He needed to clothe himself. He felt dirty. Dastardly. At the exact moment he located his breeches, a knock sounded at the door. He and Minette locked eyes. Another knock followed, and men’s muted voices, and then the door swung wide as Warren, Townsend, and Arlington strode into the room.
“Wake up, Augustine. You’ve got to help us look. Minette’s gone walking in her sleep again and we haven’t been able to find—” His voice cut off mid-sentence. August saw the scene, for one sickening moment, as Warren must have seen it. August drawing on his breeches, the blood on the ivory bedsheets, his sister’s stricken, tearful look.
“Oh God,” Warren breathed. “I don’t... I can’t understand what I’m looking at.”
“Get out, will you?” August pulled the curtain closed to hide Minette. Warren whipped it open again, staring between the two of them. A scarlet flush crept into his face.
“Get out,” August said again. “For God’s sake, Warren, leave.” He pulled up his breeches as fast as he could, and stuffed his cock into the front with shaking hands. “Get out and let us make ourselves presentable. Send the others away.”
Warren emerged from his stupor then. Fury replaced shock. He lunged for August’s throat and gripped his windpipe, and shoved him against the bedpost. “My sister. August. You filthy whoreson. I’ll kill you for this.”
“Listen to me,” August rasped with what little breath he could draw into his lungs. “Let me explain.”
“You were my friend. A brother to me. I’ve trusted you all these years.” He let loose a string of blistering oaths as Townsend pulled his hand away from August’s throat.
“Look to Minette,” Townsend barked to Arlington over his shoulder. “She’s going to faint.”
While August sucked in air, Arlington wrapped a blanket around Minette and sat her on the bed, and flicked up the sheets to cover the bloodied spots. Townsend forced Warren to meet his gaze. “Be quiet, would you? Shall we make the whole house aware? It’s just the four of us here. No one else needs to know.”
“He ravished my sister,” Warren said, jabbing a finger at August’s face.
“You must let him give his account,” insisted Townsend. “I’m certain there’s some reasonable explanation. August’s an honorable fellow.”
That Townsend would say so while Minette sat trembling on a bloodied bed spoke volumes about the depth of their friendship.
“I didn’t know Minette was Minette,” August said. “Obviously, I had no idea, or I’d never have...” He turned to Warren with a pleading look. “It was dark, I was half-drunk, and I thought you’d all sent a present for my birthday. I thought she was that damned maid with the curly hair.”
“I was the one who came to his room,” Minette broke in. “It’s not his fault. I ought to have told you the sleepwalking had started up again. I came here and climbed into his bed while I was asleep.”
“But you didn’t sleep through the whole thing,” said Warren. “Surely you didn’t sleep through...everything.”
Minette squeezed her hands in her lap as a heavy silence settled in the room.
August wished there was a way to protect her from this shame. “Don’t blame her,” he said to Warren. “She didn’t realize what she was doing.”
“And you didn’t either?” he asked in a bitter voice. “Excuse me if I find that difficult to believe.”
“It was dark behind the curtains,” said Minette. “I know he didn’t know. I know from...from the way he behaved. He thought I was a maid named Mary.”
Warren spun on her and held up a hand. “I’ve heard enough from you, Minette Bernard. Just sit there and be quiet.”
Arlington frowned at Warren. “Let your sister speak. This involves her also.”
“No,” August said. “She shouldn’t have to speak. The dishonor is mine. The blame is mine.”
“It’s not,” cried Minette. “It’s mine. Even when I came awake, I didn’t stop you. I didn’t leave as I should have.”
“Because I wouldn’t let you.”
“Don’t tell them you restrained me, or did this against my will. I won’t let you, August. I won’t let you take the blame for this when it was clearly my fault.”
“It’s not your fault,” he said through gritted teeth. How could she have known the consequences of staying, innocent and sheltered as she was? He remembered the way she’d tensed and cried out when he entered her. He had thought it shock at his size. “You wouldn’t have stayed if you understood what I intended. You’re a good girl, Minette.”
“No, I’m not.” She burst into hysterical sobs, shaking so pitifully that Arlington steadied her and handed over his handkerchief. “I’m not a good girl. I stayed because you made me feel so warm and happy. I meant to leave, I just never did. I knew it was wrong, but it felt so lovely when you held me and kissed me. ”
Warren clapped his hands over his ears. “No more. Don’t say any more.” He glared at his sister so harshly that August felt glad Arlington had taken up a position of defense on her behalf. “You ought to be beaten to within an inch of your life for this,” he said. “After all my care for your reputation! After all Aunt Overbrook’s efforts to bring you up and make a lady of you.”
“Minette is a lady.” The men all turned at the heat in August’s voice. Minette stared at him with big eyes. “I have said the blame is mine and I’ll not allow anyone to say otherwise, nor will I allow you to punish your sister for something that was entirely my fault. I’ll marry Minette as soon as can be done. I shall make things right.”
Minette sobbed into Arlington’s handkerchief. Warren passed a hand across his mouth, as if he’d eaten something that made him ill. “But then you’ll be her husband,” he said.
August wanted to protest the words, and the condemning look on Warren’s face. He wanted to say he was not so bad a fellow, but to do so would lay the blame back on Minette. And even if everyone knew it was Minette’s fault, even if August also ached to beat her to within an inch of her life, it wasn’t gentlemanly to come out and say it. It wasn’t gentlemanly to shame ladies, ever, especially when the lady in question was sister to your friend.
Or former friend.
There was a tap at the door, and the buxom, blonde morning maid flounced in with a bowl and pitcher. “Your hot water, milord.” She stopped as she noted the four men, and the tone of gravity in the room. Warren and August both moved to block her view of Minette. “Can I get you anything else, milord?”
August couldn’t speak. Townsend piped up after a moment. “Go tell the housekeeper to bring Lady Townsend at once. Someone has fallen ill.”
She bobbed a curtsy. “Yes, milord.”
The maid’s eyes sought August’s before she left. He gave her a hard look and her gaze slid away. Perhaps it was all the maid’s fault, for giving him those glances that made him expect her to visit. Perhaps it was no one’s fault. There was certainly no way to fix things back to the way they’d been, and now that the initial shock had cleared he was forced to face all the uncomfortable particulars of his situation. He would have to jilt Lady Priscilla, who was both headstrong and prideful. She’d do her best to drag his reputation—and Minette’s—through the mud. He’d enrage her powerful father and break his mother’s heart. The woman was already overwhelmed dealing with his father’s failing health. Speaking of failing health, news of this unexpected engagement might just finish the old man off.
But the worst, most awful thing of all was that he would have to marry a woman he considered a sister, a woman he couldn’t bear to take to bed.
You’ve already bedded her, you beast.
But he could never, ever do it again. He could barely look at her now, after the way he’d used her last night. And he wouldn’t be able to go elsewhere to sate his needs; Warren would cry foul if he tried to take a mistress. Since Warren and Towns had fallen in love with their wives, they’d become insufferable about marriage and fidelity.
In short, August could look forward to never having
sex again.
Damn Minette. She had always been trouble, had always been an irritatingly persistent burr beneath his blanket. Even so, he never could have imagined her destroying his life, his prospects, his friendships, his entire world so completely, and in just one night.
*** *** ***
Thanks to Lord Townsend’s meticulously run household, a great tub of steaming water was waiting for Minette by the time Aurelia secreted her back to her bedroom. Minette begged to be left alone, so Aurelia wouldn’t see the garish blood stains on the insides of her thighs. Minette was so ashamed, and so numb she could barely feel the warmth of the water as she sank into the tub.
Once the blood on her body was gone, she set about trying to scrub the traces of blood from her night shift, to no avail. She ended up throwing it into a sopping ball on the floor. She couldn’t bear to wear it again anyway. The blood reminded her of the pain, and of August pressing inside her in that forceful, smarting way. It reminded her of his large, hard body and the shocking ways he’d touched her.
And then, in morning’s light, how horrified he’d been. How confused, how angry…and yet he had defended her before all of them, even before her furious brother, who very well knew what a muckling addle-brain she was. August had announced, I’ll marry Minette as soon as can be done. I shall make things right. He’d asked to marry her in her dreams a thousand times, but in her dreams it had been out of love and desire for her, not an unwanted consequence of her stupidity.
So she couldn’t be happy about it, not yet. Maybe someday, if August forgave her, and her brother got over the fact that she’d humiliated him in front of all his friends. She didn’t know when that day might be. At the moment, it felt very, very far away.
“Minette?” Aurelia poked her head in the door as she was drying her hair. “Are you done bathing? May I come sit with you?”
“Yes, I’m done.” She’d washed and washed, although she still didn’t feel clean. Her friend’s sympathetic expression nearly started her crying again.
“Please don’t look at me that way,” Minette said. “As if I am someone to be pitied. I did a horrible thing. I am a horrible person who ought to be scorned.”
Aurelia embraced her and led her over to an upholstered divan. “I’m not going to scorn you. You’re my friend, and friends stick together when things like this happen. And truly, everyone realizes you didn’t do it on purpose. Hunter told me what happened, that you’d sleepwalked into August’s bed, that you’d done such things since you were a girl, and never had any control over it.”
“I could have left once I woke up.” Minette pulled in her knees and laid her forehead against them. “I ought to have left, but it felt so good...up until... Oh, dear.” She looked ruefully at her friend. “I didn’t know.” She felt ridiculous to say it, but Aurelia nodded in an understanding way.
“Believe me, Minette, I had no idea either. The first time Hunter and I...” A flush rose in her cheeks. “Well. Ladies ought to know more than they’re told. We oughtn’t to be left to discover these matters at the point of crisis. The Townsend wedding night was an absolute nightmare. I didn’t want to be there, and I didn’t want to be married to him.”
“Did he hurt you?”
Aurelia studied her a moment. “Did August hurt you?”
Minette didn’t know how to answer. “He did, I suppose, but I think it would have been very hard for him not to. It was a matter of...” She made some helpless gestures with her fingers, pantomiming his largeness and the rather small space he’d put it in. “I don’t think he meant to be rough, but there was blood afterward.”
“Don’t worry about the blood. I’ve already had the housekeeper throw the sheets away, and she won’t tell a soul. But it’s frightening to see it there, isn’t it? I assure you, it only happens the first time.”
Tears pooled in Minette’s eyes. “The thing was, it felt so good before that.”
“I’m glad. Good for August. I suppose Hunter tried to make me feel pleasant on our wedding night, but I was a shrinking wretch.” She pulled a face of wide-eyed terror that made Minette giggle through her tears. “If August didn’t throw you over his lap and spank you, then you’ve already had a better first experience than me.”
“Lord Townsend spanked you on your wedding night?” Minette was aghast. “Whatever for?”
“For resisting him. I had no intention of letting him anywhere near me with that...” It was Aurelia’s turn to sketch a poking, thrusting male member in the air. “It was a jolly scene, I assure you. Him flailing away at my bottom, and me crying and threatening to tell my father he’d been so bold as to try to”—Aurelia erupted in giggles—“consummate our marriage. I was a very prudish lady back then.”
“Did he still...consummate the marriage...after he spanked you?”
“Yes, he certainly did. I realize now how patient and careful he was, but at the time, I felt terribly abused. I cried myself to sleep afterward, as I remember, crouched under the bed sheets so he wouldn’t hear me. He slept in another room.”
Minette could barely imagine the scene. Lord Townsend and Aurelia were so close now, as to seem two halves of the same person. “I cried too,” said Minette. “Not because he hurt me or spanked me but because...” Another sob broke loose. “Because I’m ruined. Now I can’t have a proper wedding night. I always pictured it would be so romantic, with flowers and sweet talk, and gentle words of longing, and gazing into one another’s eyes.”
“And scolding and spanking, and crying one’s self to sleep.” Aurelia gave her a wry look. “Wedding nights are hardly ever as perfect as we wish them to be. It’s all right. You must look on the bright side, and think of all the lovely things to come. My goodness, Minette. Lord August is going to marry you. Isn’t it what you’ve wanted your entire life?”
“Yes, but not like this.” Minette couldn’t seem to get a grasp on her emotions. As soon as she started feeling better, some vision or memory of the night before assailed her peace.
“Oh, my dear girl.” Aurelia dabbed at her tears with a hanky and then went to answer the soft tap at the door. Josephine entered and flew to her side, and gathered her in a warm, fortifying hug.
“Josephine,” sobbed Minette, burying her head against her sister-in-law’s neck. “What am I to do?”
“Everything’s going to be all right,” she answered briskly. “You’re not to cry anymore. Townsend and Arlington would die before they’d breathe a word to anyone about what happened. Even Mrs. Everly is not to know. She slept through the entire incident, thank God. Everything will be fine.”
“Except that August has to marry me!”
Josephine drew back and regarded her with confusion. “Last night you were weeping about the loss of him, and now you’re weeping because you’re to be his wife?”
“He doesn’t want me for his wife,” Minette wailed. “Warren’s making him marry me against his will, and I’m sure he’ll hate me for it. This is such a coil.”
“It’s not a coil, and I can’t imagine anything so outrageous as August hating you. The two of you have been friends for years. And Warren isn’t making him marry you. August is marrying you because it’s the proper, respectful thing to do. I spoke to him, dear. His only concern is your well-being. He asked me to come here to be sure you were all right.”
“I’m not all right,” she said.
Josephine pulled Minette’s hands from her face and held them tight. “Certainly there will be some uncomfortable moments in the interim, but you and August will soon be happily wed. You only need to find that bright, cheery woman you normally are, and bring her back to face all this upheaval. You must smile and hold your head high and be the Minette we all know.”
Minette returned her sister-in-law’s concerned squeeze. “How is Warren?” she asked.
Josephine smoothed a wrinkle in Minette’s dressing gown. “He’s upset, of course, but he’ll come around. You know how he gets when it comes to his little sister.”
�
�He wants to punish me, I suppose.”
Josephine sighed. “He probably does, but I doubt he will. The truth is, you rather belong to August now.”
Aurelia and Josephine exchanged a look. Did they wonder if Lord August would punish her for trapping him into marriage? She had a sudden vision of herself bent over his lap while he walloped her on the bottom with his big, strong hand. She pressed her fingers against her eyes and willed the vision away. “I hope my brother does not stay angry very long,” she said instead. “I feel awful to have disappointed him so badly.”
“He’s not angry or disappointed as much as he’s worried about you,” said Josephine. “He’s looked after you so long and now he has to let you go. I think that’s what upsets him most. This was so...sudden. I’m not sure he was ready to lose you.” She traced one of Minette’s blonde curls. “I know I wasn’t. I’ve grown used to your company, and I’ll miss you terribly when you’re off at Barrymore Park being Lady Augustine.”
Lady Augustine. How many times had she dreamed of having that title? “You’re going to have a baby to keep you busy,” she pointed out. “You and Aurelia both.”
“And you’ll have one too, soon enough,” said Josephine. “All our children can be playmates and grow up and be fast friends like the three of us, and like the gentlemen. You’ll see, Minette. Everything will be well.”
“Yes,” Aurelia concurred. “It doesn’t matter how things begin, you see, but how they develop over time. Don’t give another thought to last night’s proceedings. Smile instead, and look to the future. Think about it this way—you could be Lady Priscilla, about to be cruelly jilted.”
“She deserves it,” said Minette, “for playing that awful baroque recital last night. Everyone will assume that’s the reason, don’t you think?”
Aurelia and Josephine burst into laughter and Minette managed to laugh along with them. That was her talent, after all, her gift to the world, as people often told her: to smile and be amiable, and make everything bright.
Chapter Four: The Thing About Swans
My Naughty Minette (Properly Spanked Book 3) Page 4