Chapter 29
Gervaise lifted his arm as Caroline groaned softly and rolled over, blinking up at him. “What time is it?”
“Still early. It’s just after seven.”
“I think I drank too much last night,” she confessed.
He smirked. “I think perhaps you did. You were somewhat tipsy.”
A guilty look passed over her face. “I talked your ear off again, didn’t I?”
“Again?”
“Like that awful night on the terrace.”
He gave a soft laugh, reaching over to cover her hand on the coverlet with his own. “You were charming, as always. I was enchanted that night on the terrace.”
“Were you?” She sounded surprised. “You never said so before.”
“Surely it was implied when I ran away with you the next day.”
She squinted up at him doubtfully. “That’s not quite how I remember it.”
“Well, it’s how I remember it,” he told her firmly.
“Oh.” Her gaze wavered and he guessed she was recalling their chat from the previous evening. “Did you—did you agree to my idea about the dormitory room being available to female staff?” she asked as though the recollection was a little hazy.
“In principle,” he reminded her cautiously. “I agreed to speak to Ralph and Ewell about it.”
She squeezed his fingers. “Thank you. It would mean a lot to Effie and Vi.”
“I only care about it mattering to you,” he admitted frankly. “Shall I fetch you tea?”
“Oh yes, that would be lovely. Where are the cats?”
“Next to your feet.”
He threw back the covers and climbed out of bed, donned his robe and slippers, and made his way downstairs. Predictably, Remus remained lazing on the bed, but Romulus followed him down to the scullery.
He found Jeb hunched over the table, looking even worse for wear than he had the day before. Gervaise eyed him curiously. Of course, Caroline had told him all about the troubles he was having with Effie, so he knew full well why the prizefighter looked so disheveled.
“Good morning, Mr. Morris,” he murmured, making his way to the cupboard which housed the tea leaves.
Jeb looked unpleasantly surprised to find he was acquainted with his full name. “Mornin’,” he muttered, running a hand down his tired face.
“You look rather unkempt this morning. It is to be hoped your clothes will be pressed and your appearance presentable when you take up your duties as our head doorman next week.”
Jeb looked up, suddenly alert. “Head doorman you say?”
“I do,” Gervaise agreed, shutting the cupboard door. “Carstairs and I carried the motion last night. Ewell had a few other candidates lined up from his vast acquaintance of pugilists, but we decided in your favor. Do not make us regret it.”
“That’s good of you,” Jeb said raspily. “I am not usually—that is, by next week I hope to have things back to normal.”
“Do you indeed?” Gervaise answered dryly. “We are also employing Effie in the capacity of head barmaid. I trust that will not constitute a problem.”
“Why would it?” Jeb asked aggressively. “I’ve never had no problem with her earning a wage.”
Gervaise shrugged. “I understood your personal association was at an end. I trust the two of you will be able to work under the same roof without incident.”
Jeb looked as though he had struck him. “She said that to you?”
“Not to me but to my—to Miss Pomfrey,” Gervaise corrected himself swiftly. He really would have to stop doing that. Just because he thought of Caroline in those terms did not mean it was the reality. Not yet.
“In any case, it’s all been blown out of all proportion,” Jeb said with an impatient gesture. “Effie will see sense. She always does in the end.”
“Oh, she has left you before, then?”
Jeb shut his eyes momentarily and when he opened them, his expression was bleak. “No,” he admitted gruffly. “But she’ll be back. What choice does she have? I’m all she’s got.”
“I would not bank on that,” Gervaise replied.
Jeb eyed him suspiciously. “What do you mean? Another man?” he asked sharply. “My Effie’s not like that.”
“I’m sure she is not. But I was not referring to a man but to my own precious Miss Pomfrey. She has taken Effie and another individual named Violet for her bosom friends. They are to replace a Miss Cynthia Jarrow and a certain Diana Hipworth who proved singularly unworthy of the honor.”
Jeb blinked. “Who the hell are they?”
“No one of note,” Gervaise replied breezily, “but the fact remains that Miss Pomfrey has been starved of friendship and deserves more of it.”
Jeb cast him a resentful look. “And why can’t you give ’er that?” he asked belligerently.
“Oh, I try my poor best, but it does not suffice.”
Jeb huffed. “Perhaps you do, for the time being, but that kind of ‘friendship’ don’t last,” he sneered. “Mebbe she knows that deep down.”
Gervaise considered this. “Are you speaking of Effie now?”
Jeb glared at him. “Effie?” he burst out contemptuously. “No, course I’m bleedin’ not! I wasn’t”—he struggled for the right word—“dallying with her! It wasn’t like that between us at all.”
“Oh? My understanding is you set up home with her yet did not offer her the protection of marriage. Do I have that wrong?”
“You don’t understand,” Jeb said, turning very red. “And you’ve got a bloody cheek judging me considering your own little arrangement upstairs.”
“I’ve offered marriage to Caroline repeatedly,” Gervaise answered swiftly. “And what’s more, I have every intention of marrying her. It is only a matter of time.”
Jeb stared at him. “You what? Then why—?”
“Like I said, she won’t have me at present,” Gervaise interrupted him. “I was shamefully obtuse at the outset of our dealings together, but I’m working on rectifying things. Our situation is the reverse of your own. I am Effie, ever hopeful of matrimony, and she is you, tiresomely resistant.”
Jeb seemed at a loss for words. Calmly, Gervaise warmed the pot and then steeped the tea leaves. “If this is true, then why the fuck did you bring her to a place like this?” Jeb burst out at last.
Gervaise winced. “Like I said, it was a misstep but at least I realized mine almost immediately. You seem to have strung along poor Effie for years, if I am not mistaken.”
Jeb clamped his mouth shut and looked away. “You don’t understand how it is in my family,” he gritted out at last. “I’m expected to provide for my widowed mother and my sisters. To set an example for them. Mum would never accept the likes of Effie for a daughter-in-law.”
Gervaise placed the lid on the teapot. “My uncle expects me to marry an heiress,” he said conversationally. “But I’m not going to. I’m going to marry Caroline. I suggest cutting Mother Dearest off from your company. I predict she would soon come around.”
“You don’t know my mum,” Jeb answered gloomily. “She’s more pride than the devil.”
Gervaise shrugged. “Is Effie’s friendship worth having, would you say?”
“Course it is.” Gervaise’s steady gaze seemed to unnerve Jeb for he looked uncomfortable. “There’s none truer,” he added in a low voice. “She won’t let you down when you’re in a bind. There’s many a time—” His words seemed to die on his tongue and his gaze skittered away.
“Well,” Gervaise said briskly. “That’s good to hear, as Effie is to take up a senior role here behind the bar.
Ralph thinks very highly of her, so I am glad to hear you corroborate his opinion.
If I am not mistaken, she will also be offered living quarters, so she will be entirely independent of you.
Your mother is not the only one with pride, you know. ”
Jeb’s expression grew more troubled. “God damn it,” he swore wildly. “I never touched another woman except to escort her to church like my mother asked! It was nothing! Nothing at all!”
Gervaise gave him a wintry smile. “It’s not me you need to convince,” he answered, retrieving a Sevres teacup and saucer from his pockets. “And I fear Effie has lost faith in you.”
When he walked back into the bedroom a quarter of an hour later, Gervaise found Caroline lying on her side, stroking Remus’s soft belly.
His purr could be heard right across the room.
Romulus gave an irritated chirrup from behind him and ran to take a flying leap onto the bed, almost landing on his unfortunate brother.
“No, Romulus, leave him be!” Caroline scolded. She shielded Remus with her arm as Romulus paced restlessly up and down the bed. “You are too rough with your brother!” She tutted as poor Remus jumped down from the bed with an injured air. Naughty Romulus followed him and pounced on his tail.
“Budge up,” Gervaise said, kicking off his slippers and climbing into Caroline’s side of the bed. He held her teacup up high as she shifted sideways on the mattress. “I don’t want to spill your tea.”
“You are taking my spot!” she pointed out.
“Mmm, I know, it’s nice and warm.”
“Wretch! Brrrr! Your side of the bed is cold,” she complained.
“Come here, then,” he offered generously. “Between my legs.”
She eyed him suspiciously as she shuffled closer, but he arranged himself behind her with scrupulous politeness passing her her cup of tea. “Rest your back against my front,” he encouraged her. “Use me for a stack of pillows.”
She lay back on him. “Like this?”
“Precisely.”
“Well, I must say, this is vastly comfortable from my point of view,” she sighed, taking a sip of tea.
“I find I like it too,” he said huskily, slipping his arms about her waist.
“Being my stack of pillows?”
“Why not? I might start purring like Remus.”
She laughed. “Maybe I should stroke your belly too.” It was perhaps just as well she could not see the expression on his face. “Did you see Reg belowstairs?” she asked before raising the cup to her lips again.
“I did not.” He swept aside her hair and kissed the side of her neck. “Stop trying to make me jealous.” She gave another gurgle of laughter. “Only Jeb was down there, and he was looking decidedly seedy,” Gervaise told her.
“Did he? Well, good! Did I tell you that Jeb hands all his prizefighting money over to his mother and sisters for their upkeep?”
“You did not, but I am not at all surprised to hear it. He is the only son of their family after all.”
“Poor Effie has had precious little consideration as his partner in life, despite the fact she has always shifted to help keep a roof over their heads.”
“He intimated as much,” he admitted.
“Did he?” She half turned her head to judge the veracity of his statement but could not get a good look at him, sat as he was behind her.
“Yes, he said you could not find a truer friend than Effie when you are in a bind.”
She made a huffing sound that he really should not find so enticing, however much it made her cotton-encased bosom rise and fall. He wondered what she would do if he cupped her breasts now. “It’s a pity he did not appreciate that before he lost her!” she pronounced sternly.
“This is true,” he breathed against her ear.
“I mean to be a good friend to her, Gervaise.”
“I gathered as much.”
“You do not mind?” A hint of uncertainty entered her voice.
“Not at all. Why should I?” He rested his palms against her sides and started rubbing them up and down. “Are your sides still sore?” he asked in a low, intimate voice.
“My sides?”
“From holding your pose yesterday.”
“Oh, that. No, not at all.”
“It’s a good thing you’re so supple.” His touch became more of a caress.
She sighed, resting the back of her head against his chest. “You’re so nice to me,” she murmured, closing her eyes. “Even Vi says so, and she can be quite a harsh judge of character.”
“Is that so?”
“She and Effie were most taken with all my new jewelry.”
“Mere trinkets,” Gervaise replied flippantly. “I will replace them with better when you agree to marry me.”
She spluttered. “Gervaise…” she said reproachfully.
“You’re going to, you know.”
“I’m not!” she said, but even he could hear the lack of conviction. He smiled against her hair. “I can’t!” she added rather more firmly.
“We shall see.” There was a ring of quiet confidence in his voice.
“You’re impossible!”
“I know,” he whispered, “but you like me all the same.”
She was quiet for a moment, refusing to take his cue. “I followed your advice, you know.”
He drew back from nuzzling her hair with some reluctance, wondering what soap she used. Had he bought it for her? It smelled like honey and jasmine. A heady combination. “What advice?” he asked belatedly.
“I confided in Effie and Vi. About Mama, I mean.”
“You did?” He was surprised.
She nodded. “Don’t you remember? You said I never gave Cynthia and Diana a chance. I…I did not want to make that mistake again. With my new friends, I mean.” Her voice was small, and he could almost feel the uncertainty coming off her in waves.
Did she regret confiding in them? “Well, that was brave,” he answered carefully. “What did they say?”
She colored faintly. “Vi said…well, she said Mama sounded like ‘a right old cow.’”
Gervaise laughed. He could not help it. “What about Effie?”
“She agreed and was most indignant. She said she did not blame me for acting so rashly and running away from home for a man.” Gervaise tightened his arms about her. His mind raced for the right words to reassure her.
“Oh, look!” she exclaimed suddenly, setting down her empty teacup in her lap and pointing at the cats. “How sweet!” Remus and Romulus lay side by side, their legs entwined. “Gervaise, they’re embracing.”
“Let us try that for a while,” he suggested. “If you have finished your tea.”
She nodded, though she looked a little surprised. He took both cup and saucer from her, setting them down. “Come here.” He took her into his arms and stifled his instinctive groan as she turned into him. “Warmer now?” he asked solicitously.
She nodded her head. “Yes,” she said. Then she tipped her head back and said something truly astonishing. “But then, I always am when you are near.”