Jo Beverley - [Rogue ] (20 page)

"I don't like rats," she hissed, and covered it again.

Then there was no further excuse for delay, so she joined her husband in their bedchamber.

She found Leander in his shirtsleeves, drinking wine as he stared out of a dark window. He looked over at her, giving no evidence of impatience. "Settled?"

"Yes. Fast asleep. Except the rat. I'm sorry about that."

"It's not your crime to apologize for. The children are ours now, Judith, not just yours. Do you want me to dispose of it?"

"How could we?"

"Quite easily."

"I mean, how could we be so heartless?" She looked at him. "I thought you seemed quite taken. I'll never understand men. Rats are vermin!"

He laughed. "In the plural, yes. One rat won't ruin the world. We'll just have to hope it really is male."

Judith closed her eyes. "I don't even want to think about it."

A silence built up and so she said, "They are not used to being out of their accustomed beds. They may wake in the night...."

"Then one of us will go to them and reassure them," he said calmly. "Would they be frightened to find me looming over them in the night?"

"I don't know." She stood there, clasping her hands in front of her, unsure of what to do.

He dropped the curtain and went to a table to pour her some wine. He held it out. "Come. Drink to our happiness."

She took it, and they clinked glasses and drank. Judith blinked. "My, but that's good!"

He laughed. "You have excellent taste. It's an excellent Burgundy. I thought you no oenophile."

"An expert on wines? Nor am I. In fact," she said, taking another sip, "I don't believe I've ever before tasted a wine made from grapes."

"Never..." He looked lost for words.

She shrugged. "My family could never afford it, and Sebastian disapproved of strong liquids. He said they overheated the blood."

"Did he, indeed?" he asked lazily. "And why was that such a bad thing?"

It was as if the air in the warm room were growing heavier. Judith turned away from him. "I hardly feel it right to discuss my husband at such a time, especially in such a tone of voice."

He turned her to face him. "Your
first
husband," he corrected. "I am your husband."

Judith could have bitten her tongue. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean..."

He sighed, and laid a hand over her lips. "I know," he said. "I'm sorry, too. This day doesn't leave my nerves untouched, you know."

"No, I didn't."

He took her hand. "This has been a long day for all of us. Let's to bed."

He said "let's to bed" but his eyes said something different, and he was drawing her toward him. Judith panicked.

"Yes," she said, and pulled out of his grip. She disappeared behind the dressing screen, snatching her nightgown as she went. Probably his intention had been to disrobe her, but she simply wasn't up to that tonight. She'd get into her nightgown by herself, and into bed. Hopefully then it would all be like it had been with Sebastian.

She soon realized her mistake. After trying and failing to find an alternative, she peeped around the edge of the screen. He was standing, waiting, his face bland, but laughter in his eyes. "Do you perhaps need some help, my dear?"

Only in certain respects, she wanted to say. She swallowed. "The buttons..."

He came over. She turned. His nimble fingers undid the long line of tiny buttons; each brushing touch against her spine set nerves quivering. Judith knew her wifely duty was to let him strip her if that was his pleasure, but she couldn't. Two lamps were burning, and there was a fire in the hearth. The room was as bright as day!

He finished. She would have moved away, but his hands grasped her shoulders. She froze. His lips brushed the top of her spine and she caught her breath at the sweetness of it.

He released her. "Don't be long," he said softly.

Judith took off her lovely clothes. She quickly used half the water in the jug to wash with, and put on her nightgown, one of the new silk ones. She'd never worn silk next to her skin before, and the chill slither of it made her shiver. But it stirred her senses in unexpected ways. Every movement she made seemed to set the cream silk whispering and stroking.

With trembling hands she poured her dirty water into the slop bowl, and checked she had left all ready for him. It was time to leave the cover of the screen.

She did so, and with only the briefest glance at him went directly to the bed to scramble under the covers. She felt like a fox gaining its earth. From the protection of the bedcovers she could look at him and give what she hoped was a calm, mature, and mildly encouraging smile.

He looked nothing so much as tender. He smiled back and went behind the screen.

Judith realized she was in bed without having done her hair. She eyed the screen, but he was clearly washing, and should be a little while. She slid from under the covers and tiptoed to the dressing table. She pulled out the pins and brushed out her hair. She normally would plait the mass of dark curls, or put it under a cap, but she didn't have a cap and feared she didn't have time to plait it.

She heard him pouring out his water, and dashed back under the covers.

Leander came out from behind the screen and felt his heart speed. His wife was flushed and rosy, and her hair was a shining dark cloud about her pillow.

Her lips were slightly parted, and she looked shy and apprehensive. She might be shy—he was a little shy, too—but he was safe in the knowledge that she couldn't really be apprehensive.

How could he ever have contemplated marrying a young virgin? This was much more fun.

He was in a nightshirt, since it was clear that she would prefer it at first, but he badly wanted to be naked, with her naked beside him. Soon, he told himself. Soon. It will just take a little while to overcome her reserve.

He tended the fire then extinguished the lamps. He would have preferred to leave them burning but he sensed that she would be more comfortable with the dark at first. Not that it was really dark with the fire still blazing. By the time he reached the bed his eyes had accustomed themselves and he could make out her pale face and her big eyes.

Desire swelled up in him and pounded in his veins. He wanted to lean straight over her and take her lips and her breasts, and roll swiftly into passion, but that wasn't the way for a first time.

He just wasn't sure what was. Following his father's precepts, his lovers had been older and experienced. By the very nature of things they had been bold. Judith might be older, but she had experienced only one man, and she clearly wasn't bold at all.

He had to do this right.

Tonight he wanted to make her completely his.

He joined her in bed and lay on his side looking at her. Then he kissed her.

Her lips were surprisingly tentative against his, but they were soft and delicious. He could be happy for some time just with lips. At least, he thought he could. He found his hand was playing with her breast, but her lips had become more active and he didn't think the two facts were unrelated.

He pulled back and smiled. "You're even more beautiful than I knew. Your hair's like a cloud of midnight."

Judith lay looking at him, at sea in more ways than one. She
still
didn't know what to do, and she felt as if she were being swept out on a sea that was growing increasingly stormy.

His hand on her breast was truly extraordinary. Silk seemed to be a magical fabric capable of transforming a simple touch into... into... She didn't have words for what was going on inside her. His kiss had been tender, and she'd felt cherished as never before.

Still, despite differences, she knew the act would be the same. At any moment he would enter her and then it would be done with.

Not quite yet it would seem.

He was putting his mouth to her breast like a baby! She gave a choked cry of astonishment at the sensation that shot through her.

He looked up, smiling brilliantly. "Ah, you like that?"

"Do I?"

He turned serious. "You must tell me."

Like
didn't seem quite the right word but she wanted to please him. "Yes, I liked it."

So he did it again as his hands stroked the silk and used the silk to stroke her. She melted. She wasn't on the sea, she was the sea, a soft, swirling sea. She gripped his shoulders as the only firm spot in a liquid world—

"Mama!"

The sudden shriek had her bolt up in bed. Rosie cried again, and then there were the unmistakable sounds of someone vomiting. With one, bereft, horrified look at Leander, Judith raced for the children's room.

Leander lay back and started to laugh.

Chapter 10

Judith found that Rosie had at least made it to the washstand, and Bastian had grabbed Blucher in the nick of time.

She wiped the girl's face and felt her head. There was no fever. This was just an upset stomach, doubtless the result of too much rich food and excitement.

Judith sent Bastian back to bed, but he sat there anxiously as she settled Rosie. "She'll be all right, Bastian. You go back to sleep." She decided to ignore the rat on his pillow. One crisis was enough at a time.

"She'll throw up again," Bastian predicted gloomily.

Judith feared he was correct. She found one of the chamber pots was unused and kept that close by, then sat on Rosie's bed and stroked her head as the girl began to drift back to sleep. She found herself thinking of Leander and what they had been doing. It had been extraordinary and rather pleasant, but it had left her feeling unwell. She ached. She felt a little sick herself. Perhaps there had been something wrong with the dinner.

Then there was the fact that they hadn't arrived at the significant part, and she feared he would be annoyed. She wasn't sure, for nothing like this had ever happened to her before. She told herself defensively that it was he who had insisted on bringing the children on their wedding trip.

She heard the door and looked up anxiously. He didn't
look
annoyed.

"How is she?" he asked.

"Not too bad. It's just the excitement, I think."

"Should we send for a doctor?"

"No, I don't think so."

"I'll call someone to clean away the mess."

"It's late."

"Not particularly."

He came back in a moment with her wrap and draped it about her shoulders. Soon a manservant came in and quietly cleared away all the slops, leaving clean bowls and water.

Leander returned with a glass. "Try this for her."

"What is it?"

"Just warm water with a little sugar and brandy. It should settle her stomach."

Rosie sipped it dubiously, but then began to drift off. When Judith tried to move, however, the girl's eyes flew open and she whined, "Don't leave me, Mama!"

Judith looked up helplessly at Leander.

His smile was rueful, but he bent down to kiss her and said, "You stay here. I'll take Bastian to sleep in our bed."

The boy had fallen asleep and Leander picked him up and carried him through, shutting the door between them. Judith sighed and got into Bastian's bed.

She hoped this wedding night wasn't a sign of things to come.

* * *

Judith was wakened the next morning by something tickling her chin. Thinking of rats, her eyes flew open. Leander was sitting on her bed fully dressed, tickling her with a hothouse rose.

"You're pretty in the morning," he said lazily.

"No one's pretty in the morning."

"Children are," he said with a grin at Rosie, who was just waking up, "and so are you."

She couldn't help a smile, but said, "I'm sorry about last night...."

He shook his head. "I wanted a family and must take the rough with the smooth. We'll have many more nights."

Judith suddenly realized from the light that it was late. She sat up. "We'll be ready in a moment."