Already His (The Caversham Chronicles - Book Two)

by Sandy Raven

  The tea cart arrived and after the maid poured and left. “Ma’am? What troubles you?” When Elise got no response, she continued, “Is it that he’s asked me to marry him?”

  Lady Richard stirred her tea and seemed to consider her reply. When she spoke it was without judgment or reservation. “You have had this infatuation with my son since you were a child, I have to wonder if you are marrying him because like a dog you don’t want to quit the chase. Or if you are truly ready for marriage, Elise. Please understand, I am not disapproving of the engagement. It is a good match by ton standards. But, your tender age and... some of your habits lend themselves to... an image of young lady not ready for such a serious commitment.”

  “I understand your concerns, ma’am, I do. Please believe me when I say I would never do anything to hurt Michael, or humiliate him. I love him. Have loved him for many years.”

  “Are you prepared to give him children?”

  “As many as Michael wants and God gives us.” This seemed to pacify Lady Richard. Elise couldn’t believe she was actually having this conversation. Did the woman really think she would marry and not wish to do her duty by her husband?

  “His uncle was married to a woman who claimed to love him as well. The minute his back was turned, so were her affections—by the first rake who paid a little attention to her. She died trying to give birth to that other man’s child. But Edward loved her until his last breath. He refused to believe his wife was at fault, instead believing she was lured into the salacious affair by someone skilled at flirtation. Someone who knew exactly what to say to a lonely young girl who’s husband was away doing the King’s business. It doesn’t matter what she told my brother-in-law. He was on the continent when the babe was conceived, so everyone knew the child she carried could not possibly be his.”

  “Michael told me.” Elise also remembered what Lia said about it before she left.

  Lady Richard nodded. “We have discussed the importance of making a wise decision in selecting his countess. He has known of his uncle’s heartbreak for most of his life. It would upset me greatly to see my son hurt in a similar manner.”

  The older woman set her cup on the saucer, rose and left the room. Elise had a great deal think about these next days. Most importantly, was how she might prove to Lady Richard she was worthy of being Michael’s Countess.

  Elise spent two more days at Woodhenge with Michael and his relatives. Early on the third morning, with his coaches packed in the pre-dawn hours, she, her grandmother, and Michael left. He’d said he’d been away from work long enough and must return to his office. She was happy to be getting back as well, needing desperately to talk to Beverly.

  She required Beverly’s assistance in coming up with a plan of seduction now—something she was unable to do when she was cooped up in the country with his family, and hers, all around. In London, with only her grandmother to chaperon her, she stood a better chance at seducing him. To bring Michael to realize he wanted her as much she wanted him. To accomplish this she would need something to spur him along, and as she planned her strategy, she decided she couldn’t go wrong with a few new dresses. Perhaps a more daring dress, one made for a woman who wants to entice her lover to her bed.

  Elise wanted to insure that Michael’s desire to wait to consummate their relationship was as painful for him as it was for her. She also wanted to make sure it didn’t last any longer than those two remaining months she agreed to.

  While her grandmother slept on the seat next to her, Elise and Michael both read. She’d brought charts and ledgers from the Woodhenge library, and Michael studied papers that had arrived the day before by courier from his offices. After one stop to stretch their legs, drowsiness set in and Elise struggled to keep her eyes open. When she realized she’d read the same sentence several times, she finally she gave in and leaned against the corner of the coach.

  She looked across to Michael who raised his eyes from his work, then looked at her softly snoring grandmother. “I’m afraid sleepiness is contagious with me. Would you mind if I napped as well?”

  “Not at all.” Michael moved his paperwork and patted the seat next to him, a slight smile on his handsome face. “Sit over here, and lean on me. I promise it will be more comfortable.”

  Elise moved into the crook of his arm and nestled into his side, curling her feet beneath her. His sandalwood and spice scent was so intoxicating to her she wanted to turn her face up and ask for a kiss, and if not for her grandmother’s presence she would have. She yawned and closed her eyes instead. Inhaling deeply, she sighed. “I’m happy Michael.”

  She felt his arm pull her closer. “So am I, my sweet.”

  Elise smiled in her half-sleep state, before finally succumbing. Before she knew it, the clattering of the wheels and shod hooves on cobblestone woke her.

  “Good afternoon sleepyhead,” Michael said softly, brushing her hair from her forehead.

  “Where are we?”

  “Believe it or not, the outskirts of London.”

  Bridget entered Elise’s rooms the next afternoon followed by Madame Fuichard and her two assistants. Beverly had arrived first thing that morning with her folio and pencils, sketched some ideas for possible gowns, and now Elise wanted to ask Madame if these creations were possible. Especially considering her tall, less curvy form. So as they sat and waited for Madame’s critique, Beverly chewed her lower lip, and Elise drummed her fingers on the padded arm of the chair in which she sat.

  Going over each drawing, Madame praised Beverly’s talent for design and attention to detail. “Oui, oui. These are not just possible, but....” The modiste studied the sketches and lifted her gaze to Elise. Madame smiled at Beverly, causing her to blush. “They will be magnifique! You have a very good eye, my lady.”

  She then gave Beverly pointers on design which her friend absorbed eagerly. Since early spring Beverly had been sketching dress designs for herself and Elise, and with Madame’s help bringing the designs to life, the two of them had unwittingly become the leading trend setters of the season. Madame commented on the number of women and girls coming into her shop wanting to duplicate her exquisite creations.

  “Your designs, my dear,” Madame said to Beverly, “are more fitting to the natural form of a woman, bringing the bodice and waistline down closer to its natural curve. I never did like this fashion of hiding a woman’s curves behind that empire waistline.”

  “Yes, Madame,” Elise said. “I have very little curve to speak of and need all the help I can get.”

  “This is why your friend’s designs are so suited to your form, my lady” she replied. “They showcase what you do have, instead of hiding what you do not.”

  Elise spent the next hour selecting fabrics with Madame’s assistance, colors, and the various trims for the new gowns. Beverly also selected a few for herself as she was on a similar mission. Earlier that morning she’d confided in Elise that she and Lord Huddleston, were all but betrothed now, though no announcement had been made.

  After Madame left, Beverly continued to work on sketches of future dresses at the desk in Elise’s suite. Elise sat next to her on her dressing table stool, watching her friend’s skill with the charcoal pencil on the sheet of paper before her. “Why has Huddleston not publicly announced his intent for your hand?” Elise asked. “He’s already sought approval from your father and received it, did he not?”

  Beverly nodded. “It seems my viscount and your earl have one thing in common. They are determined to drive us crazy with this desire to make us wait. Which is why we, not just you, are moving on to the next phase. Our men need some gentle prodding. Perhaps attention from other men will make them realize that we are not the simpering little fresh-from-the-schoolroom misses they think we are.” Beverly’s shoulders sagged as she set the pencil down and looked at her. “I am a woman fully grown. Why, girls younger than we are marrying and having babes. That’s what I want, Elise. I want children. Lots of them.”

  “My sentiments exa
ctly,” Elise agreed. “Michael thinks to make me wait. And if he had his way, until the wedding night!”

  Beverly’s eyes grew comically wide and her jaw fell open. “I just want to get Christopher to make the announcement. I don’t mean to incite his jealousy to the point of anger, or... or....”

  “The bedroom?” Elise straightened her spine and pressed on, “I do. I want Michael to want me in that way. Because that is the way I want him. There. I’ve said it!” Elise prayed she didn’t lose her friend over her declaration. “You, more than anyone in the world knows this Beverly.” She saw the profound concern in her friend’s expression. “My confession has likely shocked you, and I hope you do not choose to end our friendship over this, but I just had to say it.”

  “Elise, have you ever stopped to examine why this rush to intimacy, when you’re just months away from a wedding?”

  Elise considered her friend’s words. “I have not.” She mused as she shook her head. “Though....” Elise tried to think of a way explain the profound emptiness she felt when she thought of life without Michael, a devastation unlike she’d ever experienced in her life. Elise broke her silence, then smiled. “You have brought up a question I shall ponder tonight as I try to fall asleep. When I have an answer, you will be the first to know.”

  Beverly nodded, then she looked up from the sketches she worked on and asked, “What if something should happen? Such as getting with child? Or, suppose the wedding gets called off for some reason, and you’ve lost your... your...”

  “What? Maidenhead? Virginity?” Elise looked into Beverly’s clear blue eyes and said honestly, “Then I will have lost it to the only man I’ve ever loved and ever will.” Elise checked to make certain they were still alone, then leaned in close to her friend and dropped her voice to a whisper. “If I find I am with child, I’ll just live out my days in the country somewhere. Scotland perhaps, seeing as Ren’s always threatening to send me to that crumbling pile of stone anyway. Maybe in a few years, when the excitement of it all dies down, I could return and live quietly on my mother’s dower property. But none of that will come to pass,” Elise added while simultaneously praying her words were true. “You’ll see. Michael loves me.”

  Her friend’s eyes widened. “Has he told you this?”

  “Not in so many words. But in his actions, yes, he has.”

  She remembered how tender he was with her the night in the parlor at Woodhenge, when he showed her the wonder of being intimate without taking her virginity. He could not possibly have been so caring with her that night and not love her. And the following morning, there was the fear so clearly evident on his face when she rode the filly she’d since named Zephyr. He had to care for her as more than the sister of his best friend, after all he’d asked her to marry him!

  “Of course you know me,” Elise lamented, “open book that I am, I told him that I loved him. Though he said he knew, and felt it was a good thing that I have this feeling, he did not...” Elise choked down a knot of emotion. “He could not say he reciprocated yet. He said he needed time to get used to this new relationship between us.”

  “But he did say he wanted to marry you, correct?”

  Elise nodded. “He asked me in front of his entire family and mine. He wants to wait until the family is out of mourning because he doesn’t want society to think his siblings and their daughters were ill-bred. After the banns are read, we can marry immediately, if I wish.”

  Beverly plopped back against her seat. “Except for the proposal with both families present, Michael’s plans for the wedding sound utterly unromantic,” her friend said. “Very much like my own non-proposal. Huddleston and I were riding in the park one morning when he just said, ‘I suppose we suit well enough. Perhaps we ought to marry when the season is over.’ So casual and unemotional.”

  Elise rose and began to walk the length of her room, something she did to help her think through things. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think he was friends with Michael and Ren. They are so alike. both Michael and Huddleston portray cool civility, when under that veneer both have a passionate streak that runs very deep beneath their hardened exterior.” She shook her head as she continued pacing, wondering what to do to get their men to profess their love. “It’s just a matter of cracking the outer shell, to release that pent-up passion.” Both young ladies nodded at that.

  “So what do we do?” Beverly asked.

  “I don’t know about you, but I plan to find the strongest nutcracker possible. Michael is a tough nut to crack.”

  “I don’t think I like the sound of this.”

  Elise patted Beverly’s hand. “All will be well. You’ll see.”

  Within the week, two of the many gowns Elise and Beverly ordered were ready. And after discussing it with both Christopher and Michael, they’d accepted an invitation to the Riddlesworth annual ball. She’d heard those were always the most difficult invites to come by, making the Riddlesworth ball one of the most anticipated events each year. And, from everything Elise and Beverly had heard, tonight’s ball might even be attended by the King himself. With Lia in the country, Ren worked constantly and said he would pass on attending the affair that evening so as to catch up on some business reading.

  Thus, with her grandmother agreeing to act as their chaperon, and having arranged to pick up Beverly promptly at eight-thirty, Elise readied herself with the assistance of the ever-glowering Bridget. Meeting the maid’s gaze in the mirror, she said, “Bridget, it is important that Beverly’s escort meet us here with Michael and I, and that we all go together. You know she doesn’t have a female relation to chaperon her.”

  “I know you two are up to something, I just don’t know what it is yet.”

  “It’s nothing that will get me banished, if that’s what you’re thinking. I just want to make Michael proud to be my escort this evening,” Elise said, hoping she pacified her maid. She hoped their new dresses would show the two gentleman what could be theirs tonight, if they wanted.

  The gown she chose to wear was pale peach watered silk, and very simple in design. As had been proven on the night of her own ball, the simple designs suited her more than frills and lace. The wide-scoop neckline with narrow off-the-shoulder straps also created the miraculous effect of enhancing her modest bustline while accentuating her waist. The silk moire fabric then flared out only slightly, enough as to be deemed appropriate, and fell to above her ankles. The scalloped hemline of the gown turned out far better than she’d imagined after seeing it on paper.

  And for the first time all season, she and Beverly wore the exact same dress. Intentionally. The only difference in their dresses was her friend’s was ice blue with a white silk shawl to match her blond-haired, blue-eyed loveliness. With Elise’s darker peach delicate lace shawl to match the silk and plain peach satin slippers, she and Beverly would make a striking pair of friends.

  Elise had pulled her short brown hair back with small combs and around her throat she wore a simple single strand of tiny pearls, with earrings to match. The simplicity of her entire ensemble should garner the desired effect from Michael. This was but a first step in her escalating plan to make him insane with desire for her. If this didn’t work, she’d have to ramp up her plan to the next level, and she’d continue to do so until he gave in.

  She was not going to let him forget she existed, the way her father forgot about her, leaving her out in the country while he lived in Town. She wasn’t going to allow that to happen with Michael.

  Michael and Christopher Huddleston stood in the parlor with Ren, brandy in hand, conversing amiably while they waited on the three ladies upstairs. If Elise and Beverly had hoped to find he and Huddleston impatient at having to cool their heels in the parlor, they were mistaken. Michael knew the games ladies played.

  “I don’t envy you, gentlemen,” Ren said through a grin. “I couldn’t imagine having to go through these games only to end up with a woman who will vex you for the rest of your days. And, believe me these two
will do just that.” He lifted his glass and downed the rest of his drink.

  “Myself, I’m rather looking forward to being vexed,” Christopher Huddleston replied. “Can’t think of a more beautiful creature to have vexing me.”

  “Sounds to me like you’re in love, Huddleston,” Michael teased.

  “I’ll admit, it’s quite possible. I can’t think of a feeling that compares. It’s almost like drowning, but happily. No, willingly.”

  “Well, I can safely say, I don’t have those emotions,” Michael said. “I’ve known Elise far too long to melt like butter to her hot knife.”

  Ren choked back a laugh. “Refills, gentlemen? I certainly could use another and God knows how long they’re going to keep us here.”

  “That won’t be necessary, brother.” Michael swung his gaze toward the doorway and watched Elise and her friend enter, followed by Lady Sewell, the Ladies’ chaperon for the evening.

  He unconsciously reached a hand to his throat, to pull the cravat loose. The damn thing was cutting off his breath, he thought as he watched Elise cross the room. She was a vision. An incomparable, arousing vision in peach silk, with a style and form to tempt even a monk into sin.

  He wasn’t sure what they were up to, but he knew something was afoot. Perhaps he’d best prepare Christopher. “When they smile like that Huddleston, be on your guard. The minxes have something up their sleeves.”

  “Camden, you’re blind. They aren’t wearing sleeves,” noted Huddleston with appreciative awe.

  “You would be wise to heed his warning, Huddleston,” Elise’s grandmother said. “I have done my best to corrupt both of my charges this season. As both are determined young ladies, if you’re their targets, be warned I say.”