To Wed a Scandalous Spy (18 page)

She studied him silently for a moment, then rose from her seat and rounded the table to him. Placing a hand on each side of his face, she tilted his head up and kissed him softly on the lips.

"Excellent answer." Her whisper danced over his mouth. "Thank you. I will be proud to wear the gown."

His aching need of the night before, never fully quelled, came rushing through him afresh. He leaned into her for another taste, but she was gone, settling back across the table from him once more. He blinked, then glanced warily toward Myrtle.

The little smile on her face and the sparkle in her eyes told him that she had missed nothing, neither Willa's tender nature nor his own hungry response.

"Interesting." Her smile was sly. "Very interesting."

«
^
»

Willa went in search of Lily and found her working busily on the hem of the blue silk gown in the bedchamber where Willa had spent the night.

"Hello, miss. I've nearly finished."

"Thank you. Nathaniel, I mean, Lord Reardon is taking me shopping this afternoon, but I'll likely still need it tonight. I doubt we'll be purchasing anything so grand as this."

Lily's eyes were wide. "Miss, I doubt you'll be purchasing anything but! You're going to be milady soon. You must dress the part."

"Oh, how tedious. I only wanted some underthings and a few new muslins."

"Miss—milady—don't you want to do his lordship proud?"

Willa hadn't thought about it like that. She stroked the silk, unable to resist the feel of the fine fabric on her fingers. Indeed, she would very much like to do Nathaniel proud.

A light knock came on her door. She pushed away her thoughts and rose to answer it.

A politely smiling Daphne stood there, her arms full.

"Good morning, Miss Trent."

"Willa, please."

Daphne gave her a restrained tilt of the lips. "Then I shall be Daphne, of course."

She held out her burden like an offering. "Lily told me that you were going out to the shops, and I thought you might like something a little more… usual to wear."

Looking down at herself, Willa had to acknowledge that she would be fortunate to be allowed in the doors wearing such a rag. She would have liked to claim that she'd never really cared about her wardrobe. She hadn't needed anything fine, not for tending the inn or tramping the fields.

Unfortunately, she had a true weakness for pretty things. She simply lacked the temperament to wear them delicately.

The items that Daphne handed over to Lily were primarily cover-ups. A redingote of lovely blue silk. A deep green taffeta mantle and one in black. A jumble of scarves and shawls and a small selection of bonnets.

"It is very damp out today, so it will be entirely expected to wear something to completely cover your gown."

It was a kind thing to say and an even kinder thing to think of. Willa had to smile at her. "Thank you. You are very generous."

Daphne nodded with polite dignity but did not truly smile. "You are most welcome. I'm… sorry that I reacted so badly to your betrothal. I was simply so surprised. Who could have dreamed he would ever marry?"

She glanced down to Willa's unadorned fingers. "Have you put your ring away?"

Willa wasn't prepared for the hurt the question caused. She was sure Nathaniel would remember the betrothal ring soon. In the meantime— "Nathaniel said he wished to select one here in town. There was not much to choose from in Derryton."

She was surprised at herself. Why such a shocking lie? Perhaps it was the very clumsiness of such a direct question coming from the most ladylike woman Willa had ever seen. Clumsy or snide?

"Oh dear," Daphne apologized prettily, "I have been rude. I'm sure Thaniel will find something lovely here in town."

Willa narrowed her eyes. Hmm. The apology was nicely done. Still, Willa was none too sure.

Then Lily entered with another stack of selections and the game was on.

Many things were too short and the redingote wouldn't even close over Willa's bust, but at last a mantle from last year proved to be the proper length and generous enough in the fit to cover Willa. With a quick choice of bonnet, Willa was ready to go out.

Even restrained Daphne seemed quite taken with the idea of "starting over" with entirely new things.

"Imagine never having to wear something one is so dreadfully tired of," she said wistfully. "I declare I've worn this very morning dress six times."

Willa blinked at her. She knew that ladies changed their gowns every hour upon the hour, or so Moira had claimed, but to protest a mere six wearings? That would still amount to less than a day's use altogether.

What an outlandish way to carry on.

She couldn't wait to start shopping.

After promising Myrtle final approval on everything he bought for Willa, Nathaniel left her with a quick kiss of gratitude. He had left the house and was halfway across the lawn to the mews when it occurred to him that he should have rung for someone to bring a carriage round. Odd. He had become so used to doing for himself that it seemed a bit ridiculous to tell a servant to tell another servant to tell another servant to hitch the brougham.

He was already nearly there, and it felt good to leave the house, at any rate. Rounding the wall into the cobbled stable yard, Nathaniel saw his cousin Basil leaving the stables.

His cousin was nearly as tall as he but, without any sort of regular activity, tended to be somewhat softer about the middle. Basil was by nature annoying, but Nathaniel considered him harmless. As Nathaniel's heir, Basil spent his days living off the expectation that he would someday be Lord Reardon, and so he mortgaged himself accordingly.
Debt
and
Basil
were very nearly synonymous.

"Hello, Thaniel," Basil said lazily, but without rancor. "I'd heard you rambled in last night."

"Hello, Basil." Nathaniel couldn't resist. "I hear congratulations are in order."

"Oh yes. Daphne." Basil eyed him a bit warily. "Well, you didn't want her, old man."

"I wanted her," Nathaniel replied a bit grimly. "I simply couldn't subject her to my disgrace." Although somehow it didn't sting the way it should have. Daphne was a pallid watercolor next to the vibrant oil painting that was Willa.

"Hmm, yes. About that…" Basil grimaced. "I hope you aren't planning on staying too long. I have guests coming in a few days. We're all to ride north together."

A corner of Nathaniel's mouth twisted up. It seemed people couldn't get rid of him fast enough. "Still the ever hospitable Basil, I see."

"Well, you know how people get around you. Spoils all the fun for the rest of us, you know."

"Really? And here I thought you rather enjoyed my exile."

"Simply trying to see the humor in a bad situation, old boy, a bad situation."

"Stop talking, Basil," Nathaniel said wearily. "You make me want to hit you when you speak."

Basil stopped talking, but Nathaniel could tell his cousin was positively bursting with more to say.

He sighed. "What is it, Basil?"

Basil shrugged. "Thought you might like to know. The grooms saw someone lurking about the house during the night. An awful scarred creature, to hear them tell it. They tried to catch him, but he was awfully fast on his feet for a crippled beggar. The grooms said he was trying to break into the kitchen window."

John Day
. Blast. Apparently his assumptions about the man had been off.

At least, he'd never left Willa alone with him… had he?

At any rate, it was time to take measures. Nathaniel called for the closed carriage and an extra man to ride guard in front. If he was going to take Willa into the city with him, he could not take chances on putting her in danger. Shaking his head, Nathaniel called to one of the avidly curious stable boys to make sure the extra guard was armed.

It was time to face the city.

The city was more fascinating than Willa could ever have imagined. She had been so desperately weary last evening when they had ridden through it that she hadn't taken in much past the sooty smell and the fog.

Now they rode in the closed carriage through the streets, turning and twisting down this one and that, until Willa couldn't have found her way back in a lifetime.

The way was crowded with vehicles and riders and pedestrians alike, with apparently no rules in effect but for the law of get-there-first.

So many people. Intellectually, Willa had understood how crowded the city was, but in reality, the crush of humanity seemed to steal the very air from her lungs.

The noise was relentless. From the clop of horses' hooves on the cobble, to the creak and rattle of carriage and wagon alike, to the cries and drums of the street vendors, she had never heard such a cacophony.

It was fascinating. She wanted desperately to leap from the brougham and explore every inch.

"You become used to it," remarked Nathaniel, who was watching her dive from one side to the other so as not to miss a thing.

"Are you used to it?"

He looked around him. "I was once. Not anymore."

Willa thought of the fresh flood of questions hammering at the dam of her self-control but fought them back. Now was not the time.

She needed to get Nathaniel alone, make him answer every one with no reprieve, until the holes in their future were all filled in. Until then, she would relish the city and restock her lost wardrobe.

At length they turned down a much wider street, lined with prosperous-looking shops on both sides. Above the storefronts the buildings reached to three and four stories high. Willa had never seen anything like it.

When they lighted from the brougham, she could hardly keep from tilting her head all the way back to peer at the windows so high above her, but the shops pulled her attention as well with all their enticing and curious merchandise.

The first one they entered was a dress shop. The selection seemed sparse until Nathaniel slipped the proprietress a banknote. Then lovely things appeared, seemingly from thin air.

"Oh, Nathaniel. These are very dear," Willa protested. So she carefully chose a simple morning dress of sprigged muslin, thinking of trimming it herself, but Nathaniel promptly returned it to the proprietress and chose one more resembling the confection she had seen on Daphne today.

"It's too dear." She kept her voice to a hiss, but she was scandalized by the cost.

Nathaniel only looked at her curiously and placed another one, in a green stripe, on the counter. Then a pretty Turkish blue walking dress and a matching redingote.

"We'll start with these and we'll order more."

Three new dresses? They were so lovely. Willa very nearly had to wipe her chin. But the cost? "Nathaniel, it simply isn't—"

Don't you want to do His Lordship proud?

She smiled at Nathaniel. "It simply isn't enough," she said cheerfully.

"That's my girl." He winked at her and, after she'd been measured and he'd given direction for delivery in a few days, whisked her off to the glover.

And the milliner.

And the cobbler.

And a shop where Willa was discreetly shown behind a curtained doorway to choose from among the most decadent and fabulous underthings she could ever have imagined.

Why, some were so impractical that she couldn't imagine how one was to don or remove them without help! The thought that Nathaniel could help her remove them caused Willa several heated moments while she stared blankly at the filmy drawers in her hands and imagined.
Oh my
.

Then she realized that many women had maids like Lily to help them. Well, Willa wouldn't have Lily forever, so she was careful to choose things she could take care of herself.

There was quite an array of corsets, and Willa looked them over curiously. She'd heard all about them, but since Moira had felt they were unhealthy, Willa had never worn one. Although she would love to appear more svelte, she had to agree that they did appear rather torturous.

It took some doing, but she managed
not
to choose simple chemises and drawers of batiste, night rails of dotted muslin, and the only unclocked stockings in the place. Instead, she bought fine lawn, silk, and more stockings than any one woman would ever need.

Clocks, yet! What a vanity
, she told herself, even as she bit her lip in acquisitive craving for the lacy things. She bought three pairs.

Then, blushing because she was sure that somehow Nathaniel would learn of what she had purchased, she ventured back into the waiting area where she had left him alone.

He was no longer alone. A cluster of women stood in one corner, eyeing Nathaniel and clearly discussing him. When Willa crossed the room to his side, the hushed whisper grew to a flurry. Then, as one, the group pointedly turned their backs on Nathaniel and Willa.

Willa might have been country bred, but she knew the "cut direct" when she saw it. Nathaniel's face had gone hard and his jaw was clenched. Willa quickly touched his arm.

"I didn't see a thing I needed here. Why don't we go?"

He shot her a dark look that she couldn't read. It was almost… fear. She gave his arm a gentle tug.

"Let's go."

Just then, the assistant came to take direction for the delivery of Willa's purchases.

"Reardon House, Grosvenor Square," Nathaniel growled, inciting a new storm of hissing from the women in the corner. Tossing the clerk a note, Nathaniel took Willa's arm and strode from the shop. The whispers followed them all the way into the street.

"I say, it's Reardon! Lot of ballocks you've got, showing your face in town."

Nathaniel froze at the taunting call, his arm turning to iron beneath her hand. Willa looked around him to see where it had come from.

A group of gentlemen lounged about the entry, a matching set for the women inside. They appeared wealthy, bored, and very unhappy to see Nathaniel.

Nathaniel closed his eyes and breathed deeply. Willa had seen him doing it a dozen times, most often when he was exasperated. This time, he seemed more like a king cobra forced into a corner.