“I didn’t what?”
Louisa was sure she was the color of a tomato.
“It’s just that… Well, we’re married. I thought you might, um…”
“I’m not sure I understand what you’re trying to say,” he said, though there appeared to be a hint of mischief in his eyes. Was he teasing her?
“I think you do,” she said after a long moment.
“Oh. I see. You expected me to, what? Ravish you in the middle of the night? Defile you in your dreams, perhaps?”
“No, not exactly—”
“Louisa, yesterday was rather eventful, wouldn’t you say?”
“Yes.”
“And when we arrived at the inn, you could barely keep your eyes open.” She nodded. “Married we may be, but I’m not a sex-starved lunatic.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“No, but you certainly have an idea about husbands and wives.” The cat began to purr quietly next to her and she unwittingly began to pet it. “We’ll consummate our marriage, be sure of that.”
“When?” she blurted out.
He closed his eyes again.
“Whenever you wish.”
Louisa frowned as she stopped petting the small animal next to her. Whenever she wished? What sort of game was heplaying at exactly? Women, particularly well-born newlyweds, had extraordinarily little understanding of bedroom activities. Husbands were supposed to initiate these sorts of things. They had the experience, didn’t they?
For the rest of the carriage ride, Louisa watched Rhys sleep as she imagined what sort of things he might have experience with. Kissing, to be sure—she knew enough about men and women that kissing was the first thing that led to, well, other things.
Over the next four hours, she imagined up all sorts of fancy foreign women he must have met during his time at war. Louisa had heard about certain women who would make camp near the battle fields to provide services for soldiers. Had he dealt with any of them?
By the time they reached Fenwick Park, Louisa was beside herself with curiosity. She wanted to know everything about Rhys. Where he had grown up, why he had joined the army to go to war, what he intended to do with the rest of his life. Was he partial to children? What sort of people were his parents? Did he have any dreams or goals and if so, what were they?
Had he ever been in love with someone? And if he had been, why hadn’t he married already?
But that was the last question she would ever ask him, she thought as she gazed out the carriage window to see a beautiful sight. There in the distance, set squarely in the center of four massive fields, was a large stone house fashioned in Gothic Revival style. With large arched windows, two pointed roofs and, to her surprise, a massive turret off one side, Louisa was sure she was looking at a fairytale castle. A large, rectangular pond filled to the edges with white flowers blooming on lily pads. It was situated directly in front of the house, which made Louisa assume that it was manmade.
As the carriage swayed back and forth up the crushed stone driveway, Louisa looked back at Rhys to see if he was awake. To her surprise, he was, and he was staring at her.
Louisa settled back against the velvet cushion.
“Do not stop on my account,” he said gently as they reached the front of the house. “I’ve seen it before.”
“It’s lovely. At least, from a distance.”
He smiled.
“Unfortunately, only from a distance. It’s in dire need of work. You’ll see.”
Not for the first time, Louisa wondered what she had gotten herself into. Surely it was livable at least.
As the carriage came to a stop, Rhys leaned over and gathered up the cat in his arms and placed him on the floor of the carriage. When the driver opened the door, the cat dashed out.
“Oh no,” Louisa said, hurrying out after it with the help of the driver.
