Chapter Eleven
She woke abruptly with the break of day, thoroughly refreshed. She could not remember when she had slept so deeply. She gave credit to the delicious, big bed, with its luxurious mattress and linens. Of course, the fairness of last night’s sensuality might have had something to do with it too.
A good quarter hour passed before the day’s forthcoming events pressed on her, moving her to action. She had to finish with Lady Farnsworth’s duties today, so she could leave tomorrow in good conscience.
She also should not be seen by Langford’s servants. They had to be up and about already. She would need to depart very carefully.
With a long look at her lover, she carefully eased to the edge of the bed. She had one foot on the floor when a hand grasped her other ankle. She turned in shock to see Langford sitting up, holding her captive.
“Where are you going?”
“I have an employer, remember? I cannot sleep until noon like your sort do.”
“It is barely seven o’clock. When does she expect you?”
“Eight.”
He pulled her until she fell back onto the bed. “Her house is a few streets from here, so you do not have to leave for almost an hour.” He pressed her back on the mattress and pushed the linens away. “I said I wanted to see you in the clear light of day.”
Her mind listed the flaws that the night hid and he would now see. Furthermore, she quickly discovered that being naked with a man in the dark was quite different from being in that state with the sun up. Not only did she feel awkward and vulnerable, but he was naked too. She instinctively averted her gaze and pressed an arm against her breasts.
He gently pried that arm away. “Do not be embarrassed. You are beautiful. You gave yourself to me last night so you are mine now, and I want to see you.”
“I should go now, before the entire household is moving about. I need to return home and wash, and—”
He settled on top of her, his hips nestled between her thighs. “I will see that you leave unseen, and you can wash here.” He reached down and stroked her. Her breath caught as last night’s arousal revived as if it had never ended. He pressed inside her. They just lay like that with his fullness tantalizing her. He looked down while he wound his fingers in strands of her hair that had escaped her pins.
“I will be looking for a house to let, where we can meet.” He withdrew and reentered. His expression tensed. She did not know what he thought of what he saw in the light of day, but she saw a man so beautiful that her heart ached, with a face both hard and sensitive due to his passion.
“I would be happy to keep you, and to hell with discretion, if you would allow it, Amanda. However, I will take great care of your reputation if you so choose. It will mean we can’t be seen together except as strangers. Is that your preference?”
She did not know what to say. The truth would never do, and lies would ruin the memories. “Yes, that would be best.”
He nodded, and moved again. She trembled from the pleasure. Another luxurious stroke, then he kissed her hard. “I could do this all morning, but you must go.”
It did not take all morning, but it took long enough. Different this time. Slow and soulful, with them seeing each other in the daylight.
He was the one to leave the bed first. He walked to a door, opened it, and spoke quietly. He returned, striding toward her. She watched him move, admiring his body, which displayed the hard beauty of a young, active man.
“You can use the dressing room. There is water and whatever else you need.” He pulled on a banyan. “There will be food here when you are done.”
The dressing room proved larger than some homes, with divans and chairs as well as the usual items. She found the necessary equipment, and washed with soap that smelled like the duke. She dried herself with a linen so soft that she wondered how it had been made. She took a moment to inspect his brushes, which were nicer than she’d ever imagined a brush being.
She dared not use one, so fixed her hair using only her fingers and pins. She had carried in her clothes and now put them on. One glance in the looking glass deflated her joy. Suddenly she was Amanda Waverly again, not the goddess this duke had made her.
He offered her a choice. A discreet affair, or being his mistress. No liaison at all had not been among the options. That was the way it had to be, however. She did not think she had the courage to tell him that this morning.
Breakfast indeed waited when she returned to the bedchamber. They sat to it together. When he saw how she savored the tea, he poured her more until she had drunk most of the pot.
He appeared rakish and rough with a shadow of beard on his face and his thick curls disheveled and wild. The celadon-green brocade banyan probably cost more than she earned in half a year. She feasted her gaze on him, on the chest partly visible above the garment’s unbuttoned collar, and the well-formed legs that showed when he sat back and extended them.
“How will I get out?” she asked when she finished her meal.
“How did you get in?”
An unfortunate question. “Through the garden door. It was left unlocked.”
His gaze settled on her skeptically. “I doubt that. The housekeeper is very strict. She sees to that door herself.”
She felt herself flushing. “If you don’t laugh, I will tell you the truth. I came in a window. Your housekeeper is not so careful with those.”
He did laugh. “I am picturing that. You cannot go out that way. I will go down and have everyone make themselves scarce under penalty of death. Then you will walk out any door you choose.” He took her hand. “If I have the garden door left unlocked tonight, will you come back?”
“Not tonight.”
“The next then.”
She dared not return to this chamber and this bed. She could not risk falling asleep again. The reasons she should not, the future waiting for her, shouted that this idyll must end.
She should put him off and leave and never meet him again. She need only give him the same excuse she had used with Lady Farnsworth, or the one she’d given Katherine.
She could not find the strength to do that yet. One more time, perhaps. One last bit of heaven before Amanda Waverly disappeared.
“I should not risk entering this house again. However, tomorrow night I will try to meet you in the garden, if that will do.”
He kissed her hand. “We will do it any way that you want, Amanda.”
* * *
He was good to his word and saw Amanda could leave without anyone seeing her. It was not the first time he had demanded the servants disappear so a woman could avoid gossip.
Once she had gone, he washed and dressed. While he donned the coats Miles had laid out, he sent the valet for a footman named Vincent. The fair-haired young man appeared at the dressing room door.
Gabriel brought him in while he finished. “Is the watch on my brother’s house continuing?”
“We are taking turns, Your Grace. A man is there every night.”
“Is he aware of you?” Harry had asked this watch start after he returned to the country. Gabriel could not picture his brother confronting an intruder, so he had sent the footmen at once but told them to stay on the street and remain unknown to his brother.
“I think he is unaware, sir.”
“Good. Now, I have another small charge of a similar nature. Do you think you and the others can handle both?”
Vincent grinned. “I think the lads are enjoying being out and about in the summer nights. They vie for the duty since it is so different and they get to sleep in the morning.”
“This one is not all night, or even part of it. There is a woman who works for Lady Farnsworth. Dark hair, perhaps twenty-three or so. I have reason to think that she walks home alone. We know it is unwise for a woman to be out on the streets on her own.”
“Not wise at all, sir.”
“I want you to follow her when she leaves the lady’s house to make sure no one interferes with her. In the morning, you are to arrive at her home before seven o’clock and again follow while she makes her way back to Mayfair. You are not to let her see you. I cannot make that clear enough. She is not to know.”
Vincent assumed a serious expression. “And if someone does interfere?”
“I expect you to discourage him from ever trying again.”
“It will be a pleasure, sir.”
“Don’t get carried away.”
“Of course not, sir. A mild discouragement should work well enough. I will make sure the lads understand that.”
“See to it, then. Every day until I tell you otherwise.”
Vincent left. Gabriel attached his pocket watch, then went down to the study to get a portfolio. Amanda would object if she knew he had set footmen to watching her. She would probably say she had taken care of herself long enough not to need them.
Perhaps she was right, but he felt the need to protect her now. He had a responsibility where she was concerned, whether she liked it or not.
* * *
Gabriel paced through the modest drawing room. He supposed it was not as small as it had appeared to him at first. His experience did not give him a fair point of comparison.
“It will need new furniture, but she will see to that.”
He turned to where Stratton spoke while he peered through windows at the prospects.
“She will not live here, Stratton. Why would she want new furniture?”
Stratton pushed aside a drape and peered out another window. “It is not the plan that she live here, but eventually she will.”
Gabriel began to regret bringing Stratton along. He had seen him riding and invited him on impulse. The duchess expected lady callers and the baby’s nurse had barred the door to intrusion so Stratton had nothing to do this afternoon.
“It will just happen,” Stratton added. “She will find it inconvenient to leave her home for assignations. You will find it inconvenient to have to plan every meeting. Why don’t you just live here, you will suggest one day. Or, if you are thoroughly smitten, it will be Why don’t I buy you this house and you can live here?”
“It would be more convenient, but she will never agree to being kept.”
“Not yet. She will change her mind, though.” Stratton looked around critically, hands on his hips. “With that eventuality in mind, you should start with a better house. One that will suit you in the longer term. This one is fine, but you will find it poorly apportioned if you have it as a second home.”
A second home was not the plan. He merely sought a house in a quiet neighborhood for having rendezvous with Amanda. Stratton may have given voice to why this drawing room seemed unsatisfactory, however. He did picture himself spending more than the occasional night in it.
Would it ever come to that? A house in her name, a carriage, an account for her to use as she pleased? Stratton assumed Amanda would eventually want that. Gabriel tried to envision whether he would too.
“The last one was far superior,” Stratton said. “More discreet too, being another street away from the square.”
“Your expertise in this clearly exceeds mine. Personal experience? In France, perhaps?”
“I have only watched the progress of such things often. Yes, in France. It is more common there than here. A man might have a mistress for decades. No one even comments on those second households and the families that live in them. Of course we have our king as an example here, but he flaunted his decision. It is not commonplace here as it is in France.”
Gabriel did not expect matters to develop the way Stratton predicted, but he decided this house would not suit him even for a few hours at a time. “I will let the last one, as you advise.”
“Then we are done.”
They rode back together.
“Do you suppose there are those among our acquaintances who have those second households, Stratton? Only so discreetly most are unaware of it?”
“I expect so. I always wondered about Brentworth, for example.”
“No. I can’t believe that. We would have learned of it.”
Stratton shrugged. “There was that period before I left for France when he had no female companionship that I saw. He adopted his severe code of discretion for a reason, don’t you think? His father was still alive then, and if the woman was unsuitable . . .”
It startled Gabriel to consider that one of his best friends might have lived an entire part of his life in secret. “I find that hard to believe. I am sure you wondered about nothing.”
Stratton just smiled and shrugged again.