His Contract Bride (29 page)

He waved her off and pulled her close to him. For as much as he enjoyed seeing her full, naked breasts, he enjoyed them pressed against him more. “I don't care about the gentlemen seeing that room.”

“
Well, I do.”

“
Don't. If anyone says something, I'll tell them I did it if it bothers you so much.”

“
Either you didn't find that gruel to be as gut wrenching as I did, or you really enjoy my company.”

He laughed.
If only you knew.
“While we're on the topic of being truthful, tell me, would it bother you if I host more meetings like this one here at Watson Estate?”

“
No. Why?”

He forced a shrug. “Well, if all goes well today, I'll need to host a breakfast to which Lord Edgewood is invited so I can extend him an official invitation of the society. Would that be an imposition for you?”

“
Not at all. Would I need to make similar arrangements for the breakfast I'm hosting next week?”

“
Yes. Exactly the same. You could even use the same plans, if you'd like.”

Regina cast him a queer look. “Very well. I shall endeavor to follow Lady Brazzel's orders and do my very best to please my baron by entertaining his scientific friends.”

“
I don't want you to feel obligated to host a breakfast for a group of men whose only ambition in life is to solve complex mathematical equations or look at parts of plants under a microscope in hopes of making a new discovery,” Edward explained with a frown.

“
I don't, I'm hosting it for you.”

He wanted to groan. “You don't have to. Your duty isn't to be trampled under my feet.”

“
Then why did you ask me to host it?”

“
Because I wanted your opinion. Your permission.” How hard was it for her to understand he wasn't like her father? He didn't think of her as an object, but a person. “I know this might be difficult for you to understand since your father pushes his demands on you, but you have a choice. You just have to make it. Nobody else can do it for you. It has to be you.”

She eyed him curiously. “And I've made my choice. I'll host the breakfast, not because it's my duty as baroness as outlined in
Brazzel's Instructions for Baronesses
, but because I want to.”

“
Very well, but don't start any planning until you're done with the one you're hosting next week.”

“
All right.”

“
Good.” He ran his open palm along her bare side. “But for now, I have other plans for you.”

***

As he'd hoped, the meeting went wonderfully. Even with Lord Sinclair's unsolicited attendance, he'd still gained enough signatures to officially form the society.

“
Why did you come today, Joseph?” Edward asked after everyone else had made their exit. “I thought you were retiring to the country for the remainder of your Season to be with your wife during her confinement?” Not to mention his dislike for all things science.

“
Were she increasing, that is exactly where I'd be.” He fell into the orange chair Regina had purchased for the drawing room. “Aside from the grand image of this room assaulting my eyes, at least the chair is comfortable.”

“
I quite agree,” Edward said, plopping down into the yellow one. “Now, what is this about your wife not increasing?”

“
Confounded woman; apparently she was three days past due for her courses and assumed she was breeding.”

Edward nearly laughed at the absurdity. Lady Sinclair might have the more desirable family background, but in every other way, Edward had made a far better match than his friend. “Not to worry, Joseph. There's still plenty of time.”

“
Yes, I know I have plenty of time. It's she who should be worried.”

“
About your visits becoming more frequent?”

“
No, that I might throttle her if she pulls any other stunt like this one. Do you know that for two weeks, I had to cater to her every call and whim.”

“
As opposed to doing that for only one week?”

The sound of Lord Sinclair's teeth grinding filled the air.

Edward stood up and straightened his coat. He had somewhere to go today and didn't care to delay his plans in favor of listening to more nonsense concerning Lady Sinclair and her manipulations. “Allow me to pass on some words of wisdom a good friend of mine once shared with me: you're too nice to her. You’re the lord and she's the lady. You need to give her a task and explain to her how important it is for her to fulfill it. That's what she expects.”

Joseph lifted his eyebrows and waved his open hand around the room. “I see how well that worked out for you.”

“
Actually, the advice I received that day worked out well, indeed. Perhaps you'd be best served to heed it, too.”

“
I think not. Accepting advice from a fourteen year-old boy is preposterous!”

Edward shrugged and snatched up his hat. “Suit yourself, Joseph. It's you who has to live with her, not me.”

~Chapter Thirty~

Regina turned her head to avoid John's curious gaze as he passed her while leaving the dining room. She nearly groaned in frustration. It would seem Mr. Willis' had sent the last of her deliveries: the newly upholstered dining chairs, each chair a different style with a different color fabric covering the cushion.

She sank into the blue one on the end. Despite her urging for the servants to remove their new furnishings and bring other pieces down from the attic, Edward had refused, saying he liked the new pieces. For seven days, she tried this, and now it was too late to do anything about it for her guests would be arriving in less than two hours.

“
There you are,” Edward said, walking into the dining room. He sat in the vacant chair next to her. “You're not nervous, are you?”

Regina looked around at all the mismatched chairs in the dining room. “No, Edward. Not at all.”

He wagged his finger at her and
tsk, tsked
. “I do hope you're not lying to me. I should hate to have to ask Cook to serve gruel at your breakfast.”

“
You're insufferable, did you know that?”

“
Yes.” He took her hand in his. “What is there to be nervous about?”

Regina stared at him. What
wasn't
there to be nervous about? “This abominably decorated house, to start with.”

He shrugged. “Have you forgotten what you read in
Brazzel's Instructions for Baronesses
?”

She rolled her eyes. “That's not even a real book.”

“
But it should be. That always pleasing the baron bit seems to be very important. It should go into print.”

“
Then write such a book, if you wish.”

Edward turned in his chair and placed his right hand on her cheek. “Regina, what are you really nervous about today?”

“
If the guests will have a good time—one in particular.”

His lips formed a thin line. “I see. And what of you?”

“
What about me?”

“
What about your enjoyment?”

A shaky laugh passed her lips. “That matters naught. I agreed to host this breakfast for my father, and I intend to prove to him that I'm not the incompetent fool he thinks me to be.”

“
No. What you're doing is—” He broke off and ran a hand through his hair. “Regina, I want you to know that no matter what, I'll respect your choices—even if they're ones I don't like.”

“
Do you not like my father?”

“
It's not about liking him. It's about not liking the way he manipulates you.” He sighed. “But it's not my place to become involved.”

He was speaking cryptically, she realized, just like he had last week. He wanted her to do something, but what? “Do you want me to tell my father I'll not be hosting the ball I promised?”

“
Do you want to host the ball?”

She could have brained the infuriating man! “What do you think?”

“
I think you concern yourself far too much with what other people think about you. But this isn't why I came in here. Do you have a minute to come join me in another room? I have something for you.”

She blushed. Ever since they'd returned from Watson Estate, Edward had been finding all sorts of reasons to get her alone. Not that she minded. She loved going off with him and letting him shower her with kisses and caresses. She, too, was becoming bolder in her responses to him. Unfortunately, her guests were set to arrive soon. “I don't have time for that right now, perhaps after the guests leave,” she whispered.

A roguish grin split his lips as if to say he understood her meaning exactly. “I'll be sure to collect on that offer as soon as I can—even if it means I have to begin bodily removing guests. But that's not what I meant. Come, you'll see.”

Her hand in his, Regina let Edward lead her from the room and down the hall to the drawing room. As soon as they crossed the threshold to the drawing room, he came to an abrupt halt.

“
What the devil is that?”

His words mirrored her thoughts exactly.

“
A wedding present from Lord Sinclair, it would seem,” John announced proudly. A little too proudly, one might think. He stepped aside to allow Edward and Regina an unobstructed view of the three portraits that had been framed with gold frames and hung on the far wall of the drawing room.

All three were both similar and different. They were
of
nothing in particular, just huge swirls of brown and dark green paint. There was no set pattern to the portraits. In fact, it looked like a child squeezed blobs of paint onto the canvas, then ran his hand through it; a perfectly good waste of canvas if you asked Regina.

“
This is from Lord Sinclair?” Edward asked.

“
I'd assume so.” John gestured to the bottom right corner of the portrait on the far right. “Those are his initials, are they not?”

Edward leaned close to the portrait, bringing his eye within inches of the gold frame. “JRS,” he murmured. “Those are his initials.”

“
Why would he send these?” Regina could no longer hold her question.

“
Yes, John, why would he send us such an unusual gift, I wonder?”

John held his hands out in front of himself as if he were innocent in the matter. “I don't know. Perhaps you should ask him.”

“
You can bet that I will,” Edward said, the corner of his mouth tipping up into that crooked smile she'd come to love.

John cleared his throat. Then again. “Well, I must be off. I'd hate to be made to participate in your breakfast because I didn't vanish from sight fast enough.”

Regina shook her head. He sure was a curious fellow. “Edward?”

Edward stopped examining the awful portrait in the middle and turned toward her. “Yes?”

“
You don't think Lady Sinclair sent these to mock me, do you?” It didn't take a scholar to know it was
not
Lord Sinclair who'd painted those.

“
No.” He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer to him. “This is John's handiwork. After he was sent down from Eton, I ordered the toe cut in all of his stockings. Not off completely. I didn't want him to catch on; just a slit large enough that when he put his foot in, his big toe would poke through the silk.”

“
Why ever would you do that?”

“
Because he ordered us gruel for breakfast,” he said as if that explained everything. He gave her shoulder an affectionate squeeze. “We're brothers; this is how we act toward each other. Aren't you glad we married so you could be a part of it?”

Her heart warmed at his words. “Actually, I am.”

“
Good. If you'd like, I can have these removed. I'd hate for them to clash with your decorating scheme.”

Regina looked at the paintings again. Compared to the disaster the rest of the room already was, what was an additional three hideous pictures? “No. I think they should stay. They compliment the carpet, don't you think?”

He looked to the floor then to the pictures. “Perfectly.”

“
Then for now, they shall stay,” she declared.

“
My lord, the first guest carriage has just arrived,” Calvert said from behind them.

The blood drained from Regina's face. This was it. She was about to host her first breakfast.

She did her best to fight her nerves as Edward escorted her to the front door where they'd stand to greet their guests.