With His Ring (Brides of Bath Book 2)

by Cheryl Bolen

  He looked down at her. There was no regret on her face, only a trusting love. "The walls are rather thick," he murmured, patting her hand. "I've. . . worried that I may have hurt you." He swallowed hard, unable to look at her.

  "I'm a bit sore, but I daresay once I become accustomed to. . .you, there will be no more soreness."

  She dared to hope for what he would be unable to give her. Such knowledge was akin to impaling himself on a sword. "Would that I could die in your arms, my love," he murmured sadly.

  "Don't be so morbid," she teased. "I really cannot bear to think of your demise."

  Now he looked at her, long and hard. And he knew without a doubt, Glee loved him. Which made their abstinence all the more regrettable. "Nor I yours," he said bitterly.

  He saw that Carlotta went to the fountain for a cup of water. His glance caught Glee following his line of vision, then she stiffened. He braced for the reference Glee was sure to make about his former mistress. He waited, but Glee said nothing. Could it be that previously Glee had not loved him, therefore had not been jealous of Carlotta? And now that she loved him she wished to avoid thinking of or discussing Carlotta?

  "Since we've assured your fortune, you don't have to dance attendance on me in public, but I really hope you don't stop," Glee said.

  A pity she was so sure of him. He would have to prepare her for the inevitable let-down. "You know I don't want children?"

  Glee's hand gripped his arm. "Oh, Blanks, I hadn't thought. . .Do you think I could have. . ."

  "I hope to God not," he said in a rueful voice.

  She gave him an odd look. "It wouldn't be the end of the world, you know. I suspect, too, your father would have been pleased to know a grandson assured the unbroken continuation of his estates."

  "Who says it wouldn't be the end of the world?" he demanded harshly. If Glee were to die on childbed, it would be the end of his world.

  They reached the part of the room where they had started their walk, and Melvin and Jonathan were so engaged in their conversation, they did not see Gregory and Glee.

  "Another turn about the room, my love?" Gregory asked.

  "I should like it excessively."

  They walked some little distance before either of them spoke again. "You have a most beautiful body, Blanks," she said with no trace of shyness.

  "As do you, my love. A pity I shall have to abstain from its pleasures."

  Her eyes widened, and a look of raw pain swept over her face as she looked at him, her fingers digging into his arm. "Surely you tease?"

  "I wish I did," he said morosely.

  She came to a stop and looked up at him with watery eyes. "I must know why you say that."

  He swallowed and avoided looking at her, then shook his head.

  "It's my inexperience," she said with shaking voice, a tear slipping from her eye. "Though I thought you well pleased last night."

  He took both her hands and peered earnestly into her solemn face. "I've never in my life been more well pleased."

  "You're saying that to spare me embarrassment."

  He lifted her hands to his lips. "I'm saying it because it's true."

  Now tears began to spill from her eyes. "Allow Jonathan to take my phaeton home—to keep it for all I care! I suddenly find I must leave." Then she turned from Gregory and hurried from the room.

  He fought the urge to go after her. It was far better this way. Let her adjust to the idea of a chaste marriage.

  * * *

  Tears clouding her vision, Glee stormed through the pedestrians who clogged the pavement of Bath. She neither spoke to nor made eye contact with anyone. All she could think of was how miserably she had failed as Blanks's wife. In one moment's time, her bliss had sunk to despair. Where had she gone wrong? Now that she'd found her world in Blanks's arms, she could never return to the icy charade their marriage had been before.

  If she couldn't lie with Blanks the rest of her days, she had no desire to live.

  She made no effort to check the flow of her tears as she wove in and out of the stream of people. She thought back over all the words that had passed between Blanks and her at the Pump Room. Hadn't he said he could not bear to think of her demise? He had also paid homage to her body. Her heart nearly stopped. He said he wished he could die in her arms.

  Then why had he decided he could not allow himself to renew their lovemaking? She remembered seeing Carlotta at the Pump Room. Could the sight of Carlotta have reminded him of what pleasures he was missing? But hadn't he told Glee he'd never in his life been more well pleased? The more Glee thought she knew Blanks, the more she realized how little she really knew about him.

  When a knot of woman stopped to peer in a milliner's window, Glee impatiently walked around them, splashing in a puddle on the street, not caring that she stained her dress and ruined her shoes.

  She made it to Queen Square and ran up the stairs to her chamber, slamming the door behind her, locking it and throwing herself prostrate on the bed.

  The flow of tears had stopped, yet she continued to lie there for another hour, a gnawing emptiness stripping her of all feeling, save a deep, lonely melancholy.

  Finally, she rose and bathed her swollen eyes. Her inflexible husband had met his match in his not-to-be-dissuaded wife. Hadn't her determination secured Blanks for her husband? Blanks's denial of the most intrinsic human emotions only drove Glee to orchestrate the desired compliance. It would just take time, like chiseling a rock. Alas, she had pledged a lifetime to him. She could wait while her ministrations wore away his resolve.

  She smiled to herself as she drafted a note to Winston Hall inquiring about Diana's health, then she went to speak to Mrs. Roberts about dinner and paid a call on her friend, Miss Arbuckle.

  * * *

  At dinner Glee reigned over the table. Neither Blanks nor his brother would have been able to guess how fragile her nerves had been just hours before. For she gave no sign of it. She spoke solicitously to her husband. She complimented Jonathan on the success of his literary career. She and Jonathan spoke of Melvin and the many similarities between Melvin and Jonathan.

  "He confided to me he has drafted a treatise on the extension of suffrage, and I agreed to look over it tomorrow," Jonathan said excitedly.

  "So you see," Glee said to Jonathan, "your brother's set is not comprised solely of bloods."

  "So it seems."

  "Though it may come as a shock to you, dear brother," Blanks said with levity, "I've even been known to read the Edinburgh Review on occasion."

  Glee watched with amusement as the brothers began to talk of liberal reforms and found a great many common beliefs.

  After dinner they took the carriage to the Upper Assembly Rooms. "I hope you don't mind picking up my friend Miss Arbuckle," Glee said. "I daresay her mother is suffering the same complaint as Diana and is unable to accompany her; so, I've offered to."

  "How is your sister?" Blanks asked.

  "The note I received before dinner said she was much improved. It is to be hoped she can return to the assemblies soon."

  "Is Miss Arbuckle the lady who speaks only in monosyllables?" Blanks asked.

  Glee frowned. "Only when she's addressed by gentlemen. I have found her speech quite animated when we talk of books. She shares my great love for them."

  They collected Miss Arbuckle, and she sat next to Jonathan on the ride to the Assembly Rooms. In the dim carriage Glee watched the two of them, wondering how Jonathan would react to the timid miss. Unfortunately, Miss Arbuckle's dress was constructed of very heavy fabric and its neckline was rather higher than that dictated by fashion. Though plain, her face had a delicacy about it, but Glee decided the lady's best features were her piercing black eyes. And fortunately tonight, she refrained from wearing the spectacles she usually wore.

  Jonathan turned to the young woman and cleared his throat. "My sister tells me you are enamored of literature, Miss Arbuckle."

  "Yes," she answered with no further elaboration.
>
  "We are very excited," Glee said to Miss Arbuckle, "that Jonathan's to be published in the Edinburgh Review."

  Miss Arbuckle's eyes danced and she broke into a friendly smile. "May I inquire as to the nature of your article?"

  "Primogeniture, particularly as it relates to the crown."

  "How very interesting," Miss Arbuckle said.

  Those three words were the most words Glee had ever heard Miss Arbuckle utter to a gentleman. For the remainder of the journey, Glee had no worries over Miss Arbuckle being neglected.

  In fact, even at the Assembly Room, Miss Arbuckle and Jonathan—and later Melvin—sat in The Octagon and conversed on political matters.

  The absence of Mr. Jefferson and Carlotta inordinately pleased Glee. Also pleasing her were the many attentions Blanks lavished on her throughout the night. They danced with each other for two waltzes, provoking a bittersweet memory of the intimacy that had bound them the night before.

  There was nothing to do for it, Glee decided. She would simply have to seduce her husband.

  * * *

  After they dropped off Miss Arbuckle that night, Jonathan said, "I find Miss Arbuckle to be the most well informed young lady I've ever met. It's women like her who make one want to extend the franchise to woman. In fact, she encouraged me to write an article on the very matter."

  "I'm amazed that you actually elicited complete sentences from the lady," Blanks said.

  Glee directed her attention to her husband. "You have to understand, Blanks, most young woman have been schooled to think of you as a rogue, and I daresay rogues hold no attraction for Miss Arbuckle."

  Blanks grinned. "Decidedly none, I should say."

  When they arrived back at Queen Square, Blanks helped Glee from the carriage but held her hand not a second longer than necessary. Even as they mounted the stairs to the second floor, he avoided touching Glee in any way.

  They came to her door first. He stopped in front of it. "Good night, my love," he said, pecking the top of her head.

  Fuming, she answered through gritted teeth. "Good night, dearest."

  Closing her door behind her, she backed into it. Perhaps she would not seduce her husband tonight, after all. She was not about to stride through their connecting dressing rooms and demand her husband bed her. She must force herself to muster a semblance of pride.

  Instead, she shed her gown and donned a more substantial night shift than she had worn the night before and climbed into her bed, dousing the candle. She lay in the darkness, listening to Blanks stirring in his dressing room. She pictured his bronzed chest as it would look when he removed his shirt. She thought about the feel of his hands and mouth as they had devoured her the night before, and she remembered how his sinewy back and legs had felt when beaded with moisture as she stroked him with the gentle hands of a lover.

  And she lay bereft in her bed, praying Blanks would change him mind and come to her.

  Chapter 30

  Despite that he had been unable to sleep because of his debilitating want of Glee, Gregory decided a trip to the booksellers was in order. He most definitely desired to purchase a copy of the Edinburgh Review.

  Since the bookshop was only two blocks away, he walked. Every step of the way, Glee filled his mind and senses. Then another scent infringed on his thoughts. Lavender. He looked up and into the lavender eyes of Carlotta Ennis as she walked toward him and met him with a solemn gaze. "Hello, Gregory," she said in that husky voice of hers.

  "Good morning, Mrs. Ennis," he said stiffly, coming to a sputtering halt.

  She edged up to him. "Do you mind if I walk with you for a spell?"

  He shrugged. "I lay no claim to the public pavement."

  They walked a block before she finally spoke. "When you. . .dismissed me, you said it was your desire to continue our . . .relationship after you wed. Do you still feel the same?" she asked.

  His mouth went dry. His heart beat erratically. God, but he wanted, indeed needed, a woman. 'Twas all he could think of throughout the long night. But the woman he wanted was not Carlotta.

  His silence spoke more eloquently than his words.

  She laughed a bitter laugh. "It's as I feared. You've fallen in love with your wife."

  He gazed into her misty eyes and nodded somberly.

  "Then it appears I've not only wasted your time, I've made an utter fool of myself," she said in a trembling voice as she turned away from him.

  He hated to see her hurt, especially now that he knew what it felt like to crave a union that could not be.

  She started to walk away, but he reached out to touch her arm. "Never a fool, Carlotta," he whispered in a low, remorseful voice.

  Their eyes met and held for the briefest of seconds before she spun around and left.

  * * *

  With Jonathan at the ribbons of the phaeton, he and Glee were en route to pay a morning call on Miss Arbuckle. Glee was most pleased. Jonathan had stopped at the florist's and bought a nosegay of posies to present to the worthy lady. The day was lovely with cloudless cerulean skies, and despite that Blanks had not come to her bed the night before, Glee's spirits were high. Never one to accept defeat, she had confidence that, with time, she could bring Blanks around.

  Then she saw the beautiful woman in lilac walking with somber grace along Quiet Street. Glee's stomach tensed. Next she was witness to her own husband stopping and talking to Carlotta Ennis before the two of them continued along the pavement.

  Had Blanks driven a stake through her heart, Glee could not have been wounded more deeply. Unknowingly, she let out an anguished cry when Blanks, with a solemn look on his face, grasped Carlotta's arm after she spun away from him.

  The man Glee had bestowed all her love upon had lied to her. He was still meeting his mistress.

  Jonathan, following the direction of Glee's gaze and sensing the cause of her distress, quickly turned the phaeton onto Stall Street.

  Glee was unable to check the flow of her tears. As painful as was the realization Blanks still bedded Carlotta was the betrayal Glee suffered over her husband's lies. More than once he had insisted his relationship with Carlotta had been severed. By defiling Glee's trust he had wounded her more deeply than even his infidelity could have.

  His face grim, Jonathan spoke. "So I perceive there's one area in which my brother shows no inclination to change."

  As angry and anguished as she was, Glee could not betray the man she had married. To seek consolation from Jonathan would be to acknowledge the vulnerability of her marriage. "I will not allow you to malign my husband," she defended.

  Jonathan cursed under his breath and angrily flicked the ribbons. "I cannot take you to Miss Arbuckle's if you're going to be a watering pot."

  "Then I beg that you set me down at Queen Square," she said, sniffing.

  He mumbled something unintelligible and turned at the next corner.

  When he pulled up in front of the town house, she spoke to him, careful to shield her tear-stained face from his scrutiny. "By the way, it pains me that I'll not be able to be here for your entire stay. I have pressing duties to attend to back at Hornsby."

  He nodded solemnly.

  * * *

  In her chambers, Glee and Patty hurriedly packed a valise and portmanteau for their return to the home where Glee was born. "Will the master be going, too?" a surprised Patty asked.

  Glee cleared her throat. "Not at this time, I don't believe."

  Patty's brows lowered. "I declare, I hope he's had more notice of this journey than I have!"

  Impertinent girl! What occurred between Glee and her husband was no business of Patty's.

  With her packing complete, Glee penned a brief note to Blanks.

  Darling,

  It seems I've served the purpose of our marriage; so, now

  I am returning to Hornsby and releasing you of all responsibility toward me.

  With deepest affection,

  Glee

  Her heart pounding in her chest, she went i
nto his chamber, to the room where their marriage had so gloriously been consummated. The very smell of the dark chamber evoked Blanks and all the love she felt for him. But she could not allow herself the luxury of remembering the magic that had occurred between them in this very room. Her eyes avoiding the bed, she propped up her letter on his desk, then fled from the room.

  In the hallway Hampton, in his characteristic expressionless delivery, informed her the carriage was ready. Her eyes watery, Glee wouldn't chance a last look at what had been home to Blanks and her.

  Along with her maid and with help from the coachman, Glee grimly boarded the coach-and-four. Since it wouldn't do to weep all the way to Warwickshire, to distract herself Glee had carried along a volume of Sir Walter Scott, which she proceeded to read.

  "I don't know how ye can read when the carriage is in motion!" Patty exclaimed. "I declare, it rattles me stomach somethin' awful."

  Glee did not look up from the page. "I believe a number of people suffer from the same complaint, but my own stomach is affected neither by movement nor vapors. Mama always said my stomach was as strong as iron."

  Talk of her stomach made Glee wonder if she would ever have experienced morning sickness were she to have conceived a child. Poor Diana had suffered terribly from the complaint. Felicity, being of the same blood as Glee, was never sick a day. Such thoughts had the effect of causing Glee to grow even more morose. If only she had been able to conceive Blanks's babe. 'Twould be something of Blanks to fill the aching void of his absence.

  For she knew her departure from Bath would cement the irrevocable break with Blanks. She had served her purpose. Now Blanks would be free from the unwanted ties of matrimony.

  * * *

  Having purchased the latest edition of the Edinburgh Review, Blanks returned to the townhouse. "Have my wife and brother returned from Miss Arbuckle's?" Gregory asked the butler.

  Hampton avoided eye contact with his master. "It appears Mrs. Blankenship had a change of heart. Not long after she left, she returned and ordered the coach-and-four be brought around while she and her maid rather hurriedly packed for their return to the country.”