In the Wake of the Wind (11 page)

“Well,” she said slowly, “you do have a point. I wouldn’t want to upset anyone. I suppose we could share your room.”

“Oh?” Aiden said, seeing a glimmer of hope on the horizon and pressing his advantage at this unexpected capitulation. “And where do you expect me to sleep, may I ask? On the floor?”

“I don’t suppose there’s a comfortable sofa?” she asked hopefully.

Aiden looked at her in disbelief. “Now you want me to sleep on a lumpy sofa and wake up with kinks in my back every morning?”

Serafina
flushed. “No, of course not. That would be very distressing for you, I can see that.”

“I’m so pleased that you’re sympathetic to my plight.”

“Well, it is your room after all, and you’ve probably slept in the same bed since you were a child. It would be less than fair for me to throw you out of it, and I confess that I have no more inclination to sleep on the floor or the sofa than you do.”

“I’m beginning to think you a highly practical woman. So are we agreed?” he said, sensing victory within his reach.

“Oh, very well,” she said. “We can share. Actually, I’ve read about a practice in America called bundling. A board is placed in the middle of the bed, and the two people sleep on either side—”

“Serafina,”
Aiden said dangerously, “if you think for one minute that I’m going to sleep with a board running down the middle of my bed, you can think again. If you don’t want me to make love to you I won’t, and that I will swear. But I won’t be tossed onto the floor like some piece of discarded baggage, and neither will I turn over in the night and meet with a cold, splintered piece of wood.”

“Oh,” she said. “Yes, I can see that might be uncomfortable. But how do I know you will keep your word?” she asked, clutching her hands together in a tight fist.

Aiden wondered the same thing, but he wasn’t about to admit that to her, not when he’d come so far. “Because I’ve given it to you,” he said simply.

“Yes, but for all I know you will be overcome by your male appetites and do something awful to me,” she persisted.

“Serafina,”
he said, trying very hard not to collapse into laughter, “I have never had my lovemaking described as awful, I’m happy to say, with the one exception of my indoctrination when I was seventeen. And that was with a woman who was paid handsomely not only to put up with me, but to make sure it never happened again. Rest assured, when the time comes, I’ll make sure that you won’t apply that adjective to it either.”

“When the time comes?” she said nervously.

“You can’t think that I’m going to lie in a state of wanting for the rest of my life? Sweetheart, I’m willing to accede to your wishes up to a point. But if you don’t want me to run off to those mistresses I mentioned, you’re going to have to come around eventually. I’m only a man, and men, such low beings as we are, do have physical desires.”

Serafina
looked away. “You’re saying that if I don’t submit to you that you will break your marriage vows?”

Aiden, pushed to his limits, would have happily strangled her. “What I said, you little fool, is that I want you. I’m prepared to wait until you want me too. But if you decide you’d rather behave like a nun for the rest of time, then yes, I will take myself elsewhere and not bother you with my attentions.”

Astonishment and shock crossed her face.

“What troubles you, my
Titania?”
he asked. “Is it that you really don’t want me as I want you? Or is it that you’re afraid you might want me after all, and that terrifies you?” He touched a hand to her cheek, lightly stroking her skin.

Serafina
jerked away. “You are truly impossible!” she cried. “How can you in one moment try to make things better between us and in the next behave like a—a libertine? You blithely tell me of your past conquests, of your experience, you imply that you have been lover to many women, and yet you haven’t loved a single one of them.”

“That’s true. But then none of them has been my wife,” he said softly.

“What do you mean?” she whispered uncertainly, her eyes suddenly wide and vulnerable.

“What I mean is that you and I are now bound together,” he replied, gently taking her face between his two hands. “Vows are important to you, aren’t they?”

“They’re everything,” she whispered, meeting his gaze.

“Then know that I don’t intend to break my marriage vows. But I need your cooperation.”

“Oh,” she said, blinking.

He smiled at her, a long, promising smile that he hoped conveyed his message. And then he dropped his hands. “It’s up to you now. I won’t go back on my word.”

“You—you really won’t?”

“No, I really won’t.” He stepped away. “Despite what you think of me, I have never taken a woman against her will and I don’t intend to start with you. I’ll wait for your invitation.”

“I will honor your wishes to share a bed,” she said. “But,” she added adamantly, “as for the rest of your desires, I cannot accede. If you ever manage to change my mind about you I might reconsider. But I think the chances of that happening are as likely as—as snow in July.”

Aiden grinned. “One step at a time,” he said. “I’d better get back. Oh, and
Serafina,
just for your edification, you really are a bloody heiress. You’d better speak to your bird-witted aunt. It seems she forgot to tell you.”

T
he
butler jumped back as
Serafina
flew through the front door, out of breath from having run all the way back. She was determined to find her aunt and force some answers out of her. Somewhere along the line Elspeth had some accounting to do, for
Serafina
felt certain Aiden wouldn’t lie about such an important thing as money, not when he needed it so badly and said he’d only married her because of it.

“My lady?” the startled butler said, blinking rapidly at her as she stormed across the hall. “May I help you in some way?”

Serafina
nodded decisively. “Yes, you most certainly may. Where is Miss Beaton?”

“Your aunt is in the library with his lordship, my lady.”

“And where is the library?”
Serafina
asked impatiently.

“Naturally I will conduct you, my lady,” he said, drawing himself up with dignity, and
Serafina
felt a stab of guilt that she’d upset him by her lack of manners.

“I beg your pardon,” she said, softening her expression. “Of course you may conduct me. What is your name?”

“Er, Plum, my lady.”

“Well, Plum, I am happy to meet you,” she said, shaking his hand enthusiastically. “Have the guests left?”

“Yes, my lady,” Plum said, looking down at his hand as if he’d never seen it before. “The duke was the last to leave, and that was an hour ago.”

“Good,”
Serafina
said with satisfaction. “I hope that wherever he’s gone, he stays there permanently.”

“Did you not enjoy the duke’s company?” Plum asked with no change of expression.

“I found him arrogant and overbearing. I think he likes being a duke a little too much and is accustomed to ordering people around. I’ll bet he orders you around all the time, doesn’t he, Plum?”

“Er, yes, my lady,” Plum replied with a small twitch of his lips. “But then it’s my job to take orders.”

“Oh, well that’s true, I suppose. But it’s not my job to take orders, and between his dukedom and my husband I think I’ve been ordered around enough for one day. Please, I’d be much obliged if you’d take me to the library now.”

“Certainly, my lady,” Plum said with another twitch of his lips.
Serafina
followed him, wondering if poor Plum wasn’t affected by an unfortunate tic. She would have to remember to ask Elspeth if she didn’t have something to help it.

Plum bowed her through a door on the opposite side of the drawing room. She found her aunt sitting legs akimbo in an armchair opposite Lord Delaware, drinking a glass of sherry and smacking her lips loudly with relish.

“Oh, there you are, dearie,” Elspeth said, waving her glass in the air. “I wondered where you’d gone to. Do join us. Delaware and I were just celebrating our good fortune.” She swigged down the remains of her sherry.

“Oh,
Auntie,”
Serafina
said with exasperation, seeing that her aunt was hallway to being pickled. Elspeth rarely drank, but when she did, she became thoroughly unreliable. “How many glasses of sherry have you had?”

Elspeth’s brow puckered in concentration. “Four?” she said, holding her glass out for more.

Serafina
sighed and pulled it out of her hand. “Three too many,” she said. “Auntie, I need to speak with you. It’s urgent.”

“You always were too stiff-principled, girl. What’s a little celebration between families?” Elspeth said with annoyance. “Nothing worse than a prig, I say.”

“But a fine-looking gel,” Lord Delaware intoned, his voice slurred. “Who would have known, eh, Elspeth? Thought Aiden was going to murder me when I told him he was going to be leg-shackled, truly did, but he looked pleased enough today, don’t y’think?”

Elspeth chortled and slapped her thigh. “Could have knocked him over with a feather when he saw her, but I always knew it would be a fine match, didn’t I tell you, Delaware?”

“Auntie!”
Serafina
bellowed.
“I need to talk to you.”

“No need to shout, child, I’m not hard of hearing,” Elspeth said churlishly. “What’s got you worked up into a lather now?”

“It’s about the money,”
Serafina
said, placing her aunt’s glass on the sideboard well out of reach. She sat down on the sofa. “My money. Does it ring a bell?”

“A bell?” Lord Delaware laughed uproariously. “Hell’s bells, wedding bells, we’ll ring any bells you like, my dear. We’re saved, salvaged, delivered, all thanks to you—er, do have a glass of sherry,” he said, regarding her uncertainly. “Or are you a teetotaler? Well, never mind, most appropriate in one your age, but now that you’re a married woman you can indulge a little.”

“Thank you, but I won’t,” she said. “However, now that I am a married woman, I think I am owed the truth about how that came about.”

Lord Delaware’s eyes lit up. “A married woman, did you hear that, Elspeth, my dear? It has a nice ring to it, eh?” He burst into another fit of laughter. “Bells. Oh, yes, bells,” he said, wiping tears from his eyes. “‘If ever been where bells have knoll’d to church, if ever sat at any man’s good feast.’ Shakespeare, I think, or was it Milton … ? Oh, dear, such a shame when the mind goes.”

Serafina
covered her eyes with one hand, appalled that her aunt had so forgotten herself as to lead a senile old man astray with drink. “Auntie,” she repeated, looking up. “Do you think we can talk? Privately?”

“Privately?” Elspeth huffed. “What need do we have of privacy? Delaware is privy to any information you might want. So what is it, dearie—not more nerves at this late date?”

Serafina
wanted to scream with frustration. “It’s nothing to do with nerves,” she said, trying desperately to remain calm. “It’s about my being an heiress. Is it true?”

Elspeth turned her gaze to
Serafina,
eyes squinting as she attempted to focus. “Well, of course it’s true. Are you a complete sapscull, girl?”

Serafina
felt like wrapping her hands around her aunt’s neck. “No, I’m not a sapscull, Auntie. It’s only that you led me to believe I’d been turned out of Bowhill without a penny to my name and we’ve lived on a shoestring ever since. I’m having a bit of trouble understanding why you perpetrated this myth if it has no basis in fact.”

“Oh, yes,” her aunt said, “that’s right. I forgot for just a moment that you didn’t know about the inheritance. Well, easy come, easy go I always say, and better easy come than the other way around, isn’t that right, dearie? Surely you’re not blaming me at this late date for keeping your fortune safe for you until it was needed?”

“My fortune,”
Serafina
said, anger growing stronger by the second. “What fortune, Auntie? Just what fortune is this that you bargained me away for?” She planted her hands on her hips and glared at her aunt. “All this talking about destiny over the years was really about how much I was worth?”

“Oh, well …” Elspeth said, pulling out a hairpin and scratching her head, “that was merely an incentive. Aubrey will come around, you’ll see.” She winked at Lord Delaware. “One night is all it will take if your son knows his stuff, isn’t that right?”

Lord Delaware chuckled. “Oh, Aubrey knows his stuff, never fear. He’s always had a string of high-steppers, that one. Women flock around him like bees to honey, begging for a taste, and he’s a generous lad.”

Serafina’s cheeks burned. She knew all about Aiden’s lecherous behavior, but it didn’t help having it confirmed by his own father. She turned back to Elspeth. “Why didn’t you tell me?” she demanded. “Why did you let me think that Aiden wanted me?”

“Well, of course he wants you, child. Has he told you any differently?” she said, suddenly sitting up straight, her eyes narrowing.

“What he has told me, Aunt Elspeth, is that he was forced to marry me. That he knew nothing of me until only days ago. That he only consented to the marriage because it brought a badly needed fortune with it.”

Elspeth turned to Lord Delaware, her eyes shooting sparks of fury. “Do you mean to tell me that you never even informed the boy of his destiny?” she screeched. “What were you doing for the last eleven years? Waiting for him to work it out for himself?”

“Auntie,”
Serafina
said softly, shaking her arm. “It’s not Lord Delaware’s fault. He didn’t
remember
.”

“Didn’t remember. Ha! You think it just slipped his mind, do you?”

Serafina
nodded vigorously. “Sometimes these things can’t be helped. Please don’t blame him.”

“You see,” Lord Delaware said, regarding
Serafina
fondly, “I told you she was a good girl. It’s nice that somebody understands my problems.”

“You’re not to worry yourself in the least,”
Serafina
said reassuringly. “I realize how difficult your situation must be for you, and I will do anything I can to make you feel comfortable.”

“Oh, a good, tender-hearted child to be sure, Elspeth. She makes a delightful change from my own two children, who never have a kind thing to say to me.” He drained his glass and refilled it from the bottle on the table next to him.

“Your son is not a kind-natured man, but I shall try to speak with him,”
Serafina
said. “He should at least treat you with respect.”

“I couldn’t agree with you more,” Lord Delaware said, his eyes tearing up. “But he’s never given me any respect, that one, even though he is my only son and heir. He goes his own way, does as he pleases with no regard to my feelings.” He covered his eyes with his hand.

Serafina’s heart went out to him. “I know how that is,” she said, dropping to her knees next to his chair. “But he promises that he’s going to try to reform.”

Lord Delaware’s hand fell away and his eyes shot open in surprise, the tears vanishing. “He does?” he said, his mouth hanging open.

“Yes, he does. And I shall do everything I can to encourage him, for I can see that his behavior has upset you deeply.”

“And Charlotte?” Lord Delaware asked anxiously. “What are you going to do about Charlotte?”

“Do about Charlotte?” she asked, perplexed. “Do you mean you think something can actually be done for her?”

“I doubt it,” he said, shaking his head. “But if you think you can turn Aiden around, who knows what miracles you might be able to perform with his sister?”

Serafina
looked at Elspeth. “What do you think, Auntie?” she said, her brow furrowed. “Do you think we can help her?”

Elspeth scowled. “It’s nothing to do with me,” she said. “You’re the one who has to live with her for the next fifty years.”

“Yes, that’s true. But I thought you might have some thoughts on how to treat her.”

“An ice-cold shoulder would be my advice,” Elspeth said, retrieving her glass from the sideboard and helping herself to Lord Delaware’s bottle.

Serafina
rolled her eyes. It was no good trying to get information out of Elspeth when she was in her cups. From what she’d observed, there wasn’t a thing wrong with Charlotte’s shoulders. Her legs were clearly the problem, since the duke had had to carry her from the chapel back to the house.

She’d think the situation over and consult with Elspeth when her aunt was back in her right mind. Maybe some exercises and treatment with herbal oils would be helpful.

“Well, Aiden, and here you are at last. How could you have deserted your guests like that today?” Charlotte asked, pushing her chair through the door of Aiden’s study. “I’ve never been so mortified! It was bad enough having that woman run out on them with barely a word of explanation, but for you to go chasing after her? Have you lost your mind?”

Aiden looked up from the letter he was writing. “What are you going on about, Lottie?”

“You heard me perfectly well, so it’s no good pretending that you didn’t. You abandoned the dear bishop, not to mention the vicar, his wife, your cousin, and your sister. You even left Raphael to see to your excuses.”

“That’s right,” Aiden said, tapping his quill against his cheek, trying to tune his sister out.

“But Aiden—your manners were appalling. And this after all the trouble I took to see that your day, if not a happy one, was at least fitting for your station.”

“Serafina
was upset, Lottie. I wasn’t going to leave her to wander all over Townsend like a lost lamb.”

“A lost lamb?” Charlotte said with disgust. “That girl is no more a lost lamb than I am—I’m sure she only wanted to draw attention to herself, since no one was paying her any. And why should they have, when everyone knows what a selfish shrew she really is?”

Aiden carefully put his quill down before he snapped it between his fingers. “Lottie, I love you dearly, but I will not have you speak of my wife in that manner.”

Charlotte’s jaw dropped open in shock. ‘You—you can’t mean you have already been taken in by her? No … Aiden, I don’t believe it. I won’t believe it.” She clenched her hands together in her lap, staring at him white faced. “How could you have anything but repulsion for her after the way she treated you in the church, at the breakfast? And—and you should have heard the terrible things she said about you afterwards in the drawing room. She said—”