‘Which would be pointless, since I won’t be here.’
‘I know that, but they don’t yet. And that’s another thing. I like you being here, Daniel, and I’m not sure I’ll want to remain here when you’re gone.’
‘Kate, you know...’
‘I know you’re going. Don’t worry. I am not going to fall on my knees and beg you to stay just because we have shared a few kisses, delightful as they were. We’ve lived apart for eleven years perfectly happily. Unlike you, I have no idea what the next eleven years hold for me, but I do know that the last thing I want is to chain you to my side here at Elmswood. I’m not even sure I want to remain chained here myself all of the time—and don’t ask me what I mean by that, because I’ve no idea.’
‘Very well, I won’t ask you. Shall we be self-indulgent and forget all about the world and the future for today?’
‘I think that is a capital idea. I would like that very much.’
‘What would you like to do?’
She pretended to consider this, but in reality indulged in the pleasure of simply looking at him and enjoying the effect she had on him when she looked at him in a certain way. His wife the temptress, he’d called her. She liked that.
‘I’ve been thinking about what you said yesterday,’ Kate said. ‘About enjoying the journey.’
He inhaled sharply as she leaned closer, so that their lips were only inches apart. ‘I do hope this means you’re going to indulge me by returning to the subject of your underclothes.’
She gasped, laughed, leaned closer. ‘In a way. This journey...does it take place in daylight or under cover of darkness?’
‘An intriguing question. There’s certainly a place for darkness. When you can’t see, you are forced to rely on your other senses,’ Daniel said, taking her hand, running his fingers over her knuckles. ‘Touch, obviously.’ He turned her hand over, pressing a kiss to her wrist. ‘And taste. But when you’re just starting out on the journey, as we are, I think it’s best to be able to see.’
‘That’s what I thought, but—but I’m not sure I want you to see me naked.’
‘That’s a bit rich, given you have been sneaking a glance at me most mornings in just such a state of undress.’
‘It’s not a subject I enjoy being teased about.’ Kate pulled her hand away.
‘I’d just like to understand what it is that you’re worried about,’ Daniel saud gently. ‘I haven’t had the pleasure of seeing very much of your delightful body, Kate, but...’
‘No one has ever seen it,’ she snapped. ‘Not even me, not really...until this morning. And I wish I hadn’t looked now, because—oh, this is too embarrassing. You are so—so—and I am so—I wobble! Don’t laugh at me.’
‘I’m not. I am fascinated by the idea of you wobbling.’
Despite herself, she laughed. ‘Well, I would prefer not to. I wish I looked more like you.’
‘I am extremely glad you do not.’
‘Daniel! It is the swimming, I suppose, that makes you so...’
‘Lacking in wobble? The swimming helps with my stamina, but it’s my daily yoga practice which keeps me fit in mind and body.’
‘Your daily what practice?’
‘Yoga,’ Daniel said, enunciating the word carefully. ‘It’s a discipline I learnt in India—a system of poses and stretches, combined with breathing exercises which are supposed to keep the body and mind in balance.’
‘I’ve never heard of such a thing. I don’t think I even understand what you mean.’
‘Would you like to learn?’
‘Are you teasing me?’
‘I’ve never tried to teach anyone. In fact I don’t think I’ve ever discussed the practice with anyone before,’ Daniel said, sounding defensive.
‘Are you sworn to secrecy?’
He laughed. ‘No. You don’t have to join one of those pathetic secret clubs that men are so fond of, if that’s what you are imagining. It’s private, that’s all, and something I choose to keep to myself.’
‘Then I’m honoured. And I would like to try, though I’m not sure I’ll be any good,’ Kate said. ‘Or what I should wear.’
Daniel grinned. ‘Ah, that brings us back nicely to the subject of your undergarments. You cannot practice yoga in a corset, and I am not at all sure that a dress would be a good idea either. Would you like to try a tunic and trousers?’
‘Wear your clothes?’
‘Well, not these precise ones. Sylvia will be in to collect the dishes in a moment, and I don’t think I want to risk her finding me naked.’
‘Daniel!’
‘Kate!’ He got up from the table, holding out his hand. ‘Well, are you up for the challenge?’
She let him pull her to her feet. ‘Where shall we go?’
‘We need somewhere with a good amount of space, where Sylvia isn’t likely to disturb us.’
‘There’s the music room,’ Kate said. ‘You probably remember it as the billiard room, but I’m afraid I had the table dismantled and removed to the village hall, where it has proved very popular. I have never played, and the girls showed no interest, and for some reason the acoustics in that room are perfect for the pianoforte, or so Estelle says. I hope you don’t mind?’
‘Why should I? I’m not in the least bit interested in billiards. It sounds ideal. Come upstairs and I’ll find you some suitable clothes. You can change and then I’ll meet you there.’
Chapter Seven
The billiard room faced out to the working gardens of Elmswood, with a view to the stables, the kitchen garden and the outhouses, behind which lay the Estate Office. Daniel pulled the shutters over, having no desire to have Kate’s precious gardener witness their actions. The man was doubtless a green-fingered genius, but he had the irritating habit of being a constant presence, appearing on the lawn every morning at precisely the time that Daniel was either preparing to swim or finishing his swim.
There was enough sunlight filtering in through the shutters to make the room dim, but not dark. Estelle’s pianoforte stood against one wall, with a circle of chairs around it for her audience. She was shy about her music, he remembered Kate saying in one of her letters, and never played for strangers, though she could occasionally be tempted to play the organ in the church.
The chairs he now moved aside were an odd assortment, chosen for comfort. Aside from the oak panelling, there was none of the gentleman’s club type of furnishings he vaguely recalled from his father’s day, and not a trace of that distinctive smell of snuff and brandy which lingered after he had enjoyed a game of billiards with friends. The room smelled of roses—a scent he traced to an onyx dish of dried petals on the mantelpiece. He picked up a handful, inhaling the heady fragrance, reminded of a hamam he had once visited and the scented oils they’d used there.
The door closed gently. He let the petals fall and turned round. Kate was standing just inside the room, her arms wrapped protectively around herself. She had rolled and pinned his white silk trouser legs, revealing her bare ankles and dainty feet. She had tied a wide blue sash around her waist and rolled up the sleeves of his tunic to her elbows, making his austere clothing look absurdly feminine and Kate herself, with her hair down and tied back, distractingly alluring, as if she were dressed for bed.
‘I managed to avoid being seen,’ she said, still hovering at the door.
Realising that any compliment would make her even more self-conscious than she already was, Daniel concentrated on making her feel at ease. ‘Lock the door, just to be on the safe side,’ he said, ‘then come over and join me. I’m glad you dispensed with your shoes. You can find your balance better without them.’
‘I feel odd. I’m not used to wearing so little, or to being so unconstrained.’
Manfully, he refused to allow his eyes to wander to her un-corseted bosom. ‘Forget about what you’re wearing.
Concentrate on being able to move freely. Now, stand very still, shoulders back, arms at your side, and we’ll start with some simple breathing exercises.’
* * *
‘Enough,’ Kate said, flopping onto her tummy and gasping for breath. ‘I can’t do any more.’
Beside her, Daniel was still in that odd pose, his body held in a rigidly straight line by his elbows and his toes, and not in the least out of breath.
‘Well done,’ he said, pushing himself upright to sit cross-legged in one fluid movement. ‘You have a natural balance. It took me days of practice before I could hold some of those poses.’
‘You’re being kind.’ She heaved herself up, and managed with some ungainly floundering to place herself in approximately the same pose. He looked relaxed and comfortable. She, on the other hand, felt awkward and sore.
‘Did you enjoy it?’ he asked.
‘I did—though I suspect I would give you a different answer if you asked me tomorrow morning. I will almost certainly feel as if I have been stretched on a rack. Who would have thought that balancing and breathing could be so difficult? Is my face red? And my hair—I must look a fright.’
‘You look delightfully rumpled.’
Kate giggled. ‘You look as if you’ve barely been tested.’
‘I’ve been practising for more than ten years.’
‘So what can an expert of ten years do that I cannot?’
‘A handstand?’
‘Will you show me?’
Daniel rolled forward onto his hands, then slowly, and with complete control, raised his legs over his head. Kate watched, enthralled, as he held the pose for a few seconds, then moved into a series of other moves which flowed like a dance, each one controlled, deliberate, graceful. His face was quite blank, his eyes focused inwards. His tunic rolled back, exposing a taut belly, and the muscles clearly defined beneath his smooth, lightly tanned skin. He ended the sequence on his feet, taking one of the controlled breaths he had taught her, then opened his eyes, smiling sheepishly.
‘That was like a ballet.’
Daniel laughed. ‘It’s supposed to be fluid. I have to confess to showing off a little.’
‘I have to confess to enjoying every moment. How have you managed such a transformation in a matter of weeks since your illness?’
‘Hard work, and the fact that I managed to maintain my practice routine for much of the time I was in captivity.’
‘But you were manacled. I saw the marks.’
‘Where there’s a will there’s a way.’ He dropped onto the floor beside her.
‘Are you really as fully recovered as you seem to be? I thought it would take you much longer to regain your strength. You were as weak as a kitten a few short weeks ago.’
‘I realise that. And I’m not entirely free of the effects of my ordeal. I get severe attacks of pins and needles in my feet, and there are times when I wake up convinced that I still have manacles around my ankles. I expect I’ll suffer from occasional bouts of the ague for the rest of my life, but it won’t kill me. I’m lucky to be in such good health, and I’m extremely lucky to have had you as a nurse.’ He reached for her hand. ‘I owe you a great deal.’
‘You’ve said thank you, and I’ve told you there’s no need. I only did what any wife would do.’
‘No, you seriously underestimate yourself. I have had a very brief account from Sir Marcus of what you went through. He praised your resourcefulness and your courage, which amounts to an admission that you were tested above and beyond the call of duty—wifely or otherwise.’
‘I did what was necessary, that’s all, Daniel.’
‘You’re uncomfortable with praise. Your little toes are curling. So I won’t say any more, except that you are an extraordinary woman and I’m very lucky to have you as my wife.’ He kissed her hand. ‘Thank you.’
She had never heard him sound so sincere. For a moment, when their eyes met, she caught a glimpse of a very different Daniel, a man who cared, and, oddly, she wanted to cry. But then he let her hand go, getting effortlessly to his feet, pulling her with him, smiling at her in quite a different way.
‘I didn’t know my simple garments would look so good on you.’
She dropped a mock curtsey, then groaned. ‘Ouch.’
‘You need a hot bath,’ Daniel said. ‘I don’t suppose that’s possible?’
‘Only if I divert both the kitchen maid and chambermaid from their other tasks and commandeer all the hot water from the kitchen for the next two hours, thus preventing Cook from doing her work too. Shall I go and jump in the lake instead?’
‘It would be the perfect solution—if you could swim. Why are English country houses so primitive? It should be possible, in this day and age, to have hot water more readily available.’
‘I have seen some patented bathing apparatus advertised, which claims to be able to fill a bath at the turn of a valve.’
‘In Arabia and in Turkey they have something called a hamam, which is a steam bath—or rather a series of baths, rather like the Roman model. There are different days set aside for men and women, and you can spend the entire day there.’
‘An entire day devoted to bathing!’
‘Bathing in hot and cold water, steaming, having a massage, taking tea, having your body oiled. Don’t wrinkle your nose—it’s extremely relaxing and it would ease all the aches and pains in your poor muscles.’
‘So you’ve been to Turkey? Would Sir Marcus add a week to your sentence if he knew you’d admitted that to me?’
‘Sir Marcus thinks you are eminently trustworthy. I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t try to recruit you, he thinks so highly of you.’
‘If he sent me to Turkey then I would try one of those hamam baths. I like the sound of them. I feel as if my body has toothache.’
‘Would you like a massage? I could give you one.’
He was not quite smiling, but there was that wicked look in his eyes that dared her to accept and made her body throb in a very different way.
‘Would it make me feel better?’
‘I think it would help us both.’
* * *
One of the benefits of living in a house with so few servants, Daniel thought as he rummaged through his travel trunk, was knowing their routine. Sylvia, for example, always made the beds first thing, straight after collecting the breakfast dishes, and would have no reason to come upstairs for the remainder of the day.
Kate knew that as well as he did, but she was perched nervously on the single chair in his room, eyeing the door as if the maid might burst through it at any moment.
He found what he was looking for and set it down on the bedside table before turning the key in the lock. ‘Now we won’t be disturbed.’
‘But what if she has forgotten something? She’ll think it very strange...’
‘That Lady Elmswood is in her husband’s bedchamber while the pair of them are on their honeymoon?’
‘Lady Elmswood would not have spent the last two hours contorting her body into poses it is not designed to contort into while wearing her husband’s clothes.’
‘No, that was most definitely Kate. I infinitely prefer Kate. She is decidedly unconventional.’
‘I’m not, Daniel. I am tediously conventional.’
He laughed softly. ‘So tediously conventional that you asked me to marry you.’
‘That was different.’
‘No, you’re different. You still have no idea how extraordinarily brave you were, coming to rescue me...’
‘I didn’t rescue you. I simply nursed you, and then dragged you back here against your will to recuperate.’
‘There you are—that alone is evidence of how extraordinary you are.’
‘You were too weak to resist.’
‘It’s true. I do find you quite irresistible.’
‘When I am red in the face and my hair is a tangle and I’m wearing men’s clothes?’
‘Especially then.’ He pulled her to her feet, wrapping his arms around her, resting his chin in the wild tangle of her soft blonde hair. ‘You see, you’re not the only one who is unconventional.’
She put her arms around his waist, nestling closer to him, and his body responded instantly. He didn’t remember ever being so responsive to a woman, but it had been so long—perhaps that was why his desire for Kate was so strong.
It was suddenly urgently necessary that he kiss her. He said her name and she lifted her face, smiling up at him in a way that left him in no doubt that she wanted to kiss him too. He moaned softly as their lips met and their tongues touched. Only two thin layers of fabric lay between them. He could feel the press of her breasts against his chest, the heat of her skin as he slid his hands down to cup her bottom, feel how hard he was already, pressing against her belly.
Dragging his mouth away, taken aback by the strength of his desire for her, putting that too down to abstinence, Daniel was distracted by the corresponding blaze of heat in her eyes. Also due to abstinence—a lifetime of abstinence, he reminded himself. She deserved better than a hard, quick—
Dear God, don’t think like that.
‘Ready?’ he asked her.
Her laugh was husky. ‘I think I have made that clear enough.’
Which made it impossible not to kiss her again, cupping her breasts this time, feeling her nipples harden at his touch, feeling himself get painfully hard as she slid her hands under his tunic to touch his bare skin.
He undid the sash she had tied around her waist and then started on the row of buttons, aware of her watching him, tensing as he undid the last button, but making no attempt to stop him when he pulled the tunic apart. Her skin was so pale. Her nipples were dark, hard peaks begging for attention. He took one in his mouth, heard her soft, delightful sigh, and it almost overset him—hearing her breath catch in her throat, knowing that if he touched her now, slipped his hand between her legs, she would climax quickly and he could be inside her...
The Inconvenient Elmswood Marriage (Penniless Brides 0f Convenience Book 4) Page 13