Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
Laura answered the next summons from the duke at her own pace. Slowly. She’d been putting Isabelle down for her nap when a maid had arrived with the news the duke wanted to see her again.
Only this time, the maid informed her she was to escort Laura all the way there.
But she could not go yet. She’d been trying to get Isabelle to sleep for the last hour. She had asked Nash to take the boys outside to play because they were such a distraction for the little girl. Nash had been reluctant to leave them, but he’d finally left Laura to it. Laura had almost succeeded until the maid’s knock. Now she needed more time to send Isabelle off to sleep. The duke would just have to wait.
“Good morning,” Jasper whispered as he slipped into the room, his hair standing up, his clothing in disarray.
Laura groaned under her breath but continued to rub her daughter’s back, hoping Isabelle did not sense her irritation with yet another interruption. Her daughter clearly heard Jasper but at least she did not sit up to look at him.
After a moment, Laura glanced at the windows where rain beat against the panes. “What are you doing here?”
“The duke sent me up to see if I could help.”
“So much for the duke not interfering,” she murmured. “I don’t need help. She needs silence.”
“Of course she does. So I’ll sit with her while you’re away.”
“Aren’t there more interesting things for you to do?”
“I enjoy watching the rain from these windows,” Jasper promised. “It was the only time Ravenswood felt cozy when I was a boy, up here with all my brothers.”
“Nothing can make Ravenswood feel as cozy as my childhood home was,” she insisted, keeping the motion of her hand on Isabelle’s back constant.
Jasper drew closer and leaned over Isabelle’s cot. “Well, not everyone was lucky to have parents who showed them they were loved. Mine were distant figures. I barely remember Mama. I was fonder of the cook, to be honest.”
“I’m not surprised,” she replied and held her breath as Isabelle’s eyes finally closed. “But I am sorry you were not loved as a boy.”
“I had Algernon and Nash to love me, and my little brother. But I could bear one of these of my own,” Jasper whispered, leaning out to lift Laura’s hand away from her daughter’s back and taking over with the rubbing at the same speed. “I’ve got her now. I need the practice,” he said, and then winked.
Laura straightened up, suppressing a groan as her back protested. She’d been bent over that cot for too long, determined she didn’t need any help. She watched Jasper for a moment and realized she couldn’t do everything for her children. Jasper really was the most affectionate of the brothers, and it showed in how he cared for his niece. “How did you know Nash loved you?”
“He was always there, watching over us. Even from a distance, when he wasn’t around, he’d enlist trusted servants to follow us about. Keep us out of trouble and Father’s way, too. A gardener for the outdoors, and a footman for inside, for instance. You had them, too.”
“Spies,” Laura muttered, cross about that still.
“Well, if Father had his, Nash had his own,” Jasper murmured, as if there was nothing wrong with that. “It’s no different from those with two parents. One parent is always strict, the other lenient. Or so I hear.”
“There is a world of difference,” Laura protested.
“Not if the result is the same. We were always taken care of by Nash and Algernon. Always fed, dressed appropriately, put to bed. Educated. Nash was a rather excellent teacher, although he nearly had to sit on me to keep me at my desk sometimes. I much preferred going outside than reading all day long.”
“As do I,” Laura told him. “I used to ride every day until…”
“Father gave your horse away,” Jasper murmured. “It was his, not ours. Nothing could have stopped him doing as he pleased with his property.”
“He considered my children his property, too,” she complained.
“We all were,” Jasper agreed. “You were the lucky one. You got away.”
“You could have gone, too.”
“I could not have abandoned my brothers to deal with him alone,” Jasper said. “We swore an oath to protect each other.”
Laura scowled at him. “But not me.”
“We did what we could,” he said, then glanced at the door. “He’s waiting for you.”
Laura turned. Nash was there, silent, listening and the boys were with him, restrained from coming in by his hands on their shoulders. They moved back, making room for her to join them in the hall. She slipped out of the nursery with the maid following and shut the door quietly.
“I am summoned,” she told Nash.
“You all are,” the maid told them. “If you could all follow me downstairs.”
Laura exchanged a glance with Nash, but he seemed just as puzzled that the boys were coming with them. She didn’t really want to ask Nash about it in front of them right now. She was tired and longed to rest.
At the stairs, Nash slipped his hand under her elbow again to steady her down the first flight of steep steps. For the next, he let her manage alone.
The maid turned them in the opposite direction of the duke’s study today. She led them to the ballroom doors and flung them open. Laura had not been in this room in years, and it seemed to have lost some of its grandeur and sparkle. But perhaps that was only because it was still daytime and she was weary.
Aside from attending balls, which had been rare, she’d never been permitted in here with the children.
The boys ran inside to the duke, where he stood at a window looking out on his domain. Nash’s hand slipped under her elbow again to propel her across the threshold and toward him.
The maid quickly shut the doors behind her, leaving them alone with the duke.
Ravenswood turned and smiled, hourglass clutched in his hand at chest level. “Thank you for coming,” he called.
“It’s not as if he gave us any choice,” she muttered to Nash.
“Let’s hear him out before we start bickering,” Nash suggested. “Brother, what are we doing here?”
“It’s time for a little instruction,” he said, setting the hourglass down on top of a pianoforte.
Laura stopped, and Nash did, too. “Instruction in what?”
“Dancing. The boys are overdue for lessons. I thought I could help you help them.”
“We don’t need help or a ballroom for dance lessons,” Nash said. “We taught ourselves in the nursery and hallways.”
“However, the pianoforte is here, so the lessons will be held here, too. How else can they see the grace they must strive for unless they have the right example to follow and the music to dance to? Humor me.”
Laura sighed heavily. She was not in the mood to dance, but she could play for the boys. “Very well.”
She started toward the pianoforte, but Ravenswood shook his head and placed his hand on the instrument. “I will play, you and Nash instruct.”
“You don’t play the pianoforte,” Nash argued. “You’ve no musical talent whatsoever.”
“Don’t I?”
Ravenswood sat down at the instrument and played a lively little piece very well. He played it so well, in fact, that Laura was impressed.
Nash sputtered and uttered an oath. “When did you ever learn?”
“Lady Barnes taught me,” the duke admitted somewhat sheepishly. “Father never knew. You know how little Father thought of men with accomplishments he thought belonged only to women.”
“You were lucky he never found out,” Nash answered, drawing closer to watch his older brother.
The duke hit a wrong note and winced. “Unfortunately, I play better when no one is watching me too closely.”
Nash immediately turned his back and stared at Laura. After a moment, he nodded, and stepped toward her. “That’s the song we danced to that night you first came here.”
Laura remembered the night too well. “It was played a little faster, I think.”
“I play at the speed I can manage or I make many more mistakes,” Ravenswood warned them. “Boys, come stand by me while your parents dance together. Watch them closely now.”
He paused his playing and turned the hourglass so the sand began to fall.
“What’s that for?” Liam asked him.
“It’s to keep track of the time your parents spend together,” the duke answered. “Don’t touch it, or I’ll get in trouble.”
Laura narrowed her eyes on the duke, but suddenly Nash moved between them again and his wide chest was all she saw. He approached her, his hands outstretched. “Might I have the honor of a dance, Lady Sweet?”
“As if I have a choice,” she muttered darkly.
“The children are watching and listening,” he warned quietly. “We’re supposed to prepare them for when they join polite society.”
Defeated by that argument, she curtsied, murmured her agreement to dance and put her hand in Nash’s. The duke played, and they danced together. It was odd, being the only couple twirling about in the large room. Especially odd when she hadn’t expected to be in Nash’s arms ever again. Determined to get through the dance without a misstep, she kept her gaze past Nash’s shoulder as they spun around the room.
Her boys were watching them, Liam leaning against the pianoforte, suffering no punishment for his untidiness, but Thomas was watching them with his arms crossed. He reminded her of Nash in that pose. So unwilling to bend or smile.
“You dance beautifully,” Nash murmured. “As graceful as I remember.”
“Your memory is faulty, my lord. I stepped on your toes the first night we danced. I am woefully out of practice,” she warned.
“But so am I,” Nash assured her with a laugh. “In fact, I have only ever danced with you.”
She glanced up at him. “Was there no one at the masquerade to tempt you to dance?”
“Only you. But my mind was interested in another form of dancing. So was yours, I believe,” he suggested.
Laura gulped. “A temporary aberration brought on by too much wine.”
“You don’t drink wine. You only drink water,” Nash said, and then stopped. He bowed to her. “You were the only one with a clear head that night.” He turned away and called out, “Thomas, come dance with your mother.”
Liam rushed over, though. “What about me?”
“You are next, lad,” Ravenswood promised him. “Come sit up here next to me on the stool. We’ll play together.”
Liam rushed to his uncle. “Can I really?”
“I don’t see why you cannot learn.” The duke shuffled along the seat and devoted his attention to Liam, who banged on the keys without any skill at all.
The duke laughed and started to play when Liam finally stopped.
Laura smiled at Thomas, encouraging him closer, but Nash took charge, turning what should have been fun into a serious lesson. He ordered him to hold her hand and she could tell he didn’t want to. Nash took a place behind Thomas. “I’ll direct.”
“Of course you will,” Laura muttered.
They began. Badly. Thomas had some idea, but his stride was shorter than hers and much shorter than his father’s. He kept stretching his legs too far and stumbling because of it. His face slowly reddened with embarrassment as Nash corrected him repeatedly.
After a while, Laura wet her lips and suggested a change. “Perhaps Thomas and I should try this alone.”
Nash considered her request and immediately stepped back. “Very well.”
“Right. Now…” She glanced down at her son and smiled. “Thomas, the man must lead on the dance floor, so I am completely in your control. You decide where we go and when we change direction. I will follow you everywhere.”
Thomas nodded, his face so very serious as they began to dance again. Laura moved with light, tiny steps, and they did far better together than they had before.
Nash prowled the edges of the room, watching them closely with a hawklike intensity. His scrutiny was unsettling for her, and she thought for Thomas, too, when he noticed his father watching.
“You’re doing well,” she whispered to her son.
“I want to be as good as Pa is. He never stumbled.”
“You will be with practice. He was not born a dancer. No one is good at anything on the first try.”
That seemed to reassure Thomas, and his shoulders relaxed a little. He was almost smiling when the duke suddenly stopped playing to growl, “Liam, what did I tell you?”
“I was just looking at it,” Liam promised and quickly scurried away from the duke. He ran to Laura and hid behind her skirts.
Nash rushed over to the duke. “What happened?”
The duke held the hourglass out and shook it. “Didn’t you see?”
“No, I was watching the dancers.”
“Liam grabbed the hourglass while I was playing and turned it over a few times. I’ve no idea which way was the right way round now.”
As Nash turned away from his brother, Laura caught a ghost of a smile cross the duke’s face. Ravenswood quickly schooled his features again and looked cross, but she’d seen enough. The duke had somehow manipulated Liam into turning the dashed thing for him—probably by telling him not to.
And that meant there was no way to know when their time was up anymore. She raised a brow at Nash to see if he realized they were being manipulated, but he only shrugged.
“Continue.”
Liam tugged on her gown. “Will I still get ice cream?”
She scowled at Ravenswood. “Bribery now?”
“Everyone likes ice cream,” he answered with a careless shrug.
“Not everyone,” Nash tossed out. “My wife does not, for one.”
Laura turned to Liam and cupped his face. “I’m sure the duke will deliver it to you personally today, too.”
Liam’s eyes widened with excitement. “Uncle Allan always gives us the biggest bowls.”
“Uncle Allan ?”
The duke grinned. “A little informality never hurts at his age,” he suggested, sitting down at the instrument again.
“Of course.” Laura marched across the room and snatched up the hourglass. She took it to the fireplace mantelpiece and set it up high, where Liam could not possibly reach it again.
She turned and smiled sweetly at the duke. “There. Now there can be no more ill-advised turnings to prolong our meetings.”
“It was just a bit of harmless fun,” Ravenswood complained with a laugh as he played again.
Liam tugged on her skirts again. “Is it my turn to dance with you now?”
She glanced at Thomas, but he’d retreated to stand with his father during her exchange with the duke. “Why not,” she said and began a different dance with him.
Dancing with Liam, who was a foot shorter than his brother, involved more awkward turnings and stomping on toes, but much laughter.
Nash was covering his mouth by the time Laura stumbled to a halt. Utterly exhausted and over her anger at the duke’s manipulation. She had enjoyed dancing once, but had done little of it lately.
“My turn with Mama again,” Nash announced.
Before she was prepared for it, Laura was hauled into Nash’s arms and twirled rapidly around the room. She barely kept up with him and eventually begged for him to slow down before she fell. He did so slowly, pulling her closer to his chest as the duke played a strange tune. Something beautiful and rather romantic, in fact.
Laura glanced up and became caught in Nash’s gaze. They danced, and the room, their children and even the music faded away. There was only the two of them, holding fast to each other as they moved as one.
But she was again in danger of becoming enthralled to a husband who would only hurt her. It wasn’t fair.
She stiffened, and Nash brought them to a halt though he didn’t release her immediately. His fingers slid across her upper back, onto her bare skin. His other fingers caressed the wedding band that still rested on her ring finger. He pressed, holding it tight, and his head slowly lowered toward hers. She inhaled the scent of him just before his lips brushed hers.
She stumbled back from him, panicked by his attempt at seduction.
“Laura, wait?—”
“No. Not again,” she protested, looking around the room. But there was no one with them anymore. They were alone. “Where has the duke taken them?”
He followed her. “For ice cream. What is wrong?”
She looked at him with annoyance. “You know exactly what is wrong! The duke has taken my children.”
“No. They left with the duke as soon as we started dancing, to get them the ice cream you agreed they could have. In fact, you ordered the duke not to disappoint Liam.”
“But I heard music playing,” she said, stunned that she’d not noticed them all go.
“Laura, there was only the music of our hearts guiding our steps when we danced.”
She gaped at Nash. The last thing she’d ever expected to hear was him spouting a line that could have been romantic had it come from anyone else.
He shuffled his feet. “We were always perfectly in tune with each other when we danced…and when we were alone in your bed.”
She gulped, unfortunately remembering everything about those intimate moments with Nash far too clearly for comfort. “Perhaps it would be best to wait until you have hired a new governess and dance instructor for the boys before you continue the lessons. After I’m gone. Excuse me.”
Nash, however, wouldn’t be left behind. He followed her, claiming he wished for iced cream, too. Except she remembered Nash had never cared for sweets before either. It was something else they had in common. In fact, he had given the cook a lecture once about how damaging such a treat could be for the boys’ teeth.
At the stairs down to the kitchen, he grasped her elbow again, and in the narrower flight, she couldn’t escape the fact that she appreciated his help. But what she did not appreciate was the fact that her body still wanted him close. And sometimes, so did her foolish, traitorous heart.