Wallflower (Old Maids' Club, Book 1) (34 page)

Finally, he lifted himself up on his
arms and looked down into her eyes. “Beautiful. You’re so beautiful
to me.”

For the first time in her life, she
felt beautiful, too.

~ * ~

Noah couldn’t be certain how long ago
the fireworks had ceased. But after several moments of basking in
the afterglow of making love to Tabitha, it became amply clear that
they were no more. Lady St. Benedict and her party had to be
wondering at their absence. Surely Leith and Miss Faulkner, if no
one else, would find their nonappearance conspicuous. They needed
to put their clothes back on and return, and the sooner, the
better.

But he couldn’t bear to end the
moment. Not so soon. Not yet.

Noah traced a lazy pattern over
Tabitha’s bare stomach, watching her skin flutter and tremor
beneath his touch in the moonlight peeking through tree branches
overhead. “Did you love him?” he asked. Immediately he wished he
hadn’t, because of the surge of jealousy that flooded through him.
The thought of another man touching Tabitha as he had just done, of
another man being inside her, was not one on which Noah wished to
dwell.

“
James Marshall?” At his
nod, Tabitha continued. “I thought
he
loved
me
. I wanted to be loved. I probably
convinced myself that I did love him, just because I wanted so
desperately for someone to choose me.”

Noah’s heart broke for her. The one
time she’d thought a man had loved her, he’d been using her. She
had given this James Marshall everything she had, her body and her
innocence, and he had called her a fat wench. The bastard stole far
more than her jewelry that day. He stole her belief in herself and
her ability to trust.

No wonder it had taken so long for her
to believe Noah could want her for more than her dowry. No wonder
she still questioned his intentions.

“
He didn’t deserve you,”
Noah said softly.

Tabitha snuggled closer to him,
resting her head on his shoulder. After a few minutes, she was
asleep. He watched her, the gentle rise and fall of her chest, the
light flickering of her eyelids. She was at once entirely at peace,
and still the most enticing vision Noah could imagine.

Something sounded in the distance,
like a twig snapping underfoot, and Noah’s head snapped up. He
scanned the area, but nothing seemed to move in the
darkness.

It must have been his imagination. Or
maybe an animal had caused the sound, a squirrel or a bird of some
sort. Either way, it was nothing to worry about.

But he
did
need to take Tabitha back to her
cousin. The disturbance only served to remind him that they were
completely nude in a public place. Anyone could come upon them at
any moment. The trees only provided so much cover.

Time to wake his sleeping angel. There
were only thirty-six more hours, after all, until she would be his
wife. Then he could watch her sleep as often as he wanted. Every
day, in fact.

Chapter
Nineteen

“
Today is your last day as
a free man,” Shelton said, coming up alongside Noah on the path to
Shelton Hall. Noah had been heading in; Shelton was on his way out,
with Raynesford, Claremont, and Leith not far behind. He draped an
arm across the back of Noah’s shoulders and turned him around,
changing his course. “You need a drink. Come along. I’ll
buy.”

Unless the drink in question was
coffee, Noah didn’t think he wanted anything to do with it. He held
up his hands and shook his head. “I’d intended to call on Tabitha
today.” Then he realized it was hardly past noon. “And isn’t this a
little early in the day for drinks?”

Shelton frowned and raised an eyebrow.
“It is never too early in the day for drinks. Once you’re awake,
that is. If you’re still sleeping, it might be just a touch on the
early side.”

“
You’ll be able to see her
as much as you want for the rest of your life,” Raynesford
countered. “More than you want, even.”

Claremont chuckled. “And I’m sure
she’ll survive without your presence for another hour or two today.
I don’t think she’s come down from her chamber yet.”

“
Imagine that,” Leith
murmured where only Noah could hear. “Quite unlike Lady Tabitha to
sleep in so late. One might think she had something of an
extraordinary evening last night, if one didn’t know
better.”

Noah studied Leith. The earl didn’t
appear inclined to divulge anything he knew—or for that matter,
anything he suspected—to Tabitha’s brothers about what had happened
the previous evening. A brief nod had been all that was exchanged
between them the night before, when Noah and Tabitha had returned
to find the supper box deserted save for Leith and Miss Faulkner,
who patiently awaited their return.

“
Come on,” Claremont put
in. “We want to toast your impending nuptials. And Helen expects me
home in a few hours. Why she thinks I ought to participate in her
at-home, I’ll never understand. But it is easier to comply than to
listen to her complaints after the fact.”

Raynesford winked. “Yet another thing
Devonport ought to make note of.”

It wouldn’t hurt to go along with
them. Particularly not since Tabitha was still abed. They had been
out later than he’d intended last night. And their activities had
been a bit more vigorous than a leisurely stroll through the
gardens. She needed to rest.

Indeed, having her well-rested for the
next day was of chief importance. She would need all the energy she
could muster for what Noah had in mind for the
honeymoon.

“
Very well,” Noah agreed.
“Where shall we be off to?”

Shelton pulled him along to a waiting
carriage. “White’s, I should think. There is a certain matter in
the book there which needs to be settled, after all.” They all
clambered inside and it rocked into motion.

“
Not so fast, Toby,”
Claremont said. “Not until after the vows have been said. I want
signatures in the church register before I’ll pay up.”

Leith chuckled and his broken nose
tugged slightly to the left. “Helen keeping tight rein over the
purse strings again?”

“
I think we all know who
wears the breeches in that relationship,” Raynesford drawled,
earning himself a punch on the shoulder from his cousin.

“
The deed is as good as
done.” Shelton held out an open palm. “Cough up.”

“
Sounds to me like you’ve
exceeded your allowance again,” Claremont said. “Maybe you ought to
ask your father for an increase. I’d love to see what Uncle Drake
thinks about that.”

Raynesford snorted. “There is no
chance Father will grant him more than he already has. If Toby
asks, he’ll demand to know how he has gone through what he already
had—what it was spent on. The answers, I can assure you, will
hardly suffice. No matter what the specific answers may
be.”

The brief journey to White’s was
filled with much the same sort of easy banter. It dawned on Noah
that he could expect year after year of the same, now. He’d be far
from alone, despite the fact that his mother and sisters had all
left him for their husbands. He’d have Tabitha’s family.

He’d have Tabitha.

It shouldn’t be possible to feel so
altogether content with one’s lot in life. It felt as though there
ought to be something inherently wrong with being pleased to the
point of sheer bliss with one’s existence, when one considered how
lamentable the existence of so many others were.

But content he was. No, perhaps
content wasn’t the right word. Cheerful. Delighted. Exultant.
Something more along those lines might be a more apt
description.

Upon entering their club, they took up
a table near the back of the main room and Shelton ordered a round
of whiskey for them all.

“
Brandy, for me, if you
don’t mind,” Noah cut in. He didn’t think he’d ever be able to
smell whiskey again without possibly casting up the contents of his
stomach. Leith grinned at him from across the table, no doubt
remembering their last mutual visit to the establishment like he
was.

After their drinks were brought around
and they laughed for a few more minutes about Shelton’s dwindling
allowance (“I swear, most of what I have spent has gone toward
buying presents for Lady Backingham, and even then, I haven’t spent
remotely what you seem to believe I’ve spent”). Then talk once
again turned to Raynesford and Shelton wanting to go ahead and call
the bet between the five of them a done deal.

“
The marriage
will
take place
tomorrow. Won’t it, Devonport?” Raynesford’s tone brooked no
argument.

Noah started to agree, but Shelton cut
him off. “Of course it will happen. He knows we’ll cut his ballocks
off with a dull, rusted blade if it doesn’t.”

“
Fine way to guarantee
collecting on your bet,” Claremont said on a laugh. “Threatening
the man’s ballocks hardly seems fair.”

Leith downed the last of his whiskey.
“I’ve never known Toby to care about fairness. That said, there is
no doubt that Devonport and Tabitha will marry tomorrow. I’m
willing to pay up right now.” His eyes fixed onto Noah’s as he
spoke, with a warning in their depths.

“
I’ll pay and we’ll call
it finished,” Noah agreed. “I don’t want to chance forgetting after
the wedding, once I’m otherwise occupied, and then having you lot
send debt collectors knocking at my door.”

Claremont heaved a forced sigh. “Fine.
You win. We’ll settle it all now and mark it in the books.” He
threw back his tumbler and finished off his drink. “But let this be
known. If anything happens to change it, I’ll expect my coin back
with interest.”

“
Fat chance that’ll
happen,” Shelton grumbled. In the time required for the rest of the
table to finish their one whiskey each (or half a brandy, in Noah’s
case), he had worked his way through two and had started on a
third. He tossed the rest back and swallowed, holding out his open
hand for their money. When all the coins had exchanged hands and
everyone seemed satisfied, he pushed back from the table and asked,
“Who’s going to finalize everything in the betting book? We can’t
just leave it sitting there like the wager is still
unsettled.”

Noah stood as well. “I’ll handle it
and meet you all out at the carriage.”

The other gentlemen all got to their
feet and made their way out the door, except for Leith, who walked
with Noah up to the bow window. “Because you’re marrying Lady
Tabitha tomorrow morning,” he said with a quiet voice, “I don’t
feel it necessary to call you out. Nor do I think it wise to inform
her brothers and cousin of what happened last night. Miss Faulkner
agrees with me.”

They drew closer to where
the betting book was situated. A large group of gentlemen were
situated around the table, talking in animated tones and laughing
robustly. Noah and Leith inched their way forward, pushing politely
between bodies until they were close enough to discern what was
causing the commotion.
Oglethorpe. The
bastard
. He stood directly in the center
of the grouping, alongside Eggerley. But it was Oglethorpe’s voice
coming over the din of the crowd.

“
Time to pay up, Eggerley.
She took me off onto one of the dark paths, and then we found a
little copse of trees. The cow was pulling my clothes off faster
than a starving whore working for a half-crown. I tupped her right
there in the open air beneath the fireworks. Got the grass stains
on my trousers to prove it, as you can see.” He brushed a hand over
his thigh, drawing every eye to the green marks staining his
buff-colored breeches. “I’ll be making my way to see Newcastle this
afternoon. Let him know I’ll be glad to rectify the breach in short
order. Since word’s already out to you all, I’m sure he’ll agree
that a special license is in order.”

“
Lord Newcastle will agree
to no such thing.” Noah couldn’t stand there and listen to one more
word out of the cur’s vile mouth. With every word, with every
syllable, a vise seemed to tighten around Noah’s throat until he
couldn’t breathe at all. “Nothing of the sort happened, so there is
no reason—”

“
Nothing happened, you
say?” Oglethorpe let out a high-pitched laugh, almost a giggle.
Probably nervous laughter. “I suppose that
is
what a man ought to say when he’s
just been made a cuckold. Though you aren’t really a cuckold, are
you, since you’ve yet to marry the cow? What does that make you,
Devonport?”

A raucous chorus of laughter filled
the room. How these men could consider themselves gentlemen, Noah
would never understand. There was nothing chivalrous amongst the
lot of them. Nothing redeeming.

He had to shut them out. Ignore them.
Only his quarry deserved his attention at the moment. His pulse
roared through his veins so loud he could scarcely hear anything
else. Nothing existed save Noah and Oglethorpe. “I’d advise you to
stop calling Lady Tabitha that. And while you’re at it, I’d advise
you to recant your claims before this crowd. They’re untrue and you
know it. Defiling a lady’s name in such a way is
indefensible.”