His Wicked Lady (15 page)

“I will, Mother. Will my new father teach me
to be wise?”

With a smile, she said, “I’m sure he will.”
If there was one thing she suspected Malcolm loved more than
anything else, it was talking about money. “All you have to do is
ask, and I wager he’ll be the one talking all the time instead of
you.” She rose to her feet and gestured for him to get out of bed.
“Your new father wants to go to the park, and he’s asked us to go
with him.”

“He’s back!”

“Yes, he is.”

The lad jumped off the bed.

“Leonard,” she called out before he ran for
the door, “you need to change clothes. Those are for resting.” She
pointed to the clothes he had on.

“Sorry, Mother.”

Amused, she helped him dress for the park.
Afterwards, they went to the drawing room, and when they didn’t see
Malcolm there, she had to stop him before he ran for the den.

“We’ll wait for him,” Regan told him. “He’s
busy with some business plans. Let’s enjoy some tarts while we’re
waiting.” She rang for the butler.

“Did Father miss me while he was gone?”

“Yes, he did.” Given how well Malcolm treated
him, she was sure Malcolm liked her son.

“Your mother’s right,” came Malcolm’s
familiar voice. “I missed you while I was gone.”

She turned in time to see Malcolm entering
the room, and Leonard rushed right over to him. “Leonard,
manners.”

“It’s all right,” Malcolm assured her and
picked the boy up. “I don’t mind the lad’s enthusiasm.”

Her eyebrows rose in interest. Had it been
her who did that, she suspected he wouldn’t be as relaxed about
it.

“Mother said you make money,” Leonard
said.

“She did?” Malcolm glanced at her, and if she
guessed right, he was happy about it.

“I told him you’re good at making a profit
from your business dealings,” she replied. “I didn’t use those
exact words, but it was my meaning.”

He turned his attention to Leonard and
smiled. “As it turns out, I excel at acquiring money.”

“Will you teach me how to do it?” her son
asked.

“I don’t know if I can,” Malcolm slowly said,
looking at her. “Can I?”

She nodded. “Certainly. I want you to treat
him like you would your own son.”

She didn’t know why her reply should surprise
him, but there was no denying the shock on his face. Then, just as
quickly as it’d appeared, his smile grew wider.

“Splendid!” He patted the boy on the back.
“In that case, I will be happy to teach you everything I know. Now,
however, I believe we will be taking a stroll in the park. Are you
ready?”

Leonard let out an enthusiastic agreement,
and they headed for the front door.

Chapter Thirteen

M
alcolm stared at the ceiling of his bedchamber. His blankets
were pulled halfway up his chest, and he was twiddling his thumbs.
He sighed and glanced at the door that separated his bedchamber
from Regan’s. He hadn’t heard any sounds coming from there for a
while now. He thought for sure she was going to come in as soon as
he heard her tell the lady’s maid she’d like to be
alone.

Malcolm didn’t make it a habit of
eavesdropping, but he figured in this case, he was better off being
prepared for when Regan would come barging into his room.

Where was she? Last night, she came in just
after he’d undressed. And tonight…? He’d been in bed for over an
hour. At least, he thought it was over an hour. With a grunt, he
got out of the bed. The cool night air blowing in through the
window gave him a slight chill, reminding him why he didn’t make it
a habit to go to bed naked.

But he had gone to bed naked tonight, and
worse, the memory of how wonderful it’d felt to be inside her was
making a certain part of him ache to the point of distraction.
Needless to say, that part of him wasn’t at all happy with him at
the moment. If he hadn’t been so bullheaded earlier that day when
she’d suggested taking that part of him into her mouth, he wouldn’t
be going through this agony right now.

“I know, I know,” he muttered, as if that
part of him could be reasoned with.

It couldn’t, of course. All it knew was what
it wanted. It didn’t ever care for logic. And really, how logical
was it that he even argued with it?

He lit a candle and grabbed his pocket watch.
He hadn’t been in bed for an hour as he thought. It’d been two
hours. With a sigh, he set the pocket watch back on the dresser
then blew out the candle. He went back to bed and debated the best
course of action.

If he went into her bedchamber, she might
declare it a victory, especially after he’d argued with her earlier
that day about him having more important things to do than to make
love to her. Undoubtedly, she was teaching him a lesson. He
couldn’t blame her, really. He’d do the same in her situation. The
best way to win was to outlast the opponent. The method had suited
him well in some sound investments in the past.

But this wasn’t an investment. It was
trivial. This was about a nighttime dalliance in the bedchamber.
She really seemed to enjoy that kind of thing. The erect part of
him enjoyed it, too, which was proving most unfortunate. How was he
supposed to sleep when it wouldn’t let him?

With a heavy sigh, he got up and slipped on
his robe. He was only doing this so his penis would stop pestering
him. That was all. It had nothing to do with him wanting anything
else.

He went to the door connecting their rooms
and tried the knob, surprised when it turned. He wouldn’t have
blamed her if she’d locked the door since he’d done that last
night. Perhaps she was more forgiving than he was. In that case,
maybe she wasn’t delaying their lovemaking on purpose. Maybe she
hadn’t given lovemaking any thought at all for this evening.

When he opened the door, he saw she was sound
asleep in bed, looking perfectly content. Disappointed, he shut the
door and returned to his bed. She was a lady. She didn’t have to
contend with bothersome erections. He didn’t make it a point to
envy anyone anything, but in this particular situation, he couldn’t
help but envy her ability to go right to sleep. It just wasn’t
fair.

After staring at the ceiling for another
hour, he gave up on the notion of sleep. He got dressed and went
downstairs to the den. He could have taken care of things on his
own, he supposed, but now that he knew what being with a lady was
like, it wouldn’t have been the same. That part of him wouldn’t
have been satisfied. It was best to focus on other things, and
there was nothing better to focus on than money.

He lit some candles, poured himself a glass
of brandy to help himself relax, and sat at the desk. In short
time, his attention was drawn to financial matters, which proved to
be completely uninteresting to his penis. Finally, at long last, it
stopped bothering him.

***

When Regan passed by the den the next
morning, she was surprised to see her new husband fast asleep at
the desk, quill still in hand and angled above the parchment he’d
been writing on. She debated on letting him sleep. The poor thing
was snoring pretty hard. But her son came running up from behind
her and darted right over to him.

“Father! Father!” Leonard shook his arm.

“Leonard,” she reprimanded with a sharp look.
“Stop it.”

The boy immediately stopped and let go of his
arm. “Sorry, Mother.”

The damage, of course, had already been done.
Malcolm was sitting up and trying to focus on what was going on
around him. He was absolutely charming first thing in the morning,
what with his immaculately combed hair ruffled and his face
unshaven.

“What’s going on?” he murmured. “Where am
I?”

“You’re in the den,” Regan told him. “I think
you were working on more business plans, but I can’t be sure.”

“Yes.” He put the quill back in the inkwell
and cleared his throat. “I had trouble sleeping, so I thought I’d
come down here and work on something important.”

Trouble sleeping? Her eyebrows rose in
interest. Could it be her ploy in not coming to his bed had
something to do with it? Frederick had said all he’d wanted to do
was be in bed with her right after they married. “Once you know
what making love is like, you want more of it,” he’d teased her.
Perhaps Malcolm was beginning to understand there was more to
lovemaking than having children.

“Will you be going to White’s today?” Regan
asked.

“No.” Malcolm rolled up the parchment and set
it in a drawer. “I need to visit Warren and a couple of his friends
about the things we discussed yesterday at White’s. You remember
who Warren is? He’s Lord Steinbeck.”

“Yes, I remember.”

“He’s highly influential. A good word from
him to the right person can make all the difference.”

She held her tongue, so she wouldn’t remind
him he’d already made it clear how much he idolized Warren. She
didn’t share his enthusiasm for the gentleman, but he was welcome
to his opinion.

“Anyway,” Malcolm continued, “when I return,
maybe we can do something.”

“Like what?” Leonard asked.

“What do you want to do today?” he asked the
boy.

Her son’s eyes lit up. “Can we go to the
circus? Mother seldom takes me.”

“Not enough chances for a scandal, hmm?”
Malcolm asked.

At first, she thought he was criticizing her,
but then she caught the hint of a smile on his lips and knew he was
teasing her. That being the case, she offered a playful shrug and
said, “Well, scandals do get attention, and I’ve never been much of
a wallflower.”

“You are many things,” he began, “but a
wallflower isn’t one of them.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“Considering wallflowers are usually ugly,
you should.” He turned to Leonard. “I’ll take you to the
circus.”

Her heart warmed with pleasure. So he thought
she was pretty? That was nice. She extended her hand to Leonard.
“Are you ready to eat?”

Her son nodded and ran over to take her hand.
Then the three of them went to eat.

***

Regan was in the middle of writing Logan a
missive later that day when the butler announced she had a visitor.
Putting aside the quill and parchment, she got up from the desk in
the drawing room and went over to the settee, fully expecting
either her mother-in-law or Danette. As it turned out, however,
Logan stepped through the doorway.

“Logan!” She waved him over to the chair then
sat down. “What a pleasant surprise. I was just writing to let you
know how yesterday went.”

“Great minds think alike,” he said, accepting
her invitation and sitting down. “I was about to ask how things
transpired between you and my insufferable brother-in-law.”

She giggled at the way he chose to describe
Malcolm. “He’s not so bad once you know what to say around
him.”

“I take it I was right then. You just needed
to tell him how godlike he was, and all your problems were
solved?”

“More or less,” she admitted as the butler
came into the room with tea and scones. She waited until he left
before she continued, “I listened to all of his very important
plans he has with very important people, and before I knew it, he
asked to spend the rest of the day with me and my son.”

Logan snorted. “He seems to think everything
he does is of the utmost importance.”

Chuckling, she poured tea into their cups. “I
think it’s rather adorable.”

“Adorable isn’t the word I’d use to describe
it.” He took his cup and asked, “Mind if I add a little brandy to
this?”

“Of course not.” She rose up to get the
decanter and placed it on the table. “Have as much as you want. I
owe you for your help, Logan. If you ever need me for anything,
don’t hesitate to ask.”

“Is he really that taken with you?”

“Well, he’s been pleasant to me, and better
yet,” she lowered her voice and leaned toward him, “he had so much
trouble sleeping last night he spent the night working on some
business plans.”

“I’m shocked,” he said in mock horror. “You
withheld the bed from him?”

“No. He could have come to my bedchamber, but
he didn’t. I, however, chose not to go to his like I did the other
night.” As Logan poured brandy into his tea, she stirred a lump of
sugar in hers. “I do feel sad for him, though. The poor man was
tired. There were circles under his eyes. I think I’ll go to his
room tonight.”

Logan, who’d been ready to take a drink of
his tea, stopped and set the cup back down. He scooted closer to
her and, keeping his voice low, said, “You must not do that.”

“Why not? Don’t you think he wants me in his
bed?”

“Oh, I’m sure he very much wants you in his
bed, and that’s the point. You don’t want to give him the
advantage. Make him earn it.”