In Love With a Wicked Man
Page 37
She did kiss him, and very thoroughly, too. And Edward kissed her back. Eventually the box tumbled to the floor, the deed to the tin mine soon following. And when, sometime later, all the kissing and tumbling was done, Kate still wore the ring, if nothing else.
Edward pulled her back against him beneath the bedcovers, spooning her so that he could set his chin atop her head. “So tell me this grand plan to keep your mother in line,” he said. “I have little confidence, honestly, that you shall pull it off.”
“Well,” said Kate, “I think I shall prove you wrong. If you’ve no objection, Edward, I mean to ask Anstruther to take over the west wing of the castle that extends beyond the walls. It is a complete house with its own entrance and bedchambers—quite ample, really, save for the kitchens being a tad minimal. And in that way, I will be able to keep an eye on Mamma.”
“This sounds to me as if Aurélie will simply have more of an audience,” Edward warned. “And what will you do with South Farm? Anstruther is keeping up the manor house.”
“Well, I thought perhaps we might put Annabelle and Mrs. Granger there,” she suggested, “until Heatherfields has been properly done up. It is larger and finer than any cottage, and it will give Mrs. Granger status. It will move them into our sphere, and into Richard’s parish. She already knows him a little, and knows his aunt well. And now he is your brother-in-law.”
“Kate, that is … brilliant,” he murmured. “As in, Aurélie-brilliant.”
“Yes, manipulatively brilliant, I think you mean,” said Kate a little smugly. “Mrs. Granger will get used to us, Edward. And in time, it will seem the most natural thing that Annabelle should drop in here, or that I might go there in passing. We will wear Mrs. Granger down with kindness, I feel sure of it. We will become normal to her. Ordinary, even.”
Edward kissed his bride’s cheek. “You are the very best of wives, Kate,” he said, “and we have been married only—what, four hours? But I still think Aurélie will be underfoot.”
“No, I think not.” With that, Kate pulled his hand down to her belly. “No, given the pallor of Nancy’s face today, and the unsettling event I have recently suffered, I think Aurélie will be spread thin.”
“Ohh,” said Edward, making a slow circle with his hand. “Oh, Kate. Oh, my God.”
“She’ll complain bitterly, of course, that she’s far too young to be a grandmother,” said Kate, wiggling back against him. “After all, she has not yet come to grips with being a mother. But mothering is hard work, whereas grandmothering consists primarily of doting and entertaining and pampering.”
“Ah!” said Edward, understanding dawning. “I begin to see the logic in this.”
“Indeed,” said Kate. “Was ever anyone more knowledgeable about what is required to pamper and dote? Did ever anyone appear more entertaining to you?”
“Indeed not, my love,” said her husband. “Aurélie will be Grand Empress of Grandmothers, I do not doubt.”
“Yes,” said Kate on a snicker, “and when she takes them out in their prams, she can tell the cooing passersby that she’s their elder sister.”
“Kate, my love, your plan is brilliant,” he said. “My hat is off to you.”
“Oh, not just your hat,” said his wife. “Under these bedsheets you’re as naked as God made you—which was very fine indeed, by the way.”
He pressed his lips to her hair again, and made another slow circle on her belly. “Kate,” he said quietly.
“Yes?”
“Are you perfectly sure you’re carrying my child?”
“Well, I’m perfectly sure I’m not carrying anyone else’s,” she said a little tartly. “But am I absolutely, totally sure? No, not … quite.”
“Good, then, we should make absolutely totally sure,” he murmured, sliding his lips slowly down her neck. “Because, old Reggie once pointed out, I’m not the sort of man who likes to sit on a mere profit when a little effort might turn it into a windfall …”
About the Author
A lifelong Anglophile, LIZ CARLYLE cut her teeth reading gothic novels under the bedcovers by flashlight. She is the author of over twenty historical romances, including several New York Times bestsellers. Liz travels incessantly, ever in search of the perfect setting for her next book. Along with her genuine romance-hero husband and four very fine felines, she makes her home in North Carolina. Please contact her at www.lizcarlyle.com.
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By Liz Carlyle
IN LOVE WITH A WICKED MAN
A BRIDE BY MOONLIGHT
THE BRIDE WORE PEARLS
THE BRIDE WORE SCARLET
ONE TOUCH OF SCANDAL
Coming Soon
THE EARL’S MISTRESS
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
IN LOVE WITH A WICKED MAN. Copyright © 2013 by Susan Woodhouse. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition NOVEMBER 2013 ISBN: 9780062097583
Print Edition ISBN: 9780062100290
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