Jo Beverley - [Rogue ] (27 page)

The children looked distinctly dubious about it all, but Rosie said, "Betty's fun."

"George is all right, too," admitted Bastian. "He knows boxing, and he likes Blucher."

Leander spoke up. "Then one or the other or both can look after you when your mother and I are busy. I'll go odds they both know London a great deal better than we do. Now, it's time for luncheon, and you are both rather dusty. Why don't you go and wash. Do you know how to ring for the servants?"

They nodded.

"Off you go, then."

When they had gone, he turned to Judith with a rueful look. "I confess, I never thought they would resent me so."

"A blow to your ego?" she asked, but then said, "I'm sorry. That's hardly fair. They are bound to have problems with some of the changes, and I'm afraid they'll blame most of them on you."

"I suppose I can cope. It should toughen me up for the Battle of the Temple. I don't like it when they look at me with that reserve, though, as if they expect me to turn into a two-headed monster at any moment. But I can't always indulge them. It wouldn't be wise."

She went and linked her arm with his. "Of course it wouldn't. They're in the middle of a great many changes, and still working out for themselves what it will all mean. So are we. I'm finding it hard to be a countess, and I'm sure it must be very hard to become a father overnight. I think you're doing splendidly."

He grinned like a schoolboy. "Thank you. I think you're doing well at the countess trade, too."

"Though I've hardly started." Judith meant that she'd not attempted to take her place in Society but she saw him read another meaning. He gave her a sultry look that had her heading straight for the dining room. She hadn't forgotten that comment about not restricting intimate moments to bed.

After the meal, Leander went over Judith's list, and made arrangements for the hire of a carriage and horses from a nearby livery, and riding horses for the children. He also gave her a roll of bills as part of her pin money, and authority to bid the merchants send their accounts to his man-of-business for settlement.

Judith looked at the bank notes, more than her quarterly income before this marriage. "You are very generous."

He dismissed it with a gesture.
"De nada."

When he discovered she intended to visit a furniture warehouse, he put aside his plans and came with her. While Bastian and Rosie were sent off with both escorts to explore the nearby streets and parks, Judith and Leander rolled off in the carriage to the establishment of Waring and Gillow.

Judith discovered she had the schoolboy back on her hands. Leander, it turned out, had done little domestic shopping. As long as he had lived with his parents, they had taken care of household matters, and the family had always lived in temporary, hired accommodations. As a single diplomat or officer, he had had little need of domesticity.

He was charmed by the variety of designs and fabrics, and the selection available. He tried any number of chairs.

"What a marvelous idea, "he said when he'd found one he liked. "I always thought the furniture one ended up with was at the whim of the gods." He winked at her. "Perhaps we should try out the beds. I definitely need a new one. Mine must have come off the ark."

Judith cast an alarmed glance at the clerk, and frowned at her mischievous husband. "Waring and Gillow do not provide mattresses, only frames, and the frames in your house are in perfect condition."

"A bit somber, though, aren't they?" He leapt up and headed toward the beds. Judith gave up discretion and grabbed his jacket. He stopped and looked down. "No?"

"Not today. Leander, we're only likely to be in London for a few weeks. When we return, our tastes may be quite different. I just want a couple of chairs and a desk, though I don't suppose I'll even have them to use during this stay."

She saw the twinkle in his eyes and wondered just how much of the boyishness was acting, how much was real.

He turned to the clerk. "We want three chairs. That one and those two." He indicated the one he'd liked and the style Judith had chosen.

"Yes, my lord. Perhaps you would care to select a fabric...."

"No. We want
those
chairs."

The clerk blanched."But they are our display models, my lord."

"So?"

The man looked even more harassed. "But any number of people have sat in them."

Leander burst out laughing. "I should think the whole world's sat in the ones we're using now. They certainly feel like it. If you can't authorize it, find someone who can."

"No... no. If you're certain, my lord. Of course..."

"Good. Then on to desks. And don't show us anything you're not willing to deliver today."

Judith was half inclined to hide under a table at this display of aristocratic arrogance, but half inclined to cheer. It was clear Leander thought nothing of it, and so she tried to look as if she scarcely noticed the incident either.

Unfortunately the desks were situated close to the library furnishings, where ingenuity seemed to run wild. While she was choosing between a number of delightful escritoires, he was exploring. When her choice was made, he insisted on demonstrating chairs that turned into steps, and steps that turned into desks.

"I can't understand why this principle hasn't been extended," he said merrily. "We would only need one piece of furniture. We would merely have to operate a lever and the bed could become the breakfast table, then the desk, then the sofa...."

"There'd be crumbs everywhere. And what would be the point? We have room enough for furniture."

"But then everyone could live in one room. The population of England could all live in London."

Judith shook her head. "And that would be an improvement? Anyway, my lord, a great many people do live in one room, whole families in one room, but I doubt they can afford your fancy furniture."

He chose to look subdued. "Yes, ma'am."

Judith steered him out of the establishment and to the carriage. He gave the coachman an address.

"Where are we going?" Judith wasn't much concerned. She could not remember ever feeling so free, and having such fun. The children were well cared for, she had no money worries, she was with a madcap who would doubtless make her laugh all afternoon.

"Mattresses," he said. "The clerk supplied an address."

"Are we to have mattresses, too, that the world has used before?"

"No," he said, "at that I draw the line. But we'll order them so that when we return here the beds will be free of lumps."

"There was really no need to bully that poor man. I could have survived without new chairs for a few days."

"But why should you, when there are perfectly good chairs there? If you don't like the coverings, we'll order others, then they can have their samples back." He grinned at her. "Are you feeling sympathy with the
sans culottes?
Do you want to hang me from the nearest lamppost?"

"Of course not. I suppose I'm a little envious really."

"Then at the mattress maker, you play the tyrant."

"I wouldn't know how, and we don't expect to get mattresses today."

"See what you can do."

It was a challenge. Judith found she responded to challenges. At the mattress makers they were shown miniature samples stuffed with hair, felt, feather, and down. She had always wanted a down mattress. The expense was terrible, but she was a countess now. "The down, I think," she said with a casual air. She turned to Leander. "Unless you prefer a firm mattress, my lord?"

He was smiling at her in a way that made her think of the coming night. "We should probably have one of each, and then sleep how the fancy takes us...."

She hastily looked away. "I intend to have the down."

"Then I will have the best hair. I certainly don't mind a firm bed."

Judith turned to the clerk and made the orders. "We would like them immediately," she said, trying for a haughty manner.

"Immediately!" the man said, almost dropping his pencil.

Judith found haughty did not come naturally, and she turned to appeal. "Is that impossible?" she asked sweetly. "You see, my husband and I have just moved into a house with the most terrible beds. I have not had a wink of sleep...."

The young man blushed and fidgeted. "Well, milady, I'm not sure... Please wait a minute."

He disappeared into the workroom. Leander bent over to whisper in her ear, "I must remember to be on my guard if you ever decide to wheedle me, my dear."

Before Judith could reply, the clerk came back, bashfully pleased with himself. "We... er... have a couple of mattresses just completed, my lady, and the customers not expecting them yet. They'll be delivered today."

Judith was hard-pressed not to laugh, but she managed to give the young man a beaming smile along with her gushing thanks.

When they were in the carriage, Leander touched her nose, "Beginning to appreciate your charms?"

Judith did not know what to think. "I suspect it is the title rather than any attribute of mine."

"Do you think so?" He took her hand and kissed her fingertips. "So, my Lady Charrington, which do you prefer tonight? Hard or soft?"

She couldn't think of anything to say, but he appeared to be very content to have rendered her speechless. He progressed from thoroughly kissing her fingers to kissing her lips. Judith found any tendency to object to this outrageous behavior was swamped by the sweet pleasure of his lips.

He gently disengaged. "If we are to wait until tonight, as a proper married couple should, I must now recollect that I have a number of matters to attend to hereabouts. Would you mind returning home alone?"

Judith felt decidedly reluctant to see him go, but she knew he was right. "A coachman and footman is hardly alone. Of course not."

He pulled the cord, and the coach stopped to let him off.

Judith watched him go, still tingling from his kisses, and more nervy than ever about the night. She knew, from their interrupted wedding night something of what to expect, but whenever she thought of marital duties her experiences with Sebastian always came to mind. She could neither separate the two entirely, nor mesh them to make sense....

It was only after a few minutes that she realized that this was an opportunity to get the matter of the wretched bill over and done with. She had the roll of money Leander had given her, and there was over two hundred pounds. He'd told her to indulge herself. To be rid of this burden would be the greatest indulgence possible. She pulled the cord.

When the coachman opened the trap, she directed him to the establishment of Mr. Algernon Browne, Printer.

Chapter 13

She half expected somewhere shady, but when the coach drew up, it was outside a handsome stone building, with a shiny brass plaque announcing the proprietor. The footman let down the steps and handed her out, then accompanied her into the building.

It was doubtless the coach and footman who conjured up such gratifyingly warm attention. Soon she was closeted with Mr. Browne, the footman awaiting her outside the office.

"Some wine, my lady," the man gushed. "I had not heard of your happy nuptials. Please accept my warmest felicitations."

Judith took a glass of wine. Mr. Browne was in no way shady either. He was a handsome, rotund gentleman in his forties, giving every evidence of prosperity. And why shouldn't he, she thought waspishly, with idiots willing to pay a hundred and three guineas to have twenty volumes of their poetry bound in cordovan leather, heavily gilded?

She smiled sweetly, however, as he praised her late husband's art and sensitivity, and reiterated how much Mr. Rossiter was missed by his devoted readers.

"I have wondered, dear lady," the man said at last, not quite able to hide the hungry gleam in his eyes, "whether Mister Rossiter left any unpublished works...? I did ask Mister Timothy Rossiter, but he denied the possibility. Even if the poems were in an unpolished state, we would be willing to publish them."

"No," Judith lied firmly. "I'm afraid not." For all his apparent respectability, the man had the instincts of a shark. He scented money now she had married well, and hoped to gain a commission for another extravagant edition."I have merely come to pay what was owed for the last edition." She pulled out the money, which she had already counted in the coach.