Four In Hand

by Stephanie Laurens

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  “Sarah?” Darcy tried to squint down at the face under the dark hair covering his chest

  “Mmm,” Sarah replied sleepily, snuggling comfortably against him.

  Darcy grinned and gave up trying to rouse her. His eyes drifted to the ceiling as he gently stroked her back. Serve her right if she was exhausted.

  Together with Martin and Hugo, he had followed the strongly disapproving Millwade to the backparlour. He had announced them, to the obvious consternation of the three occupants. Darcy’s grin broadened as he recalled the scene. Arabella had looked positively stricken with guilt, Lizzie had not known what to think and Sarah had simply stood, her back to the windows, and watched him. At his sign, she had come to his side and they had left the crowded room together.

  At his murmured request to see her privately, she had led the way to the morning-room. He had intended to speak to her then, but she had stood so silently in the middle of the room, her face quite unreadable, that before he had known it he was kissing her. Accomplished rake that he was, her response had been staggering. He had always known her for a sensual woman but previously her reactions had been dragged unwillingly from her. Now that they came freely, their potency was enhanced a thousand-fold. After five minutes, he had forcibly disengaged to return to the door and lock it After that, neither of them had spared a thought for anything save the quenching of their raging desires.

  Much later, when they had recovered somewhat, he had managed to find the time, in between other occupations, to ask her to marry him. She had clearly been stunned and it was only then that he realized she had not expected his proposal. He had been oddly touched. Her answer, given without the benefit of speech, had been nevertheless comprehensive and had left him in no doubt of her desire to fill the position he was offering. His wife. The idea made him laugh. Would he survive?

  The rumble in his chest disturbed Sarah but she merely, burrowed her head into his shoulder and returned to her bliss-filled dreams. Darcy moved slightly, settling her more comfortably.

  Her eagerness rang all sorts of warning bells in his mind. Used to taking advantage of the boredom of sensual married women, he made a resolution to ensure that his Sarah never came within arm’s reach of any rakes. It would doubtless be wise to establish her as his wife as soon as possible, now he had whetted her appetite for hitherto unknown pleasures. Getting her settled in Hamilton House and introducing her to his country residences, and perhaps giving her a child or two, would no doubt keep her occupied. At least, he amended, sufficiently occupied to have no desire left over for any other than himself.

  The light was fading. He glanced at the window to find the afternoon far advanced. With a sigh, he shook Sarah’s white shoulder gently.

  “Mmm,” she murmured protestingly, sleepily trying to shake off his hand.

  Darcy chuckled. “I’m afraid, my love, that you’ll have to awaken. The day is spent and doubtless someone will come looking for us. I rather think we should be dressed when they do.”

  With a long-drawn-out sigh, Sarah struggled to lift her head, propping her elbows on his chest to look into his face. Then, her gaze wandered to take in the scene about them. They were lying on the accommodatingly large sofa before the empty fireplace, their clothes strewn about the room. She dropped her head into her hands. “Oh, God. I suppose you’re right.”

  “Undoubtedly,” confirmed Darcy, smiling. “And allow me to add, sweetheart, that, as your future husband, I’ll always be right.”

  “Oh?” Sarah enquired innocently. She sat up slightly, her hair in chaos around her face, straggling down her back to cover his hands where they lay, still gently stroking her satin skin.

  Darcy viewed her serene face with misgiving. Thinking to distract her, he asked, “Incidentally, when should we marry? I’m sure Max won’t care what we decide.”

  Sarah’s attention was drawn from tracing her finger along the curve of his collarbone. She frowned in concentration. “I rather think,” she eventually said, “that it had better be soon.”

  Having no wish to disagree with this eminently sensible conclusion, Darcy said, “A wise decision. Do you want a big wedding? Or shall we leave that to Max and Caroline?”

  Sarah grinned. “A very good idea. I think our guardian should be forced to undergo that pleasure, don’t you?”

  As this sentiment exactly tallied with his own, Darcy merely grinned in reply. But Sarah’s next question made him think a great deal harder.

  “How soon is it possible to marry?”

  It took a few minutes to check all the possible pros and cons. Then he said, uncertain of her response, “Well, theoretically speaking, it would be possible to get married tomorrow.”

  “Truly? Well, let’s do that,” replied his prospective bride, a decidedly wicked expression on her face.

  Seeing it, Darcy grinned. And postponed their emergence from the morning-room for a further half-hour.

  ———

  The first thought that sprang to Arabella’s mind on seeing Hugo Denbigh enter the back parlour was how annoyed he must have been to learn of her deception. Caroline had told her of the circumstances; they would have improved his temper. Oblivious to all else save the object of her thoughts, she did not see Sarah leave the room, nor Martin take Lizzie through the long windows into the garden. Consequently, she was a little perturbed to suddenly find herself alone with Hugo Denbigh.

  “Maria Pavlovska, I presume?” His tone was perfectly equable but Arabella did not place any reliance on that. He came to stand before her, dwarfing her by his height and the breadth of his magnificent chest.

  Arabella was conscious of a devastating desire to throw herself on that broad expanse and beg forgiveness for her sins. Then she remembered how he had responded to Maria Pavlovska. Her chin went up enough to look his lordship in the eye. “I’m so glad you found my little…charade entertaining.”

  Despite having started the conversation, Hugo abruptly found himself at a loss for words. He had not intended to bring up the subject of Maria Pavlovska, at least not until Arabella had agreed to marry him. But seeing her standing there, obviously knowing he knew and how he found out, memory of the desire Arabella-Maria so readily provoked had stirred disquietingly and he had temporarily lost his head. But now was not the time to indulge in a verbal brawl with a woman who, he had learned to his cost, could match his quick tongue in repartee. So, he smiled lazily down at her, totally confusing her instead, and rapidly sought to bring the discussion to a field where he knew he possessed few defences. “Mouthy baggage,” he drawled, taking her in his arms and preventing any riposte by the simple expedient of placing his mouth over hers.

  Arabella was initially too stunned by this unexpected manoeuvre to protest And by the time she realized what had happened, she did not want to protest. Instead, she twined her arms about Hugo’s neck and kissed him back with all the fervour she possessed. Unbeknownst to her, this was a considerable amount, and Hugo suddenly found himself desperately searching for a control he had somehow misplaced.

  Not being as hardened a rake as Max or Darcy, he struggled with himself until he won some small measure of rectitude; enough, at least, to draw back and sit in a large armchair, drawing Arabella onto his lap. She snuggled against his chest, drawing comfort from his warmth and solidity.

  “Well, baggage, will you marry me?”

  Arabella sat bolt upright, her hands braced against his chest, and stared at him. “Marry you? Me?”

  Hugo chuckled, delighted to have reduced her to dithering idiocy.

  But Arabella was frowning. “Why do you want to marry me?”

  The frown transferred itself to Hugo’s countenance. “I should have thought the answer to that was a mite obvious, m’dear.”

  Arabella brushed that answer aside. “I mean, besides the obvious.”

  Hugo sighed and, closing his eyes, let his head fall back against the chair. He had asked himself the same question and knew the answer perfectly
well. But he had not shaped his arguments into any coherent form, not contemplating being called on to recite them. He opened his eyes and fixed his disobliging love with a grim look. “I’m marrying you because the idea of you flirting with every Tom, Dick and Harry drives me insane. I’ll tear anyone you flirt with limb from limb. So, unless you wish to be responsible for murder, you’d better stop flirting.” A giggle, quickly suppressed, greeted this threat. “Incidentally,” Hugo continued, “you don’t go around kissing men like that all the time, do you?”

  Arabella had no idea of what he meant by “like that” but as she had never kissed any other man, except in a perfectly chaste manner, she could reply with perfect truthfulness, “No, of course not! That was only you.”

  “Thank God for that!” said a relieved Lord Denbigh. “Kindly confine all such activities to your betrothed in future. Me,” he added, in case this was not yet plain.

  Arabella lifted one fine brow but said nothing. She was conscious of his hands gently stroking her hips and wondered if it would be acceptable to simply blurt out “yes”. Then, she felt Hugo’s hand tighten about her waist.

  “And one thing more,” he said, his eyes kindling. “No more Maria Pavlovska. Ever.”

  Arabella grinned. “No?” she asked wistfully, her voice dropping into the huskily seductive Polish accent.

  Hugo stopped and considered this plea. “Well,” he temporized, inclined to be lenient, “Only with me. I dare say I could handle closer acquaintance with Madame Pavlovska.”

  Arabella giggled and Hugo took the opportunity to kiss her again. This time, he let the kiss develop as he had on other occasions, keeping one eye on the door, the other on the windows and his mind solely on her responses. Eventually, he drew back and, retrieving his hands from where they had wandered, bringing a blush to his love’s cheeks, he gripped her about her waist and gently shook her. “You haven’t given me your answer yet.”

  “Yes, please,” said Arabella, her eyes alight. “I couldn’t bear not to be able to be Maria Pavlovska every now and again.”

  Laughing, Hugo drew her back into his arms. “When shall we wed?”

  Tracing the strong line of his jaw with one small finger, Arabella thought for a minute, then replied, “Need we wait very long?”

  The undisguised longing in her tone brought her a swift response. “Only as long as you wish.”

  Arabella chuckled. “Well, I doubt we could be married tomorrow.”

  “Why not?” asked Hugo, his eyes dancing.

  His love looked puzzled. “Is it possible? I thought all those sorts of things took forever to arrange.”

  “Only if you want a big wedding. If you do, I warn you it’ll take months. My family’s big and distributed all about. Just getting in touch with half of them will be bad enough.”

  But the idea of waiting for months did not appeal to Arabella. “If it can be done, can we really bemarried tomorrow? It would be a lovely surprise—stealing a march on the others.”

  Hugo grinned. “For a baggage, you do have some good ideas sometimes.”

  “Really?” asked Maria Pavlovska.

  ———

  For Martin Rotherbridge, the look on Lizzie’s face as he walked into the back parlour was easy to read. Total confusion. On Lizzie, it was a particularly attractive attitude and one with which he was thoroughly conversant. With a grin, he went to her and took her hand, kissed it and tucked it into his arm. “Let’s go into the garden. I want to talk to you.”

  As talking to Martin in gardens had become something of a habit, Lizzie went with him, curious toknow what it was he wished to say and wondering why her heart was leaping about so uncomfortably.

  Martin led her down the path that bordered the large main lawn until they reached an archway formed by a rambling rose. This gave access to the rose gardens. Here, they came to a stone bench bathed in softly dappled sunshine. At Martin’s nod, Lizzie seated herself with a swish of her muslin skirts. After a moment’s consideration, Martin sat beside her. Their view was filled with ancient rosebushes, the spaces beneath crammed with early summer flowers. Bees buzzed sleepily and the occasional dragonfly darted by, on its way from the shrubbery to the pond at the bottom of the main lawn. The sun shone warmly and all was peace and tranquillity.

  All through the morning, Lizzie had been fighting the fear that in helping Amanda Crowbridge she had unwittingly earned Martin’s disapproval. She had no idea why his approval mattered so much to her, but with the single-mindedness of youth, was only aware that it did. “Wh…what did you wish to tell me?”

  Martin schooled his face into stern tines, much as he would when bawling out a young lieutenant for some silly but understandable folly. He took Lizzie’s hand in his, his strong fingers moving comfortingly over her slight ones. “Lizzie, this scheme of yours, m’dear. It really was most unwise.” Martin kept his eyes on her slim fingers. “I suppose Caroline told you how close-run the thing was. If she hadn’t arrived in the nick of time, Max and Hugo would have been off and there would have been no way to catch them. And the devil to pay when they came up with Keighly.”

  A stifled sob brought his eyes to her, but she had averted her face. “Lizzie?” No lieutenant he had ever had to speak to had sobbed. Martin abruptly dropped his stance of stern mentor and gathered Lizzie into his arms. “Oh, sweetheart. Don’t cry. I didn’t mean to upset you. Well, yes, I did. Just a bit. You upset me the devil of a lot when I thought you had run off with Keighly.”

  Lizzie had muffled her face in his coat but she looked up at that. “You thought… But whyever did you think such a silly thing?”

  Martin flushed slightly. “Well, yes. I know it was silly. But it was just the way it all came out At one stage, we weren’t sure who had gone in that blasted coach.” He paused for a moment, then continued in more serious vein. “But, really, sweetheart, you mustn’t start up these schemes to help people. Not when they involve sailing so close to the wind. You’ll set all sorts of people’s backs up, if ever they knew.”

  Rather better acquainted with Lizzie than his brother was, Martin had no doubt at all whose impulse had started the whole affair. It might have been Arabella who had carried out most of the actions and Sarah who had worked out the details, but it was his own sweet Lizzie who had set the ball rolling.

  Lizzie was hanging her head in contrition, her fingers idly playing with his coat buttons. Martin tightened his arms about her until she looked up. “Lizzie, I want you to promise me that if you ever get any more of these helpful ideas you’ll immediately come and tell me about them, before you do anything at all. Promise?”

  Lizzie’s downcast face cleared and a smile like the sun lit her eyes. “Oh, yes. That will be safer.” Then,a thought struck her and her face clouded again. “But you might not be about. You’ll… well, now your wound is healed, you’ll be getting about more. Meeting lots of l-ladies and…things.”

  “Things?” said Martin, struggling to keep a straight face. “What things?”

  “Well, you know. The sort of things you do. With l-ladies.” At Martin’s hoot of laughter, she set her lips firmly and doggedly went on. “Besides, you might marry and your wife wouldn’t like it if I was hanging on your sleeve.” There, she had said it. Her worst fear had been brought into the light.

  But, instead of reassuring her that all would, somehow, be well, Martin was in stitches. She glared at him. When that had no effect, she thumped him hard on his chest.

  Gasping for breath, Martin caught her small fists and then a slow grin, very like his brother’s, broke across his face as he looked into her delightfully enraged countenance. He waited to see the confusion show in her fine eyes before drawing her hands up, pulling her hard against him and kissing her.

  Lizzie had thought he had taught her all about kissing, but this was something quite different. She felt his arms lock like a vice about her waist, not that she had any intention of struggling. And the kiss went on and on. When she finally emerged, flushed, her eyes sparklin
g, all she could do was gasp and stare at him.

  Martin uttered a laugh that was halfway to a groan. “Oh, Lizzie! Sweet Lizzie. For God’s sake, say you’ll marry me and put me out of my misery.”

  Her eyes grew round. “Marry you?” The words came out as a squeak.

  Martin’s grin grew broader. “Mmm. I thought it might be a good idea.” His eyes dropped from her face to the lace edging that lay over her breasts. “Aside from ensuring I’ll always be there for you to discuss your hare-brained schemes with,” he continued conversationally, “I could also teach you about all the things I do with ladies.”

  Lizzie’s eyes widened as far as they possibly could.

  Martin grinned devilishly. “Would you like that Lizzie?”

  Mutely, Lizzie nodded. Then, quite suddenly, she found her voice. “Oh, yes!” She flung her arms about Martin’s neck and kissed him ferociously. Emerging from her wild embrace, Martin threw back his head and laughed. Lizzie did not, however, confuse this with rejection. She waited patiently for him to recover.

  But, “Lizzie, oh Lizzie. What a delight you are!” was all Martin Rotherbridge said, before gathering her more firmly into his arms to explore her delights more thoroughly.

  A considerable time later, when Martin had called a halt to their mutual exploration on the grounds that there were probably gardeners about, Lizzie sat comfortably in the circle of his arms, blissfully happy, and turned her thought to the future. “When shall we marry?” she asked

  Martin, adrift in another world, came back to earth and gave the matter due consideration. If he had been asked the same question two hours ago, he would have considered a few months sufficiently soon. Now, having spent those two hours with Lizzie in unfortunately restrictive surroundings, he rather thought a few days would be too long to wait. But presumably she would want a big wedding, with all the trimmings.