The Sherbrooke Bride (11 page)

She nearly knocked him over with the force of her blow. He stopped choking, however. Still red-faced, Ryder looked up at the young lady and quickly got to his feet. He studied her in silence for several moments, then nodded slowly.

He took her hand and kissed the wrist. “I'm Ryder, your brother-in-law. You're Alexandra.”

“Yes. Are you all right?”

“You nearly sent my back through my chest, but yes, I am quite fine now. The bit of scone found its proper way down. Welcome to the Sherbrooke family. Did you really knock Douglas off his horse?”

Alex shook her head even as she said, “I didn't really mean to do it at the time.”

“Ha! I recall making an observation about
something quite bland and you coshed me onto the ground!”

“She is quite large and brawny, isn't she?” Ryder said. He lightly closed his fingers around her upper arm. “Ah, strong as an Amazon and as muscled as Squire Maynard's bull. She is terrifying, Douglas, she certainly is.”

“You weren't at all bland,” Alexandra said to Douglas.

“Neither am I,” Melissande said.

Tony laughed. “No one in his right mind would ever call you bland, sweetheart.”

“Would you call me succulent?”

Tony's face tightened ever so slightly. “I would but no one else would dare to.”

“Ah,” Melissande said and gave Tony a look so provocative it would sizzle any male's toes.

Douglas stared at her.

Ryder said to Alexandra, his voice easy, and oddly gentle, “Won't you sit down and join us?”

“I shall join you too,” Melissande announced. She eyed her sister with grave perplexity. This was beyond strange, she thought, staring at Ryder, who was looking closely at Alex. Mirrors didn't lie. Perhaps poor Ryder was excessively myopic as she'd first thought. She turned back to her husband, saw that mocking gleam in his dark eyes, frowned, then turned to Douglas. Her soul found instant balm. His heart was in his eyes and both looked wonderfully bruised to her.

She gave him a sweet smile and nodded. “Please forgive me if I caused you discomfort last night.”

Douglas shook his head.

“Come and serve me tea, Mellie,” Tony said.

“I told you I don't like that horrible name!”

Douglas's right eye twitched.

“Come, Mellie,” Tony said again.

“It's a lovely nickname,” Ryder said, eyeing the heart-stopping creature, who looked ready to spit at her husband of two weeks. When she didn't react, he stoked the fire a bit. “I rather like the feel of ‘Mellie.' It sounds rather mussed, comfortable, like a pair of old house slippers a man can slip his feet into and point them toward the fire.”

Alexandra laughed. “ 'Tis better than Alex. I would rather sound comfortable than like I was a man.”

“No one would ever make that mistake,” Ryder said.

Both Douglas and Melissande frowned together.

“Your gown is deplorable,” Douglas said to his wife. “It is so out of fashion I doubt it was ever in fashion at all.”

Her chin went up and the broom handle straightened alarmingly up her back. “It is blue, and blue is a very nice color.”

“You look like a schoolgirl.”

“Then perhaps you would like to buy me a new one? Or perhaps a dozen? Is my tone wheedling enough, my lord?”

Douglas realized this wasn't the time to show his ill-humor. He drew himself in and sought control, a commodity of which he'd been plentifully endowed until but twenty-four hours before. The chit had stripped it off him. He felt raw and exposed.

He picked up a scone and bit into it.

“Did you ride Fanny?” Ryder asked.

“Yes, she is a wonderful mare. However, I am uncertain if His Lordship is convinced that I ride well enough.”

“You did fall,” Melissande said. “That wasn't well done of you, Alex.”

To Douglas's surprise, Alexandra said only, her voice quite apologetic, “It was unfortunate but I shall be far more careful in the future.”

Douglas wondered if there would be a future. He had to get out of here and do some serious thinking. Annulment seemed the best answer. It seemed the only logical thing to do. He looked over at Alexandra. She was looking directly at him and he saw such wariness in her eyes that he winced. And there was fear also. Fear of him? Because of what she'd done to him, doubtless. The twit should be afraid of him, curse her.

Douglas rose quickly and nodded to the assembled company. “I have work to do with Danvers. The mail is doubtless here by now.”

He left. As he closed the door behind him, he heard Ryder's laughter.

The mail, however, didn't cheer him at all.

 

It rained in the early afternoon, a light soft drizzle that soon cleared away, leaving a very blue sky and very fresh air. Alexandra found Ryder Sherbrooke in the overrun garden at the west of the house, leaning against an oak tree, staring at nothing in particular, seemingly content to bask under the warm sun that filtered through the branches.

“Ryder?”

“Ah, my little sister. Am I an accident or did you search me out on purpose?”

She'd never met his like before, but oddly enough, she trusted him. “I asked Hollis where you were. He always knows everyone's whereabouts.”

“True. Come sit here next to this fat nymph.
What do you think of all these statues? Brought by my grandfather from Florence during his Bacchanal phase, so wrote one of his friends, Lord Whitehaven, an old roué who bounced me on his knee.”

“I've never seen them before,” Alex said, staring at the line of naked females, each in a startling pose. “This is my first visit to the gardens.”

“In the depths of the gardens are all the naked male statues and the assorted couples. Grandfather evidently had some qualms about childish eyes and curiosity. The statues are nicely hidden. Do you like Northcliffe?”

“I don't know.”

“Why do you bind your breasts?”

Alex nearly swallowed her tongue. She stared at him, mute as a snail.

“Sorry. I didn't mean to offend you. I am known for speaking my mind, what there is of it.”

“How did you know?”

“I know women. There is nothing a woman can do that would fool me. The fairer sex is really rather obvious. Take your lovely sister, for example. Melissande will learn that life has a way of dishing out prunes along with the strawberries. She will play her games with Tony and he will allow them and doubtless enjoy them, within reason, of course. Already he controls her well despite his besottedness with her.”

“You don't like ladies?”

Ryder gave her a surprised look. “Good Lord, I couldn't live without them. I doubt there is anything else in life to compare to the pleasure a man derives from a woman's body.”

Alex gasped, she couldn't help it.

“Sorry, I did it again, didn't I? You're young, Alexandra, but you're not fluff. You've got steel in you and I dare say you will have to use it, very soon. Now, what do you want of me?”

“I came to ask you if you believed Douglas would annul our marriage and how I can make Douglas wait and just give me a chance before he does it.”

“Ah, I thought that was the direction of his thoughts.” Ryder looked at her closely. “I will tell you what I think, since you ask me. Douglas is very likely seriously considering an annulment. He has been clipped hard in the chin, so to speak. He is angry, feels betrayed, and wants to strike out. He is also stubborn and hard and untractable. After seeing your sister today, after seeing Douglas seeing your sister, I believe time is short. If you want to keep him for your husband, I suggest that you climb into his bed and seduce him. Continue until you're with child. Then there will be no question of annulment.”

Alex stood very slowly, staring in mute fascination at her brother-in-law.

“I doubt Douglas has had a woman for a good while now. It's likely he will be amenable to your approach. Do it, Alex. Patience isn't a virtue in this case. Don't be Penelope.”

Her hands were shaking. She thrust them into the folds of her gown. “I don't know anything about seduction.”

Ryder laughed. “All females are born knowing about seduction, my dear. Just take off your clothes in front of him. An excellent start. You do understand about sex, don't you? About conception?”

There came a shout. It was Douglas. “Ryder! Come here, now!”

“Ah, the lord and master wishes my presence. He probably wants to send me back to London.” He paused, looking down at his new sister-in-law. “I think you're a good sort, Alex. Now isn't the time to be patient with Douglas; you must act quickly. Also, if you're wise, you'll insist that Tony and Melissande remain here for a while. Comparisons are wonderfully enlightening sometimes, and my brother isn't stupid. Seduce him tonight; don't think about it, just do it. A man's brain can be diverted.” Ryder wasn't so certain about Douglas's brain, but he didn't wish to discourage Alex.

Ryder left her then to stare after him in bemusement and to bemoan the poor condition of the garden and of her marriage. Her fingers itched to dig in the rich black soil. Why were the gardens so neglected? Rosebushes begged for pruning. She realized with a small smile that Douglas needed pruning too.

At dinner that evening, Douglas announced, “There was a letter from our plantation manager in Jamaica. There is trouble at Kimberly Hall. Ryder will leave on the morrow to deal with it.”

“What sort of trouble?” Alexandra asked.

“Grayson wrote of strange doings, of black magic and visions from hell itself, murders and the like, of slave uprisings. You undoubtedly get the idea.”

“Grayson excels in exaggeration,” Ryder said. “If a fly flew past his head, he would call it a gigantic wasp and claim it was bedeviling him. This talk of perversions sounds interesting, but knowing Grayson, it involves nothing more than two noisy cats.”

“Ah, but he is a good man and an excellent manager,” Douglas said.

Ryder thought about his children and frowned. He'd dealt with all that needed to be done in his absence, but still, he would miss the little devils. He said aloud, realizing he'd been silent overlong, “I'll leave for Southampton early tomorrow. Thus tonight is my last chance to ingratiate myself with my sister-in-law. I like the pink gown, Alexandra. I have always said that deep red titian hair is complemented by certain shades of pink.”

“Yes, it is,” Tony said, frowning at Alex, as if he'd never really seen her before.

“The gown is old and is cut like a nun's habit,” Douglas said. “It is as dowdy as the blue gown you were wearing earlier this afternoon.”

The broom handle stiffened. Douglas raised his hand. “No, I didn't say I would replace any of your gowns, so I don't need more of your comments about wheedling. I was merely noting that your feminine display is sorely lacking.”

“It's true a lady should attempt to display well,” Melissande said.

Douglas looked over at Melissande. She looked so utterly feminine and unspeakably delicious that for a moment he was mute.

“Your display, Mellie,” Tony said, caressing her bare upper arm, “would make our randy Prince George slip down in a puddle of his own drool.”

Alex laughed. “I should like to see that. Will you take Melissande to London, Tony, so that the prince may see her and slip?”

“In good time,” Tony said. “In good time.”

“I should like to go now,” Melissande said. “You have a town house I have never seen. I should like to give a ball and invite everyone important.”

“In good time,” Tony said. “First you must see Strawberry Hill, my family estate in the Cotswolds.”

“A wonderful place to raise children,” Ryder said. “Do you remember, Douglas, how we used to swing off that old maple branch into the spring, screaming at the top of our lungs?”

“Yes, and the time Tony broke the branch and nearly drowned because it struck him on the head when he hit the water.”

“I should prefer London,” Melissande said.

“You will prefer what I wish you to prefer, Mellie,” Tony said very matter-of-factly.

Ryder said quickly, his voice limpid as that same spring in summer, “I agree that Melissande would enjoy London, but only if Tony was enjoying it with her. Since he prefers Strawberry Hill, why then, she will prefer it also. Melissande understands that it is a wife's duty and pleasure to obey her husband, to honor him by her every word and deed and soft caress. Don't you agree, Alexandra?”

Alex said with a smile, “I should like to see the branch that coshed Tony on the head and nearly drowned him.”

“I should also,” Melissande said, beautiful eyes wary, “but after I have enjoyed London, with my husband, naturally.”

Douglas took a sip of the rich claret. He looked at Ryder over the edge of the crystal goblet.