He stared at her and shook his head. Not in negation, she realised, but in amazement. ‘Hmm, well I reserve the right to try and seduce you into forgetting that sex is not part of our friendship.’
‘I’m sure you do. We’ll see who has the strongest will, shall we, Your Grace.’ She looked up at him, and patted his cheek. ‘Abstinence is good for the soul.’
Brody looked down to his groin and grimaced. ‘And hell for the pego.’
‘Oh dear, Your Grace. Are you scared you’ll forget how it works?’
‘Cheeky. You needed to be spanked more as a child. I’ll show you how it works.’
She waggled her finger. ‘No sex.’
‘Cruel woman. If nothing else you should call me Brody again.’
Mary chuckled. ‘That I can do. So, Brody shall we walk in the gardens for a while, and then perhaps you might like to stop for lunch?’
‘Yes please for lunch. And walk? To the gazebo?’ His eyes twinkled and a tiny dimple appeared on his cheek.
‘You are incorrigible.’
‘Glutton for punishment more like,’ he said ruefully.
She grinned. Brody in this mood once more was a delight to see, and it would be difficult for even the most cold hearted person not to respond. ‘As you say. Let me tell Mrs Niven you’ll be here. Then if you wish, we will walk to the gazebo.’
He eyed her suspiciously. ‘Hmm, maybe not. I’ll not put too much temptation in your way.’
She spluttered. ‘My…?’
Brody laughed, the first truly joyous sound she’d heard from him for an age. ‘I stand corrected. My, my not yours. Very well, let’s stroll and be decorous. Now there’s a word not often used with regards to me.’
‘I imagine not. However, there is a first time for everything.’ Mary walked to the door, and waited very properly for Brody to open it for her. The next few days would be interesting to say the least.
‘Don’t tell,’ he said in a mock pleading voice. He got down on one knee and wrung his hands in a very theatrical manner. ‘Don’t ruin my reputation, please.’
Mary giggled. ‘I’ll try not to. And perhaps I’d better tell you that Mr Kean wouldn’t feel he has a rival in you. You are no actor.’
He stood up and dusted down his buckskins. ‘No, thankfully I have no need to be,’ he said, suddenly serious. ‘Once though. Ah well, that time is well past thank the lord. Now I just need to make sure I entertain you, only you. Remember you did say I could try to seduce you. Shall I start now? Tell you your eyes sparkle like the stars and your skin is so smooth I want to stroke it all over? All over. How’s that? Is it working?’
She shook her head. ‘Not at all.’
He smote his forehead. ‘Wounded. I will have to try harder.’
Once more she accepted that with Brody in this teasing mood it would be hard to resist him or refuse anything. Perhaps it was as well they weren’t going to the gazebo. Mary waited until they reached the hall and turned to him. He caught her hand and lifted it to his lips. His breath teased the fine hairs on her wrist and he ran his lips from wrist to fingertip. She shivered and the tell-tale tingles of arousal filled her. It would be oh so easy to lean on him, and see what happened next.
Luckily they were standing in the middle of her entrance hall, where any member of the household could come across them. She took a step back and he grinned, unrepentantly.
‘One day soon, you’ll lower your defences again. I’ll wait until then, but for now? Well for now think of me.’
‘I’ll just get my cloak and go to speak to Mrs Niven.’
His shout of laughter followed her.
****
Brody took hold of Mary’s hand as they ambled through the rose garden and towards the part of the garden she called her maze. In truth it was somewhat of an overgrown tangle of shrubs and bushes, through which she had made several paths leading towards of the river that edged her land. Soon it would be too muddy underfoot to walk through, but on a crisp day as they were enjoying the paths were still firm.
Brody took a deep breath. ‘When I was in London I forgot how fresh and invigorating the weather can be,’ he said. ‘I much prefer this to stale fish and rotting rubbish. Which reminds me, I have to return next week to vote.’
Her stomach lurched. For all her protests, Mary was looking forward to testing her mettle against his seduction tactics. She knew she’d give in sooner or later, but wished to discover how creative and inventive he would be. ‘For long?’ she said in as insouciant a manner as she could manage.
‘Not long, only for a few days. Then I’ll be back for the winter and I can plot how best to seduce you. As a friend, of course.’
‘Of course,’ she said gravely. ‘And you can try, but I know how to say no. As a friend, of course.’
He lifted their joined hands and kissed hers.
Damn I like the way he does that.
‘I know you do, but I also know some ways in which I might be able to persuade you to change the no to a yes.’
That was what she was afraid of.
They skirted a bramble bush, now denuded of fruit, and ducked under the bare branches of an oak. Conkers littered the ground and Brody bent to pick one up. He tossed it in the air and caught it again.
‘We used to play with these as children. Papa showed us how to put them on a cord and knock them against each other until one broke. It was great fun, until the day Blair was in a temper at losing again so he grabbed Euan’s conker, hit Euan with it and split his head open. Blair got the thrashing of his life and then conkers were banned.’
Mary chuckled. ‘It sounds fun, apart from the split head and the thrashing, of course. My childhood was a lot more decorous. Mind you, I did learn how to shoot and fence.’
‘You didn’t mention that before,’ Brody remarked as they reached the riverbank and looked down into the fast flowing depths. ‘We’ll have to fence together one day then. I’ll give you an advantage of some sort.’ He took her arm once more and they walked upstream to where the river widened and the water slowed.
She bit back the retort she could easily have given. If she fenced with him she’d need no advantage. After all, she had all her womanly wiles at her disposal.
‘Did you fish in this river when you were younger?’
He looked at her curiously. ‘Changing the subject? Oh yes. Fishing was always a good pastime. Although not around here, where it narrows and deepens. This stretch was banned. Which of course made it our lodestone. However my father was a clever man, and made us all promise to heed his command. He knew that if we promised to him, we’d honour it. Therefore we fished upstream, and on occasion, at a place we called Paddy’s pond. I learned to swim there.’ He grinned. ‘And saw my first naked female.’
Mary raised one eyebrow. ‘In the river?’
‘On the riverbank. I won’t say who she was as she’s now a very respectable local matron, and I don’t think she knew I was there. Evidently she’d decided to guddle for fish and didn’t want to get her clothes wet. It was naught but a glimpse but enough to intrigue me and make me decide the female form needed a much closer study than before. At twelve you only have a very rough idea of the rudiments, no more.’ He sketched the outline of a female body in the air. ‘Fascinating but no idea what it was really like.’
Mary laughed as she supposed he intended her to. ‘I suspect you’ve done a lot of studying by now.’
‘Of course,’ Brody said cheerfully. ‘I was a star pupil. And now we can reap the rewards.’ He winked, obviously not a whit abashed at the way their conversation was going.
Mary shook her head in amusement. ‘You are incorrigible. Do they not say once a rake always a rake?’
Brody sobered suddenly. ‘They also say rakes make the best husbands because they know the pitfalls in not satisfying your wife. But I promised we would not mention the “M” word so I’ll change the direction in which our conversation is heading. Will you ride with me tomorrow?’
That thought was
one she could comment on and not embroil herself in a mire that would be hard to get out of. If she managed to organise things to her satisfaction it would be a miracle. ‘I’d love to. Do you have a destination in mind?’
‘I had wondered…’ he hesitated and picked up a stone, which he then skimmed over the river. It jumped three times and sank with a pop and circles of ripples. ‘…if you would like to choose.’
Dare she. Say it, he can only reply with “no”. ‘Then can we go to Blissland?’
He jumped and turned towards her. ‘Blissland?’ He sounded as if he’d never heard of the place. Mary looked at his carefully schooled expression and understood.
‘You know? The house I have very fond memories of.’ And hope to have more, one day.
‘Why?’ Brody asked bluntly. ‘If we go there I will find it hard to keep my hands off you.’
Good.
She curtseyed and then laughed. ‘Oh good.’
Chapter Fourteen
Would he ever understand women? It took all of his strength not to ask her why he was good enough to bed but not to marry. They’d arrived at this fragile peace and he wasn’t going to do anything to upset it if he could help it.
‘I’ll send word to Blissland.’ In perfect accord they began to retrace their steps along the bank. With the lightest heart he’d achieved since their argument, Brody began to whistle. He broke off abruptly.
‘Sorry, how rude of me.’
Mary looked up at him curiously. ‘Rude? Why? Why did you stop? I like to hear someone whistle. It reminds me of my papa. It was something he taught me to do.’ She pursed her lips and let out a long loud whistle.
Brody stopped dead in his tracks and raised his eyebrows. ‘Will you ever cease to amaze me?’
‘I hope not.’
Brody nodded. He felt the same way. ‘Good, carry on. So can you hold a tune as well, or is it just the sort of whistle that will halt every sheepdog within the vicinity in its tracks?’
She grinned and broke into a spirited rendition of a sea shanty. ‘Of course I do not know the words to this.’
‘Thank goodness,’ Brody said, heartfelt. ‘You’re best not to. Or whistle that within hearing of anyone other than me. You’d be ostracised for sure.’
‘Maybe it’d be worth it then.’ His mouth dropped open and she patted his hand. ‘No, I don’t mean it. But as I have no intention of going into the ton, it really is irrelevant. Although I often wondered why my papa said the tune had no words.’
‘It doesn’t. Well,’ Brody temporised. ‘Not words for a lady’s ear anyway.’ They’d reached the edge of the garden once more. Brody took out his fob watch and scrutinised it.
She glanced up at him, curiously. ‘The time?’
He held it towards Mary for her to see.
‘Perfect. It wants but one quarter of an hour to lunchtime. By the time we get back and freshen up, lunch should be on the table.’
‘Lead on,’ Brody said amiably. ‘I’m ready for food.’
‘When are you ever not?’ she asked as they entered the house. ‘If you wish to wash, there will be water and towels in that room there.’ She pointed to a door under the staircase. ‘The water will not be warm, but I can arrange for some if you wish?’
He shook his head. ‘I’m a man, we’re supposed to be hardy. Cold water will be fine.’ And help me to control my bloody pego, which seems to have miraculously recovered its ability to stretch and harden.
She looked at him doubtfully, but in the end just nodded.
‘Then I’ll see you in the dining room as soon as you are ready.’
He watched her move swiftly up the staircase and disappear around the corner before he turned and entered the room she had mentioned
It was, he saw, an ideal use of space. What he suspected would have been a storage cupboard at some time had been turned into a tiny withdrawing room, complete with commode.
He used the facilities and hastened to repair any damage done to his person by tramping through the bushes and along the riverbank. Then, satisfied he was as tidy as he could manage, made his way to the dining room.
Mrs Niven was the only occupant. She looked up from the sideboard where she was arranging a tureen with steam rising from its contents and bobbed a hasty curtsey.
‘Ah, Your Grace. Miss Mary will be down directly.’
Brody sniffed the air like a gun dog. ‘Something smells good. I hope I haven’t inconvenienced you too much by turning up like this?’
The woman looked startled. ‘Good heavens, no. It’s just oxtail soup and homemade bread with a nice raised pie to follow. It’s good for my lady to have company.’ She turned to the door which he knew led to the kitchens. ‘And if I may be so bold, it can do her no harm in remembering that whatever she thinks she’ll have to learn to entertain and be entertained again some time. She’s too young to stay unwed. Someone will be along and find she’s what they want.’
Was that a subtle dig at him? He didn’t think so. ‘As you say, so for now I’ll enjoy her company. And Mrs Niven?’
She looked up enquiringly
‘I understand why she did what she did, even if it annoyed me at the time.’
Mrs Niven nodded. ‘I told her it would, but she’s so sure of what she wants, and how to go about it, well there was no gainsaying her. Miss Mary does have a very strong will. Mind you, me and Niven? We’ve known her since she was newlywed, and we couldn’t ask for a better person to work for.’ She lifted her head and copied Brody’s sniffing action of a few moments before. He could smell nothing but soup but it was obvious she could. ‘Good lord, the loaf’s still in the oven. Begging your pardon Your Grace.’ She whisked out of the room in a swirl of skirts and apron.
Brody wandered over to the sideboard and inspected the soup. Thick and meaty, it looked more like a stew to him, and very welcome.
‘Starting without me?’
He turned, ladle in hand. Mary had entered quietly and he hadn’t noticed her. She had tidied her hair and changed her skirts, and he was struck again at how much he’d missed her. Her cheeks glowed from being outside, and he was glad she didn’t seem to mind about the tiny scattering of freckles cross the bridge of her nose. He liked them, unfashionable or not.
‘I was tempted, but Mrs Niven still has to bring the bread. May I serve you, or will I be treading on her toes?’
‘We don’t stand on ceremony as you well know. I usually serve myself if I don’t eat in the kitchen. You may indeed serve me.’ Mary sat down at the small table positioned in front of the window. ‘I have been aware of a hunger pang this last few minutes.’ Her tummy took that moment to rumble and she put her hand over her midriff. ‘See? How mortifying.’
Brody laughed. ‘I assure you mine is of the same mind.’ He ladled the soup into two bowls and carried them over to the table, just as Mrs Niven returned with a long crusty loaf on a pristine cloth. He waited until the woman had left the room again and took a deep breath as Mary motioned him to the seat next to her.
‘Don’t stand on ceremony, Brody. Eat up whilst it’s still hot.’ She tore a chunk of bread from the loaf and dipped it into her bowl.
He dipped his head and sat down at right angles to her. Close enough to still scent her perfume over the aroma of the soup. As ever it hit his loins like a brick.
‘I care, you know,’ he said abruptly. ‘Never ever think I don’t. I just don’t know if I can care enough in the correct way.’
Mary let her spoon stop a scant inch away from her mouth.
‘You could if you really wanted to. Oh maybe not with me, but with someone. Your parents were happy, were they not?’
He shrugged. ‘Tolerably I think. But you’d want more, I don’t know I have it in me. Hell I don’t even know what I’m capable of.’
‘Having a wife you don’t love, and a mistress?’
‘No, never that, although it might be the norm. I couldn’t see myself living that life. I’ve seen what it can do to families.’ He didn’t say
that in the past he’d been one of those who helped to upset the equilibrium; she’d know that and those times were long gone. ‘I think my time away perhaps took away my ability to really relax and well…’ He spooned some soup into his mouth. ‘All I can do is try.’
‘Then that is a good start.’
****
After a considerable argument, Mary persuaded Brody she’d meet him at the crossroads near Blissland. It seemed silly for him to detour for her when it was a straightforward ride for her to complete. Plus she wanted time to plot and plan just how she intended to behave when they were alone again.
Dark thoughts in the middle of the night had drawn her to the kitchen for warm milk and some bread and cheese. Which no doubt accounted for the strange dreams she had when she did get back to sleep.
Dreams where Brody approached her, said he loved her and then went away. Dreams where he touched her in all her most intimate places and left her hanging on the cusp of something so awe inspiring she woke up with her body bathed in perspiration and her core throbbing.
She was glad when it was time to get up, and filled the time in between breakfast and going to mount her horse, in pacing her bedchamber. A parcel had arrived from her solicitor containing papers to sign over another building for a school, this time in a village near York. Her involvement in so many schools and training facilities was something she’d have to explain to Brody, if…
If what?
With Brody and her on an even keel she didn’t feel it right to hide such a big part of her. Therefore today would be momentous in more than one way.
She just hoped everything worked out how she wanted it to.
The horse Mary chose to ride was a pretty dappled mare she had purchased whilst Brody was away. With Darcy, her much beloved riding horse getting older, it made sense to bring another horse on. She’d named her Sentia, in a fit of silliness over Brody being absent.
It was a matter of seconds to saddle and bridle the mare. Within minutes Sentia trotted down the drive with Mary on her back and headed along the road away from the village.
The Duke's Seduction of Lady M Page 24