Her Devilish Marquess (13 page)

For now, he decided he’d enjoy the moment
for what it was. There was no sense in thinking so far off into the
future. He’d witnessed enough people dying to know a long life
wasn’t a guarantee. The important thing was to take each day as it
came and spend it with people who mattered. Danette was going to be
one of those people. He had no doubt about it.

Content, he continued watching her for about
fifteen minutes until she stirred from sleep. She opened her eyes
and gasped when she saw him.

Laughing, he wiggled closer to her. “Your
reaction isn’t something I was hoping for,” he teased as he slipped
his arm around her waist and pulled her into his arms. “I had
imagined you might cry out in delight that you really did marry me
yesterday.”

She giggled and snuggled against him. “I am
glad we’re married. I just didn’t expect to see someone staring at
me.”

“
I was admiring your beauty.
I couldn’t help it. I can’t get over how pleasing you are to look
at. For the life of me, I’ll never understand why you didn’t have
gentlemen lining up to propose to you.”

“
You needn’t flatter me. I’m
already yours.”

He gave her a gentle squeeze around the
waist. “I’m not flattering you. I mean it. You have a natural
beauty most ladies don’t. I can’t count the number of ladies I’ve
seen who went to all the fuss of prettying themselves up with
jewelry, elaborate hairstyles, and fancy gowns. You take all those
things away, and there’s not much to appreciate. But with you, it’s
different. You’re just as honest as you look.”

“
You keep talking like that,
and we may never leave the bed.”

He grinned. It was nice to see her emerging
from her shell. “We could spend all day here.”

“
I don’t think we
can.”

“
Of course, we can. I’m not
due to see any of my patients for an entire week. That leaves me
free to spend seven days in this bed if I want to.”

“
But we’ll go
hungry.”

“
Not if we have the servants
bring the food up.”

“
Surely, they’ll talk if we
don’t leave the bedchamber.”

He shrugged. “Let them.”

“
I don’t know. Don’t you
think they’ll say bad things about it?”

“
They’ll think I’m an
exquisite lover.” He glanced at her and wiggled his eyebrows. “It
would be one of the few times the rumors were in my
favor.”

Catching the blush on her cheeks, he rolled
on top of her and kissed her neck with kisses so light they tickled
her. He liked it when she laughed. She had a nice, full laugh. The
pitch wasn’t annoyingly high, nor did she hold back. She simply
expressed her pleasure, and it was even better since he was the one
who gave her a reason for the moment’s enjoyment.

A knocking at the bedchamber door stopped
him from proceeding further. “Maybe the servants are wondering if
we want something to eat,” he told her. “Believe it or not, it’s
already eleven.”

“
I didn’t realize it was so
late,” she replied as he got off of her.

“
I’m afraid you kept me up
most of the night.” He grabbed his robe and glanced over his
shoulder so he could wink at her. “I’m not complaining. You were
worth every sleepless hour.”

Noting the way her face went bright red, he
chuckled. From time to time, he’d get a patient’s request to visit
them in the middle of the night, so she really hadn’t exhausted
him. Once he secured the robe, he went to the door and opened it,
making sure the footman didn’t see Danette in the bed.

“
I’m sorry to disturb you,
my lord, but Mr. Robinson and Lord Edon said they must speak with
you at once. It sounded urgent.”

Derek couldn’t imagine what could possibly
be such an emergency his friends had to pay him a visit, especially
so early in the day. Perhaps someone they knew needed a doctor. If
it was pressing, he didn’t want to make the person wait.

“
See them to the den,” Derek
said. “I’ll be down there shortly.”

The footman indicated he would do as told
and headed for the staircase.

Derek closed the door and turned to face
Danette, who hadn’t budged from her spot in the bed. “I suppose we
might as well get dressed. I have a couple of visitors. While I
didn’t set up any visits this week with a patient, sometimes I’m
asked to help at a moment’s notice.”

“
You think it’s serious?”
she asked.

“
Honestly, I’m not sure, but
I don’t dare take the chance in not finding out. Do you
mind?”

“
No, of course not. Your job
is to take care of people. I understand that.”

With a smile, he went over to the bed,
leaned forward, and kissed her. “You’re a wonderful wife. I’ll let
you know what the matter is once I find out.”

From there, he went to his bedchamber,
cleaned up, and got dressed. He hadn’t been one to spoil himself
with a valet. His brother had been into that sort of thing, loving
to be fussed over every moment of the day, but Derek preferred to
do as much for himself as possible.

Once he was presentable, he hurried on down
the stairs in time to see Christopher and Ethan standing in the
den, talking quietly to one another.

Christopher was the first to notice Derek.
“I told Ethan you’d be here today,” he said, a triumphant smile on
his face. “Even a doctor as busy as you would make time for your
wife.”

Derek noted the relaxed posture in both
gentlemen and knew there had been no emergency after all. This was
to be a social visit. Well, he supposed that was fine. Danette was
probably hungry and would prefer to come down to eat rather than
have a meal brought up.

Derek proceeded further into the room and
picked up the decanter. “Knowing full well I was here with my wife,
you came over to interrupt us?” he asked, his tone light.

“
To be fair, it is the
middle of the day,” Christopher replied. “We didn’t realize you
were going to stay in bed all day.”

Derek poured brandy into three glasses. “Why
shouldn’t I? I told all my patients I’d be indisposed for an entire
week so I could get better acquainted with her.”

“
You can’t do that out of
bed?” The knowing smirk on Christopher’s face told Derek he was
joking.

“
I can talk to her while in
bed as well as I can out of bed, but why not mix the two together?”
Derek put the decanter down and held out a glass to each gentleman.
“I happen to think a lady is far more interesting to listen to when
she’s naked.”

“
It’s hard to argue with you
on that point,” Christopher said.

“
You’re inclined to argue
with me about other things?” Derek asked, taking a seat across from
them.

“
Not often, but there is one
thing I wish to argue.”

“
Oh?”

“
Yes.” Christopher glanced
at Ethan, who indicated his silent agreement in whatever
Christopher had planned to say. When Christopher turned his
attention back to Derek, he continued, “We want you to reconsider
membership at White’s.”

Derek nearly spit out his brandy. After
taking a moment to wipe his mouth with a handkerchief, he cleared
his throat and set the glass down. “You can’t be serious.”

“
Why not?”

“
You know very well ‘why
not’.”

“
But we need people like
you. White’s is becoming dull. Too many stuffy gentlemen have
joined recently, and they’re starting to hinder us from having a
good time.”

“
Sadly,” Ethan finally spoke
up, “it’s true. Lord Steinbeck is leading the whole thing. Not only
is he gathering support among half of White’s members to stop
gambling, but he wants to stop us from talking about the latest
scandals.”

Christopher nodded and
gestured to Ethan. “He’s right. If Lord Steinbeck has his way, we
won’t even be able to read the
Tittletattle
there. It was bad enough
he almost got Ethan’s book banned. You know the one. We gave you a
copy shortly before your wedding.”

“
The one on how to pleasure
a lady,” Derek said with a nod. “I found it helpful. Why would Lord
Steinbeck have such a problem with that book?”

“
Because he doesn’t believe
ladies should enjoy the bed?” Christopher guessed with a shrug. “If
it hadn’t been for one gentleman voting in our favor, we would have
lost. I wish I knew who that gentleman was. I’d go right up to him
and shake his hand.”

“
We’ll never know who did
it,” Ethan said. “All the votes were secret.”

“
I know, but I still wish I
had a way of finding out.” Christopher let out a long and heavy
sigh. “It’s too bad my cousin Perry didn’t take a peek at how the
gentlemen were voting.”

“
That’s why he was chosen to
collect the votes,” Ethan replied. “Everyone else would have
peeked.”

“
My cousin is always ruining
things.”

“
He could have lied and said
the book was banned. As I recall, he didn’t want a copy when you
dumped one in his lap and told him if he didn’t read it, he’d lose
his wife.”

“
I didn’t dump it in his
lap. I gave it to him wrapped in brown paper.” Christopher looked
at Derek and added, “I might have mentioned the possibility of him
ruining his marriage if he didn’t read it.”

“
You have a big heart,
Christopher,” Derek teased then picked up his brandy and took a
sip.

Christopher’s eyes grew wide. “Why is it
wrong for me to care about the happiness and wellbeing of the
gentleman who practically raised me?”

Ethan snorted. “You were tired of your wife
nagging you about finding him a good wife. There was nothing
selfless about it.” Before Christopher could protest, Ethan
directed his gaze to Derek. “We could use someone like you at
White’s. One of the gentlemen recently died, and we’ll be voting in
a new member soon. Why don’t you let us nominate you?”

Derek finished his brandy and shook his
head. “I’m not popular with the Ton.”

“
Neither are we,” Ethan
replied.

“
But you two aren’t banned
from the balls,” Derek reminded him. “When people hear my name,
they get a strange twitch in their eye. You know the kind of twitch
I’m talking about. It’s the same kind you get when your
father-in-law wants to engage in fencing with you or when,” he
looked at Christopher, “Lord Roderick laughs about that time he
made you clean out stalls and chamber pots.”

Ethan cringed, and Christopher shuddered.
All right, so their eyes didn’t twitch. But their reactions still
proved his point.

“
You two would be the only
ones who’d vote me in anyway,” Derek added. “Why waste your time on
even bringing me up at the vote?”

“
Because some of the
gentlemen are getting tired of Lord Steinbeck bullying everyone,”
Christopher said. “Granted, some agree with him, but most don’t.
Most are going along with it because they’re afraid of him. He has
some influence, and some gentlemen stand to lose something if they
lose his favor. Mark my word, some would vote for you just to see
him get taken down a notch.”

“
So what you’re saying,”
Derek began, “is that people would vote for me as a way of voting
against him.”

“
Exactly!” Ethan snapped his
fingers. “You are the extreme opposite of Lord Steinbeck. He’s
uptight and overbearing. You are entertaining and fun. You’d be a
breath of fresh air, and that’s exactly what White’s needs.” He
leaned forward in his chair and stared Derek squarely in the eye.
“Now, more than ever, you are needed to come to the aid of your
fellow gentleman.”

Derek chuckled. For goodness’ sakes! By the
way Ethan talked, one would swear Derek was being recruited to join
a war, not merely upset the balance of power at a gentleman’s club.
“This is ridiculous. I won’t get voted in. You’re fighting a lost
cause. You’d be better off finding someone else to go against Lord
Steinbeck.”

“
There is no one else,”
Christopher argued. “Not anyone who’s as well-known as you are for
creating trouble.”

What a shame that was Derek’s reputation. He
had a lot to do to make up for it. “I’m married, and I have a
title. I have a responsibility to be an honorable marquess.”

“
Don’t let others destroy
what’s great about you,” Christopher said. “We love the fact that
you aren’t afraid to speak your mind. And it wasn’t like you ever
spread falsehoods. You pointed out things to people when they
deserved it. You weren’t willing to let them get away with
mistreating others.”

Ethan nodded. “I, for one, often wished I
had your courage.”

“
Courage doesn’t give a
gentleman a good reputation,” Derek said.

After a moment, Ethan ventured, “What if we
voted you in on the basis you would be a different gentleman than
the one you used to be? Marriage can change a gentleman. It changed
me. I went from being a rake to a loving husband and devoted
father. The same could be true for you.”

Encouraged, Christopher smiled. “That’s an
interesting way of looking at it. Maybe this could be a fresh
start. If you can get into the good graces with the gentlemen at
White’s, maybe you won’t be banned from any more balls.”

Drats. Just when Derek thought he’d won his
argument, they spun things around to suit their side of things. But
really, what were the chances he’d ever get voted into White’s?
Rare to none. So why not let them suggest a vote for him? The vote
would be no, and they’d leave him alone about the matter. There
would be no harm done. Then they’d stop this pointless
conversation.