The door popped open, and they silenced and straightened as a maid entered.
“Dear lord!” she exclaimed, looking at them, naked as needles before she backed out, slamming the door shut.
They only laughed harder. Miranda’s breasts were even more glorious when bouncing due to happiness. Philip didn’t recall when he’d felt so full of mirth.
“Oh dear,” she said, going to the wardrobe without an ounce of uneasiness.
Opening a drawer, she drew out a cotton shift and yanked it over her head. It dimmed his own joy at once. Then, barely looking at her choices, she snatched out a pale rose gown and pulled it on.
“There,” she said. “At least I am presentable now, which is more than I can say for you.”
A pounding on the door was followed by a man’s voice. “Who are you and what’s going on in there?”
Miranda shrugged as if to say she’d warned him this would happen, and Philip sprang into action putting on his wet clothes. Meanwhile, she went to the door and cracked it open.
“Are you the Duke of Northumberland’s butler? We met you earlier. Our rowboat overturned as everyone was leaving. Excuse our intrusion, but we didn’t see anyone downstairs, and I was soaked through and beginning to shiver. I have borrowed one of your lady’s dresses or some lady’s, at any rate.”
She glanced behind her at Philip, as he tried to restore order to his cravat.
“However, my companion has decided to wear his own clothing home as we’ve given it a chance to air out. Lord and Lady Coxley mentioned we might borrow a carriage to take us back to Kew Bridge. That’s where we started, before the picnic and the rowing, you understand.”
Philip was amazed the butler was silent through all this, but Miss Bright could talk a storm when needed. Gathering up her wet things, he surveyed the room to make sure they’d left nothing.
Nothing but a broken bed!
Coxley would find it funny, but his lady perhaps not as much. After all, she’d been the hostess responsible for Miss Bright’s safety and reputation. Moreover, they would have to explain it to Northumberland at some point.
“Ready,” he said, and Miranda opened the door fully, letting the butler see the disaster. His eyes bugged, but like any good head of household, his expression remained neutral.
“If you follow me,” he said, “I shall arrange for tea while the horses are harnessed.”
They followed him downstairs and into the parlor, but before he could disappear, Philip decided he might as well make an utter nuisance of himself.
“I’ll have some of Northumberland’s good brandy instead.”
He was sure he heard the butler sigh, but the man only said, “As you wish, my lord.”
MIRANDA WAS GLAD THEY hadn’t had a discussion about their transgression. That would have been mortifying. Strangely when Lord Mercer — or Philip, as she gave herself leave to think of him — had his arms around her, even when she was undressed, she’d felt no shyness. Yet fully clothed and back in the real world, she couldn’t quite look him in the eye.
She was frankly shocked at her own behavior and at how easily she’d been carried away by the pleasurable sensations Philip had evoked. It was almost as if she was under his spell whenever he kissed her.
In his damp clothing and in thick silence, he escorted her back to where they had begun their day. The others arrived not five minutes later in their various rowboats.
Miranda thought their small party none the wiser. Yet when her father came to pick her up, Lady Coxley herself walked her to his carriage, giving her a stern look and making her fear her hosts already suspected. In any case, they would soon know the extent of the misbehavior if the duke’s maid and butler told tales.And whose servants didn’t gossip?
Since the Coxleys were Philip’s friends, Miranda could only hope they would remain silent. After all, they wouldn’t want their own reputation as hosts to suffer. Notwithstanding, the capsizing adventure would make good fodder for her novel with the participants carefully disguised, exactly as Lady Harriet had advised.
When she turned to bid Philip good-bye, he nodded but his expression was grim.
Now, a day later, she was still in a state of disbelief at having had a naked man on top of her. It had been temporary madness, but it had also been a state of bliss. Writing about it had helped, although she was still unsure how to behave when next they met.
Since she didn’t expect him until early the following day when they would travel all the way to Ascot in East Berkshire together, his unexpected appearance in her foyer filled Miranda with mixed emotions — embarrassment as well as happiness. To say she’d grown fond of him was an understatement, and Helen had recently written back advising her to guard her heart.
But Helen didn’t know how this man had awakened passion in her, nor how easily he coaxed it to blossom.
“Good day, Lord Mercer. Have I forgotten an event to which you are taking me today?”
“No, Miss Bright,” he said somberly. “I am certain you have forgotten nothing.”
