“He is.That doesn’t mean he doesn’t deserve to be shot.I’m very fond of myself, but I should have been shot when I was young.”
“I’m glad you weren’t.”
“You could have been like Miranda and shot me yourself.”
Charlotte shook her head.“Miranda didn’t shoot Lucien, she clubbed him on the head.And anyway, I liked you too much.”
“What in heaven’s name are you two doing here?”Miranda demanded from the doorway.“You were supposed to be in Paris!”
“I missed the grandchildren,” Charlotte said as they embraced.“I haven’t spent time with the new one.”
“Baby mad,” Adrian said wryly.“Speaking of mad, did a Christmas bomb explode inside your house?I’ve never seen so much greenery.”
“I like Christmas,” Miranda said defensively.
“You always did,” Charlotte said fondly.“You were my little Christmas child.”
“Not to change the subject, but I gather your son received a bullet wound last night?How is he?Recovering nicely, I hope.”
“How did you know?Oh, you must have stopped in the village.He’s as grouchy as a bear and I’m keeping everyone away,” Miranda said.
“Who was it?A cuckolded husband?”
“James doesn’t interfere with married women.It was something about a man who killed himself, but I don’t quite know the details.Lucien assures me that as magistrate, he has things well in hand.”
“I would assume he would,” Adrien said.“What else has come to pass while we’ve been enjoying the City of Lights?”
“He’s getting married.”
Charlotte’s face lit up.“Great-grandbabies,” she said with a sigh of satisfaction.
“I imagine he’ll see to it,” Miranda said.“But they’re my grandbabies first, Mama.You’ll have to share.”
“That’s all right, there are babies right here already.Who’s the girl?”
“Charles and Annis’s governess.”
“Then she knows how to suffer.How are the twins?”
“Thriving.You’ll see them all soon enough.Do you want to freshen up first or would you prefer breakfast?”
“Breakfast,” Adrian said promptly.
“And you can tell us all about the young lovers,” Charlotte added.“I like love stories almost as much as I like babies.He does love her, I presume?”
“Madly.Come along.I’ve lots to tell you.”
She wasn’t glowing today,Jenny thought as she stared at her wan reflection in the mirror.She had barely slept last night, tossing and turning as she remembered the paleness of Brat’s face when he keeled over at her feet.She’d held him, weeping and wailing until they’d dragged her off him, and Brandon’s wife Emma had set to work with a medical expertise that would have awed Jenny under any other circumstances.It was just a flesh wound, she’d pronounced, albeit a painful one, but all Brat needed was rest and bandaging and he’d be fine.
She didn’t believe her at first.Brat was going to die, she was sure of it, and she’d spend the rest of her life mourning him.But he woke up as they carried him back to the house, and if the sound and the content of his shouted profanities was anything to judge by, he was going to be just fine.
It was time for her to leave.Fortunately, Charles and Annis had announced their intention to depart the next morning, much to the girls’ protests, and Jenny took it at a sign.She would leave while Brat was too ill to notice, and then it would be done, a clean break.Not that it would be a break on his side—he would be relieved that his indiscretion was neatly disappearing.But Jenny could leave with her pride intact, and make plans for the future.
There was just one thing she had to do.She had to thank him.He’d almost died for her, something she still didn’t understand.That horrible man was aiming his pistol directly at her, and then Brat had leapt in front of her, taking the bullet himself.He could have been killed, or injured, or a great deal worse, and all for a woman who was an unfortunate misstep.It was probably a case of simple good manners.One didn’t shoot a guest in the home of the Scorpion.It had absolutely nothing to do with what had passed between them the night before.
Damn it, she couldn’t stop thinking about it.She savored the curse word, angry with herself.She had learned to live without the pleasure of the marriage bed, but now all her hunger for touch had been aroused again, and the very thought of Brat’s dark eyes and hard, deft hands made her face flush and her stomach clench.
She’d get over it.She’d gotten over the loss of Josiah, though what they’d shared in bed was a great deal more subdued than her night with Brat.But she’d get over it.It just might take a bit longer.
