Chapter 30
“What are you doing?”
Elizabeth chewed on her bottom lip as she dropped her hairpin and picked up the small nail she found lying on the floor next to Robert’s jacket and proceeded to stick it in the keyhole, uncaring that the owner of the chest was now standing over her, looking amused.
“Stealing your chest,” she said, even though she felt that it should be more than obvious what she was doing.
“Do you do this often?” Robert asked, placing the cup of tea that he’d promised her over a half-hour ago on the small table to the right before he gently pried the nail from her hand and handed over a small, simple, but still somewhat, stunning key.
“No,” Elizabeth admitted, “but I’ve decided to make an exception in this case.”
“So, you like the chest?” Robert asked after a slight hesitation.
“I wouldn’t be stealing it if I didn’t,” Elizabeth pointed out as she slid the key inside the lock and, with a satisfied sigh, unlocked the chest that she’d decided was rightfully hers twenty minutes ago when two footmen carried it into the room.
It was the most beautiful chest that she’d ever seen in her life.
She’d never seen a piece of furniture that she’d gladly kill for before.
The chest was made from the finest wood, which had been polished to perfection.
Black metal strips lined the edges and corners perfectly, making it appear as though the metal and the wood were one instead of constructed together.
The design in the wood was leveled, standing out in a way that complemented the black metal that decorated it to perfection.
She was sorely tempted to beg her father to buy her a matching bedroom set, something that she never would have done before, but she couldn’t.
Not only would her father try to use her request against her to manipulate her into ending her marriage with Robert, but she would also be insulting her husband’s pride if she did something like that.
He’d not only forgiven her for lying to him about the baby, but he’d offered to give her pin money when she’d brought nothing into the marriage, and he’d also turned down forty-thousand pounds to be with her.
Well, she hadn’t exactly given him a chance to turn down that money, but he could have said something while she was having her way with him.
“It’s yours,” Robert said, kneeling beside her.
“I’m glad that we finally agree on something,” Elizabeth murmured absently as she raised the lid and looked inside, surprised to see what appeared to be two doors at the top, acting as another cover.
Robert chuckled as he reached past her and opened the two doors, revealing two sections; the left half held a small, deep tray at the top with three small drawers beneath it and the right half of the chest was lined with what appeared to be light pink silk on the bottom and three sides.
“This is for your slippers,” Robert explained as he wrapped his arm around her waist and pointed to the tray at the top, “and these drawers are for your hair ribbons, handkerchiefs, books, whatever you wish to place inside them.”
“This is really for me?” Elizabeth asked, touched beyond words that he would give her something so incredibly beautiful.
“Mmmmhmm,” Robert murmured, pressing a kiss to the top of her head before he continued to explain the chest. “The silk will make sure that your dresses don’t get snagged on the wood and the doors will prevent them from being bounced around and wrinkled when the box is moved.”
“It’s so beautiful,” she whispered reverently, tracing her fingertips along the silk material.
“You haven’t seen the best part yet,” he said, sounding quite pleased as he gripped the center divider of the tray and pushed it to the side.
A small click caught her attention. She watched as the entire left side shifted to the right, sliding over the silk bottom of the right side without touching it and revealing a hidden section in the chest.
“You can hide your money, valuables, and anything else that you don’t want to be found in here,” Robert explained as he once again pushed the small divider, but this time towards the left. With another soft click, the entire section slid back into place.
“Oh, my God,” was all she could manage because she’d never seen anything like it before.
“It was supposed to be your birthday present, minx, but since we’ll be leaving in a couple of weeks, I thought that you should have it now.
I wanted to be here when it was brought to the room, but you weren’t feeling well and I didn’t want you to have to wait for your tea,” Raid said, rambling on nervously for the first time since she could remember.
“You bought this for me?” Elizabeth asked, not missing the part where he’d planned on giving this to her for her birthday.
“No,” Robert said, confusing her until she realized that perhaps he’d bought this for another woman. If that was the case, she didn’t think that she could stomach seeing a reminder that he’d wanted another woman no matter how much she loved the chest.
“This was made for you, minx,” he said, taking her by surprise.
“It was?” Elizabeth asked, feeling ridiculously happy that he would do something so wonderful for her when he’d professed to hate her. It made her wonder if it was possible that-
“I made it for you.”
“You made this?” Elizabeth asked, sending him a questioning look before returning her attention back to the chest.
“Yes,” Robert hoarsely as Elizabeth took her time examining the chest.
“When did you learn to do this?” she asked, running her fingertips over the silk he’d sewn into place.
“When I was fourteen,” Robert said, slowly exhaling as he leaned back against the foot of the bed.
“I don’t remember you doing this sort of thing when we were children,” Elizabeth murmured, picking up her tea and taking a small sip.
He shook his head. “My parents never would have allowed me to take up this hobby,” Robert said, not bothering to mention the reason why since they both knew.
Women weren’t the only ones that were restricted by the rules of society.
Men were as well. Even though it was very unlikely that he would ever inherit the title, he was still the son of an earl and was expected to carry himself as one.
He could own land, run an estate, invest, and even join the army if his father bought him a commission, but there were things that he wasn’t supposed to do, never mind like.
Carpentry was one of them.
No man of his station was supposed to work in trade, but he loved it.
He loved working with his hands. He loved creating something beautiful from a pile of wood and nails.
It kept him focused and allowed him to calm down when most days all he wanted to do was to drive his fist through something.
It had been the only thing that saved him from doing something truly foolish when he was a child.
“Will you tell me?” Elizabeth asked, placing her cup back on the floor.
He shook his head as he looked away. “I’m not sure that you want to hear this story.”
When she gently cupped his face in her hands to pull his attention back to her, he allowed it. “Please tell me,” Elizabeth said, settling down to kneel next to him on the floor so that she was facing him.
He didn’t know where to start, wasn’t sure that he could share this with her.
Knowing that there was a good chance that she would try to run away from him once he started, Robert took her hands in his and gently pulled her towards him.
When she was close enough, he picked her up and placed her on his lap.
Once she was comfortable, Robert wrapped his arms around her, pleased when she laid her head against his shoulder so that he wouldn’t have to look at her when he told her what she wanted to know.
“You turned my life into a living hell,” he began hollowly, allowing himself to remember just how bad his life had been.
“What?” Elizabeth asked, moving to turn in his arms, but he tightened his hold on her just enough to stop her.
“I can’t tell you this story, minx, if I have to look at you,” Robert explained, sighing with relief when she stopped trying to move.
She settled back against him and whispered, “All right.”
“Did you know that my parents had originally refused to let me attend school?” Robert asked, deciding that the only way that he was going to survive this was to ease into it.
“No, I didn’t know that,” Elizabeth answered softly.
He shifted against the bedframe, getting comfortable as he pressed a kiss to Elizabeth’s forehead, more for his benefit than hers. When she took one of his hands in hers and entwined their fingers, he knew that she understood.
“They were afraid that I wouldn’t be able to control my problem and that the other boys would find out. They didn’t want me to be humiliated and thought it would be for the best if I were to work with a tutor until I outgrew my problem.”
“What made them change their minds?” Elizabeth asked, shifting so that she could rest her head against his chest.
“James,” Robert said with a smile, remembering how his older brother had fought for him. “He was always so damn protective of me.”
“I remember,” Elizabeth murmured with what sounded like a smile.
“He didn’t want me missing out or picked on for being coddled by our parents.
He worked on my parents every chance he got until they finally had enough and agreed to allow me to attend,” Robert said, dropping his head back against the frame and closed his eyes as he remembered the day that his parents told him that he could go.
It had been one of the best days of his life.