Alexander Robert Henry Sutherland, heir to the Carlisle earldom, was born on a Tuesday, at 4:43 a.m., exactly 8 months and 27 days after Delia and Alec’s wedding.
Robyn leaned his head back against a stack of pillows and swung his legs up on the bed. “Well, that should force more than one high stickler to bite her wagging tongue.”
Lily stuck her head out of her dressing closet. “Oh, they quieted some time ago. They quite lost hope after Delia passed her eighth month.”
Robyn tugged at his cravat. “Odd-looking child, don’t you think? Poor thing looks like Alec.”
Lily had disappeared back into her dressing closet, but at this, she stuck her head out again for a scold. “Robyn! What an awful thing to say!”
Robyn tossed his cravat to the floor, quickly followed by his coat. “Don’t tell me you didn’t notice how red and wrinkled he is.”
“All babies are red and wrinkled. He’s a beautiful child. In fact, I heard your mother say he looks just like you did when you were born.”
Robyn paused in the process of unbuttoning his waistcoat. “Good Lord.”
Lily poked her head around the corner of the dressing closet again, but she kept her body out of sight. “He may be red and wrinkled now, but I think he stands a fair chance of growing up to be as devastatingly handsome as his uncle.”
“If I’m so devastatingly handsome, why are you hiding back there? I don’t care for these large apartments. How can I ever get my hands on you if you’ve got so many places to hide?”
After their wedding, Lady Catherine had insisted they take the master’s apartments at the Mayfair town house until the renovations were complete on their own new home in Berkeley Square. Lily had protested the extravagance of purchasing the house, but her grandmother had insisted upon it, arguing that if Lily was obliged to live with “that scoundrel, young Sutherland,” she at least deserved a lovely home.
“You had your hands on me all morning,” Lily reminded him.
Robyn’s waistcoat hit the floor and he began on his shirt. “That was ages ago, Mrs. Sutherland. Now either you come out, or I’ll come in there and fetch you myself.”
He rose from the bed and advanced on her dressing closet with a growl.
Lily ducked back behind the corner with a little squeal. “I have a surprise for you.”
Robyn stopped, his shirt hanging loose. “Do you? I’m intrigued. What sort of surprise?”
“The kind of surprise you love most. Now, go and lie down on the bed and close your eyes, and if I catch you peeking, I promise you I’ll dash back into the closet.”
Robyn decided any movement toward the bed was a step in the right direction, so he did as he was told. “All right. My eyes are closed.”
He heard Lily creep across the floor. It sounded as though her feet were bare. He hoped the rest of her was, as well.
“Open your eyes.”
He opened them to find Lily standing at the foot of the bed in her wrapper. “Are you naked under there?”
Lily giggled. “Not quite.”
Robyn leaned up on his elbows. “I don’t care for surprises that don’t involve you being naked.”
Lily began to untie the sash at her waist. “Indeed? What a shame. I suppose I’ll have to save these for another gentleman, then.”
The knot on the sash fell open, and Lily let the silk wrapper slither to the floor.
Robyn’s jaw went slack. “Are those… breeches?”
Lily gave a little wiggle of her hips. “Yes. Do you like them?”
She stood before him clad only in a pair of tight-fitting breeches.
He ran a hand across his mouth. “Like them?”
He lunged for her, but Lily skipped away before he could catch her in his arms and drag her onto the bed. “Is that a yes? Or dear me, is it a no? You must not like them, for you seem quite anxious to get them off me.”
Robyn came to his knees on the bed, prepared to lunge for her a second time. “Where – where did you get them?” He groaned when Lily turned with another little wiggle to show him the back view.
She smiled flirtatiously at him over her bare shoulder. “I had them made a while ago. I’ve been waiting for the right time to show them to you.”
Robyn shook his head as if to clear it, then he began to creep toward the end of the bed, still on his knees. “Is there a… wrong time?”
Lily, who was more than ready to be caught, pretended not to notice him preparing to pounce on her. “No wrong time? Well, then, perhaps I’ll wear them to the theater tomorrow night.”
Robyn launched himself at her, grabbed her around the waist, and tossed her onto the bed. He was on top of her in a flash, pinning her with his body. Lily shrieked and laughed and pretended to struggle against him.
“The theater? Oh, I don’t think so, my love.” He ran his hands up her thighs and across her hips. “It would cause a riot, you know, because then every man in London would want what’s mine.”
Lily arched against him as his hands slid from her hips to her bottom. He filled his palms with a generous handful of her curves and pulled her hard against him. She moaned as she felt his other hand tear at the buttons of her breeches.
He caught her moan in his mouth. His tongue teased at her lips, then he pressed his mouth against her ear. “You wouldn’t want to cause a scandal, would you, Mrs. Sutherland?”
Lily slid her hands inside his open shirt to caress his chest. “Scandal? I care nothing for scandal. It’s far too late for that, I’m afraid. I’ve already married the wickedest gentleman in London.”