A Lord Rotheby's Holiday Bundle (35 page)

After shoveling down several mouthfuls
of food, he turned to his wife. “So when did you plan to tell me
about this house party you’re arranging? Or perhaps you meant it to
be a surprise, so that I could not withhold my permission for such
a thing?”

Aurora smiled at him then, easily the
most charming smile she could muster. Almost charming enough to
fool him into wishing he could return it. “I’d hoped to discuss it
with you this afternoon, Quin. Sir Jonas was very kind in helping
me to put together a guest list and to make out the
invitations.”

Quin raised an eyebrow in the
baronet’s direction. “Is that so? I’ll have to thank him later,” he
responded dryly.

“
Indeed,” she continued,
seemingly unimpressed by his lack of enthusiasm over her
pronouncement. “And all the invitations have already gone out. I do
hope you aren’t too upset with me, but once the idea struck me that
we should have some guests here at the abbey, I simply couldn’t
wait to get started on it. Besides, there isn’t much time for our
guests to make their plans.”

Of course she couldn’t wait. If she
waited, he might have stopped her. If she waited, he could have at
least limited the number of her planned guests.

He took another bite of cheese. “When
should I expect this blessed event to occur?”

Jonas choked on a bite of his food and
cleared his throat on a look from Quin. “Just over three weeks.
Because of how soon it shall be, Lady Quinton has asked that I
remain here until everyone else arrives.”

Perfect. Having Jonas around would
become a thorn in Quin’s side in no time. He’d never been one to
want another gentleman around while he seduced a woman, so why
should he want one around watching as he tried to grasp his role as
a husband?

“
Oh, Sir Jonas, I do hope
everyone we’ve invited is able to join us,” Aurora said, smiling
prettily across the table at him. “It just wouldn’t do to have
uneven numbers.”

Numbers. Yes, he needed to know the
numbers. Quin would have to prepare himself for the invasion—and
that stack of invitations had looked foreboding, at best. “Care to
inform me who all you’ve invited?”

Then Aurora turned her smile on him.
Oh, how he wished he could see that more often, perhaps sometime
other than when she was plotting his downfall. It shone brighter
than the sun coming in through the massive windows behind Jonas.
“Well, we invited my father, of course, and Lady Rebecca Grantham
and the duchess. Lord Norcutt required an invitation as well, since
he can almost never be seen anywhere other than at Rebecca’s side
these days. But we couldn’t stop there, since the abbey is so
terribly large. It seemed a shame to not have the halls bursting at
the seams with people.”

“
That it did,” Jonas
interjected, winking at Aurora from across the table.

“
So we sent an invitation
to Lord Merrick, because of his friendship with Lord Norcutt. And
then we needed another lady, so I invited Miss Stephanie Osbourne
and her mother, Lady Pratley. But she has a younger sister who is
also out, so of course we had to invite Vivian, the younger Miss
Osbourne. So then I thought, perhaps, Lord Tucker Flynn would be a
nice addition, and his sister Lady Emily Flynn would have to come
with him. And Lord Tucker is rather good friends with Mr. Garret
Bentley, so that helped to sort out the problem with numbers quite
famously.”

By Quin’s count, that had them at
eleven guests. Twelve, if he counted Jonas. Not quite the even
numbers of older guests to mingle with older guests, and younger
guests to mix with the younger ones that he would have expected.
But he didn’t think it would be a good idea to point that out and
have her send out more invitations.

Jonas reached over to select a piece
of fruit from the bowl situated by him. “I suggested my friends
Lord and Lady Lipscombe as a younger married couple who could act
as chaperones for all the younger, unmarried members of the
party.”

Up to fourteen. Good God.

“
I was so glad Sir Jonas
made such a suggestion, too, since they are our near neighbors,”
Aurora said. “I’ve wanted to make some acquaintances in the area,
and he is helping to make that possible.” She took a sip from her
glass and eyed Quin over the rim. “And of course, we had to invite
your family.”

His family?
Damnation.
He’d string
Jonas up to the great oak by his toes for interfering. The last
thing he needed was for his mother to see what a mess he had made
of his life. Quin shoveled in another mouthful of bread a bit more
forcefully than necessary.

“
Sir Jonas did tell me that
Nia is a bit younger than the rest of our guests, and truly has not
yet had her come-out. But that shouldn’t pose a problem for anyone,
since he assures me she is a lovely young lady, and quite mature
for her age. Besides, I could not bear the thought of having Sir
Augustus and Lady Coulter here, but leaving your sister behind.
Your
younger
sister. One you’ve yet to inform me of.” Aurora continued to
prattle on, but Quin no longer heard her words.

He couldn’t allow this. The idea of
his mother seeing him in this state was bad enough—but his
step-father? And even worse, his sister? Nia couldn’t come. She
couldn’t see him as he’d become. He had made a point since Nia’s
birth to stay away from her, so she couldn’t be affected by his
influence. She was better off staying in Sheffield, far from his
debauched lifestyle. The fact that he was now married held no real
significance.

He was an abysmal excuse for a
husband, much as his father had been. He was an even worse excuse
for a brother.

“
I am so looking forward to
meeting your family, Quin,” Aurora continued before he could
formulate his thoughts. “Well, the rest of them, that is. I’ve
already met Lord Rotheby, and I’ll be delighted to spend more time
with him at our house party this summer of course. But I’m
desperate to get to know your mother and your sister.”

Rotheby
? She had to be joking. His wife could not be serious. The
last thing Quin needed was his grandfather peering over his morning
papers to scrutinize his every little action and lecture him at
every turn. “Aurora,” Quin said with a warning in his tone, “you
have not truly sent Rotheby an invitation, have you? You do realize
that his presence would tremendously try my patience. Not to
mention my mother”

“
Oh, dear,” Aurora said. “I
am so terribly sorry, but the invitations have already gone out.
There is nothing to be done for it at this point. You shall just
have to prove yourself a patient man amidst rather trying
conditions, won’t you?” She sat back in her chair with an
increasingly smug smile.

So it had been her plan all along.
What was she trying to prove? Quin glared at Jonas across the
table. The baronet ought to have known better. Jonas knew Quin
better than anyone else in the world. He should have recognized the
trouble Aurora would be inviting and found a way to discourage her
from something so foolhardy.

But, no matter. Her house party would
end up a crashing bore, since she was rather more infamous than at
the height of fashion at the moment. Most of her invited guests
would never dare to accept. Hopefully Rotheby and his mother would
follow suit.

Still, he ought to prepare himself for
at least a couple of guests to arrive. “How soon did you say this
would all take place?” he asked with as much patience as he could
muster, gritting his teeth while he awaited Aurora’s
response.

She smiled at him triumphantly. “In
just over three weeks. The Season will be coming to an end, and I
did not want them all to go rushing off somewhere else where we
could not find them.”

Three weeks. He had three weeks to
learn to keep his temper in check.

Bloody hell.

~ * ~

Perhaps married life would not be so
monotonous and prosaic as she had imagined it after all. Certainly
after their talk at the riverfront, Aurora had an increased
understanding of her husband. So, too, did their lovemaking
increase in both frequency and fervor.

The frequency might only have
increased because Quin seemed to be staying close by the abbey more
often during the day. He would go out and meet with his steward or
visit with his workers and tenants in the mornings, but then he
would be home for luncheon. Then he would perhaps spend an hour or
two in his library with his secretary, going over accounts and
figures before joining Aurora and Sir Jonas for tea.

Some days after tea, the three of them
would promenade through the park together, or perhaps take a picnic
supper to eat beneath the willow trees next to the great
pond.

But on other days, Quin would slip an
arm around Aurora’s waist and pull her into a secluded corner and
kiss her senseless. More often than not on those days, before much
time had passed, they would be sneaking off to his chamber and
making love in the full light of day.

Aurora loved those days.

She loved being able to see the coarse
curls covering Quin’s chest and follow their path down below his
waist. She loved watching the muscles in his arms and chest
contract and unfurl as he moved over her, or as he helped to move
her body over his. She loved the way his eyes darkened and closed
in ecstasy when he spilled himself inside her. She loved the power
displayed in his back and buttocks and thighs when he would rise to
wash himself before bringing her a wet cloth to do the
same.

Oh, dear good Lord. Who was she
fooling? She loved Quin. Blast him.

There could really be no purpose in
continuing to deny it. Perhaps she loved him even more for all of
his imperfections (and Quin certainly could not claim
perfection—her husband had a multitude or ten of faults). Aurora
had already loved him before that morning by the hermitage, before
he had bared his heart to her, before he showed her his true
nature. Before he displayed his vulnerability. Before he admitted
his love.

She loved him before she even realized
she loved him. Best of all, it was all right that she
did.

Because he loved her in
return.

It shouldn’t really surprise her. She
had written of their love, after all, and her stories always seemed
to work out just the way she imagined them. Well, perhaps with a
few detours from the plot and a handful of hiccups along the way.
But that was beside the point.

The point was that, despite how they
had ended up that way, Aurora and Quin had a marriage full of
love.

They still had their disagreements, to
be sure. But now that Quin was starting to actually spend some time
with her other than only in bed, at least they were able to talk
them out and find some sort of compromise.

She could hardly contain her
excitement in telling him the best bit of all. But the timing had
to be perfect. Aurora wanted for both of them to remember the
moment forever. It was about time they started collecting good
memories, after all, instead of all the traumatic, salacious, and
otherwise scandalous memories they had to that point
accumulated.

More than a fortnight has
passed since Aurora had sent out her invitations. The house party
would be a grand success. She simply
knew
it would. And she and Quin would
have a lovely announcement to make to their guests after they
arrived in a week’s time.

Still, she didn’t want to tell him
quite yet.

Soon. Very soon.

~ * ~

One more day. In one more day, a hoard
of expectant guests would invade his home, expecting him to put on
a happy face and be a happy host and say happy things and think
happy thoughts.

Damnation.

Quin should have sent a footman out to
reclaim the bloody invitations from the postman. But he hadn’t. He
ought to have written apologetic letters to Aurora’s entire guest
list, informing them that, due to unforeseen circumstances, they
would be unable to host the house party. But he hadn’t. He damned
well should have done what he had intended and sent Aurora away
with Jonas, somewhere she could be safe, somewhere he couldn’t hurt
her, somewhere he could never find her. But, again, he
hadn’t.

So now, in one more day’s time, he
would have no option but to follow through with this farce she had
dragged him into.

Quin had done his best over the three
intervening weeks to behave as a proper and decent husband ought.
He took care of his business affairs efficiently. He joined his
wife for luncheon and tea and supper—chiefly because the thought of
leaving Jonas to his own devices with Aurora didn’t sit well with
him. Or at least that was the excuse he gave himself. Jonas had
never (to Quin’s knowledge) been known to make a cuckold of other
men.

Quin took the time to get to know more
about Aurora—about her relationship with her father (how the man
doted upon her), and what she remembered of her mother (chiefly
only sadness and strife), and if she’d ever had a pet (none, but
the idea of having a puppy of her very own thrilled her to
pieces).