Chapter Fifteen
Manchester Square
Mayfair, London
Since it was a Sunday, and the day before Christmas, she and Dante had agreed to let most of the servants go home for two days.
They would get on well enough without a full complement of staff.
Around noon, Anne put the final touches of decorating into the drawing room as well as the dining room, and she supervised one of the footman who’d volunteered to stay on tying fir boughs on the railings of the staircase.
“It looks lovely, Joshua. Thank you for the assistance.”
“Will there be anything else, Mrs. Cunningham?” The young man was eager to please, for he was the newest servant to come work at the house.
“Not at this time.”
“Actually, I need for you to do something for me.” Broderick came down the stairs as he pulled on a pair of kid gloves. “Please call for the carriage.”
Anne frowned. “Why? I wasn’t aware you had an errand today.”
“I don’t, but we do.” He winked at the footman. “I thought you might enjoy going out to one of the parks to hunt for mistletoe or perhaps a small tree like they bring inside and put into a pot in the Bavarian region.”
Excitement twisted up her spine. “Truly?” She thought he’d forgotten about her request from earlier in the week or else he’d ignored it.
“Yes, of course.” He glanced at the footman. “When you ask for the carriage, should you like to join the outing, you are more than welcome.”
“I’m good with an axe, sir.” Then, with a grin, the footman disappeared into the servants’ staircase.
Anne looked at her husband with amusement. “How are you feeling?” Though he had a bruise on his chin where he’d been punched at the clinic, he was still quite a handsome man.
“I am… well.” He nodded. “I think yesterday was a good catalyst for thinking about things that need more attention.”
“Good.” She nodded, for she had been worried about him after what happened at the clinic. “Don’t let the darkness win.”
Following their conversation on the pavement, he’d taken her to a tea café, where they’d enjoyed a lovely tea and chatted about their plans for the upcoming Christmastide season.
Once they’d arrived home, they’d retired upstairs and landed in bed, where he’d put her through her paces until it had been time to dress for dinner.
Which they were late for, but that coupling had drawn the two of them closer.
Feelings or thoughts weren’t uttered between them, but perhaps they didn’t need words.
“I am trying my level best.” He took her hand and drew her toward the entry hall. “Do you remember that we have dinner at the Duke of Deviney’s home tonight?”
“Yes, of course. I’m looking forward to meeting another of your club mates.” Perhaps in knowing his friends, she could learn more about her husband, and understand what motivated him. “I’ll wear the gold and red gown tonight, I think, but you’ll need to help me dress since my maid has gone home.”
“I wager that will rapidly become one of my favorite duties,” he said in a low whisper. “We might get into a bit of scandal with that task.”
Heat went through her cheeks. “As long as we’re not late. We can’t make a habit of that.”
“Ha.” He brought her hand to his lips. “Bear in mind, Deviney has been accused of murdering his best friend.”
She frowned. “Did he do the crime?”
“I don’t know. He doesn’t talk about it much, but at one point, he fancied the friend’s wife. Jealousy and coveting another man’s woman are big motivators.”
“Does every member of Club Damnation have something horrid in their past?”
He shrugged. “We wouldn’t have been invited if we didn’t.”
An hour later, Anne gave herself over to being led through Green Park by her husband, who had the odd spring in his step, for he was excited to hunt out the requested greenery.
They walked around the remains of the iconic Temple of Concord within the park, and in the lightly falling snow, the skeleton of the building still conjured memories of how spectacular it had been a few years ago.
The area of Green Park ascended from St. James's Park. It joined Piccadilly, separated from it by a wall in some parts, and an iron railing in others, and the park was a place for a fashionable evening promenade in the warmer months. The lodge of the ranger of Hyde Park stood at the top of the ascent, near the center facing Piccadilly and with the gardens during full summer splendor made a very picturesque spot to come and stretch one’s legs.
“I’ve always adored Green Park. It’s more overblown and colorful than Hyde Park in the summer, but sometimes it’s more cheerful,” she said as they strolled beneath trees that had lost most of their foliage as well as oaks whose branches had dried brown leaves stubbornly clinging on.
“Yet being here today with the snow swirling about, it has more charm.”
“Perhaps it only has charm because you are here, a welcome bit of color in the winter’s dullness,” Broderick said as he tugged her easily into his arms despite the footman working to chop down a small evergreen tree nearby.
Anne laid her gloved hands on his chest and peered into his eyes. “Careful, Udolpho, else I might truly think you are the rake the gossips say you are.” But she was quite pleased with this playful side of him.
“Those days are over, for you are more than enough to fill my time.”
When he claimed her lips with his, she sighed and was perfectly content to return the kiss. “Cheeky. We don’t even have mistletoe.” Neither of the men were able to locate the plant in the park.
“Does it matter? I rather think I can kiss my wife whenever and wherever I want.”
“So demanding and possessive.” She tsked her tongue but was quick to let him kiss her again. It was easily the most romantic he’d been since she’d met him, and showing such affection in the public park while the snow fell loosely down was welcome from him.
“The tree is nearly free, sir!”
The call from the footman broke their embrace.
With a sound of regret, Broderick released her.
“I’ll be right there!” he called back, but then he surged into her and treated her to a quick, intense kiss that had her senses spinning.
There was desire in his eyes as he put space between them.
“I can’t wait to usher in Christmas with you.
” With a wink, he walked away to join the footman, who was proud to show off the evergreen tree.
Did he mean at the stroke of midnight while in bed or at the dinner party later in case it ran after the witching hour? Perhaps it didn’t matter, but she hoped sexual congress was in store for her, and soon. She rather craved his body gliding against hers.
Has he thoroughly corrupted me?
Or was she merely falling deeper for him and understanding that kissing and intimacy didn’t necessarily need to wait for soft feelings or romance? Only time would tell.
Later that night
Deviney House
St. James Place
Mayfair, London
Dinner at the duke’s home had been a lovely way to spend the evening.
Anne had been introduced to the Dukes of Deviney, Averly, Eggleton, and Nottingham, who only held the title honorarily like her husband did.
All but Deviney and Eggleton had wives with them, and in Eggleton’s case, she had compassion for him.
Anytime there was discord in a relationship, it was both frustrating and fraught with feelings of guilt and hopelessness, and sometimes anger.
As for the Duke of Deviney himself, he was a few years past forty with gray peppering his sandy blond hair, but at one time, she could have easily believed he was an Adonis.
Could she believe that he’d killed someone?
Absolutely, for there was a hard set to his mouth at times that spoke of secrets in his past, but to the ladies in the party, he was charming and whimsical, and had made them laugh several times.
To the annoyance of the husbands present. It seemed the men of Club Damnation were quite possessive once they were matched and married. There was a certain comfort in that.
Once everyone assembled in the drawing room after dinner for parlor games and perhaps singing carols, Anne was positive she hadn’t smiled or laughed as much as she had that evening. Had she truly been so lonely and downtrodden before, then?
When the Duke of Deviney came and sat on the curved arm of the sofa next to her, she glanced up at him.
His lean, muscled body was like a work of art hidden by the requisite dark evening clothes.
“You are a lovely host, Your Grace. The dinner was simply wonderful, as is the company you have invited.”
“Thank you for that.” He bestowed a rare grin on her while the Duke of Eggleton chuckled from her other side.
“I did invite all the men from the club, but some aren’t in London while others are too much lost in their wives that they declined the invitations, while still others were determined to chase fleeting pleasures found in perfumed arms tonight. ”
Heat went through her cheeks. “Everyone must pass the holiday as they see fit, and in the ways that don’t disturb their personal demons much.”
“Very true. I also rather think some of us have been alone for far too long and can’t be bothered with a holiday that reminds us of family, romance, and love.”
Poor thing. She hoped he found a match soon. It was obvious to her that he was hurting and lonely, and perhaps missing friends and family at this time of year.
“Well, thank you for inviting Broderick. He needed that push to escape the house.” As she spoke, her gaze wandered across the room where her husband spoke and actually laughed with the Duke of Averly and his duchess.
Was that… happiness in his expression? It completely transformed his looks and removed a few years from his face.
“Broderick, is it? We all call him Dante when not using his honorific.” That provoked a chuckle from Deviney. “Your husband is likable enough, and he’s good for a scandal or a story, but I never thought he’d marry.”