Chapter 17
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Eighteen months later
“You will make me late,” Tamsin told Garret as he pulled her close under the covers.
“It’s cold outside. Stay in the warm bed with me,” he murmured in her ear.
It was cold outside. The long days of January were dark and punctuated by a bitter wind that made her hands ache and her nose red.
Inside 24 Hanover Square, Garret’s chamber was cozy.
A maidservant had come in before dawn and built up the fire.
Tamsin still felt somewhat guilty about being waited on, but not so guilty that she’d done more than turn over and burrow into her husband’s warm, solid chest.
Now, several hours later, she needed to rise and dress, or she’d be late to see her mother.
Tamsin had finally saved enough from her position at Mr. Maillardet’s so that Mama, Charlie, Joanna, and Big John could rent a snug house in Cheapside.
In fact, Mama had married Big John a few months after Tamsin had wed Garret.
Tamsin paid the rent on the new house, and Big John had promised to furnish it.
That furniture was supposed to arrive today, and Mama was having everyone over to celebrate and help her get settled.
“Mama will wonder where I am,” Tamsin argued.
“She’ll hardly care if you’re five minutes tardy.”
“Only five minutes?” Tamsin pushed up on an elbow. “That’s scarcely worth it.”
“Oh, I can make it worth it.” He pulled her back down again, and she laughed and kissed him.
He kissed her back and rolled her under him, his familiar weight making her heart beat just a little faster.
He took her hands and linked fingers, kissing her until she was practically breathless and squirming under him.
“Touch me,” she said, impatient to have his hands on her.
“Happily.” He released her hands, and she ran them up and down his arms and over his back.
His fingers traced a path from her shoulders over her breasts and across her belly.
She remembered how thin she’d been the first time he’d touched her like this.
Now she’d had more than a year of regular meals and her body was softly rounded and curved, a change Garret seemed to like quite a lot.
He murmured his appreciation as his mouth followed his hands, and then he was kissing her where she most needed him.
She arched her back as he loved her, but before she could find climax, she pulled him to her and opened herself.
He slid in slowly, filling her, making her gasp.
He moved slowly, and she followed his rhythm.
She knew it well, yet she never tired of it.
“Tamsin,” he breathed as he moved inside her.
“I love you,” she said.
He lifted his head and looked into her eyes. “I love you more than I ever imagined I could.”
Later, when they had spent a good deal more than five minutes occupied with lovemaking, Tamsin was dressed and rushing downstairs. Of course, Garret had dressed faster than she, and now he was waiting on her.
Typical man.
She thundered down the stairs, aware Dawkins was probably cringing at her uncouth behavior. “Tam, is that you?” Lady Mariah called from the dining room.
“Yes!” Where was Dawkins? Tamsin thought as she turned about in the vestibule. She needed her pelisse.
“Cook made your favorite scones. Come and eat one.” Lady Mariah was at the dining room door, looking pretty in pink, her strawberry blond hair secured with a white ribbon.
“I don’t have time, my lady,” Tamsin said, not quite comfortable enough to call Mariah by her given name.
All the Kildares had been very welcoming, but she was still slightly intimidated by Lady Glenister and Lady Mariah, who were both so poised and beautiful.
Garret’s brothers were very much brothers to her now, however.
She loved teasing them and being teased.
Every day she was amazed she was part of this family she had dreamed about from afar. “Where is Dawkins? I need my pelisse.”
“Are you certain you don’t want a scone?”
“Might I borrow your pelisse, my lady?” Tamsin asked. “I swear—” Oops. “I mean, I vow Dawkins has mine.”
“If you don’t eat a scone, everyone will be cross with me,” Mariah hissed.
Tamsin finally looked at the girl, whose expression was pained. Tamsin narrowed her eyes. “What is going on?”
“I told them I’d never be able to keep it from you.”
“Keep what?”
“The secret.”
“What secret?”
“That we secured a carriage to take us all to Cheapside,” Garret said, coming in the front door with a blast of cold wind. “Thank you, Mariah.”
“A carriage?” Tamsin stared at him. The earl didn’t keep a carriage or horses.
He said the cost was better applied to the household staff.
Tamsin didn’t mind; she’d never had a carriage and didn’t miss it.
Most days Garret walked her to Maillardet’s before going to Parliament to help his father or to visit the solicitor on business for his father.
She’d assumed they’d walk to Cheapside, which was one reason she wanted an early start.
“I don’t need a carriage,” she said.
“I wanted to drive you in one. But then when I mentioned it, the rest of the family all wanted to come as well. So now we have a coach and a driver. He’s waiting outside.”
“My mother will be speechless when we arrive,” Tamsin said.
“I doubt that.” Garret offered his arm. “Moppet,” he said to his sister, “shall I escort you?”
She smiled and emerged from the dining room with Tamsin’s pelisse as well as her own.
Dawkins suddenly stepped into the vestibule, and soon everyone was warm in coats and hats and mittens.
Garret whisked them both to the coach, where the earl, the countess, Liam, Daire, and Killian already waited.
Garret had a blanket ready for her lap and a hot brick for her feet.
They raced across the city in comfort, arriving at the cozy house in Cheapside right on time.
“Mama!” Joanna called when Tamsin stepped out. “A fine lady is here!”
“Joanna, it’s just me,” Tamsin said. The little girl, whose once-shorn hair now fell in ringlets just below her chin, gaped then ran to her sister. “Tam! Can I ride in the carriage?”
Tamsin looked at Garret. He shrugged. “Of course. Get your brother.”
“You go inside, Tamsin and Garret,” the countess said. “The earl and I will take them for a ride.”
The other Kildare boys and Mariah climbed out, and then Killian made a show of lifting Charlie and Joanna up and into the coach.
The countess tucked them both in, opened the drapes wide, and the coachman was off again.
Shivering now, Tamsin led Garret and the rest of the Kildares up the walk.
She didn’t knock but opened the door to the sight of stacks of crates and packing straw strewn everywhere. “Mama!” she called.
“Tamsin?” Her mother called from upstairs. “Come up!”
Tamsin looked at Garret, who took her hand. Together they ascended the narrow stairs and stepped into the open door of the drawing room. Tamsin stopped short, making Liam, who was right behind her, let out an exclamation, whereby Killian said, “Oh, was that your foot?”
“Mama,” Tamsin breathed. “It’s just like we always imagined.”
Her mother, eyes shining, turned from the fireplace where the logs crackled and a fire warmed the homely room. A lumpy couch sat on one side of the fire, and several faded, worn chairs were on the other. A distressed rug that was still soft underfoot ran from the door to the small shelf of books.
“Do you like it?” Mama asked.
“I don’t know,” Tamsin said. “Are there window boxes for flowers?”
“One on every window. John promised to plant flowers at the first sign of spring.”
“Is the garden big enough for a line to dry sheets?”
“And then some.”
Tamsin moved forward and embraced her mother. “Then I love it. It’s just what we always dreamed of.”
“It’s what I always dreamed of,” her mother said, reaching for Garret. He took her hand and smiled at them both. “Now we both have what we’ve always wanted.”