The Convenient Bride (8 page)

Lucy didn’t seem to mind and as he spilled his seed into her, she clung to him, breathing just as heavily as he.

“Very well, you have sufficiently proven how wicked you can be,” she panted.

Her formal language made him chuckle and he kissed her softly.

“Let’s stay another week,” he implored. “I found us a house to rent in London before we left, so there is nothing to rush back for.” Besides, he liked having her all to himself. Well, he shared her with a few of the servants, like the steward and housekeeper but they didn’t seem to take up too much of her time. Back in London, he would have to share her with his mother, her friends and her orphanage. He was surprised that she hadn’t insisted on working in her family’s other orphanage while here, but so far she had remained with him and he wasn’t about to remind her.

“You’re the one who rented us a house for the rest of the
Season; I thought you’d be keen to get back.”

“Perhaps I was then but being here, I find it very… relaxing. Just one more week, Luce?” he gave her his best pleading look, the one that made him look like a sad puppy dog.

Lucy gave in gracefully, favouring him with a warm smile. “All right, one more week, then we really should go back. We will be the talk of London if we stay here for much longer.”

Truthfully, she liked being here with him too, where there weren’t any gentleman’s clubs, mistresses or card games to distra
ct him. Since virtually every local member of the ton was in London for the Season, there weren’t even any friends in the area who might drop in on them or be invited for dinner.

“Would that be so bad?” he asked.

“You may be used to being the subject of gossip but I value my reputation.” She tried not to sound bitter but couldn’t help it.

“We
are married
, Lucy, we aren’t doing anything wrong.”

“Maybe, but people will still gossip.”

“Then I suppose I had better make the most of you while I have you all to myself.”

He began lavishing attention on her neck but she
pushed him away and rolled them over until she was on top, placing her hand over his mouth.

“Oh no you don’t! You
may recover in minutes but I need a bit longer and after that little display earlier, you are forbidden to touch me again until at least this evening.” She smiled.

Max pretended to glare at her, and then he licked the hand which covered his mouth.

“Eww! You beastly man!” she cried, wiping her hand on the sheets as she scrambled off the bed.

“Oh
, you love me really,” he said, turning on his side and propping his head up on his hand to watch her (she was still naked, after all). He had used that turn of phrase many times in the past, so her reaction was rather unexpected.

Her light-hearted expression
turned serious and she nodded instead of answering. Then she looked uncomfortable.

“I’ll uh,
see you at breakfast,” she said before disappearing into her dressing room.

When the time did eventually come to
return to London and leave Steed Manor behind, neither Max nor Lucy seemed thrilled with the idea.

Max begged to stay a while longer but Lucy wouldn’t hear it. “Besides, we’ll be back here at the end of June, just six weeks away.”

Max had grumbled but given in gracefully.

They did stop at his family’s estate near Rochester,
for the articles that Lucy had spoken about and they ended up making love on her bed, before returning to the carriage.

After another six hour journey, t
hey were pleased to arrive to the new home in London and stretch their legs.

Max’s parents had seen to the hiring of staff and since they had
already been working here for a week before their masters returned, things were running very smoothly. His mother had also sent over most of their personal belongings, which were now neatly unpacked in two different rooms. Max had been hoping they could share a bedroom but he knew that for decency’s sake, they should have separate rooms. Still, he intended to always visit her room at night, so that she couldn’t run out on him like she had that night when they were younger.

Lucy hadn’t seen the house yet and
was keen to look around. It wasn’t to her exact tastes but it was a very nice home, and they had been looking for a house in the middle of the Season, so although beggars couldn’t be choosers, she might well have chosen this house herself.

Max trailed around behind her, eager to see her reaction but her expression was frustratingly neutral.

“Well?” he asked when they got to her room.

“I think it’s lovely,” she said, bestowing on
e of her radiant smiles upon him.

“Really?”

“Yes. I think you did very well to find us such a lovely house.”

“It’s owned by Lord Ambridge who doesn’t usually let it out, but he’s in
away in India for a while. His son is a friend and I knew you’d like it. He usually just takes rooms in Mivart's Hotel when in London, as a house like this is just too large for a single man, but he agreed to let us use it.”

Lucy came up to him and kissed him.

“I think it’s lovely.”

He kissed her back and
then they thoroughly tested the bed for sturdiness.

“I was thinking,” she said,
removing her head from his chest and propping it up with her chin on her hand as they lay enjoying the afterglow. “How would you like to redecorate my London home?”

“Me?” he sounded shocked.

“Well, both of us. I haven’t seen the London house for a while but I remember it being very dark and forbidding. There were a few things that I’d like to change in the estate house too, then we can turn them from houses into our homes.”

“So do I have a say in how we decorate both houses?
”

“Of course. Especially thing
s like the billiard room, which will essentially be your domain. Unless you want to remove any walls, then we should probably discuss it.”

“Just the wall to your room,” he teased. “Would that be
very hard to do?”

Lucy laughed, pleased that her dream had survived the return to London. “Well a door might be easier,” she suggested.

“Then I’ll install a door. That way the servants won’t be subjected to me creeping back to my room each morning, clad only in a nightshirt.”

Lucy felt more content that she could remember in a long time. It didn’t matter that Max only told her that he loved her in bed, or in jest. She didn’t mind that he
might have other women because he was always there for her.

“I think I'm with child,” she admitted.

“So soon!” He leaned up to kiss her but Lucy looked hesitant as he pulled away.

“I
may not be,” she cautioned. “I’m only a week late.”

“Any other signs?” His eyes slipped down to her stomach, despite it being far too early to be visible.

“Well I have felt the tiniest bit queasy at times over the last few days.”

“This is wonderful news.”

“Really?”

“You don’t think this is good?”

“Of course I do, but it is very soon. I worried that you might… well that you might feel a family so soon would… Oh, I don’t know what I mean.”

“You were worried that I might feel it
would affect my lifestyle.”

“I suppose.”

“Well, it’s my own fault, I suppose, I’m just too virile,” he joked.

Lucy relaxed a little, happy that he seemed pleased by the news.

“Yes, but I can see that we’re going to have to take some precautions unless we want a child every year,” she said.

“Is there something wrong with that?”

“I'm not a broodmare, Max,” she laughed.

“Well, at least we won’t have to worry for the next nine months,” he said, putting his hand on her stomach, then moving
it up to cup her breast.”

“Is that all you ever think about?”
she asked, though she clearly wasn’t averse to the idea.

“Well, not all, but certainly a lot.”

***

Lucy was
enjoying married life to a degree that she hadn’t expected. They had been back in London for a month now and Lucy was relishing every second of her time with Max.

He still went to his gentleman’s club but usually in the afternoon rather than at night
, and often only on the days when she was working at the orphanage. She didn’t know if he was still gambling but since most gambling took place in the evenings, she assumed not.

He had returned from the club smelling like that whore
’s perfume (lavender and musk) twice but the scent wasn’t nearly so strong as when he returned from his club before they had been married, so she assumed that while there had been contact between them, they hadn’t had sex. Certainly Max’s desire hadn’t cooled on those days, so she doubted that he was having affairs. 

She wasn’t really sure why he was being so attentive but she wasn’t about to complain.

And he had been so pleased when she told him she was pregnant that she almost couldn’t wait for the baby to come, to see how a child would fit into their marriage. She hoped it didn’t harm their relationship in any way.

Max was also showing great interest in her estate, having read all the articles she gave him and even writing to
Earl of Egremont to clarify a few points on selective breeding. As well as helping Lucy, he intended to try his hand at breeding horses, which she was thrilled about. It didn’t matter how his interest in estate management came about, as long as he was ready to run his father’s estate one day soon.

They had been to dinner with
his parents since returning and invited them around for a dinner party as well, but Lucy felt that Charles wasn’t looking at all well these days. He had claimed that he just had a bad cold but Lucy could see the signs of disease spreading through his body. He looked pale, had lost a little weight and generally seemed tired.

Lucy was the only one who knew the truth, that he
was suffering from consumption but he had sworn her to secrecy. She thought that Eleanor might suspect that something was wrong but that she was probably choosing not to see it, while Max was all but oblivious to his father’s illness. 

Lucy felt
that he needed to know that his father was sick but Charles wouldn’t hear of it. He couldn’t really explain why he didn’t want Max to know, other than that Max would tell his mother and he didn’t want to worry Eleanor.

Lucy only
discovered his illness because she had returned home early one day and encountered the doctor leaving, so having had her own suspicions about his health, had demanded answers from Charles. He had told her, under the strict instructions that she wasn’t ever to reveal any part of their conversation to anyone.

Worried for him, she had agreed at the time but now she was regretting her decision. Max had spent most of his childhood rebelling against his future and consequently, his father. But as much as he
disliked his father for, as he saw it, forcing responsibility on him, she knew that he would regret at least some of his actions if his father died. Max had said many cruel things to his father over the years and once his father was gone, there would be no going back, no chance to apologise, no reconciliation.

Losing her own parents had been hard enough and she had
a loving relationship with them; Max was likely to be completely devastated.

It was hard to see these days, but there was love there. Charles, for example, had never held his
son’s harsh words against him and when Lucy had first come to live with them, they had been closer, riding out together once a week when Max was home from school and discussing Max’s education over dinner in the evenings.

It was really only since Max had left university that things had become so fraught between them.

Now she felt that she had a duty to tell Max, before it was too late, although her promise to Charles pricked at her conscience, delaying her.

With all this in mind, when a messenger arrived wi
th a note, signed Charles Stark and asking her to come to an address immediately, she didn’t even question that his handwriting looked different. She told the children to complete the sums she had written on the blackboard, then she left the classroom and spoke to Matron, so that she knew that Lucy was leaving early, and headed in her carriage for the address on the note.

The strange request plagued her as they travelled. What was this address? Had Charles rented rooms where he might see the doctor without having to worry about Eleanor finding out? What was so urgent that he needed to see her now?

Not waiting for the driver to help her down, she jumped out of the carriage as soon as they got to the address and ran into the building. It was divided into a series of suites where people, usually single young men or less wealthy merchant families, could rent rooms while in London. Some rented rooms for their mistresses so that they were taken care of, as well as having the advantage of being a private place for assignations.