The Lady In Question (25 page)

“I should think so. One has to draw limits somewhere.”

“Limits, my dear Lord St. Stephens — Tony — have no place on a list of grand adventures.” She thought for a moment, then grinned. “For example, I should very much like to stand on the top of the world and see the sun rise or set or anything at all. Touch the stars, perhaps. Improbable if not impossible, but a desire nonetheless.”

“So.” He caught her arm and pulled her close against him. “Now that you’ve compiled your list of adventures —”

“Grand adventures, if you please.”

“What precisely makes an adventure grand as opposed to ordinary?”

“I can’t imagine any true adventure being ordinary. As for what makes it grand, I’m not entirely sure, but I’m certain I shall recognize it when it happens. I suppose never having done something before would make it grand.” She considered him thoughtfully. “You do realize this is no more than a cursory list? I’m confident I can add many more adventures.”

“Where does sharing my bed now fall?” He smiled down at her. “Have I moved up the list or have I been crowded completely off it?”

“That’s difficult to say,” she teased, and slipped her arms around his neck. “If I tell you you have moved to the top, that confident nature of yours will only make you more arrogant. Besides, you might think me too willing, and I daresay men do not value what comes too easily.”

“In this case, such a man would be a fool.”

“Yet, if I tell you you have fallen below a ride on a camel, you might be quite disappointed.”

“I am disappointed every moment you are not in my arms.” He kissed her again with a fierceness that took her breath away, then reluctantly released her.

“I should not want you to be disappointed,” she murmured. He had the most devastating effect on her ability to breathe. “Fourth,” she said abruptly.

“Fourth?” His brows pulled together in confusion.

“On my list.” She grinned. “You’re number four.”

“Four? I see.” He nodded thoughtfully. “That’s manageable.”

“What do you mean?”

“I should be going,” he said firmly.

“Going? Now? Before…” She stared in disbelief. “Now I am disappointed. You cannot kiss me like that and then bid me a good night.”

“Believe me, it is as difficult for me as for you. However” — he grinned — “it will strengthen your character.”

“But we have not yet had…”
A glorious passionate encounter beneath the bedcovers.
“Dinner. Yes, of course, we have not yet had dinner. You were invited for dinner.” She didn’t want him to leave. Not now, not yet. Not ever.

“I find my appetite for” — he cleared his throat —
“dinner
has vanished. And I have plans to make.”

“What kind of plans?” She studied him warily.

“Plans for grand adventures.” He grabbed her hand and pulled it to his lips. “Part of the fun of adventure is the surprise inherent in it. I should not like to spoil it for you.”

“I daresay you couldn’t.” Her gaze met his and the look in his dark eyes promised far more adventures than any mere list could provide.

“In three days — no, four — in four days I shall return and —”

“Four days?” She grabbed his jacket and glared. “Four full days? Are you insane?”

He smiled weakly. “Probably.”

“Four days? It sounds more like a lifetime.”

“Delia.” He wrapped his arms around her and drew her close against him. “Your life has changed a great deal this past year. Whether you realize it or not, your desire for grand adventure, your intention to do precisely as you wish and the consequences be damned, could cause you irreparable harm.”

“I don’t care about my reputation or scandal or —”

“I care. I don’t want you to blithely throw away what cannot be recovered. Beyond that…” His gaze searched hers. “Damnation, Delia, I want you more than I have ever wanted a woman before, and leaving you now, at this moment, is one of the most difficult things I have ever done. But I feel it is the right thing to do.”

“You could be wrong,” she said hopefully.

“I’m not.” He shook his head. “I don’t want you to regret anything that passes between us. You did not know your husband well when you married him. I want you to know me before you decide if you will marry me. I want you to be certain you want to spend the rest of your days with me, and I warn you, I plan on that being a very long time.”

“Oh, my.” She swallowed hard. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Bid me a good evening.” He kissed the tip of her nose, then turned and started for the door.

“Sleep well,” she said without so much as a modicum of sincerity.

“I doubt that’s even remotely possible.” He reached the door, then turned back to her. “I want to share your bed, Delia, but more, I want to share your adventures and your life.”

He cast her a wicked grin. “And in four days I intend to do just that.”

Chapter 14

Dearest Cassie,

I am in desperate need of your help. You must come to see me as soon as possible.
Please do not delay. Time is of the essence…

“This is all you wanted?” Cassie stared at her in disbelief. “Good Lord, I thought at the very least your life was in jeopardy.”

“It is,” Delia said firmly. “Well, perhaps not my life, but definitely my future.”

Delia glanced around the large bedroom that had once been Charles’s but was now hers. The windows were bare, as was the bed. All the draperies and linens she had ripped off had been removed while she was away by her new, and quite efficient, staff. Only a feather mattress lay on the bed. She noticed there was a tear in its side — more a cut, really — and wondered that she hadn’t noticed it before. It was of no significance; the mattress had no doubt caught on something.

“We have to do something about this room and we have three days in which to accomplish it.”

Cassie crossed her arms over her chest. “Why?”

“This was Charles’s room and I am not entirely comfortable sleeping in here. But it’s the largest bedchamber and it’s my house now and my room and I need it to be mine.” Indeed, even though she’d made the decision to make this room her own, she actually hadn’t done so yet. The thought of sleeping in the bed she had so briefly shared with Charles was disquieting and she couldn’t quite bring herself to do it.

“That makes a certain amount of sense, I suppose.” Cassie studied her warily. “But why three days?”

“It seems like a good idea to simply get it over with.” Even to her own ears, Delia’s explanation sounded feeble.

Cassie narrowed her eyes and Delia breathed a sigh of resignation.

“Very well, in four days Tony — er, Lord St. Stephens —”

“Tony?” Cassie’s brow raised with her voice. “You’re calling him
Tony
now?”

“It seemed appropriate,” Delia said under her breath.

Cassie stared and Delia resisted the urge to squirm under her scrutiny. After a moment, her sister’s eyes widened and she sucked in a sharp breath. “Philadelphia Effington!”

“Lady Wilmont,” Delia said quickly. “For whom the rules of behavior are entirely different.”

Cassie ignored her. “This man, this
Tony,
he’s your first…your next—”

“My next what?” Delia narrowed her eyes. “I would choose my words carefully, if I were you.”

“Well, I am not you, although you have certainly been me.” Cassie gasped. “He doesn’t still think you

’re me, does he?”

“No, of course not.” Delia scoffed indignantly. “I would never risk your reputation.”

“Forgive me, I lost my head for a moment. It was probably that incident when you kissed in the window at a party that made me forget how wonderfully cognizant of my reputation you are.”

“You needn’t be sarcastic.”

“I daresay, dear sister, sarcastic is the very least I should be.” Cassie paused dramatically and glared.

“Victim!”

Delia drew her brows together. “What?”

“Victim.
That’s the word I was going to use. St. Stephens is your first
victim
on your path to experience.”

“I’d scarcely call him a victim.” Delia couldn’t resist a satisfied grin. “And if so, he’s a most willing victim.”

“Delia!”

“Don’t sound so shocked.”

“I’m not shocked,” Cassie snapped. “Well,” she sighed, “I suppose I am a bit. I know you said you wished to become a woman of experience, but I didn’t realize you meant immediately. With the first gentleman who came along.”

“I didn’t realize it either, and I certainly didn’t plan it. It all just happened. Mother would call it fate.”

“Mother would call this all sorts of things, but I doubt fate would be among them,” Cassie muttered.

“Probably not, but with Mother one can never be sure. Why, if she believes fate is involved she might not even be shocked.”

Cassie snorted.

“Admittedly that is unlikely.” Delia cast her sister an apologetic glance. “I do understand your reactions. I would probably be shocked too if our positions were reversed.”

“Yes, but you’ve always expected behavior like this from me, even if undeserved.”

“I know it’s terribly unfair.” Delia hooked her arm through her sister’s and led her to the center of the room. “But, as there is nothing we can do about that, let’s discuss what to do in here.”

Cassie surveyed the room. “I’m not entirely sure how one decorates for seduction.”

“You’re not decorating for seduction,” Delia said firmly. “You’re decorating for me. Seduction is secondary.”

“Then you are planning on seducing him. Here.” Cassie wrinkled her nose. “With my help.”

“Oh, I scarcely think I shall need your help.” Delia grinned.

Cassie ignored her. “Unless, of course, you already have.”

“Don’t be absurd.” Delia shrugged off the comment. “I barely know the man.”

“That scarcely —”

“I know, I know. But I shall not make that mistake again.” She smiled at the memory. “He will not let me.”

“Really?” Skepticism colored Cassie’s face. “How lucky that your first victim is such a paragon.”

“Perhaps he is,” Delia said smugly. “Perhaps he’s perfect.”

“A perfect man?” Cassie scoffed. “There is no such thing.”

“Perhaps. But he is quite wonderful.”

“But you know nothing about him.”

“I know enough. Father says Uncle Philip speaks well of him, and he is the duke, after all, and can be trusted. In addition, Tony did insist on meeting the family. All very good signs as to his character.”

“I suppose.” Cassie stepped to the bed, sat down and changed the subject. “So, do you want to change the furniture, then? Replace it with something less threatening, I presume?”

“It is rather threatening, isn’t it?” It was dark and masculine and harkened back to the days of the Tudors.

“It’s very valuable, though.” Cassie nodded toward the bed posts. “The carving on the posts is quite intricate.”

“Charles had excellent taste.”

“And extremely comfortable as well.” Cassie patted the bed beside her. Delia hesitated, then drew a deep breath and settled on the bed beside her sister.

“Rather a shame to get rid of it.” Cassie plopped back on the bed. “I daresay it’s seen a lot of history.”

“I suppose.” Delia followed her sister’s lead and laid back, to stare upward at the coffered ceiling. “I just prefer not to relive
my
history in it, thank you.”

It was really rather nice to lay here side by side with Cassie, staring up at nothing and talking, just as they had done in their youth. They’d spent long hours discussing their lives and their hopes and dreams, what might or might not happen to them in the future. It struck Delia that they had come full circle.

“Can you imagine the sheer number of seductions that have taken place in this bed through the last three hundred years or so?” Cassie said thoughtfully.

“Innocents ruined. Virgins deflowered,” Delia added. “Marriages consummated, that sort of thing.”

“I’m rather surprised it’s in such good shape. It’s an amazingly sturdy bed.”

“I don’t really plan on seducing him, you know,” Delia said idly.

“No?”

“Not at all.” Delia grinned up at the ceiling. “I plan on allowing him to seduce me.”

There was a second of shocked silence, then Cassie’s laugh rang out in the room. Delia joined her, and they filled the next few minutes with the kind of easy laughter they hadn’t shared in quite some time. The kind of laughter one could only share with someone who knew you as well as you knew yourself. It had been a very long time since they had been together like this. Delia had so missed her twin.

“Delia.” Cassie rolled over on her side, propped herself up on her elbow and studied her sister.

“What was it like? Being seduced?”

“Cassie!” Delia covered her face with her hands. “You can’t ask me that.”

“Of course I can, and I really want to know. I think I should be prepared.”

“Prepared for what?” Delia peeked at her from between her fingers. “You’re not planning anything rash, are you?”

“Not at the moment, but one never knows.” Cassie shrugged. “I am as old as you, and while I would dearly love to be married, there is no one of interest in sight. Do you realize, after your marriage, all those terribly dull men you were not interested in turned their attentions to me?”

Delia laughed and rolled to face her, propping her head in her hand, in mirror image of her sister’s position. “I am truly sorry.”

“As well you should be.” Cassie sniffed indignantly. “The very least you can do is tell me what I am missing.”

“It was exciting and a bit strange, really, but nice. It’s very…” Delia groped for the right words.

“Odd,
I suppose is the only word I can think of, to be intimate with a man. But it was…pleasant.”

“You told me it had a great deal of potential.”

“I’m not sure I can explain that either.” Delia plucked absently at the feather mattress. “With Charles, I always knew it was more the desire for excitement than anything else that drew me to his bed. Oh, certainly I liked him, a great deal, really, but I never thought I would actually marry him.” She glanced at her sister. “That’s terribly scandalous, isn’t it?”