What a Lady Wants

by Victoria Alexander

  No, she wasn’t concerned about where Nigel was at the moment. She was confident he cared for her far more than he was willing to admit. Yet. She glanced through the open dressing room doors to the bed and grinned. He would most certainly be back. And when he returned, perhaps he could ruin her again.

  Nigel handed his hat and gloves to the footman George, on loan from his mother. It was evening when he had at last headed for home. Nigel had managed to stay away the entire day but it hadn’t been easy.

  “Lady Felicity is in the parlor, sir,” George said. “She requests that you join her there when you arrive.”

  “In the parlor?” Nigel shook his head. “There’s nothing in the parlor.”

  “Lady Felicity is in the parlor sir,” George repeated, and Nigel could have sworn there was a hint of chastisement in his tone. Surely not. George was entirely too well trained for that. It was probably no more than Nigel’s guilty conscience at work, although he had nothing to feel guilty about. Admittedly he’d felt a twinge of remorse when he’d realized that he should have proposed a wedding trip. Still, this had been no usual wedding, and one could not expect the usual to accompany it.

  He had spent much of the day at Cavendish House doing precisely what he was expected to do: learning his trade as it were. His father had raised a brow at his son’s appearance but hadn’t said a word. Nigel had spent the remainder of the day at a club he maintained membership in, although rarely frequented, where he had, fortunately, not run into anyone inclined to join him. Precisely as he’d wanted it. He’d had a great deal to consider.

  Now he had to face his—he gritted his teeth at the word—wife.

  Nigel pushed open the doors to the parlor and pulled up short. He glanced around the room in confusion. “Have I gone mad and somehow stumbled into the wrong house?”

  Felicity rose to her feet from a chair—a chair?—beside the fireplace. “Of course not, Nigel, this is your house.”

  “Is it?” His mouth dropped open and he stared.

  Where it had been bare, the front parlor was now filled with chairs and sofas and tables. Paintings hung on the walls. Carpets were laid on the floor. Drapes adorned the windows. He stepped cautiously into the room. The doors were flung open to the back parlor, and that room was similarly furnished.

  “I must say I’m pleased. It came together far better than I expected.” Satisfaction sounded in Felicity’s voice. “Do you like it?”

  “Like it?” Nigel shook his head. “I’m not sure I believe it. How did you…Where did this…”

  “It’s all temporary, until I have the opportunity to purchase what is needed, but it will serve for now. Quite nicely too, I think. As for the how and where of it…” She surveyed the room like a general assessing her troops. “I started with my mother. She was more than willing to loan some pieces she had no need of at the moment. From there, I proceeded to your sister’s house, and she too contributed to the cause. She accompanied me to Cavendish House, and the result”—she waved with a flourish at the parlors—“is what you see here.”

  “And you managed to get it all moved in and arranged?” he said slowly. “In just one day?”

  “It wasn’t easy, I can tell you that.” She shook her head. “But between my mother and your mother and sister, resources were marshaled and this is the end result. It’s quite amazing what determined women can accomplish.”

  “Frightening really,” he murmured. “Is the rest of the house—”

  “Dear Lord, no.” She scoffed. “This was all we could manage for the moment and all we need for now anyway.” She moved to him, rested her hands on his chest, and gazed up at him, a distinctly wicked light in her eye. “Besides, we only need one bed, don’t we?”

  He stared down at her and tried to ignore the way her warm body pressed against his and the memory of just how responsive that body could be. He drew a deep breath, removed her hands, and stepped back. “One bed should suffice.”

  “It should, should it?” She studied him cautiously. “Has something happened?”

  “Not at all. We simply have matters we need to discuss, Felicity.” He groaned to himself. How could he sound so pompous? So asinine?

  She crossed her arms over her chest. “Do we?”

  “We do.” He waved at the nearest sofa. “Perhaps you would care to sit down.”

  “Oh, I think I should remain on my feet for this.”

  “Very well.” He clasped his hands behind his back and paced the room. “I have given a great deal of thought to our situation.”

  “Our situation?” Her eyes narrowed. “Our marriage, you mean?”

  “Yes, of course, our”—he paused—“marriage.”

  “You are going to have to learn to say the word without choking, you know.”

  “I can say the word. I say it all the time. And in recent days I seem to have said it a great deal.” He stopped in midstride and met her gaze firmly. “Admittedly there are moments when it catches in my throat.”

  Her brow rose. “And this is one of them?”

  “Apparently,” he muttered and resumed pacing. “Felicity—”

  “You said that.”

  “And I am saying it again.” He cleared his throat. “Felicity—”

  “I think I shall sit down after all,” she said lightly, moved to a red brocade sofa that looked vaguely familiar, and sat down, spreading her skirts around her.

  He clenched his jaw. “Are you finished?”

  She smoothed the fabric of her skirts. “Yes, I think so.” Felicity looked up at him and smiled pleasantly. “Do go on.”

  “I intend to.” He huffed. “As I was saying,

  Felicity—”

  “Ahem.” She cleared her throat and cast him a pointed glance.

  “Very well, I shall skip that part,” he said sharply, then drew a deep breath. “Fel—” He winced.

  She stifled a laugh.

  He stared at her. “This is not the least bit amusing.”

  “No.” She stared at him for a long moment, then sighed. “I don’t suppose it is. Go on.”

  “Thank you.” He resumed pacing. This was extraordinarily difficult, and she hadn’t made it any better by her constant interruptions. Still, now that he had her complete attention he wasn’t sure how to begin. It might be best to just plunge ahead. “As you know, I had no interest in marriage.”

  “I daresay everyone in the world knows that,” she said under her breath. “It was not a well-kept secret.”

  He ignored her. “In truth, I had actively avoided it as well as any situation that might lead to marriage.”

  “You mean situations like falling off a balcony in the middle of the night?” Her eyes widened in an innocent manner. “The balcony of a virgin?”

  “Exactly.” He cast her a stern look. “However, in spite of my best efforts, I now find myself married regardless of my wishes.”

  She smiled. “Fate.”

  He nodded. “I agree.”

  She stared. “What do you mean, you agree?”

  “Denying the facts of the matter do not make them any less accurate. I have accepted that there might well have been a greater force than I at work here.” He drew his brows together in an effort to look serious. “From the first moment we met, I was a boulder rolling downhill, unstoppable, with ever greater momentum until inevitably I smacked into—”

  “Me?”

  “Marriage,” he said firmly, then nodded. “And you.”

  “I’m so glad you accept it, Nigel. Fate, that is.” Felicity beamed and rose to her feet. “I know marriage isn’t exactly what—”

  “Please allow me to finish.” He gestured for her to retake her seat. She sank back down onto the sofa like a deflated balloon. He pushed the image out of his mind. Her spirits might be deflated soon enough anyway. Still, for his own sake, it had to be done. “While I realize you do care for me…”

  “Yes,” she said slowly.

  “And I do like you as well…”

  “G
o on.”

  “I have made a decision regarding our—”

  “Marriage?”

  “I was going to say it.” He huffed. “Although it’s more regarding our lives than marriage as such.” He drew a deep breath. “My life, really.”

  “Your life?”

  He nodded. “I told you last night, I did not intend to change my life.”

  She studied him closely. “I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying.”

  “Even though we are now married, I do not intend to change my behavior. My life. My activities.” He smiled pleasantly. “Does that explain it?”

  “Not exactly.”

  “You once said that I was reformable but that I wasn’t worth the effort. As I have no intention of reforming, I have saved you a great deal of trouble.”

  “You have no intention of—what?” She rose to her feet.

  “You can certainly change what ever you wish in the house with the exception of the library, of course, and”—he pinned her with a no-nonsense look—“me.”

  She stared in shocked disbelief, but then he expected that she would. Still, now that he had managed to say the words, he felt, well, good. Exhilarated. In command. Exactly how a man in his position should feel. Now that he had said his piece, made his announcement, there was a certain sense of power, of control. Yes, his life was back in his hands where it bloody well belonged.

  “Now then.” He smiled in a pleasant manner. “I shall be taking dinner out this evening at my club.”

  “Before you go.” Her manner was as pleasant as his. “Might I ask a few questions?”

  “Certainly.” He could afford to be generous. While she, and fate, had won the battles up to now, he was going to win the war. “Anything you wish.”

  “Thank you.” She thought for a moment. “First of all, how long do you intend to live your life in the manner in which you always have?”

  “I hadn’t really thought of a time period.” He shrugged. “Indefinitely, I suppose.” A brilliant idea struck him. “Or until I reach the point when I wish to be married. Yes, that’s good. It’s bound to happen sometime, you know. Then, conveniently enough, I will already be married and I already have you.”

  “That is convenient,” she murmured. “Tell me, what exactly does this life of yours involve? Drinking? Gambling? Carousing with your friends? Coming in at all hours of the night? Activities of that nature, I assume.”

  He waved offhandedly. “Yes, yes, all of that.”

  “What about women?”

  He frowned. “What about women?”

  “You have always had a particular fondness for women.”

  “I haven’t considered the question of women in regards to this. But I have always believed marriage vows are as sacred as a man’s word. I see nothing to change that now. Therefore.” He nodded firmly. “There shall be no other women. That much I am willing to change about my life.”

  “How very gracious of you.”

  He stared at her for a long moment. “There’s no need for sarcasm, Felicity.”

  “Really? And I thought there was every need for sarcasm.”

  “I am just trying to make the best of a bad situation.”

  “A bad situation?” Her voice was cool. “Last night was a bad situation? And yesterday afternoon? And again just before dawn?”

  “Absolutely.” He caught her expression and shook his head. “Not. Absolutely not. Yesterday and last night and this morning were delightful. Why, I probably couldn’t have enjoyed it more if I hadn’t been with my own wife.”

  “But as I am your wife it’s a bad situation?”

  He drew his brows together. “You’re putting words in my mouth, Felicity. I don’t mean to say that you are a bad situation. I’ve said before that I quite like you. And I certainly have no complaints about sharing your bed. I mean the circumstances we find ourselves in—”

  “You mean marriage?”

  “Yes. Even you have to admit the situation is not ideal.”

  “Let me make certain I understand.” She thought for a moment. “You intend to continue your activities exactly as before but you will curtail those involving other women—”

  “Eliminate,” he corrected.

  “My apologies, eliminate those involving other women and share my bed exclusively. You will do as you wish and then come home to me.”

  “That’s it exactly.” He grinned. “It solves all our problems.”

  “Not entirely.” She considered him for a moment. “While you are living your life as you please, what am I to do?”

  “Why, what ever you wish I suppose. You are now the mistress of a house, a house that needs a great deal of work and substantial management. That should occupy a considerable amount of your time.”

  “And in the evening?”

  “I’ve thought of that,” he said in a smug manner. “You can devote yourself to your work. To astronomy. You may study the stars all you wish. Perhaps discover a new comet yourself.”

  “I see.” She paused, obviously to ponder his announcement and realize it was the perfect solution. “You have given this a great deal of thought, haven’t you?”

  “Indeed, I have thought of little else.”

  “I admit it is an interesting proposal,” she said thoughtfully.

  “It’s not a proposal. It is how I have decided things shall be.” There was an authoritarian note in his voice that under other circumstances would have appalled him but at the moment sounded appropriate. After all, she was his wife.

  “Then I have no choice?”

  Still, it was perhaps wise not to answer that question directly. “I have made my decision.”

  “I see. Very well then.” She stepped into the hall and called down the stairs. “George, would you call for my carriage.”

  He frowned. “Where are you going at this hour?”

  “Out.”

  “I suspected that but out where?”

  She shrugged. “I’m not sure yet. I shall decide when I get there. But I’m certain it shall be a great deal of fun.”

  He stared. “I don’t understand.”

  “It’s very simple, Nigel. I have long wanted a life of adventure and excitement. You have now provided me the means for such a life.” She cast him a brilliant smile. “And I do thank you for it.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean if your life of fun and frolic is too very dear to abandon, I should experience the appeal of it myself.”

  “What?”

  She studied him carefully. “I expect you drink a great deal.”

  “Perhaps,” he said slowly.

  “Then I shall do likewise. And you gamble considerably?”

  “Not considerably but—”

  “Then I shall do the same.” She leaned toward him in a confidential manner. “Although I daresay I’ll win.”

  He sputtered.

  “You spend a great deal of time at your club?”

  “Aha, I have you there. You don’t have a club.”

  “I don’t have a club. Yet. Although I’m certain I can find one. Surely there are ladies’ clubs?”

  He scoffed. “I’ve never heard of such a thing. Certainly there are ladies’ clubs devoted to gardening or charities or something of that nature but not to…to…”

  “Drinking and gambling and carousing?”

  “Yes!”

  “Then I shall have to start one.” She beamed. “What an excellent idea. A place where ladies can escape from their husbands and drink to excess and gamble away all their pin money. Oh, it shall be great fun.”

  “Felicity!”

  “Eugenia will join, I’m certain of that. She loves a wickedly expensive game of chance. And your sister will definitely be interested.”

  “I will not permit—”

  “Anything I wished,” she cut in. “That’s what you said. I may spend my time doing anything I wished.”

  “Within reason!”

  “Whose reason? Yours? You never
said that.” She shook her head. “I only intend to follow your example. You can scarcely complain about that.”

  “But—”

  “Now one last thing.” Her brow furrowed. “About other women.”

  “I said I have given up other women,” he said staunchly.

  “Perhaps we should reconsider that.”

  His eyes widened with disbelief. “You’re saying you would accept my sharing the bed of other women?”

  “Only if I can share the bed of other men.” She gasped and her eyes widened. “We could have an arrangement! What a lovely idea!”

  He could barely choke out the words. “An arrangement?”

  “Yes indeed. You know, one of those things where you will not shoot my”—she smiled sweetly—lovers.

  “Lovers!”

  “Well, I shall surely have more than one. And I would prefer to keep them from being shot. Especially if they are skilled in matters of…of the mattress.”

  He stared in horror.

  “You have quite whetted my appetite for amorous pursuits, you know. Indeed, you’ve opened my eyes to an entirely new world. And as proficient as you are, I cannot help but wonder what the skills of other men are like.”

  “Felicity!” Shock sounded in his voice.

  “I am most willing to learn if you recall. Although I would like to avoid undue scandal. Oh wait.” She met his gaze directly. “Scandal has always been part and parcel of your life, therefore I shouldn’t avoid it at all.”

  “There shall be no arrangement!” He clenched his fists by his sides. “I shall give up other women and you shall give up other men.”