A Very Ruby Christmas

by Lavinia Kent

  “Yes, I was just realizing that I am probably getting married within the next few days, and for years I hadn’t thought that was possible. I was quite convinced I was going to end up an old woman in a cottage with a dozen cats. I even had names picked out for them. I was going to be surrounded by the Knights of the Round Table.”

  “I didn’t realize you were getting married so soon.” Jasmine’s voice had grown very quiet.

  Damnation. She hadn’t meant to hide it from her sister, but she also hadn’t meant to worry her. If Jasmine knew how soon Ruby would be leaving, it might distress her, and this was not a moment for distress. “Yes. I was actually hoping I could introduce you to my fiancé. He’s very curious about you. I never talked about you in the past, and now suddenly you are here.”

  “Oh, I don’t think that’s a good idea. What will he think?” She glanced down at her belly.

  “Well, considering that he’s marrying the most notorious madame in London, I hardly think he’ll judge.”

  “I suppose that’s true.” Jasmine chewed on her lower lip.

  “If you’re not sure, I certainly don’t need to introduce you—although you have put the man out of his bed.”

  “I…I what? Oh, that’s not right. And I thought this was your room? Oh.” Jasmine’s face flushed with color. “I didn’t mean…I…”

  “I shouldn’t tease you, but I wanted to point out that you are no longer living in the same world. People here, myself included, all have faults, and we try not to judge one another by them. I share my bed with my fiancé, and I have since the first night I met him—well, actually it was the second night, but it sounds so much better to say the first.”

  “Better?” Jasmine clearly did not grasp the concept.

  “Yes, or at least more interesting. And it saves me having to explain that the first time I actually saw him he was fucking one of my girls.”

  Jasmine was quiet, very quiet. Ruby could sense her shock, although all the girl did was shift back and forth in her chair, clearly still not able to find a comfortable position.

  “Do you want to lie down?” Ruby asked. “I won’t mind. I can even leave if you like.”

  “No, please don’t. I would much rather have the distraction than think about how I feel, either physically or emotionally. And as for lying down, it’s comfortable for only about five minutes, and then I feel as if either my bones are going to poke through my skin or the baby is trying to crawl out my throat. I have decided that there is just no comfortable position when one has another person inside one.”

  “I can only imagine that is true. Should I fetch Derek? Would that provide the distraction you need? I do promise he is not an ogre. He’s actually rather sweet—but don’t tell him I said that.”

  Jasmine chewed on her lip again, then nodded firmly. “Yes. Perhaps it will be just what I need. And I do confess I am curious to see what type of man you have chosen. I cannot picture you with somebody commanding, someone who tells you what to do, but neither can I imagine you with a milksop. You definitely need a strong man.”

  “I will leave you to judge for yourself.” Ruby rose and opened the door, calling out for one of the maids to fetch the captain.

  She turned back to Jasmine, finding that now she was the one who was nervous. Why should it matter what these two thought of each other? And yet it did.

  It felt as if she had been holding her breath for minutes by the time Derek finally arrived. She quickly introduced the two and was relieved to see that Derek’s gaze remained on Jasmine’s face rather than dropping to her belly.

  “Forgive me for not rising,” Jasmine said. “I am afraid even getting out of a chair is awkward at the moment.”

  “I remember my sister at a similar time. She was not pleased with the situation and had the whole family running at her beck and call—which was not all that different from the normal state of affairs. Caroline has always thought she was queen of the family.”

  Jasmine smiled. “My eldest brother is like that. He has known he’s going to be the next duke since the day of his birth and never lets anyone forgets it. He is a power unto himself. The only one he’ll listen to is my father, and even then sometimes you can see in his eyes that he is biding his time.”

  “Well, Caroline has no such excuse. She’s just bossy.”

  Ruby joined the conversation. “For the first time you make me glad that I did not grow up with siblings. I am not good at being told what to do.”

  “No, you are not,” Derek agreed.

  Jasmine smiled and nodded.

  “The two of you don’t need to be so definite about it.”

  Derek simply stared back at her.

  She glared at him once and then turned to her sister. “Is there anything I can do for you? I am afraid I can’t make you more comfortable, but if there is anything else…”

  “Can you give me something to do? A book to read? Or perhaps I can help you. Do you need the household books looked over or even help setting the weekly menus? Anything but needlework. I confess I despise needlework. I can manage just about anything else, however. I’ve spent the last years helping mother run our house, preparing for my own marriage.” Her voice rang with irony.

  Jasmine wanted to help with the accounting? What girl wanted to help with the accounting? Well, except for Ruby herself, of course, but she’d spent years helping her grandfather in the warehouse. “I’ll see what can be managed. There’s a nice library downstairs. I’ve quite a fondness for books. I am not sure about the menu-setting, however. Cook can be very proprietary.”

  “I think they all are,” Jasmine said, clearly thinking about her own experiences. “And I confess that choosing menus is not my favorite activity.”

  “I am the same way,” Ruby said, feeling an increasing sense of bonding with her sister. “I leave it all up to Cook unless there is something particular needed.”

  “Something particular?”

  “I have one patron who is very fond of pastry cream, and I must always be sure that we have extra on hand when he comes in.”

  “Pastry cream?” Jasmine asked.

  Derek covered a laugh.

  How much did she explain to her sister? “He likes to spread the cream and then lick it off.”

  “Cakes or fruit?”

  Had she ever been that naïve, Ruby wondered? “No, the girl he chooses for the evening.” And she could only hope that Jasmine didn’t ask exactly where on them he liked to spread it.

  “Oh.” Jasmine was redder than a boiled beet. “And there are other foods that you must also provide?”

  “Yes.” And she was going to leave it at that. Somehow she didn’t think Jasmine needed to hear about the gentleman whose greatest dream was to be left alone in a room with an entire cow’s worth of raw beefsteak.

  Jasmine opened her mouth but then shut it. Clearly she knew better than to ask more.

  “Do you like novels or histories?” Derek asked, clearly trying to change the flow of the conversation.

  Jasmine quickly took the offered lead. “I am happy with almost anything. I do like novels and also verse, but I can find enjoyment reading a treatise on ocean currents or land management. I like to keep my mind busy. It keeps me from dwelling on things.” She put a hand over her mouth as if trying to hold back the last words.

  Ruby leaned forward and patted her arm. “I would be surprised if you felt any differently. I was just thinking something similar the other day. I was greatly tempted to begin a new volume rather than face my own decisions. But you are in a rather different position. If you are not going to marry, then I reckon you must wait until the baby is born to decide your next step.”

  “We both know that is not true. I should be deciding what I want to do now—or at least deciding if I should sell my jewels. I think I have decided that I will sell everything but the diamonds. That will buy me a little more time to decide just what I want to do.”

  “You know that I will—”

  Jasmine cut he
r off. “You have already done more than enough. I already feel guilty. You took me in, a virtual stranger. That is more than I ever expected. I was fully prepared to be turned away when I came to your door. I thought that you would want nothing do with me, that you might even hate me.”

  “I could never hate you.”

  “I know that now.”

  Derek began to pace slightly; clearly there was something he wanted to say and he was holding it back.

  Ruby turned and stared at him. He stilled, or at least he tried to. Her handsome captain had never been good at inactivity. “Yes?” she asked him.

  “I am not sure what you mean,” he answered.

  “You want to say something.”

  “No, I am fine.”

  She flashed Jasmine a little smirk, a look understood by all of womanhood. She turned to Derek again. “Perhaps we should leave Jasmine to rest, then. I am sure that she could use it. I will send Marie up with some books.”

  Derek nodded and then said his farewells. Ruby leaned forward and gave Jasmine a gentle hug. “It will all work out in the end. I know it will.” And strangely she realized that she even believed it.

  She followed Derek through the hall and down the steps to the more public areas of the house. When at last he stepped into the duke’s bedchamber, she turned to him. “Just say it. I know you well enough to know when you are hiding something.”

  “I had just come in when Simms said you wanted to see me. I did not quite realize you were finally going to introduce me to Jasmine. I was planning on speaking to you alone. I hope I did not appear anxious or rude.”

  “We are alone now.” She glanced about the empty bedchamber.

  Derek paused; his eyes met hers, and it was one of those moments when she felt that he could stare straight into her soul. Reaching down, he pulled a small velvet box from his jacket pocket. “I picked it up today. I planned on waiting to give it to you, but I wanted to show you. They seemed so perfect for you.”

  He opened the box to reveal two rings: a simple band set with one large clear ruby, and the other a band set with smaller rubies all around.

  She stared at them for a moment, not understanding.

  “For our wedding. I know they are not traditional, but I wanted to get you something special. I was going to get sapphires to match your earrings, but then I thought, Why not rubies, so that you would always have a piece of ruby with you. I wanted you to know how much I love you, all of you.”

  Ruby could only stare at him and at the rings, gaping. He was right. They were perfect. Too perfect.

  “I know they’re not the largest stones, but I wanted to get you the clearest, most colorful I could manage. I do hope you like them. They remind me of you, beautiful and full of fire.”

  She was going to cry. She was glad he had not done this in front of Jasmine. It would not have done to show how emotional she was when Jasmine needed her to be strong. Closing her eyes tight, she tried to hold back the tears.

  “Well, are you going to say something? Do you like them? I could still return them and get sapphires, or just plain bands if that’s what you want. I had these custom-made. I chose the stones and then had them set, but I am sure that they would have something already made—I don’t want to wait too long. I’ve already arranged for the special license. I wasn’t sure I could manage, but then I asked Swanston and…I am starting to ramble like a madman, Ruby. Please say something.”

  She opened her eyes and met his serious gaze. “They are beautiful.” She forced the words out even as a first tear leaked from her eye. A tear of happiness. Here she’d been worried that Derek didn’t truly love all of her, that he only wanted to be married to Emma, and he found such a perfect way of showing her. And then, “Special license?”

  “I know what you said about your grandmother and her wishing the banns read at her parish, but I can’t wait, Ruby. Tell me you’ll marry me soon.”

  “Whenever you like,” she said. And she threw herself into his arms, feeling them wrap about her.

  She pressed herself close, breast to chest, hips to hips, feeling his rapid response. It was time to show him just how much she did like the rings. She rather fancied trying them on—when she was not wearing anything else.

  —

  “So you are actually going to do it? Actually going to get married?” Louisa asked, staring across the small parlor at Ruby.

  Ruby was glad that Louisa had taken a few moments for conversation before going upstairs with her husband, but she wasn’t quite sure she was ready for all the questions about her plans. Swanston had clearly been sharing information with his wife. “In three days,” Ruby replied, feeling the butterflies flutter deep in her belly.

  “I am so happy for you, although I admit that when we met I would never have imagined it.”

  “I know. I did not imagine it either. I had long ago given up all dreams of marriage. I wasn’t even sure I would ever take another lover. Oh, I knew I probably would, but I had no real interest—and then…”

  “And then you met Derek. I felt the same when I met Geoffrey. Unlike you, I knew I wished to marry again, but I had never imagined that I would find love and passion.”

  “I can’t quite say that’s true of my relationship with Derek,” Ruby answered. “I knew from when I first saw him that there would be passion—it is all the rest of it I was unprepared for. Although I do admit that sometimes I am surprised by how quickly my body responds to him and his creativity.”

  Louisa only smirked.

  “And now, before our conversation gets unnecessarily detailed, tell me what you wish to discuss,” Ruby said, lifting the glass of champagne she’d poured a few minutes before. She wrinkled her nose as the bubbles rose and tickled her.

  “I only wanted to be sure that I saw you before you left—even if you have not yet actually told me you are departing. Swanston filled me in on all the details last night. I was afraid that you would be gone before I knew.”

  “I am sorry. I was trying not to think too much about it. And I promise I would never forget to say my farewells. I have always known that I served a purpose in running this house, but since your first visit I have understood it in a whole new way. I was aware that I was doing the best I could for my girls, helping them in bad situations, but I’d never dreamed that I could truly help genuine ladies, and then you showed up.”

  “Surely I was not the first?”

  “Oh, I had had ladies in before, but only ones who knew exactly why they were here.”

  “I knew why I was here,” Louisa said vehemently.

  “Yes.” Ruby took another sip. “But that is different. You wanted help, wanted to learn things you could not learn elsewhere. Most of the ladies who came knew exactly what they wanted.”

  “And yet they needed your help with arrangements. I don’t think you should underplay your assistance.”

  “Fine. You are correct. They did need me also. There are not many establishments in this city that work so hard to be sure that everyone is safe and comfortable. But, still, I think it is the role of teacher that has appealed to me the most. I continue to be taken aback at how little girls are taught about the most basic aspects of human anatomy. Those raised in the country are somewhat better informed, but only somewhat.”

  Louisa began to laugh uncontrollably.

  “What?” Ruby asked.

  Louisa picked up her glass and took a large gulp of champagne, almost spitting it as the bubbles hit her throat. “Remind me never to do that again,” she sputtered. “And I was laughing because I have spent some time in the country. The first time I was with Geoffrey, I was trying to understand how I could stare at the ceiling, as my mother advised, while he mounted me as a stallion does a mare. I became quite the contortionist. I am somewhat surprised that things progressed between us after that. I did not take well to being laughed at.”

  “None of us does at such a moment,” Ruby answered, trying to hold back her own laughter. It was all too easy to imagine what
Louisa must have looked like.

  Louisa gave her a look that said she knew exactly what was going through Ruby’s mind and she didn’t like it—even if she did see the humor in it.

  Ruby leaned forward. “I have to confess that I also planned to have only one night with Derek. But it was not enough. I found myself missing him even though I hardly knew him.”

  There was silence as they stared at each other, quiet smiles playing about their lips.

  “You promise you will let me know before you leave?”

  Ruby pulled in a deep breath. “I believe we will sail soon after the New Year. Derek warns me that it is already likely to be stormy, but he is eager to be back to his family, and he has a cargo of fine wool that will be worth far more in February than in June.” And another deep breath. “Would you like to come to the wedding?”

  Louisa’s eyes lit up. “I would love to.”

  “We’re going to have it here, if you can believe that. I am not sure how your husband persuaded the bishop. I swear he must have worked a miracle.”

  “Swanston? He didn’t tell me anything about it. I thought he’d told me everything, but he left out that little detail.” She looked irritated for a moment, and then her smile returned. “He probably didn’t think it was important. Men never do understand the truly important things.”

  “You are probably right. He might not have thought it any different from picking up tobacco from the chemist’s.”

  “Well, the bishop is his uncle, so you may be right. He wouldn’t have regarded it as a bother at all.”

  “The Duke of Mirth’s brother is a bishop?”

  “No, no. One of Swanston’s mother’s brothers. Mirth does have a brother in the clergy, but I think he’s been sent to a parish in Scotland. I believe that even that church found him a bit too much, and it was deemed that he might have better luck among the sheep.”

  The clock on the mantel chimed softly. Ruby stood. “I should probably send you upstairs to your husband. He has one of the maids waiting to assist you.”

  Louisa

  Louisa, Lady Swanston, stood outside the closed door to the bedchamber she’d shared with Swanston on their first night together, all thoughts of her conversation with Ruby forgotten. Nerves fluttered in her belly. It was almost like that first night when she’d come here, not knowing what to expect, wanting to lose her virginity and nothing more.