Chapter 11
As Blevins closed the door behind him, Drew noticed the last of Marianne’s skirts going up the stairs. With a dismissive nod to the butler, he followed her.
He caught her up as she reached her bedchamber door. “Home so early? I thought you might dance the night away with Gentilly.”
Marianne turned, her hand still on the doorknob. “I’m exhausted. You’ve made it an eventful day. I expect to see him again in the next few evenings. What of you? Did you just get in?”
“I came from seeing your father. I felt he should know of my return directly and not through some gossip that drifted his way.” Drew took a few steps closer to her.
“My father? How did he react to your reappearance?” Letting go of the knob, she faced him.
“Much better than I hoped. I explained to him what had happened. Just as I did to you. Your brother, however, was another matter entirely.” Restraining the urge to touch her, Drew caressed the miniature in his pocket.
“Chase? My brother was there?”
“He exploded into the room just as I prepared to leave. It seems he had been making the rounds at the hells and had come upon a gent who had left the ball we attended. Said gentlemen enlightened all who would listen of my miraculous return. Chase found me speaking with your father and presumed to take me to task.”
“He threatened you?”
“He tried to take a punch at me but I put a stop to that. I suggested he have discussions with your father and come to me with further questions. He said if he was not satisfied he would call me out.”
Her eyes grew wide with alarm. “No, my lord, you mustn’t let him. He has no degree of skill.”
Drew noticed how Marianne had taken to worrying the ring on her finger, her wedding ring. “I shan’t. I will make sure it will not come to that. But I think George will calm him down, as your father seemed to understand the circumstances completely.
“By the way, Marianne, we had a short discussion about you, Gentilly, and Andrea. He told me of her postponed name day party on Thursday next.”
“Yes. We’ve planned a celebration, first with her young friends and then with the family. We had to delay it due to bad weather and an illness Andrea had. You, of course, are welcome to come. You are her father, after all.”
Releasing his talisman, he moved closer, lifted his hand and gently slid a loose tress behind her ear. Touching her, even this lightly, still sent a swirl of energy through him. Did she feel it?
“Thank you. I’d like that. I will search for a very special present for her. Is there something she would particularly like?”
“She’s three, my lord. She knows not what is even possible.”
He gazed into her eyes, the pale blue color reminding him of the clear waters found in the shallows of the islands scattered across the Pacific. Her scent wafted over him. This evening it was lavender, lavender and female. Intoxicating. He moved even closer, saw her head tilt up as he was quite a bit taller than she.
“I expect, Marianne, there are many of us who have little if any knowledge of what is truly possible regardless of our age. In China, I learned so much about possibilities, the many choices one can allow one’s self to see and consider. I would never have been aware of the plethora of options had I remained here. I’d so much like to share some of them with you.” He leaned closer. He thought about kissing her. Her lips were rosy, moist, alluring. Was she ready for his kiss? Did she actually want it?
He hesitated. Patience. It must be his watchword for now. He could not rush her. In fact, he must entice and tease her, make her curious and wanting. Seduction would be his approach. He would seduce her in a way he was not capable of all those years ago when they married.
He pulled back. “It’s late, my lady. I’ll see you in the morning. May you have sweet dreams.”
He turned and entered his rooms, leaving her standing in the hallway.
~ ~ ~
Marianne retreated to her bedchamber and slumped against the door. Why hadn’t he kissed her? He had been so close she could feel him. Smell him. As earlier that evening, it seemed as if her body responded in a frisson of awareness when he was near. As if they shared some kind of vibration. A shiver coursed through her, like through a fork struck when tuning the pianoforte.
She could almost feel his lips touch hers.
Yet, he didn’t. He left her there without the kiss.
Robert had kissed her goodnight. True, he barely bussed her on the lips but still, there had been no energy between them, no vibration.
It must be Drew’s mysterious reappearance. Curiosity always instigated temptation. More fool her for wondering about it.
She touched her fingers to her lips as if she could feel the kiss that never happened. She took in a deep breath as if she could still take in the scent of him. She’d have to ask him about his soap. Maybe she could order some for Robert. Maybe one of her father’s merchant friends already carried it, though she had never caught that particular fragrance before.
She decided not to call for her maid. She undid her laces and left her gown over the chair by the hearth. She stood in front of her dresser and removed her earrings, necklace, bracelet, laying each neatly on her dressing table for storage by Ellen. Then she took off the rest of her undergarments, stockings, garters, chemise, all of it, and climbed between the bed linens totally naked. Giving a big stretch, she rolled over. For many moments she thought about the events of the evening. The breathtaking reaction to Drew’s appearance when he stood on the landing of the ballroom steps. Her body’s own treachery when he approached her on the veranda. How she seemed to naturally lean in toward him whenever he was near. Her body seemed to sense him and want to be touched by him. She tried to hold that feeling in check but it occurred before she even recognized it.
She was so confused. How could he be gone all this time and yet return in such a way as to make her feel she had missed him?
It made no sense.
Knowing nothing would change for the present, she rolled over once again and fell asleep.
~ ~ ~
Marianne sat on the veranda with her six friends watching the antics of seven children as they played on the grass in the gardens of the town house. In the midst of the three to five-year-olds, a grown man entertained them with abandon.
Her mouth had gone very dry.
Drew had just finished giving each tot an elongated pick-a-back ride and now tossed each little one high in the air as shrieks of joy and pleas of, “Me. Me. I’m next!” were shouted in his direction.
After the last toddler had finished her aerial escapades, Drew waved to Blevins. Moments later the staid butler went off on some unknown errand.
“My, my.” Vanessa, Lady Summersborne, sat just next to her. “Have you taken that man to bed yet?”
Marianne felt the heat rise over her breasts and into her face. “Vanessa, really, he’s been home less than a week. We hardly know each other.”
Vanessa looked over to her and winked. “Would you like me to warm him up for you?” Chuckling, she murmured, “Just joking, of course.”
Alice, Lady Mumsford, chimed in, “I wish my husband would go off for a few years and come back looking like that. I wouldn’t be able to keep my hands off him.”
“Yes, indeed,” Catherine, Lady Dewitt, said as she picked up her teacup.
“Why wait?” Leah, Lady Norton, added, “After all you’ve had to wait for years.”
“Ladies, stop it. There’s Robert to consider. And I don’t even know if the earl is interested in me.” Marianne took a sip from her own teacup as she watched Blevins return with what looked like a board drilled with holes and two lengths of rope.
“Excuse me if I put my two pence in, Marianne,” Gertrude, Lady Pickett, said, “but Robert can’t hold a candle to that. And we’ve all seen the way the earl looks at you. Wouldn’t you all concur he is only too interested in his wife?”
Following avid agreement, Vanessa drawled, “Based on the way he looks at you, Marianne, I expect the man would eat you for breakfast, then lunch, and dinner, too.”
The gathering of ladies giggled.
Marianne grew uncomfortable. When her friends spoke of married life, she always felt they knew so much more than she did. Their conversations seemed to be filled with innuendo and subtle hints of knowledge she should have but didn’t. Unlike so many of the marriages of the ton, these ladies had either married for love or grown into loving and comfortable relationships with their husbands.
Could that even be a possibility with Drew?
The laughter of the children brought her mind back to the activities in the garden.
They all watched as Drew folded one piece of rope in half, then easily sailed it over the sturdy limb of an old oak tree. When the loop came back down, he threaded the two ends through it, then pulled the rope up tight against the limb, the two dangling lengths separated about the width of the board. Next he threaded the loose ends through the holes at each end of the board and tied some type of intricate knot on the underside. Taking the second length of rope he started weaving and tying the cord around the board and the ropes hanging down from the tree.
“Look at those fingers work, will you? My, he is facile, isn’t he?” Vanessa watched intently while Drew finished his labors.
Drew tugged hard on each side of the rope, placed his feet up on the board to test the strength of the swing and the ropes, then turned to his daughter. “Andrea, are you ready?”
The little girl ran up to her father, the big bow in her hair flopping wildly, as she shrieked, “Uppy, uppy!”
In moments, she sat in the newly made swing tethered inside the newly woven rope basket that would keep her from falling out. “Now hold on tight, little one.” Drew gave her a little push and up she went, laughing and giggling.
“Higher, Papa. Higher!”
“All right, my pet, but not too high. We don’t want to scare your mama.”
After giving his daughter a full turn in the swing, he gave each of the other children a ride. He was about to start a second go-round when Blevins approached once more. After a brief consultation, Drew turned back to the expectant group.
“Children, Andrea’s present has just arrived so we must stop the swing rides for now. Everyone wait here while I go fetch it.”
Marianne watched as Drew went out the back garden gate into the alley. What in the world had her husband found to buy their daughter on such short notice? And what would need to be delivered at the back garden gate?
She hadn’t long to wait as the gate swung wide admitting Drew and the prettiest roan pony with a swishing tail and a mane all bedecked in braids and ribbons.
Another loud screech came from their daughter as she ran to her father, her arms raised. “Uppy, uppy, Papa. Horsey. Horsey. Mine!”
Drew lifted the little girl into his arms and gave her a heartwarming hug. With great care he settled her onto the little leather saddle, placed her hands on the horn, and told her once again to hold on tight. Leading her around the grassy backyard, each of the other little ones stepped back, eyes agog, as the birthday girl rode by.
Alice picked up her fan from her lap. “Well, will you look at that. I think there’s no doubt in Andrea’s mind that she is happy to be Papa’s little girl.”
Marianne fumbled for her handkerchief and dabbed a tear from each eye. He was so thoughtful, so kind. He had found the time, made the effort, to buy a pony for their daughter. Andrea beamed from her perch on the little saddle.
But, where did he get the funds for such a purchase? Of course, any tradesman would extend him credit just on his name and title alone. Still, his estates were not in such fine form after his father’s death that he could go out and spend with abandon. She would have to find the time to broach the subject. How does one rein in the spending of an earl? Especially when it was on his own child?
“Really, Marianne.” Vanessa broke her reverie. “If you decide not to keep him, please, will you give him to me? I’ve never seen a man dote on a child with such love and sincerity. How can you give him up?”
Marianne swallowed the huge lump in her throat. “I don’t know,” she murmured, “he is just so not what I expected. He’s a totally different person than when he left.”
“I’ll say.” Gertrude watched each of the children getting a pony ride. “Not one of us would have him as the fop Dandy Andy before he left. Now I think there’s not one of us who would turn him down if the circumstances were made available. Marianne, you have the catch of the ton!”
Marianne stared at her husband. His enthusiasm over his newly discovered daughter was heartwarming. He was so full of life, so handsome, so stable, so masculine, so very different from what she remembered.
“My lady,” the butler interrupted her thoughts, “Mr. and Mrs. Durand have arrived.”
“Thank you, Blevins. Please show them in.”
“We’re here!” Marianne looked up to see her mother waving and her father escorting her onto the veranda. Setting down her teacup and rising, Marianne gave each of her parents a warm hug as Blevins arranged chairs for them.
Blevins hesitated before taking his leave. “My lady, the cake is ready and set up in the dining room. We will light the candles at your command.”
“Very well, Blevins. Just let me see if I can round up the earl and the children. I’m not sure which will be the more difficult.” She heard a round of muffled chuckles from her friends.
Margaret settled in beside her. “That’s the earl? The exquisite gentleman running around with the children as if he were one of them? Your father tried to tell me but—”
“Yes, Mama. My husband returned and I hardly recognize him myself. I know you’ve just sat down but we should probably have the cake before the children get too tired and cranky.”
Marianne looked over to the gathering of playmates, her husband included, and hesitated as she realized all the children were laughing and pointing. Following all the little fingers, she saw that the new pony had dropped a small but stinky load in the grass. Drew held his nose in dramatic fashion and led the tykes, who copied his dramatic nose-pinching actions, away from the smelly mess.
Taking this as a strong hint the time had come to change activities, she waved a hand at her husband until he took notice and strode over to the crowd watching the antics.
“George, Mrs. Durand. Good to see you once again,” Drew acknowledged the arrival of his in-laws.
Margaret blushed prettily. “Good to have you home, my lord.”
“Andrew, or Drew, please.” He turned to Marianne. “Time for cake? Please say yes as I’ve done about all I can to entertain the little ones and they have much more energy than I.”
Marianne heard Vanessa mumble beside her, “I doubt that. He looks like he could go for another hour or two at least. What do you think, Marianne?”
Marianne hissed at her friend. “Hush, Vanessa, everyone will hear you.”
Marianne smiled warmly at her husband. “You’ve done a fine job, my lord. Gather them up and we’ll go in for cake.”
“Is Gentilly not coming?” Drew casually asked.
“I expected him by now,” Marianne rose to her feet, “but we’ll go ahead before the children get cranky.” She nodded to her guests and Blevins who stood by the French doors. “Time for cake. Everyone please round up your little ones and bring them inside.”
After shuffling chairs and gathering toddlers and tykes, a small procession ambled to the dining room. As Drew came along with Andrea in his arms, the little girl reached out to her mother. “Mama, Mama!” Passing her over, Drew entered the town house last.
~ ~ ~
Running a hand through his hair and trying to regain his composure after his exertions with the youngsters, Drew was about to turn into the dining room when he heard Blevins at the front door.
“They’ve just entered the dining room for cake, sir. I’m sure you can join them there.”
Walking farther down the hallway, Drew found Gentilly doffing his hat, then turning to head toward the celebration. He hesitated once more before turning back to the butler to unstrap what looked like a sword from his side.
“Fencing, Sir Robert? Glad you had the wits to remove that weapon before entering the party.”
Gentilly relinquished his sheathed blade to Blevins before he came up beside Drew. “I wouldn’t think of bringing such a thing near the children. Do you fence?”
“Not if I can help it any longer. I had enough of that aboard ship. It could be the French or brigands or just something to do on a slow day but I’d rather leave that skill behind.” Drew and Gentilly entered the dining room.
“You should come to Angelo’s with me some time,” invited Gentilly. “He could teach you a thing or two I’m sure.”
“Thank you for the offer, but, as I said, I’m no longer interested. I plan to make serious studies into more pleasant pastimes.” Drew’s attentions fell on the table where both sides were lined by adults and children. Walking over to the head of the table to stand beside his wife and daughter, he gave Blevins a nod and the candles were lit.
“Four candles, Papa? I’m three,” said Andrea.
“The fourth candle is to shoo away evil spirits and keep you safe. Now, my pet, take a big breath, make a big wish and blow out all the candles.”
In short order, the candles were blown out and the cake cut. The little ones were supervised by their parents while Drew, Marianne, Margaret and George entertained Andrea as they all devoured the sweet chocolate concoction.
Drew could not help but notice Gentilly made little effort to interact with Andrea. Nor did Andrea make any warm gestures to the man who might someday be her stepfather. The interloper stood just to the side eating his cake and glowering as if he were somehow being slighted.
As the feasting completed, the little ones wound down, making it obvious they were all exhausted. One by one, Marianne’s friends came forward with her son or daughter to give final birthday wishes to Andrea and thank them for the afternoon’s festivities. Most of the children were carried, as it had been a very active afternoon.
After the last toddler left, Andrea gave a big yawn as if she had been stifling it for most of the afternoon.
Marianne, holding their daughter on her left hip, gave the little girl a hug. “Well, my love, I do think it’s time for a nap for you. Let’s take you up to bed.”
“No, no. More party,” demanded Andrea in her sweet voice, her bottom lip pushed out in a pout, the big blue bow in her hair wilting and unraveling.
Drew came forward to gather his daughter up into his arms. “Nap for now, little one. Then, if you are very good, maybe we can celebrate a bit more before bedtime. We’ll see what Mama says. All right?”
“Papa, do I have to?”
Drew looked toward Marianne who nodded a firm yes. “Mama says yes, my pet, and we know Mama is in charge.”
After hugs all around, even one for Gentilly that was less than enthusiastic, Jane, who had remained in the background all this time, came forward to take the sleepy toddler off to nap.
An awkward silence fell over the crowd. What should they speak of now?
Marianne broke the stillness. “Shall we go to the drawing room for tea? I’m sure Blevins already has the tray prepared.”