Silence of Scandal (12 page)

Geoffrey looked as though he was about to protest and volunteer to clean the salon but Alexander was adamant and waited until his steward had nodded in agreement. He asked Geoffrey to light a bonfire to burn the beast’s rotting carcass.

Grady had already scuttled off to ready the bath before he carried his wife from the salon and up the ancient stone stairs. He walked straight to his own rooms and shouldered the door open.

Elizabeth’s eyelids fluttered and she woke at the sudden lurch. She stiffened in his arms. He walked into his chambers and after first making sure that she could see his lips, he asked her if she thought she might be able to stand. She nodded and he moved towards the fire where he placed her on her feet and then asked her to stay still while he found her a suitable robe.

He took some swift steps to his wardrobe and tugged out his silk dressing gown. He lay it over the back of the chair and then stood before Elizabeth. He waited until her eyes fixed on his lips.

“We need to get rid of your clothes as soon as possible. I don’t want there to be any chance of that beast’s saliva tainting your blood. We’re going to have to burn everything. Can you undress yourself or do you need help?”

She stared up at Alexander for a few seconds and then she appeared to make up her mind and turned her back. She indicated the buttons that ran down her back. It immediately became apparent that she could reach the top one or two but it couldn’t unfasten those lower down. Alexander stepped forwards and worked on them quickly. There was a knock at the door and Grady came in with two huge steaming buckets and an old sheet over his arm. Beth followed close behind him with more pails of scented water. They quickly walked to the tub behind the screen and then left with a promise of more water in a few moments.

Alexander undid the last button on his wife’s dress and the pale green fabric slid from her shoulders. He closed his eyes as her milk white skin caught him unawares. She wriggled her hips and her dress slithered to the floor. She stepped out of it leaving her standing in her corset and pantaloons. Alexander came forwards again and began taking the pins from her hair. She stared at his reflection in the dressing table mirror with big dark eyes as her curls fell about her shoulders. He dropped the last pin in his silver stud tray on the dresser before he stood back and looked at his wife. He could barely suppress the groan of desire that rose to his lips
.
She tugged at the ribbons at the back of the corset and then gave an annoyed grunt as they would not come undone.

Taking a deep breath and mustering all of his self control, Alexander concentrated on the matter in hand and unthreaded the boned contraption. At last it came away from her body leaving the thin fabric of her chemise as her last protection.

Beth came in again with more water along with soap and hair lotions. She flushed as she saw her mistress’s state of undress and after tipping the hot water in the tub, hurried back out of the room without saying a word.

Alexander could hardly breathe. His wife’s skin at the base of her neck had taken on a pale pink tinge. Her lashes swept down almost kissing her rose pink cheeks as her fingertips reached for the ribbon at the neck of her chemise. Alexander swallowed audibly as she pulled the lace and the gathering at her breast loosened.

He couldn’t move, couldn’t even take a breath. If he did he would be on her like a rutting bull. The tips of her nipples tightened under his scrutiny and as if in a trance, he reached around her body and lifted a finger to touch one. He brushed the very tip of his finger across the silk covered bud. Elizabeth’s eyes flew wide open and she gasped as the sensations shot through her.

Alexander came even closer his eyes riveted to the reflection in the mirror. Her beautiful mounds of flesh heaved beneath the near transparent material that hid her breasts. They were high but not too tight. There was a gentle dip that made him want to test the weight of them in his hands. Her nipples were dark, jutting forwards and straining the delicate material. He ached to have one in his mouth, to suckle at the juicy morsel for hours on end.

He took a deep breath and grit his teeth determinedly. She needed to wash and get over the shock of the rabid dog, not have her husband attempting to ravage her. He grabbed the robe and draped it over her shoulders, pulling it tight together at her throat. He took a step away and motioned for her to go behind the bathing screen before he did something unforgivable. He made sure that she could see his lips as he spoke.

“The dog was infected with a terrible disease. You need to take a bath while I get rid of these clothes, I’ll need your undergarments too. I don’t know if any of the infection soaked through and contaminated them. Scrub every inch of your body and don’t forget to wash your hair,” his voice was hoarse with repressed need, barely above a whisper but she nodded quickly, her breathing coming in shallow gasps and he looked into her wide eyes as she slipped away from him behind the screen.

A few seconds later his robe and her underclothes were tossed around the screen. He stood trembling for moments on end, knowing that she was only feet from him and totally naked. He took control of his senses before he bent and gathered the garments, still warm from her body, into a bundle. He quickly stripped his own outer clothes and dumped them in the old sheet. He placed the bundle by his door and grabbed up his silk robe. He flung it over the top of the screen and was about to tell her to use it after her bath when he remembered that she wouldn’t know that he had spoken unless she saw him.

He stood and listened to the water sloshing about and gripped the edge of the screen. Without examining his motives too closely he decided that as her maid still hadn’t arrived she would probably need help with her hair. He waved his arm about around the edge of the screen as a warning of his entrance and was rewarded with her strange voice calling to him.

“Alssanda? You wan’ to tall to me?”

His heart lurched in his chest as he wondered what her life had been like before he had met her. He was desperate to know. He walked around the screen and smiled as he saw his wife smothered from head to toe in glorious bubbles. She smiled shyly at him as he fell to his knees beside the tub and her face blushed scarlet as her curious eyes wandered to his bare chest. She dropped her gaze instantly but Alexander lifted her chin for her to look directly at him.

“Would you like me to wash your hair? I must ensure none of that beast’s saliva is left on you. I would rather do it myself than have you miss anything.”

She blinked up at him slowly and then she nodded.

“It would feel goodh to be kleen.” Tears glittered in her eyes as she spoke. “I didn see tha animal. I thor you would shoot me. You scart me with your pistol. I was so fraid of you.” She shivered uncontrollably.

Alexander’s head drooped on his shoulders. He felt more than ashamed of his treatment of her so far. The woman deserved far better. He had to reassure her of his intentions.

“My God woman, you never have to be afraid of me. I wouldn’t hurt a hair of your head, much less shoot you. I can only apologize for my dreadful behaviour and beg your forgiveness for the past three days. It’s not how any marriage should begin,” he replied as it took less than a moment for him to realize that he understood every word she had spoken.

She shook her head at him.

“I shud have splained to you but I was scared. I am sorry you ha’ to marry me.” She cast her eyes down again as she sloshed water over her shoulders and rubbed the bubbles over her creamy skin.

He wanted to tell her that none of it mattered. He couldn’t take his eyes from her. Mesmerized by her beauty, he was about to dip his hands in the water and scoop the bubbles over her hair when he heard his bedroom door burst open and Grady’s outraged shout.

“You can’t go in there now woman. Mistress is taking a bath and His Grace is attending her.”

There was a sharp intake of breath.

“I’ll bet he’s attending her, the brute.” The woman’s response to Grady was less than encouraging and Alexander quickly dried his hands on the sheet at the bath side. He mouthed ‘your maid has arrived’ to Elizabeth who smiled and carried on washing as he listened to the woman yell again.

“What have you done with her?” Her shout almost shook the windows. Alexander sprang up from the tub and peered around the screen. Elizabeth’s maid stood with her hands placed firmly on her hips, glaring at him. “So, you dare to show your face back here again. Get out while I tend to my Lady. That fool Grady says that she was attacked by a rabid dog but I can only see one animal in here.”

Alexander was so taken aback by her hostility that he temporarily lost the power of speech. He grabbed his robe from over the screen and put it on, tying it securely at his waist before he revealed himself wearing nothing but his undergarments to the harridan. He used the few seconds quiet to regain his wits and then stepped out from behind the screen.

“Madam, as to how I dare show my face here, well, I do own the place. You would do well to remember that fact before you begin accusing me of any trespass and regardless of what you think was happening in here I can assure you that I was only about to wash my wife’s hair. I would prefer to do it myself rather than the chance of spreading any infection from a rabid dog.”

The woman snorted in derision.

“Rabid dog my arse! That’s what you say now but then we haven’t seen hide nor hair of you since the wedding. Much good it would have done my mistress if this rabid dog had turned up during in the last three days. You weren’t here to protect her then and you’re certainly not needed now.”

She folded her arms across her chest and Alexander could see that she was not about to back down. He was about to defend himself and his actions but quickly realized that he actually had no defence. His shoulders slumped.

Elizabeth began to hum from behind the screen. The noise was hideous and he was about to cover his ears when something of a memory came back to him. He stopped dead and listened to his wife’s awful tune but then shook his head. The awful noise carried on. He swore that he’d never heard anything quite like it. He was imagining that it was a memory but it was more likely to be a lingering side effect from all the brandy he had drunk while down at the Bear and Dragon. He seemed to remember Giles singing at one point during their three day drinking session. The man could hold a tune about as well as his wife.

He strode past the glaring maid and frowned as he picked up the bundle of soiled clothes by the door.

“I’m going to see that all our clothes are burned. Please attend to my wife. I will be back to take my own bath within the hour.” He stalked out of his room with as much bluster as he could manage and slammed the door behind him.

The maid bustled around the screen and threw up her hands at the sight of Elizabeth lying in a sea of frothing bubbles. She shook her head and rolled her eyes.

“You will have to play harder to get than this, Miss. Do you want him to love you forever or merely to take you for a quick tumble? Men are fickle with their women. I know that you look lovely but your disability and that voice of yours will be hard to get over. You’ll have to make him want you with more than passion if he’s to forget your deficiency and your father’s deception.” She sighed and took up the cloth from the edge of the tub. She rubbed it gently over Elizabeth’s shoulders.

Elizabeth looked up at her maid.

“Alassander saveft me from an ‘orrible beast. He will luff me soon. He must for I will ‘av’ no one els’.” She lay back in the tub and let her maid rub the soapy water over her arms.

Betty stopped rubbing and looked at her mistress.

“You will have me. I won’t leave you alone.” She stood up and quickly and peered back around the screen. They were still alone. Betty took a letter from her pocket and passed it to Elizabeth. “I went to see Beatrice while I was in town. She passed me this to give to you.”

Elizabeth shook her damp hands and then opened the letter.

“It is from fadder.” She frowned at the words. “I have to find jewels?” She looked up at her maid. “What jewels?”

Betty took the letter from her mistress.

“He wants you to find the Ormond jewels and bring them to him. Dear God! Is there no end to his greed? Isn’t it enough that you are no longer a burden to him and that he is rid of you?”

Elizabeth crumpled the letter.

“I canno’ steal from Alessander Betty. He saveft my life. I won’t do anything to hurt him. We mus’ burn this ledder before anyone else sees it.”

Betty picked up a jug and filled it with the water. She paused before running it over Elizabeth’s hair.

“Don’t worry, my Lady. We will have him grovelling on his knees before you know it. Your father’s stupid ideas will not matter a wit.” She gently began tipping the warm water over her mistress’s hair.

Alexander knocked on his bedroom door an hour later and was relieved when there was no response. He didn’t think he could take the sight of his naked wife again without ravishing her on the spot and he definitely couldn’t take another dressing down from her vicious tongued maid. He wondered where the woman had learned to dress-down a Duke so efficiently. She looked to be only a year or two older than his wife and was about the same weight and height.

He opened the heavy door and peered around his room to make sure that no one was still there but his chambers, although fragrant with Elizabeth’s scent, were silent and empty. He looked to where her pins still sat in his stud tray and breathed out a sigh of relief.