The Serpent Prince

Was that enough?



Simon walked to a granite pillar that towered to the barrel ceiling fifty feet overhead. A double row of the pink granite columns held aloft the ceiling, decorated with recessed painted squares. Each square was edged in gilt, as if to remind one of the golden afterlife that presumably awaited. Off to the side, he could see into a St. Mary’s chapel with a statue of a pubescent Virgin Mary gazing serenely down at her toes. It was a pretty church, lacking only a pretty bride.



“He’s pacing again,” de Raaf said in a tone he probably thought was quiet.



“He’s nervous,” Pye replied.



“I am not nervous,” Simon said through gritted teeth. He reached to stroke his ring before remembering it was gone. He turned to saunter back and caught Pye and de Raaf exchanging a significant glance. Wonderful. Now he was considered a case for Bedlam by his friends.



A screech came from the front of the church as someone opened the big oak doors.



Simon wheeled. Lucy entered, escorted by her father. She wore a rose-colored gown, pulled back in front to reveal the pale green underskirt. The color made her complexion glow, gave her dusky eyes, brows, and hair a perfect setting, like a rose surrounded by dark leaves. She smiled at him and looked . . . beautiful.



Simply beautiful.



He felt like rushing to her and capturing her arm. Instead, he straightened and moved to stand by de Raaf. He watched her approach, patiently waiting. Soon. Soon, she would be his. He would have no need to fear her loss, her desertion. Lucy laid her hand on the crook of his arm. He refrained from clamping down on it with his other hand. The captain scowled at him and slowly released his daughter’s arm. The old man wasn’t happy about this. When he asked for her hand, Simon had known that had Lucy been younger or less loved, he would have been out on his ear in an instant. As it was, his angel had prevailed even against her father’s clear disapproval. Simon smiled at the older man and gave in to his urge to grasp her hand on his arm. She was his now.



The captain didn’t miss the gesture. His ruddy face darkened.



Simon leaned his head close to hers. “You came.”



Her face was grave. “Of course.”



“I wasn’t sure you would after the other morning.”



“Weren’t you?” She watched him with unfathomable eyes.



“No.”



“I promised.”



“Yes.” He searched her face but couldn’t read any more there. “Thank you.”



“Are we ready?” The vicar smiled vaguely.



Simon straightened and nodded.



“Dearly beloved,” the vicar began.



Simon concentrated on the words that would bind Lucy to him. Perhaps now his fear of losing her would finally die and be laid to rest. No matter what she found out about him, no matter what ghastly mistakes, what grave sins he committed in the future, his angel would have to remain with him.



She was his, now and forever.



“I SHALL SEND UP A MAID TO ASSIST YOU, my lady,” Newton intoned from behind Lucy that evening.



She blinked and glanced over her shoulder. “Yes. Ah, thank you.”



The butler closed the door softly behind him. Lucy returned to gawking at the room. Her room. And she’d thought the bedrooms in Rosalind’s town house grand. The walls were covered in rose damask, a warm and soothing color that gave the bedroom the intimate feel of an embrace. Underfoot, the patterned carpet was so thick her heels sank into it. Above, the ceiling was painted with cupids or angels—hard to tell in the dim light of evening—and was edged in gilt. Of course.



And centered between two long windows was a bed.



But to call this piece of furniture a bed was like calling St. Paul’s Cathedral a church. This was the gaudiest, the largest, the most sumptuous bed Lucy had ever seen in her life. The mattress was easily three feet off the ground, and on one side were steps, presumably to mount the thing. A massive poster rose from each corner, carved, gilded, and draped with swathes of burgundy velvet. Gold ropes drew back the burgundy drapes to reveal pink gauze underdrapes. The actual bed linens were ecru and made of satin. Lucy hesitantly touched them with one finger.



Someone tapped at the door.



Lucy whirled and stared. Would Simon knock? “Come.”



A mobcap peeked around the door. “Mr. Newton sent us, my lady. To help you undress?”



“Thank you.” Lucy nodded and watched the little woman trot into the room, trailed by a younger girl.



The older maid immediately began rummaging through the wardrobe. “You’ll want the lace chemise, I think, don’t you, my lady? On your wedding night?”



“Oh. Yes.” Lucy felt a flutter in her stomach.



The maid brought the chemise over and began unhooking the back of Lucy’s dress. “They’re all talking about the wedding breakfast this morning, my lady, down in the kitchen. How elegant it was. Even that Henry, my lord’s valet, was impressed.”



“Yes, it was very nice.” Lucy tried to relax. Even after a fortnight in London, she still wasn’t used to being served quite so intimately. She hadn’t had help with her clothes since she was five. Rosalind had assigned one of her maids to look after her, but it seemed that now that Lucy was Simon’s wife, she required two.



“Lord Iddesleigh has such a wonderful sense of style.” The older maid grunted and bent to undo the last hooks. “And then they say he took you ladies on a tour of the capital after the wedding breakfast. Did you enjoy that?”



“Yes.” Lucy stepped out of her gown. She’d been with Simon for most of the day, but they’d never been alone. Perhaps now that they were finally married and the ceremonies over with, they could spend more time together, learn to know one another.



The maid quickly gathered the material and handed it to the younger maid. “Now mind you check that over good. Wouldn’t want a stain to set.”



“Yes’m,” the girl squeaked. She looked no more than fourteen and was obviously in awe of the older woman, although she towered over her.



Lucy took a deep breath as the maid undid her stays. Her underskirts and shift were whisked off and the lace chemise settled over her head. The maid brushed her hair until Lucy could stand it no longer. All this fussing was giving her too much time to think, to worry about the coming night and what would happen.



“Thank you,” she said firmly. “That’s all I need for the night.”



The maids curtsied as they left, and suddenly she was alone. Lucy sank into one of the chairs by the fire. There was a decanter of wine on the table next to her. She stared thoughtfully at it for a moment. The wine might dull her senses, but she was fairly certain it wouldn’t calm her nerves. And she knew she didn’t want her senses dull tonight, no matter how nervous she was.



A soft tap came from the door—not the one to the hall but the other one, presumably a connecting door.



Lucy cleared her throat. “Come.”



Simon opened the door. He still wore his breeches, hose, and shirt, but he’d removed his waistcoat and coat and he was bareheaded. He paused in the doorway. It took her a moment to place his expression. He was uncertain.



“Is that your room in there?” she asked.



He frowned and glanced back. “No, it’s a sitting room. Yours, actually. Would you like to see it?”



“Yes, please.” Lucy rose, very conscious that she was nude beneath her flowing lace chemise.



He stepped back, and she saw a rose and white room with several settees and armchairs scattered about. There was a door on the farther wall.



“And is your room beyond that?” She nodded to the far door.



“No, that’s my sitting room. It’s rather dark, I’m afraid. Decorated by some dead ancestor with a gloomy sensibility and a disapproval of any color but brown. Yours is much nicer.” He tapped his fingers on the door frame. “Next to my sitting room is my dressing room, equally gloomy, and beyond that, my bedroom, which, fortunately, I’ve had redecorated in my own colors.”



“Good gracious.” Lucy raised her eyebrows. “What a hike you’ve had to make.”



“Yes, I—” He laughed suddenly, covering his eyes with one hand.



She half smiled, not knowing the joke, not knowing in fact how she was supposed to act with him, now that they were finally man and wife and alone in their own rooms. It was all so awkward. “What is it?”



“I’m sorry.” He dropped his hand so she could see that his cheeks had reddened. “This isn’t the conversation I’d expected to have on our wedding night.”



He’s nervous. With that realization, a bit of her own anxiety seemed to fall away. She turned and strolled back into her bedroom. “What would you rather talk about?”



She heard him close the door. “I was going to impress you with my romantic eloquence, of course. I’d thought to wax philosophical about the beauty of your brow.”



Lucy blinked. “My brow?”



“Mmm. Have I told you that your brow intimidates me?” She felt his warmth at her back as he moved behind her, but he didn’t touch her. “It’s so smooth and white and broad, and ends with your straight, knowing eyebrows, like a statue of Athena pronouncing judgment. If the warrior goddess had a brow like yours, it is no wonder the ancients worshiped and feared her.”



“Blather,” she murmured.



“Blather, indeed. Blather is all I am, after all.”



She frowned and turned to contradict him, but he moved with her so that she couldn’t quite catch sight of his face.



“I am the duke of nonsense,” he whispered in her ear. “The king of farce, the emperor of emptiness.”



Did he really see himself so? “But—”



“Blathering is what I do best,” he said, still unseen. “I’d like to blather about your golden eyes and ruby lips.”



“Simon—”



“The perfect curve of your cheek,” he murmured close.



She gasped as his breath stirred the hair at her neck. He was distracting her with lovemaking. And it was working. “What a lot of talk.”



“I do talk too much. It’s a weakness you’ll have to bear in your husband.” His voice was next to her ear. “But I’d have to spend quite a bit of time outlining the shape of your mouth, its softness and the warmth within.”



Lucy felt a tightening in her middle. “Is that all?” And she was surprised at the low vibration of her voice.



“Oh, no. Then I’d move to your neck.” His hand came around and stroked the air inches from her throat. “How graceful, how elegant, how much I want to lick it.”



Her lungs were laboring to fill with air. He caressed her with his voice alone, and she wondered if she would be able to bear it when he used his hands.



He continued, “And your shoulders, so white and tender.” His hand hovered over her.



“And then?”



“I’d want to describe your breasts.” His tone had dipped and roughened. “But I’d have to see them first.”



She drew in a shaky breath. He breathed close to her ear. His presence surrounded her body, but he made no move to touch her. She raised her hand and grasped the ribbon at her throat. Slowly, she pulled it, and the whisper sound of the silk sliding free in the bedroom’s quiet was unbearably intimate. His breathing hitched as the edges of her chemise fell apart, baring the upper slopes of her bosom.



“So beautiful, so pale,” he murmured.



She swallowed and drew the fabric down her shoulders. Her fingers trembled. She’d never willingly exposed herself to another like this, but the roughened sound of his breathing drove her on.



“I see the soft mounds, the shadowed valley, but not the sweet tips. Let me see them, angel.” His voice shook.



Something feminine and primeval leaped within her at the thought that she could make this man tremble. She wanted to expose herself to him, her husband. She closed her eyes and pulled the chemise down. Her nipples peaked in the chilly air.