggested that she was leaving much unsaid, but her further explanations divulged only that she had changed Nicholai's dressing, found the wound looking clean, and was able to persuade him to take more laudanum only after he was unable to sleep because of the pain. The medicine induced a deeper sleep than he liked, but she said that at least he seemed peaceful, his color improved.

"I hope you didn't deprive yourself of sleep because of us," scolded Meagan. "We could have tiptoed in and left your trunk, so quietly you would have never known!"

"Frankly, I
was
up most of the night," Lisette admitted. "It must have been three o'clock when Nicholai finally drifted off and I was able to retreat to my own bedchamber. However, my body didn't understand that it was on holiday, because I woke up at exactly the moment I always do, just before dawn." She laughed. "All morning, I felt odd... as if I'd forgotten something important. I'm learning that old routines are not easily abandoned!"

"Well, you needn't be concerned for the CoffeeHouse. Last evening, Lion and Alec rounded up three of our best servants to take over your duties. Bramble, our prize cook, is the most disciplined worker I know, so she will manage the kitchen in your place. Pierre, Alec's valet, will join your barman—"

"Stringfellow," Lisette supplied.

"A singular name! So, he and Pierre will take care of the liquor, repairs, and maintenance, all that sort of thing. Nicholai's mother has donated one of her prettiest serving girls to the cause—so you see, with the people you already had, this makes a fine staff!"

Lisette's smile was rather bleak. "I certainly appreciate the trouble you have taken. It's a relief to know that the CoffeeHouse will run smoothly in my absence."

"Mrs. Flowers packed your trunk," Lion told her. "I think she half-suspects that I have spirited you away into a den of sin. She asked questions the entire time I was there; her mouth never closed—she even followed me into the street when I left!"

Lisette laughed and felt herself relax as she watched Lion start up the stairs with the trunk.

"It is awfully generous of you to allow us to remain here in your absence," she said to Meagan, who was drifting across the parlor.

"On the contrary! We will be glad to think of the villa with friends inside. For years, no one lived here; I'll never forget the cobwebs and must, that sad emptiness that hung over this place the first time I saw it. I feel less torn about leaving since I know you and Nicholai will be here."

"But it will be only for a short while. Nicholai is strong and I'll wager he will be anxious to go home before a fortnight is out." She joined Meagan at the long window overlooking the garden. "By then, I am certain I will be impatient to resume my normal life...."

Meagan wanted to roll her eyes. "You never know... you might become spoiled and never want to go back!"

Lisette looked over at her for a moment, puzzled. "Spoiled or not, I will have to return to my real life. My time here is just an interlude... like Cinderella at the ball." She smiled. "Nicholai will recover and I will return to work if I want to go on eating, sleeping in a warm bed, and respecting myself."

Meagan bit her tongue. Now that this reluctant couple were alone together under one roof, it was up to them to find their own way.

Lisette took a breath as they heard Lion's footsteps on the stairs. "I have a question... do you know someone by the name of Gabrielle?"

Her brow puckered uncertainly. "Pardon?"

"Gabrielle. Does that name mean anything to you? Could it be someone in the Beauvisage family?"

"Why—not that I know of." Her husband came into the parlor and she greeted him with, "Do you know anyone named Gabrielle?"

"Hmmm..." He pondered for a moment. "No, I'm afraid not."

"Is it important, Lisette?"

"Oh, no." She felt her cheeks grow warm as they crossed the room to join Lion. "In fact, it probably doesn't mean a thing."

"Well, if there's nothing else, I suppose we should be on our way—" Meagan's voice trailed off. "Mr. Stringfellow assured Lion that he would bring a supply of food out to you, and between the doctor and Nicholai's relatives, I should think you will have no shortage of contacts with the outside world if there is anything you need."

Lion opened the front door and followed the women back into the sunlight. "We insist that you treat the villa as your home. There is a library for you to enjoy, and you and Nicholai are welcome to the wine and liquor you'll find in the cellarette."

Meagan chimed in to enumerate solutions to any problems that might arise.

"Please, you mustn't worry. I am very self-sufficient! The only thing on your minds should be the wonderful time you will have in Virginia."

Lion slanted an ironic look at Meagan. "My challenge in the weeks to come will be to keep my wife off of her equally incorrigible horse until the baby arrives!" Although he gazed heavenward, his eyes sparkled.

Joshua, their coachman, leaned down with a question then, and as Lion went up to confer with him, Lisette breathed, "I have never seen such love in a man's eyes! Not just love, but pure delight. You are a fortunate woman."

Meagan nodded, with a secret smile, then turned to look at Lion's splendid profile as he spoke to Joshua. "It is good that we are going to Virginia now. Lion needs to put some distance between himself and Marcus. There is more guilt and grief inside of him than even he realizes.
But
he will resolve his feelings, and I'll do my best to help him."

"The road is beckoning, my lusty vixen, and we must be off," called Lion. "Say your good-byes."

The two women hugged. "The next time I see the Hampshires, there will be three of you!" Lisette said, laughing.

After handing his wife into the carriage, Lion turned back to Lisette. "Take care, dear Mistress Hahn." He smiled, then looked her over and shook his head in mock despair. "I will see you in autumn... and in the meantime, I hope you'll allow yourself to have a bit of fun and... dare I say it?" He arched a wicked eyebrow and stage-whispered, "Love!"

With a last, fond wink, Lion climbed in beside Meagan and soon the post chariot rolled off toward the road to Gray's Ferry.

"Your eyes are full of mischief," he said to his wife. He stretched out handsome booted legs and loosened his cravat.

"Poor Lisette. She doesn't know what she is in for! When I last spoke to Caro and Katya, they were having a wonderful time plotting ways to awaken her feminine instincts."

He winced. "Please. I don't want to know. By the time Lisette receives the anonymous letter from my banker, she'll be the recipient of so much well-meaning meddling...."

"Lion, what you have done is not meddling!" Meagan settled herself into the crook of his arm. "That letter from your banker will simply give Lisette a
choice
in the direction she takes in her life. You were right—if Clarissa were here, older and wiser, she would be pleased to see her jewelry used for such a worthy purpose. It can't undo the trouble Marcus caused in Lisette's life, but it can give her something in return."

"Well, it seems perilously close to tampering with fate, but I couldn't have those jewels around... and it did seem a proper solution. Rather like Marcus being brought to justice from the grave." He sighed. "And now, if you don't mind, I would like to leave Lisette and Nicholai and Marcus and Clarissa and the Senate behind. Let's spend this journey talking, playing, and—"

"Yes." She reclined in her husband's arms and looked down at the precious gold ring studded with tiny rubies that had been recovered from Clarissa's jewels. The rubies had been removed from the band but were discovered in a tiny bag of their own, and Lion had the ring reset as a surprise for Meagan. "The 'and,' especially."

Lion bent his head to kiss her, sending currents between their bodies that made him think these kisses, forged out of years of struggling love, surpassed those they had shared in the first burst of their passion.

She moaned, "You are cruel to do this when we are only minutes from the ferry." For a moment, as his mouth scorched her throat and the curve of one shoulder, she couldn't breathe.

"Certainly no woman could claim a crueler husband."

"Do you think—oh, don't!—that, since we have conquered the first real crisis of our marriage, now we shall live happily ever after?"

His head rose. "God, I hope not. What a boring prospect!" As he regarded Meagan's winsome countenance, he refrained from kissing her only long enough to add, "I offer Will Shakespeare's opinion as my last word: 'Ay me! For aught that I could ever read, Could ever hear by tale or history, The course of true love never did run smooth....' "

Chapter 22

April 27, 1793

The aroma of succulent chicken, simmering in a pot over the
fire with a crowd of spring vegetables and herbs, made Lisette's mouth water. She hummed no particular tune as she finished cleaning the sawbuck table. Everything seemed perfect; Nicholai would soon be waking up, the soup smelled wonderful, and she was excessively pleased with her own appearance. She had been a bit surprised to discover that Hyla had packed the lovely yellow frock for the Hampshires to bring, particularly since the older woman opposed any romance between Lisette and Nicholai. It would have made more sense if the deer-hide trunk had contained shapeless rags.