“If by generous, you mean he has brought me over three times with not even a single opportunity for me to return the favor, then yes, he is very charitable. I might even be contrite if I didn’t feel quite so…satisfied.”
Beth giggled.Three times!Cheltie had been busier wooing than she’d thought. She’d congratulate her cousin if she didn’t think it would earn another frown.
Of course, Robert managed that in two nights. Imagine what he could do—
Stop.She gritted her teeth.This is about Althea’s well-deserved pleasure and allaying her fears.
“And please stop talking about they!” Althea frowned. “I cannot afford a scandal, however marginal I am in the Ton. My shop sales will suffer, and expanding to improve sales is the entire reason I am in this predicament.”
Althea stood to pace.
Beth sat back and sipped tea from the tray a servant had brought in. “Cuz, apart from the risk of rumors, what do you want? A month ago, you’d have told me you had no interest in sex. But that is no longer the case, is it?”
Althea threw herself back into the chair. “Gah! No. Blasted man. And you!”
“Me? What did I do?”
“You described it to me, and that pushed me into making claims he felt forced to disprove. ’Tis all your fault!”
Beth snorted.
Althea snorted.
Then the two of them burst into giggles and laughed until they were crying.
Finally, wiping the tears from under her eyes, Althea straightened in her chair again, reaching for her lukewarm cup of tea. “Here, I’ll give you the words I know you are slavering for. You. Were. Right.” She stuck her tongue out at her younger cousin.
“Oh my, I’ve been rubbing off on you. Or Evan has—literally.” Beth snorted. She took a deep breath and sent Althea a level gaze. Her cousin would not relish her advice. “Look, you have the upper hand at the moment. He has come round twice, so even though you must go to him, ’tis clear he wants you and will flex on the terms. Use his negotiating tactics. If your biggest concern is rumors, trade sex for advice. Just make sure he agrees to keeping it secret.”
Two days later, they climbed into Althea’s carriage to go see Evan.
They found him readying to depart for Greenborough Park with one of the nurses she had arranged for him to interview. He suggested Althea meet him in Bath to look at locations and competitors, with Beth accompanying her.
Beth refused to ask if Robert planned to accompany him, or acknowledge that her heart rate sped up at the thought. As she still could not fathom intimacy with anyone else, it promised to be a few more frustrating sennights in a lonely bed.
****
“Ouch. Holy hell.” Robert tried to push the needle through the pre-drilled holes in the bustier he was sewing. Even with the holes created beforehand, pushing a needle through leather was work, and Robert hated thimbles. He needed to feel the animal skin.
Sucking his thumb, he threw the project down. He’d worked for long hours every day since he’d returned to Greenborough Park, in an effort to not brood over Beth. Beth in each of the creations he finished. Beth spread on a bed with someone pounding into her and him watching. No. He’d quickly moved on from that view to being the one pistoning into her. Despite his timidness about women seeing his body, he wished he’d had more candles lit when he’d fucked her in this room. He wanted more details for his memories.
Pacing around, he grumbled, “Damnation. Now what shall I do?”
His callus on his thumb, built from pushing the needle through each stitch, had torn off yesterday from working too long. The spot was tender new skin and hurt more with every stitch.
For the millionth time, he wondered if Evan was lingering in London to woo Lady Egerton. Should he see if Evan’s steward had heard from him? He could meander back to London and drop Evan a note that he needed to look for a blacksmith.
“Ha.” His bark made him jump in the quiet room. Turning for another lap, he continued aloud, “You’re not fooling anyone, idiot. You don’t need to move locations. You haven’t left this suite for the most part. You are lusting after that voluptuous creature, and she is a bad bet.” He sliced a hand down. “Stop it.”
Now he was talking to himself. Great. Mayhap he really did need a change of scenery. He’d walk to the dower house to see if Rose was up to a visit, even if her dementia might not allow her to recognize him. At least reading to her would not hurt his thumb, and he’d be talking to someone other than himself.
Two hours later as Robert finished punching a last hole for stitches with the sharp stitching awl and put the bundle of leather in his lap aside, Evan knocked and entered.
“Bags. You look tired.” He looked as though he’d been crying. Robert guessed he’d already visited his mother.
“Just worried. I brought the new nurse back with me, but mama gets out of sorts at changes in routine.” He shrugged.
Robert poured them each a drink and hummed in commiseration.
