Dukes Prefer Blondes (27 page)

“I don't remember anything about that in the marriage vows,” she said. “There was
obey
—­I noticed that came first—­but I privately added a lengthy footnote to that item.”

“This surprises me not at all. But there was the part about serving me.”

“It, too, needed a footnote. Then love and honor and keeping you and sticking with you and nobody else. I remember all those. But I don't recall the minister mentioning anything about keeping you excited.”

“That was the
serve
part. It had an asterisk and some fine print.”

“I did not hear any fine print.”

“You weren't listening very closely. You closed your eyes once or twice.”

“I was trying not to cry.”

“I should hope so. At that point, it was too late for regrets.”

“Don't be thick,” she said. “I nearly cried because of all the feelings. I wanted to laugh, too, but a lady does not indulge in vulgar emotions at her own wedding in front of all the wedding guests, especially when they include royalty. I hope you didn't mind them too much. Mama had to have them, for the show.”

“I know,” he said. “Pretending she was delighted with your choice of mate. Clara, your mother is not ­entirely—­or even very much—­misguided, you know.”

She sat up. She had an idea what was in his mind. They would have to settle some things, sooner or later, but this morning the sun seemed to be shining, and it was the day after her wedding, and her husband had made perfect love to her. Twice.

The arguments could wait for later.

She gave a regal wave of her hand. “I'm not in a humor to talk about my mother. I'm starting to feel hungry, and everybody will tell you I become cantankerous if not fed promptly.” She raised an autocratic eyebrow, in the way her grandmother used to do. “I trust your plans include a delectable breakfast for your wife, Mr. Radford?”

T
he argument started in the afternoon, in the course of a drive in Richmond Park. The drive, if not the dispute, was meant to keep them occupied for a time. Then they'd dine somewhere in the vicinity. After which they'd need to find something else to do, to while away the long hours before the promised supper.

Since debate with Radford demanded all of Clara's mental resources, it was an excellent way to keep her mind from dwelling on what the supper entertainment would entail.

Her husband drove her cabriolet. Like Davis, it—­along with her horse and tiger—­had come with her into the marriage.

Naturally, he drove to an inch, even though the vehicle had been tailored for her and the seat wasn't the right height for his more long-­legged self. But this could hardly incommode him.

He drove perfectly because of course he would have studied the art of driving in the same intently focused and thorough way he studied everything else: facial expressions, the precise distance from here to there and the amount of time required to cover the distance, identifying marks on silver, and so on and so on. Raven Radford was a walking encyclopedia.

Clara was hopelessly infatuated with his intellect. Yes, of course she loved his body, and had admired it even when she had only a hint of what it could do to hers. Still, she was only in the early stages of physical appreciation. His brain was a longer acquaintance. It had captured her attention, perhaps from the first day she'd met him, at Vauxhall. It stimulated her, challenged her, and demanded her utmost.

It excited her to match wits with it. And to match her will against his.

“Malvern House?” she said with calm curiosity, when she wanted to shriek,
Have you lost your mind, the wondrous mind I love?
She silently thanked her years of ladyship training in self-­control.

“It stands empty,” he said.

“I'm not surprised,” she said while she tried to fathom what was in his wondrous mind. “The last tenant was a visiting foreign princeling, one of the rare royal cousins who aren't impoverished. One needs a ducal income to maintain and staff it. But other dukes have their own London residences.”

“Bernard hates London, and doesn't care what becomes of anything or anybody but himself,” he said. “The house is handsome and spacious.”

“Spacious enough to want, at the bare minimum, a staff of thirty servants,” she said.

“You know Malvern House, then?”

“Of course I know it. Ducal residences formed a part of my studies. I know what it takes to run them, certainly.”

“I thought it would suit you,” he said.

She looked at him. Even owning an enormous brain, he could be as obtuse, at times, as ordinary men.

“My dear Mr. Radford, O light of my life,” she said.

He gave her a sharp glance, and she caught the slight twitch of his mouth. “Yes, my precious one.”

“Were you not attending on that day in Mr. Westcott's office, when I engaged in high drama? Did you forget my splendid imitation of my mother in one of her more highly strung moments? Did the rant about my life simply pass through your brain like a puff of air through an open louver?”

“I remember it all vividly,” he said.

“And probably word for word,” she said. “And so I'm puzzled. After witnessing that explosion, what leads your powers of logic to think of placing me in Malvern House?”

“You can't live in chambers,” he said.

“I don't see why not.” She could see very well why not, but she wanted to understand what had set him on this path.

“For the reasons you gave in the course of the drama,” he said. “You don't know how to put on your stockings and untying your bonnet is uphill work—­”

“I have Davis for that,” she said.

His mouth twitched more visibly.

“What amuses you?” she said.

“You, my—­erm—­treasure,” he said. “You come to me with your dashing cabriolet, your splendid horse to draw it, and your tiger to look after the ensemble.”

The cabriolet represented freedom and a sort of power. “If you minded, you ought to have said so,” she said.

“I don't mind in the least,” he said. “Driving provides exercise in the open air, requires a level of skill stimulating to the brain, and allows a measure of independence. I never wished for you to leave your vehicle or your near and dear servants behind. This, however, is merely one aspect of the life you're accustomed to.”

“I didn't like that life,” she said evenly. “It was stifling me.”

“O jewel in the crown of my happiness,” he said. “That much I perfectly comprehend. It doesn't change the fact of your having spent your life wrapped in cotton wool, as you acknowledged. You've no notion what it's like not to have an army of servants at your beck and call. Do you expect Davis to do your laundry—­or even take it to the laundress? Who'll prepare your meals and see to the clearing and washing up after?”

“Not Davis,” she said. A lady's maid never performed such lowly tasks. “But you have a woman who comes in to clean.”

“She cleans after a fashion,” he said. “But let's talk about cooking.”

“No lady can cook,” she said tightly. “We're not allowed near the kitchen. Among other things, the servants take great offense at such intrusions. We can, however, plan menus and direct the housekeeper and send notes to the cook and such.”

“Then who'll make your ladyship's delectable meals?” he said. “My father has a French cook, thanks to my mother, who's civilized him over the years. But Westcott and I go to the nearest chop house or send there for meals, depending on how busy we are and our enthusiasm for venturing into the streets in foul weather.”

“It would make a vastly interesting change,” she said. “It sounds cozy and intimate, and I should enjoy not having servants constantly hovering and watching and listening. They're not nearly as invisible as ­people like to believe.”

“You might have mentioned wishing to be cozy and intimate with Westcott,” he said. “I had no idea.”

“I know as well as you do that larger living quarters are available for married gentlemen,” she said.

“Even so, we might grow crowded, what with Westcott popping in when the whim takes him to plague me with desperate clients. And let's not forget Davis and the groom Colson. They'll need room. Even now, if he's listening—­”

“Colson doesn't possess your inhumanly sharp senses,” she said. “Firstly, the carriage hood is up, muffling conversation. Secondly, the horse, the carriage wheels, and the outside world are far from silent.”

“However he learns of it,” Radford said, “as soon as your groom catches wind of any plans to move to chambers in the Temple, he'll look for another position. “You may be willing to come down a hundred steps in the world, but Colson, I promise you, will not like giving up his comfortable berth at Warford House.”

She gave a dismissive wave of her hand. “The point is moot, in any event. O sun on my horizon, you know as well as I that chambers won't accommodate a spoiled child like your wife. Malvern House is beyond our means. Why do we even mention these absurd extremes?”

“I rather fancy you in Malvern House,” he said. “It would be like your marrying my cousin without marrying him. You'd have a proper scope for your mind, training, and talents.”

“Looking after you will offer more than enough scope,” she said. “I'm encouraged to know your breed is civilizable, though I suspect the process is a slow one, wanting cunning as well as patience.”

“It wants a woman of unusually strong will. I believe you're qualified.”

“I know I am,” she said, “else I wouldn't have married you. My dear learned friend, may we view the problem logically?”

“Sometimes, when you're by, my logic runs amok,” he said. “Especially when thoughts cross my mind about what I'm going to do to you at a more opportune time.”

Like some exotic vine, tendrils of heat wrapped about her. To cool her senses, she looked about her at the wild splendor of the park, green even at this bleak time of year. Though so many trees had shed their leaves, the evergreens and hardier shrubs brightened the landscape.

“I know what this is,” she said. “It's a ploy to make me witless.”

“Is it working?”

“To a point.”

“Then let's make for that cluster of shrubbery and misbehave in a furtive manner,” he said. “Although . . . hmmm.”

“Although . . . ?” she said, more than a little disappointed.

“Feel free to gaze at me adoringly—­or at your gloves,” he said. “But don't scrutinize your surroundings too closely. Somebody near the shrubbery is behaving furtively.”

She gazed up at him, focusing on the errant black curl emerging from under his hat. “Another ­couple?” she said.

“Only one person,” he said. “And one very much out of his element.”

R
adford had sensed the movement and casually glanced that way. At first he'd thought he'd spotted a deer or dog or squirrel darting among the trees and shrubbery. Now he was sure the figure was human but small. A boy, most likely, given his agility.

As the carriage continued its leisurely pace, the boy dashed from his place to hide behind an immense tree trunk. He was fast. Had Radford not been as keenly noticing as he was, he would have missed their watcher.

“Out of his element?” His wife gazed up at him in an adoring manner so patently theatrical, he could hardly keep in countenance.

O light of my life
. She truly was entertaining.

“He's good at skulking and he's fast,” he said. “He may merely be a boy amusing himself by spying on ­couples in the park or playing at some game, or he may be up to no good. But the glimpse I had . . .”

He reflected. He'd caught something familiar about the way their stalker moved. “I thought I'd seen him before, but one sees so many boys. The clothes, though. Those seemed wrong for a child from hereabouts. And he seems to be on his own. Children of the middling and upper classes are unlikely to wander this immense park or anywhere else unattended. At the very least, a boy would have a pack of friends with him. Not that I'm positive it was a boy. It might have been a small, nimble man.”

“We're near a turning that will take us more deeply into the park,” she said. “If he follows us, that stretch of road will give you better opportunities to see him. There are a few large gaps between the trees and such. He'll need to break cover, and you can watch him out of the corner of your eye.”

He was already watching out of the corner of his eye, although his beautiful wife offered strong competition for his attention.

The deep green cloak she wore was styled “
merveilleux
,” she had informed him. The capes, ubiquitous in women's dress for both day and night, were in the exaggerated shape of a man's coat collar, and trimmed in velvet. The gigantic sleeves of her dress were barely visible through openings in the cape's sleeves. These were rather like tent openings through which she could extend her hands without disturbing the outer layer.

A relatively small rose acacia branch sprouted from the top of her pink hat. That, a ruffled collar atop the cloak collar, and a bow or two here and there, constituted the sole decoration. The look was altogether spare and severe compared to her normal level of party-­cake decoration, yet it seemed as frivolously feminine as everything else she wore.

He looked forward to the fun of taking it off, though he might have to knock Davis unconscious first.

But later.

At present another sort of clothes needed consideration.

Their watcher's attire and movement had signaled
London
.

Why, Radford wasn't yet certain. Sometimes he saw things before he truly saw them. This wasn't easy to explain in rational terms. He didn't attempt to account for the phenomenon to himself. He simply heeded it.