“After the water cometh. Tho you don’t get cold. And tho Joneth dothn’t thee you.”
He raised his eyebrows. The coldness was an excuse. The bathroom was warm. And she didn’t want her lady’s maid to see him unclothed? Was this more of her sweet jealousy akin to thinking he had called another womandarling?
“Jones sees you naked all the time, am I right?”
“Yeth, of courthe.”
“So you could get undressed now.”
“Too cold.”
“Darling, I’ll keep you warm.”
A knock and chambermaids and footmen filed in, all carrying buckets of steaming water. Dashwood probably had gotten the heating started when he saw Phineas heading outside in the rain.
I told you, she mouthed and stuck her tongue out at him for just a moment. Oh, oh, oh, that tongue. But if he crossed the bathroom floor to her and kissed her in front of the servants, she could get angry. And anger could lead to silence, and he couldn’t bear her silence any longer.
Half of the steaming buckets were emptied into the tub and the other buckets were left in an orderly row. Jones bustled in with a jar of soap and a stack of towels.
“The cold water is coming now, my lady.” And indeed a gaggle of chambermaids came in with buckets of water. “Just put those here and give me one of those buckets,” Jones instructed them.
Jones poured half of one bucket of cold water into the bath and then felt the water. She then poured the rest of the bucket in.
“My lord, my lady, it may still be too hot.”
“That’s fine, Jones. I’ll get the bath water to the right temperature.” Phineas wanted Jones out. Now.
“My lady doesn’t like it too hot, my lord.”
“My wife will tell me if it’s too hot.” He nodded toward the door, curtly.
The door closed behind Jones. He took off his tailcoat. Caro folded her arms and looked at him.
“Aren’t you going to get undressed?” he said, his fingers working at untying his cravat.
“No.”
“No?”
“No.”
He threw his cravat on the floor. “Caro, this isn’t what I agreed to. I let you up out of the mud on the condition that you talk to me and we bathe together. And that means you will be naked when we bathe.”
“I will be naked.”
He grinned. He couldn’t help himself. “You will be?”
“Yeth. But you firtht.”
He cocked his head at her. “This isn’t some kind of trick, is it?”
“No. I want to thee.”
She wanted to see him. He began to undress. As he raised his shirt over his head, he heard her sigh. He looked at her. Was it possible her lips were turning up slightly at the corners? Had he at last gotten a smile out of her?
“May I?” she said and walked toward him as he unbuttoned his breeches and pushed them down.
He had no idea what he was giving permission for. “You are my wife. Of course.”
