The Convenient Bride

by Winchester, Catherine

  He grabbed his nightshirt off the floor but before he could see about putting it on, the door swung open. He heard a squeak and looked over to see Lucy entering with a large lap tray and the housekeeper, who was shielding her eyes from the sight of him.

  “Thank you, Mrs Rooney,” she said, unable to hide her smile as she kicked the door closed. Her expression soon changed to a mock frown. “Get back into bed, mister; you are supposed to be recuperating.”

  Relieved that she was still taking care of him, he got back into bed and pulled the covers over himself. Lucy placed the tray on his lap then climbed into the other side of the bed.

  “I thought for a moment you’d left me again,” he confessed.

  “Never,” she assured him. “Now eat up, you need your strength.”

  “Did you cook it?”

  “Please! I hardly know how to make tea, but I helped Mrs Rooney.”

  He examined the tray before him and the first thing he noticed was the rose, in a small vase. He took it out and inhaled its scent.

  “Did you pick this?”

  “I did.”

  “Thank you.” He kissed her softly, then examined the rest of the tray. He found tea, coffee, orange juice, a huge cooked breakfast, six slices of toast, butter and jam.

  “I can’t eat all this!” he argued.

  “Of course not, half of it’s mine but we couldn’t manage yours, your father’s and a tray for me.”

  She began cutting up the food for him since, although he wasn’t complaining, she could tell that his left arm was causing him pain. Her arm hurt but she could move it without too much difficulty.

  “How is Father?”

  “He’s fine,” Lucy assured him. “He’s got some aching muscles but he’s fairing far better than you.”

  “And his cough?”

  “It doesn’t seem any worse and he doesn’t blame you for what happened. In fact, he rather admires your rescue of me, he told me you were growing into a fine young man.”

  Max smiled and when she was finished cutting, took the cutlery from her and fed her a piece of sausage, which she accepted with a smile.

  “Now you eat something,” she chided as she buttered a slice of bread.

  Although she had her own cutlery, they ended up with Max feeding Lucy alternate mouthfuls of the cooked breakfast, while she fed him the toast.

  “I feel better already.” He said when they had finished.

  “I thought you might, I slipped a few drops of your father’s laudanum into the coffee. I knew you’d refuse otherwise.”

  Max laughed. “I realised it was bitter but I thought that was because you made it!”

  “It’s a good job you’re injured,” Lucy said as she raised her fist, playfully. “Now, come on,” she said getting off the bed and ringing the servants’ bell, then taking the tray from him. “I’m going to clean and bandage your wounds again, and then I’ll help you get dressed.”

  “Very well,” he agreed, which surprised her. “As long as I get to return the favour.”

  “She’ll be bringing dressings and bandages for my arm too,” she assured him. “Though I don’t believe you’ll be much good at bandaging with that arm.”

  “Actually, I was thinking more of helping you dress.”

  Lucy laughed. “Dear Lord, Max, isn’t getting shot enough to cool your ardour for at least a few days?”

  Max sobered quickly and caught her arm, making her turn to him, her expression questioning.

  “Nothing can make me stop wanting you,” he declared.

  Lucy smiled and kissed him gently.

  “Well, perhaps after we’ve changed the dressings, we can delay dressing for a few minutes,” she said primly.

  With his good arm, Max pulled her onto the bed, making her shriek in shock but before Max could even get his dressing gown off her, there came a knock at the door.

  “Later,” she assured him, kissing him quickly before getting up and opening the door for the housekeeper.

  Chapter Twenty Three

  Two weeks later

  Lucy collapsed forward against the post of their four poster bed, clinging onto it to keep her upright. Max wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back against him with his good arm, her back to his chest.

  “Oh, Max,” she panted. “That was amazing.”

  “I guess getting shot was a good thing,” he murmured as he kissed her neck.

  Thanks to his injures and their desire for one another, they had needed to be a little more inventive than usual in finding positions that wouldn’t hurt his arm.

  “Don’t say that!” she chided. “Although I do agree with your general sentiment.”

  Max cupped her breasts and tweaked her nipples a little, then ran his right hand down over her abdomen, heading for her mons but his hand paused just below her stomach. He ran his hand up again, then down. There was definitely a very slight bump, but Lucy certainly didn’t seem to be putting on weight.

  “Lucy?”

  “Yes,” she answered. “I suspected for a while but I didn’t want to say anything in case… well. I was about to tell you when Marie took you and after all the excitement there, I thought I would wait again, just in case something happened.”

  “You think that if I didn’t know, I wouldn’t care?”

  “No,” she turned her head to look at him, which wasn’t easy as they were front to back. “I was too afraid to admit it, to anyone, even myself. I felt as if, as long as it was my secret, then nothing could happen. And I do know how silly that sounds but that’s how I felt, as though the more people who were happy about it, the greater the likelihood that something would go wrong.”

  Max smiled, forgiving her instantly.

  “How long?”

  “Three and a half months, I believe. It seems the first time we made love again, we made another baby.”

  “I love you.” Max turned her around and kissed her but he pulled away when a thought occurred. “Do you mind me knowing now?” he asked. “I haven’t jinxed you, have I?”

  “No,” Lucy smiled. “Besides, I didn’t tell you, you discovered it on your own.”

  “It won’t be very long before everyone knows.”

  “I know, but he survived Marie, so I think he’s a fighter.”

  “He?”

  Marie shrugged. “He feels like a boy.”

  Max hadn’t felt this content in perhaps ever. He pulled her to him and held her tightly.

  “God, I think I love you more with each day,” he told her.

  Lucy smiled and moments later, she felt something pressing into her slightly swollen stomach.

  “That’s not the only thing that’s growing,” she teased.

  Max murmured his agreement, as his hands ran down her back to cup her bottom. “What can I say; you just bring it out in me.”

  “I’m not complaining,” Lucy said as she scratched her nails over his buttocks.

  Epilogue

  One Year Later

  Lucy was going through her drawers when she spotted her menstrual rags and frowned. Her monthly friend hadn’t visited for a few months after Charles Jr. was born, and then only one visit. She supposed she was so used to seeing them but not using them, that’s she hadn’t noticed them lying dormant for the past… ten weeks!

  “Maxwell!” she yelled, storming though the house to his study.

  Max lowered his paper and was taken aback by the anger on her face. “Love?”

  “I’m expecting again, Maxwell!”

  “But that’s marvellous news!” he said, getting to his feet and approaching her with the intention of embracing her.

  “Don’t you dare,” she wagged a finger at him. “Charlie is barely six months old and I have only just got into some of my favourite gowns again!”

  “The gowns will still be there, dearest. We’re having another child, isn’t that something to be happy about?”

  “Happy? You swell up and lose sight of your feet for three months every year, and te
ll me how happy you are?”

  “But you love Charles.”

  “I know!” she snapped. “I wanted more time to get to know him before we have another one but oh no, super virile Maxwell Stark had to get me in the family way again!”

  “It wasn’t only me, darling, I believe you were a very willing participant.”

  “That’s not the point.” She crossed her arms over her chest.

  “Then what is the point?”

  “I can’t have a child every year, Maxwell! It’s unseemly!”

  Max couldn’t see anything wrong with it.

  “There are steps we can take, Lucy, but no method is foolproof.”

  Lucy just sulked, so Max risked closing the gap between them and embraced her.

  “Come on, darling, we’re going to have a baby brother or sister for Charles, isn’t that a little exciting?”

  “No.” The word was muffled against his chest.

  Although her arms were still crossed, his hands began to stroke her back and he bent his head to her neck and began to kiss her there. It didn’t take very long before she began to relax and finally sigh with desire.

  “Shall we continue this discussion somewhere more private?” he asked.

  “Very well,” Lucy sighed reluctantly.

  Max swept her into his arms and carried her from the room.

  “Don’t you go thinking you can always seduce me into submission though.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of it,” he assured her, pausing on the stairs to kiss her lips. By the time they got to their room, she had her arms around his neck and she was definitely warming to him. He stood her on her feet by the bed and began to kiss her, as his hands went to the buttons at the back of her dress.

  Lucy pushed the jacket off his shoulders, then set to work on the buttons of his waistcoat and undid his cravat, before removing his collar and finally, she began working on his shirt buttons.

  She broke the kiss briefly for a moment to exclaim, “You wear too many clothes!”

  “I would be quite happy to remain naked forever in your presence.”

  “And don’t I know it!”

  “You love it really,” he told her as he slipped her dress from her shoulders and began to kiss her neck.

  “No.” She took his face in her hands and raised his head until he was looking into her eyes. “I love you.”

  Max grinned. “Am I forgiven?”

  “For now,” she answered with a smile.

  Max wasted no time in pushing her dress the rest of the off and raising her chemise. He was glad that Lucy hadn’t taken to using corsets, which were becoming the fashion. In his experience, they were terrible to remove and they left awful marks on a woman’s beautiful skin.

  The first time their coupling was hard and fast, mostly due to Lucy’s remaining anger but the second time they came together, they savoured each other.

  After that, Lucy was tired and Max let her sleep. She had been a little more tired than usual with her first pregnancy as well.

  While she slept, he counted his blessings and planned for the new baby. By his calculations, it should come sometime in April, which was a good time of year, not too hot for the labour and she would still make the London Season.

  By some miracle his father was still alive and although his disease was progressing, he was usually in lively spirits. When they weren’t in London, Max and Lucy spent one month at Steed Manor and one month on his father’s estate which, in theory at least, Max was now running. Charles couldn’t completely let go however and as long as it made him happy and he didn’t overtax himself, Max didn’t mind the interference.

  When he and Lucy weren’t in residence, his sisters came to stay, although that was mostly to keep their mother’s spirits up, since the news of his illness devastated her.

  Charles also had a full time nurse, even though he argued that he didn’t need one. There wasn’t an awful lot for her to do but she went around with him as he toured the estate and when he was feeling short of breath, she knew what to do to ease it for him.

  Like Max, she thought that keeping busy was good for him and assured Max that when he could no longer ride, she would be happy to wheel him about the estate in a bath chair.

  He felt closer to his father than he could ever remember and he was grateful that he’d been given the chance to repair their fractured relationship. He owed that to Lucy; he owed so much to her.

  As she began to stir, Max slipped from the bed and donned a nightgown and robe. The servants were used to their master’s antics and the few he passed didn’t bat an eyelid at his attire. The nanny had only been with them for six months though, so while she still raised an eyebrow at his dress, she obeyed his order to take an hour off while he stole his son away.

  And so it was that when Lucy awoke, it was to the childish giggles of Charles Jr, who was sitting between his parents on their bed, pulling his father’s hair.

  Lucy looked at her family and smiled. Suddenly having another baby so soon didn’t seem nearly as bad.

  “Someone seems more cheerful,” Max said, smiling at her.

  “All right, perhaps I overreacted but take this as formal warning, Max, I am not having three children in three years, so you have about six months to do something about it.”

  “What if you’re having twins?” he teased.

  “Then I'm entering a nunnery.”

  Max laughed, which caused Charles to laugh.

  Lucy sat up and put Charles on her lap. “Daddy thinks I'm joking but I'm not, am I Charlie Boy?”

  Charles gurgled.

  “See, even your son agrees with me,” she told Max.

  “That’s because he’s in your thrall, just as I am.”

  “You make me sound like some kind of witch,” Lucy giggled.

  “Well you certainly worked your magic on me.”

  Lucy groaned.

  “I'm under your spell all right.”

  Lucy rolled her eyes. “Honestly Maxwell, with lines like that, I’m forced to wonder why I ever married you? Our son will never find a wife if that’s all you teach him.”

  “Of course our son will find a wife; with me for a father, how could he fail to?”

  “Well, I suppose you do have your moments,” she conceded.

  Max leaned in for a kiss, only to find himself kissing Charles’ hand rather than Lucy’s lips. He frowned at his son, who was giggling at his father’s expression.

  “Was I the one saying that I didn’t mind if we have lots more children?” Max asked.

  “I believe that was you, yes.” Lucy smiled indulgently.

  “I’ve changed my mind. This one can’t even walk or talk yet and he’s getting in my way. I want you all to myself.”

  “And what happens if our next child is a girl?”

  Max looked confused.

  “She will enter Society at some point,” she could hardly keep a straight face. “And probably meet men very much like yourself.”

  His face fell. “Well that’s it, I think we have no choice but to all enter that nunnery.”

  Lucy shook her head. “You know, I used to wonder why I was so in love with you and why I couldn’t get over it.”

  “And now?”

  “Now I know it’s because you’re just about the only man who can make me laugh so much.”

  “Is that all? She could have just married a court jester,” he told baby Charles.

  “All right then, so why do you love me?” she asked.

  Max gave her a warm smile. “That’s easy. You’re not perfect,” he said, and she looked confused. “But you’re perfect for me.”

  Lucy grinned. “If only you weren’t holding a baby, you would be getting a big reward right now.”

  Max looked from Charles to Lucy. “I’ll just go find the nanny.”

  The End

  A Note from the Author

  I hope you have enjoyed The Lady and the Cowboy and if so, would ask you to consider taking a few moments to leave a review o
n Amazon. Reviews only have to be 20 words long (shorter than the average tweet) and can be invaluable in helping fellow readers decide if a book is to their tastes or not.

  Please click the following links to go directly to The Convenient Bride’s page.

  Amazon US

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  Other Books by Catherine Winchester

  Historical Novels

  The Reluctant Duchess

  Hope for Tomorrow

  Degrees of Hope

  The Lady and the Cowboy

  What You Wish For

  Northern Light

  Short Stories

  A Merry Little Christmas (a companion story to Northern Light)

  Past Series

  Past Due

  Half Past

  Past Life

  Urban Fantasy

  Bemused

  How to Train Your Zombie

  The Lady and the Cowboy

  By

  Catherine Winchester

  When Lady Ruth Adams inherits a share in a Texan horse ranch, she thinks it could be the beginning of a whole new life for her and ignoring her family’s misgivings, she sets sail for America. When she inadvertently argues with her new business partner on her first day though, things don’t look hopeful.

  Sam Wakefield doesn’t know what to make of the refined and timid woman who now shares his house along with his mother. What he does know, is that he much prefers the firebrand who confronted him the first time they met, and he can’t help antagonising Ruth in the hope that she’ll resurface.

  Ruth is just about ready to give up on her dream when her beloved horse, Angel, arrives from England and Sam realises that they may have more in common that he thought. Angel could prove to be the key in reviving his dreams of one day breeding racehorses, while the one place that Ruth isn’t timid, is in the saddle.

  As they come to trust each other, Sam teaches her about ranch life and love but someone else has their eye on the Wakefield Ranch, someone who could ruin everything for them.