Christmas Brides (Three Regency Novellas) (23 page)

"I've spoken to Susan about procuring a nurse for Fanny and a maid for you."

She stopped in mid stride. "Whatever would I need a maid for?"

"You shall have to ask my sister about that. I believe they assist one with dressing and look after their clothing. Things of that sort."

"My lord, I possess but two dresses!"

"That does reflect most poorly upon your husband. Have I not been generous enough to you?"

"I told you before, I go nowhere, therefore I don't need an extensive wardrobe."

"But all that has changed with the change of your husband's status."

She liked it better when her husband was just Harry, a captain in the Guards. She had to confess she had fanaticized about him returning and falling in love with her and making a real home for her and Fanny.

But this wasn't the Harry she'd half fallen in love with. This was an aristocrat from a world in which she could never belong.

Even if she had fallen completely in love with her purple bedchamber. And the warm library. And the baroque chapel.

"Oh, there you are!" Susan said, scurrying toward them, then hooking her arm through Elizabeth's. "You will be happy to learn all of my commissions have been successfully completed."

Her brother raised a brow. "You've already procured a nurse and a lady's maid?"

"Indeed I have." She peered up at her brother. "Nothing would do when Na Na heard there was to be a child at Farley again that she must come out of retirement and care for it."

"Na Na was nurse to all of us," he explained to Elizabeth, "and she's continued living here."

"And she's not been happy to have been put to pasture," Susan added. "She adores children, and she wants nothing more than to be useful." She turned to Elizabeth. "You could never have a more loving woman to care for your child than Na Na."

"I couldn't be more pleased," he said. "And what of the lady's maid?"

"I wanted to speak with Lady Broxbourne first."

Elizabeth most certainly did not like to be addressed as such. It did so sound like his mother's name.

"Would you object to training one?'

Elizabeth broke out into laughter. "It would be like the blind leading the blind."

"My wife does not perceive that she needs a maid."

"Oh, but you will, my dear, once we've finished with your new wardrobe." Susan's gaze shifted from Elizabeth to Harry. "If you're finished with her, the girls and I are going to attack any wardrobe deficiencies she may have."

"I do need to meet with Hinckley now," he said, making eye contact with Elizabeth, "but I was hoping this afternoon to show you some of the grounds."

"But everything's covered with snow," Susan protested.

"There's still much to see."

Elizabeth glared at him. "Whatever you say, my lord."

He started to stroll away. "And, Susan, make sure my wife gets at least a dozen new dresses."

Susan began to lead Elizabeth away. "How very exciting."

Elizabeth's face was scorched by the realization she was an embarrassment to Harry and his family because of her dowdy clothing.

Chapter 4

The library door eased open. He was disappointed it was only Susan. He’d wished to be alone in the warmth of this comforting chamber with his wife.

"Here you are!" Susan came and sat on a sofa near him.

"You've been fitting my wife for new gowns, no doubt?" It did not matter to him what Elizabeth wore, she was always lovely. Extraordinarily so.

"It has been so much fun. Can you believe the dear woman appears to be completely unaware of how exquisitely, unbelievably beautiful she is?"

"She does seem to lack artifice of any kind."

"We were able to take a couple of Diane's dresses and hem them to fit your petite wife until the new ones can be made. She will quite put the rest of us to shame at the dinner table tonight. "

He should argue, but to do so would be to lie. "Let's just say our table will be blessed with the loveliest ladies in all of Derbyshire tonight."

"Aren't you diplomatic!" His sister's eyes narrowed. "I must know about the child. As much of a rake as you have been, dear brother, seducing clergymen's daughters was not one of your vices. I thought you only went for opera dancers."

His sister was too damned perceptive. He'd never been able to hide anything from her. "The opera dancer died in childbed with Fanny." The very mention of Annie's death still scraped a deep, retching wound inside him.

"Oh, Harry, I'm so sorry."

"I was fortunate to find a clergyman's daughter to look after my daughter."

"A clergyman's daughter who just happens to be excruciatingly lovely."

He nodded. "She's out of charity with me now, though."

"Why?"

"Because I wasn't honest with her. She did not know my father was a viscount."

"And that upsets her? How many women have thrown themselves at your feet in the hopes of being your viscountess someday?"

"I think she could have been happy as the wife of a captain in the Guards, but she says she is not fit to be the wife of a viscount."

"That's positively ridiculous. A sweet-natured thing like she would bring credit to our family."

He knew he could always count on Susan. "Would that Mama would be less rigid with her."

"She will. It just takes time. She was not happy that your wife gave birth to a child out of wedlock—or so she thought. May I tell her the truth?"

"I know I should be the one to tell her, but I just can't bring up the topic of opera dancers with my own mother."

"Leave it to me." She gave him a rather queer look. "Tell me, Harry, are you in love with Elizabeth?"

He had not tried to put to words this tangle of feelings the fair Elizabeth evoked in him. "If wanting to spend every minute with her and being unable to purge her from my mind when we're apart, then, yes, I suppose I am."

Despite what she thought, his wife made a wonderful viscountess. He could not remove his gaze from her throughout dinner. Not only did she look stunning in a saffron colored gown of a very sheer fabric, but her solicitousness of the others at the table could not have been more genuine.

"Do you not find your wife's hair lovely, Broxbourne?" Susan asked.

"Is that why I haven't been able to take my eyes off her?" He smiled mischievously at Elizabeth.

"Her new lady's maid dressed it for her."

His mother directed her attention to Susan. "I wasn't aware of this."

"I took the liberty of elevating one of the chambermaids that I had noticed had a flair for dressing her own hair," Susan explained.

"You would not believe how thrilled she was to become a lady's maid," Sarah added.

"Which chambermaid?" the dowager asked.

"Newman."

"Whom I shall now address as Sally," Elizabeth said. "She's ever so competent, even though I am certainly no judge."

"You were lovely before," the dowager said, "and you're even lovelier now."

He could have lifted his mother into his arms and swung her around the chamber.

"I'm sorry we stole your wife for the whole afternoon," Susan said to Harry, "but we were all having such fun with the new dress patterns and taking fittings and selecting fabric. I hope you weren't too disappointed. I know you wanted to show your wife the grounds this afternoon."

"As it happens, my business with Hinckley took much longer than I expected." He looked at Elizabeth. "Will you work me into your schedule in the morning?"

"It will be my pleasure."

"In the afternoon I was hoping we could take the children to gather fresh berries to decorate the house for Christmas," his mother said.

"They will love that," Susan said.

"I know Fanny will. She was scarcely more than a babe last Christmas," Elizabeth said. There was a tenderness in her voice and a sparkle in her eyes when she talked about Fanny.

"Have you seen the nursery?" Susan asked Elizabeth.

"Only for a few seconds this morning when we were looking for your boys. It was quite empty."

"Let's go there after dinner," he suggested. "You'll want to meet Na Na."

"Oh, I already met her. A lovely old woman, she is. Fanny was immediately taken with her. I shall become most jealous."

"So," Robert said to his oldest friend, "your wife tells us you met at church. 'Pon my word, I almost fell over when I heard that."

Just like his wife, Robert was too damned nosey. And it was too bloody hard to hide anything from either of them. Harry’s gaze flicked down the length of the table to where his viscountess graced their presence with her elegance. "So, what did you tell them about our meeting?"

"I told them you were most solemn—and that I believed you to be pious."

Robert's bellowing laugh was contagious.

Elizabeth and his mother exchanged imploring gazes. "They just don't understand Har-, Broxbourne's finer qualities."

His mother offered Elizabeth her tight smile. "Indeed they don't, my dear."

* * *

From the day she'd gotten Fanny, they had never been separated. She had been so happy this morning for Fanny to have found a little playmate, but she was slightly wounded that Fanny wasn't a bit more clingy.

It was going to be torture for her to leave her child in the nursery each night. It was so very far from her own chambers. She knew Na Na would be there with her and would take good care of her, but Elizabeth was beginning to feel as if she were not needed anymore. Just what was she bringing to this marriage now?

She had feared that Fanny would be upset at their separation and was bitter sweetly surprised when she was not. Of course, as long as her cousins were staying at Farley, the three of them would all sleep in the big nursery, along with Na Na.

What child wouldn't love the nursery? The huge chamber was probably as large as Papa's church, only it was informally divided into various areas. Her heart tugged when she saw a baby cradle in a corner. Had Harry used that when he was a wee one? Another area was like a small school room with little tables and chairs and a bookcase brimming with dog-eared volumes. One corner held a couple of large laundry-sized baskets brimming with toys, and another featured rows of plump, undersized feather beds.

While Elizabeth set all the children around her while she read them a bedtime story, Susan nearly tore up the room searching for Helene. "Na Na," Susan asked, "do you not know where Helene is?"

The plump, gray-haired woman shook her head. "I 'aven't seen that doll since Diane decided she liked boys better than dolls."

"I did so want for Fanny to have her," Susan said.

Elizabeth was touched over how sweet Susan had been to her—and to Fanny. All of her husband's sisters had been exceedingly kind. It made her feel even worse, knowing she was a fraud.

To her delight, when she finished reading to the children, his lordship sat on the edge of Fanny's bed and proceeded to tell the children a story he knew by heart. It was the story of David and Goliath, and he told it with great inflection. The children were spellbound.

When he finished, they all implored him to tell them another. "Tomorrow night," he promised. He tucked the covers around Fanny and bent to kiss the top of her head. "Sleep tight, Little Love."

While he was tucking Fanny in, Susan kissed each of her sons.

Before they left the chamber, Elizabeth pressed a kiss to Fanny's cheek.

To her astonishment, Fanny did not even take notice of her leaving. One half of Elizabeth was thrilled that Fanny was enjoying her cousins and all the new experiences so thoroughly, but the other half of her wished she was back in their little cottage on the outskirts of London, where it had just been the two of them—and her dreams of one day sharing that cottage with her dashing captain when he returned from the Peninsula.

Now she felt as unneeded as a third leg.

* * *

After dinner he had gallantly offered to partner with his wife at whist against Susan and Robert, but it turned out to be no sacrifice at all. His wife was an excellent whist player. As much as he enjoyed the game, though, he kept wishing the game over, wishing he could be alone with her before the fire in her bedchamber.

When Susan began yawning uncontrollably, he was happy to terminate play. “It’s been a long day,” he said, reaching to pat his sister on the back. “Early to bed is a good idea.”

He did not miss Robert’s sly glance from him to Elizabeth and the little smirk on his old friend’s mouth.

As they climbed the stairs in the cool stairwell, he proffered his arm to Elizabeth and began to stroke the length of her glove. “Cold?”

“It does get terribly cold here.”

“I should have an inglenook installed,” he said, leaning toward her, then speaking mischievously. “But then I wouldn’t have an excuse to take you arm in such an intimate gesture.”

She snatched her arm away as if stung by a bee. “You odious man!” The humorous flash in her eyes belied her words.

When they reached the door to her chamber, he said, “May I come in? There are a few matters I wish to discuss with you.”

“Of course.” She strolled into the chamber. “Won’t you sit on the settee, my lord?”

“Now see here, Elizabeth! I’m your husband. Must you be so beastly formal?” He waved her to sit first. A gentleman did not sit while a lady stood.

“I am sorry if I don’t know what is expected of me.” She sat down at the far end of the silken settee. “I’ve told you countless times I’m not fit to be your wife.”

“You’re the only one possessed of that opinion.”

“You’re much too kind, but I’ve always been aware of your excessive nobility.”

“Pray, do not imbue me with qualities I do not possess.” A truly noble man would not have dalliances with opera dancers he had no intentions of marrying. For that, he would atone for the rest of his days.

“What are these matters you wished to discuss?”

“I wanted to let you know that Susan knows everything about Fanny’s parentage, and when Susan knows something, everyone at Farley is soon informed.

Her pretty little face was pensive, her long lashes lowered as she contemplated his words.