Chapter Nineteen #2
Leland found he was beginning to feel a little offended at this point. He understood a lady would be more delicate in her sensibilities, but being haunted forever by the hair on his chest seemed more extreme than it needed to be.
“Go downstairs to have your breakfast, Valor. Toast and eggs will make you feel better,” Lady Winsome said.
“Maybe,” Lady Valor said. “Mrs. Right, can you check the corridor? I could not bear to see that abomination a second time.”
Now he had reached the heights of abomination?
“Valor, I know you just learned that word, but I’m not sure you entirely understand it,” Lady Winsome said.
“I understand it, and I’ve seen it,” Lady Valor said.
Leland heard the door open. “It’s quite safe,” the housekeeper said. “Come now, I’ll take you downstairs and then arrange to have Lord Manderbey’s clothes returned to him.”
“He really needs to cover that up! Be careful when you go out there, Winny, just in case he hasn’t,” Lady Valor advised.
Leland listened as the sound of footsteps retreated. He looked down at his chest. He had not thought, until this moment, that it would be capable of scarring a person’s psyche.
He heard another sound from the direction of Lady Winsome’s room. It sounded like a window sash being opened. He tied the sheet around his apparently deeply offensive chest and walked over.
“Lord Manderbey,” Lady Winsome called out the window. “Our housekeeper is seeing about your clothes. They should be back with you shortly.”
Leland opened the sash to his own window and found Lady Winsome staring back at him. He pulled the sheet a little higher, lest she have the same reaction to the sight as her sister.
“Lady Winsome,” he said. “I hope I did not disturb last night.”
“I did not find it disturbing, exactly,” she said, leaning on the window frame. “More interesting than anything else.”
It was clear enough that she heard at least some of what had transpired. “As to that, I seem to remember that I may have addressed your father in an inappropriate manner.”
To his surprise, Lady Winsome laughed. “Roland.”
“Yes, just so.”
“And then Rolly.”
“I do not know what came over me.”
“Laudanum came over you.”
He nodded, a bit distracted by how pretty Lady Winsome looked in the sunshine. The copper strands in her hair sparkled and then there were those freckles dusting her nose. She was dressed in a simple white muslin and looked springtime personified.
“I hope there was nothing else I said that might cause offense.”
“Well, let’s see,” Lady Winsome said, tapping her chin. “Oh, there was mention of brooking no complaints.”
Leland did remember that. He said he would wed Lady Winsome and would brook no complaints about it. She did not look offended, which must be a very good sign.
“Ah yes, I did say that. Perhaps when I retrieve my clothes, we might speak in the drawing room so I might say my piece on that subject. In private,” he added to make clear his meaning.
Lady Winsome gave him one of her pretty smiles. “This is private.”
It was true, it was private, the two rooms looking out the back of the house.
Leland had not imagined proposing out of a window while he stood with only a sheet wrapped round him, but why not?
There was nothing typical or usual about the duke’s household.
There was nothing typical or usual about Lady Winsome.
He cleared his throat. “Lady Winsome Nicolet, would you do me the honor of marrying me despite all the problems that have been caused you by my relations? I cannot promise they will not cause trouble in future, but I can promise to hold you above all others, as I am rather stupidly in love with you and expect to remain so for the rest of my life.”
She leaned further out the window and smiled. “Yes, I say yes, and I care not for any trouble coming our way.”
She had accepted him. It would be the moment to reach for her and kiss her but she was too far away. They stretched out their hands but only managed to brush fingertips.
There was a knock on Leland’s door and a footman came in carrying his clothes. “My lord?” he said, clearly surprised to see him hanging out a window and talking to Lady Winsome.
He said, “I’m getting dressed.”
Lady Winsome said, “Hurry and I’ll meet you in the corridor.”
He ducked back in and grabbed his clothes. He did not suppose another sentence had ever exceeded that one—Hurry and I’ll meet you in the corridor.
*
It was done, he had said it. Winsome listened to the bangs and shufflings and Manderbey giving Thomas directions.
“My shirt!”
“Yes, my lord.”
“Where is my neckcloth?”
“Just here, my lord.”
“Well go ahead—knot it.”
“My lord, I’d best get Mr. Reynolds for that, he’s the duke’s valet. I’ve never tied a knot on a gentleman—I’m not sure how you want it done.”
“There is no time, just do your best.”
A minute passed by and Winsome supposed Thomas was working on the lord’s knot.
“It’s awful, but it will have to do. My coat.”
“Here it is.”
Then, he shouted, “I am dressed.”
Winsome ran out to the corridor just in time to throw herself in Manderbey’s arms. He swept her up and whispered into her hair, “There you are.”
She pulled her head away and gazed up at him. “Here I am,” she said.
He kissed her gently, and she ignored Thomas’s muttered, “Oh my God,” as he hurried past them. Manderbey pushed her up against the wall and kissed her neck, slowly moving upwards. He tenderly kissed her nose and she recalled he admired her freckles. Then he moved back down and settled on her lips.
Kissing her gently, his forefinger traced the outline of her cheek. “Let us be married in all haste,” he said, his voice low. “I’ll talk to your father, get a special license, and put the screws on St. George’s to get an early date.”
Winsome was more than gratified by his eagerness to get to a church.
He suddenly pulled back. “That is, if you wish to proceed speedily.”
Winsome laughed. “I cannot wait to get a look at whatever horrified Valor.”
This boldness took him entirely by surprise. “My lady.”
“Well?” she said, laughing.
“Yes, well,” he said, bending over to kiss her once more. He ran his fingers through her hair. “I adore your hair, I adore your nose and the freckles sprinkled across it, I adore your eyes and your lips. Really, there is nothing I do not adore.”
Winsome giggled into his neck. “Wait until I make a habit of reading terrible novels to you, then we’ll see.”
“If it is very terrible, and I hope it will be, I will throw the book over my shoulder and carry you upstairs.”
“Then I will seek out the most awful available. They will be positively ghastly and you will have no choice but to carry me upstairs.”
“I think you will like my house in Torquay. It is not large—”
“But it has a view of the sea and a cozy little tavern in the town.”
“Just so.”
“Might we not go there for a wedding trip?” Winsome asked. “We might say we are going somewhere else and slip off there.”
“You do not wish to go on some grand tour of some point of interest, swanning around in new dresses and everybody wondering who you are?”
“Not ever. I’d much rather unpack and settle in. It sounds very romantic there.”
“If it is not, I will make it so.”
Manderbey kissed her again and Winsome supposed she would not mind spending the entire day in that attitude. They might have done it too, if Meggy had not dropped a bucket full of ash on the corridor’s carpet from the shock of it when she came upon them.