by Miranda Lee
‘I…I just want him to approve of me.’
‘He does approve of you.’
‘No, he doesn’t. I think he thinks I’m a hussy.’
James grinned. ‘You are a hussy.’
‘And you’re a rake!’
‘See how well matched we are?’
‘Oh, you…you…’
He kissed her, then helped her out of the car. William was pretending not to have seen or heard a thing, but Marina thought she saw the corners of his mouth twitching. And his eyes were definitely laughing at them. She found some comfort in that, for at least William approved of her.
Henry was waiting in the foyer to give them a welcome so un-Henry-like that Marina was rendered speechless. He smiled rather smugly at James, then flummoxed Marina by actually hugging her.
‘I’ve just heard the wonderful news,’ he announced, drawing back to stand with ramrod straightness once more. ‘First from Lady Tiffany, then from Mildred. I can’t tell you how delighted I am, My Lord, that everything has worked out so well.’
‘Tiffany contacted you?’ James asked.
‘Yes, My Lord. To reassure me, I think, that she too was happy about the situation. I must admit I was relieved. I have always greatly admired Lady Tiffany, but there is something about Miss Marina, here, which is so hard to resist.’
‘Very hard, Henry.’
‘I could see that last week, My Lord. I did feel for you, and the dilemma you were in. I hope you will forgive me,’ he went on, looking decidedly sheepish, ‘but I…er…engaged in a little subterfuge myself in order to give you a push in the right direction.’
‘Really? What subterfuge, Henry?’ James asked, frowning.
‘Yes, what subterfuge, Henry?’ Marina echoed, intrigued.
‘The Bentley was not really in for service last Friday night,’ he admitted.
James sucked in a sharp breath. ‘Are you saying your ordering that limousine was deliberate?’
‘I thought you and Miss Marina could do with some time alone together. Away from here, and in more…romantic…surroundings.’
‘Henry, you have genuinely shocked me!’
Me too, Marina thought.
‘I find that hard to believe, My Lord.’ Henry was back to his po-faced best. ‘Being your valet over the years has broadened my mind considerably in matters dealing with the opposite sex. I merely thought of what you might have done a little while back, when your mind was not clouded by feelings of duty.’
‘Yes, well, enough of past history, Henry,’ James said briskly. ‘I think we should move on to the present. Mildred rang too, you said?’
‘Indeed, My Lord. She was beside herself with happiness for you and Miss Marina. She’s so looking forward to Winterborne Hall being a family home again, with the patter of little feet to shake some dust off the portraits—especially those lining the staircase.’ Henry’s eyes twinkled in fond memory. ‘Remember how you used to slide down the banister, Jamie-boy?’
Marina stared at Henry. Why, James was right! Henry was just an old fraud, with his stiff upper lip and his stuffy old ways. Underneath that starchy façade he was just a big softie, not to mention a romantic.
‘My God, don’t go telling Marina things like that, Henry!’ James exclaimed, though laughingly. ‘I’m already having enough trouble maintaining her respect. Now she not only thinks I’m a rake, but a rascal as well!’
‘I think Henry’s the rascal,’ Marina said, and came forward to reach up and give him a kiss. ‘But a lovable rascal.’
Henry actually blushed. It was a sight to behold.
‘After James and I are married,’ she said, ‘whenever we stay at Winterborne Hall you’re coming with us, Henry. And not to the gatehouse, either. You will have a room near the nursery. Talbot and Mildred are going to need all the help they can get once I start having babies.’
‘But I know nothing about babies, Miss Marina.’
‘Then you’ll have to learn, Henry. Because I might have to have quite a few. Girls run in my family, and at least one boy is the order of the day, is it not? Now, I think we need one of your excellent pots of coffee, Henry.’
‘Yes, Miss Marina.’
Marina gave an exasperated sigh. ‘And no more of that Miss Marina stuff, either.’
Henry gave her request some thought before saying, ‘Yes, I suppose Miss Marina really won’t be appropriate, under the circumstances. All right. Would you like something to eat with your coffee, My Lady?’
Marina groaned. But then she shook her head and laughed helplessly. ‘I give up. You both win. I’ll be a good Roman.’
‘Roman?’ Henry repeated blankly. ‘I’m sorry, My Lady, but I don’t understand.’
Now James laughed. ‘Don’t even try, Henry. Don’t even try. Just lead on to the kitchen.
‘I must say I like the thought of our having lots of babies,’ he whispered, after Henry had moved off. ‘Having Rebecca with me has definitely sparked my fathering instincts. And I don’t really mind if you don’t have a boy.’
‘Well, if I don’t, then you can only blame yourself. It’s actually the man who determines the sex of the child. But, knowing you, I’ll have a boy straight away. In fact, it’s quite possible that a little heir and Earl might be already on the way. You didn’t use any protection in the boatshed, and today is right in the middle of my cycle.’
‘Really?’ he said eagerly.
‘James Marsden!’ she chided. ‘Were you trying to make me pregnant on purpose?’
‘Er…’
‘Oh, James! You are worse than a rascal. You’re a…a…’
‘A man desperately in love,’ he finished for her fiercely. ‘Who doesn’t want the woman he loves having any reason to change her mind.’ He stopped and pulled her to him and kissed her soundly.
‘I have only one thing to add at this point in time,’ he ground out when he let her come up for air.
‘What?’ she asked breathlessly.
‘I hope Henry goes to bed early.’
‘You mean unshockable Henry?’ Marina asked, smiling. ‘The one who sent us off in that boudoir on wheels? The same Henry who saw you through all your wild years?’
‘You’re right!’ James pronounced, and straightened his spine. ‘Henry?’ he called out gruffly.
‘Yes, My Lord?’ came the answer from the kitchen.
‘Cancel the coffee. Marina and I are going to bed!’
There was only the minutest of hesitations in answering. ‘Very good, My Lord.’
EPILOGUE
MARINA stood next to her husband in the small stone church, built over nine hundred years ago in Norman times, a far cry from St. Paul’s Cathedral, where they’d been privileged enough to be married just over nine months previously.
At least I didn’t disgrace myself by having a baby too soon after the wedding, she thought, smiling. Little Harry hadn’t been conceived till after she’d returned from her trip back to Sydney.
It had taken her just on a month to tie things up in Sydney—slightly longer than the three weeks she’d promised James.
Shane hadn’t been too broken-hearted when she’d given him his ring back, especially when it had come with the horses and the business name of the riding school. He had been shocked for a split second by her announcement she was going to marry the Earl of Winterborne, because he’d imagined James to be an elderly gentleman. When he’d quickly concluded—with smug predictability—that she was marrying for money, Marina had found herself letting him think so. It had soothed Shane’s ego somewhat and amused her to death.
In the end Shane had taken out a bank loan on the strength of his equity in the horses and riding school and purchased the house and property from Marina, which had meant everyone was happy. But the loan and the exchanging of contracts had taken time.
By the time she’d arrived back in London James had been predictably keen to show her his love in more than words, which he had done over the next week with overpowering passion and at odd times
. Marina had been breathless at the chances he took. But when the urge overtook James, he could be very forceful. She would never be able to go into his bank building again without blushing madly.
Marina wondered idly whether Harry had been conceived in the lift between the ninth and tenth floors, or on the boardroom table. She rather fancied the latter, which, after all, had been the scene of many a merger. Though none quite so…exciting. Just thinking about it made Marina’s heart beat faster.
Little Harry started to cry at that moment, snapping Marina back to the moment at hand. The vicar had started pouring the holy water over his forehead and Harry was not at all impressed.
Henry clucked and cooed the infant back to sweet silence with all the experience of six weeks being Harry’s first emergency nanny, and now his godfather.
Marina leant over towards James. ‘Henry’s got a real knack with Harry, hasn’t he?’ she whispered.
‘You won’t be saying that when he starts imbuing him with all those starchy old ideas of his,’ he whispered back. ‘And when he insists on the boy being sent away to school at the tender age of eight.’
‘A lot you know. Henry and I had a little chat the other morning—around two o’clock, it was—and we both decided Harry wasn’t going anywhere for a long, long time.’
James sighed. ‘Between the two of you, I don’t think I’m going to have any say at all in the raising of my own son.’
‘You chose his name, didn’t you?’
‘I chose Henry. And you promptly changed it to Harry.’
‘Just to save confusion, old chap,’ she said with a public school accent, then grinned up into James’s startled face. ‘Just being a good Roman.’
‘Whatever am I going to do with you, Marina?’
‘I’ll show you tonight. The doctor’s given me the green light.’
She loved the sound of her husband’s intake of breath, plus the squeezing of her hand. ‘Just in time, too,’ he muttered under his breath. ‘There are only so many exercises I can do to take my mind off things. Rebecca says I’m beginning to look like Arnold What’s-his-name.’
At the mention of Rebecca, Marina’s sparkling eyes shifted from Henry and the baby in his arms to the cute little girl standing next to him in the very feminine apple-green dress, her slender hand on the hem of Harry’s long white Christening robe. She had grown so pretty, with her once bald head now covered in red-gold curls the exact colour of Marina’s. The specialists had given her the all-clear some months back, although they would continue to monitor her for some time to come.
‘Look at Rebecca’s face,’ James whispered when it came to the part where the godparents had to say something. ‘She’s so proud to be Harry’s godmother. It was a lovely idea of yours to ask her, Marina.’
‘She’s like a real little mother to Harry. I’ve never known a child love another child so much.’
‘She told me the other night she wanted you to have at least six babies.’
‘Only six? She told me ten!’
‘Er…I thought I’d better water the number down a little before you got ideas.’
‘Me? Get ideas?’
‘Yes, My Lady,’ he whispered drily. ‘Already you’ve swept through Winterborne Hall like a whirlwind, with your radical Aussie ways, changing my normally sensible staff into doting, drooling idiots after your making all of them part-time nannies to Harry! Now what’s this I hear about you converting the gatehouse into a pre-school?’
‘Well, there isn’t one for miles and I rather miss teaching, James. I always did like infants better than older children, and I thought this was a way of killing three birds with one stone.’
‘Three birds?’
‘Yes. It will provide a valuable service for our children and others in the village. It will prevent my getting teacher’s itch. And I’ll be able to do something with that monstrosity. Brighten it up a bit. Maybe I’ll paint it pink.’
‘Pink!’
‘Okay, I’ll leave the outside up to you and your sandblasters. But inside there’s going to be lots of colours. And I’m going to have a garden and playground out the back. What do you think?’
‘I think you’re marvellous.’
‘I mean about the idea, silly.’
‘I think it’s marvellous too.’
‘So I have your approval?’
‘Go for your life.’
Her eyes danced up at him as she smothered a laugh.
‘What?’ he said. ‘What did I say?’
‘That was a very Aussie expression. You’d better watch it or you won’t even be a Roman any more yourself. Now hush up. Henry’s frowning at you, Jamie-boy.’
James opened his mouth to protest, then closed it again to smile wryly at his wife.
Marina was smiling herself. With happiness.
Thank you, God, she prayed, despite not having been brought up to be overly religious. But she’d come to have a great respect for the Almighty since he’d answered her other prayers regarding Rebecca.
Thank you for darling little Harry, who is utterly perfect. Thank you for keeping Aunt Jasmine and Aunt Janet alive till I found them. They are much nicer than I imagined.
She cast a quick, smiling glance over her shoulder at the two handsome ladies a couple of rows back. They were dripping in diamonds and pearls, and both childless widows in their late fifties, after the elderly titled gentlemen they’d married in their twenties had long passed on. Despite being rich beyond belief, they seemed to be genuinely thrilled at meeting up with their long-lost niece and being drawn into such a happy—and more normal—family environment.
Marina’s gaze shifted to the left and she exchanged smiles with Tiffany and her gorgeous Italian. They had been married for just on six months and were divinely happy, especially now that Tiffany was expecting.
Sighing her satisfaction with life in general, Marina turned back to face the front and resume her conversation with the Lord.
Thank you for Henry’s continuing good health. And Mildred’s. And especially Rebecca’s. But most of all thank you for my darling husband, who truly does love me for the person I am and not for any other reason.
‘Amen,’ James said, and Marina’s head jerked up to stare at him. Goodness, had he read her mind? Seen into her thoughts? She hoped not. Sometimes her thoughts were not quite fit for a husband’s consumption.
‘It’s over at last,’ he explained into her questioning face. ‘The christening.’
‘Oh.’ Her eyes swept over her handsome husband and she thought of all those exercises he’d been doing and how marvellous he was looking.
Fervently she added her last prayer.
And please, Lord, please let Harry sleep right through the night tonight!
ISBN: 978-1-4592-0465-2
JUST FOR A NIGHT
First North American Publication 2001.
Copyright © 1998 by Miranda Lee.
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