Charlotte’s face lit up. “The clothes!” She turned toward the girls, her eyes sparkling. “Where would you like to have your new clothes taken?”
Lily sprang up with a barely stifled shriek. “Our new dresses? You brought them with you?”
“Yes. The wagon with the trunks was slower than we were, but apparently it has arrived. Shall we send them up to your bedchamber, Lily, and sort them out there?”
“Yes, oh, yes!”
Charlotte laughed and gave a nod to the butler. Turning back to the men, she smiled, looking only slightly less merry than the Bascombe sisters. “If you gentlemen will excuse us, I believe a higher duty calls.”
“Ah, yes, the goddess of fashion. I can hear her now.” Fitz grinned. “We shall be quite devastated without you, of course, but we understand. And I shall look forward to seeing what you wear down to dinner tonight.”#p#分页标题#e#
“We shall choose the prettiest ones just for you,” Lily promised.
Mary was swept with relief as the women rose. She exited the room with the others, leaving Royce and his brother together.
“A drink to clear the dust of the road from your throat?” Royce asked, starting for the door.
“God, yes. A cigar would be nice as well. I always forget what a devilish long drive it is from London.”
“No doubt that’s why you rarely come.” Royce strolled with him down the hall to the smoking room and crossed to the liquor cabinet.
He thought of Mary in this room with him the other night, remembering the sight of her pale body as the nightgown gave way in his hands. And beneath him this afternoon in the summerhouse. Determinedly, he pushed the thought of her out of his mind as he poured his brother a drink.
“I am glad you came up early.” Royce offered Fitz the box of cigars. “I have put the servants on the alert and brought two of my grooms from Iverley as well, but I’m glad to have the best marksman in England in the house.”
Fitz shrugged. “Oliver and I thought I should come, after the letter you sent. Sounds as though it was a good idea, given what my cousins were just telling me. Did someone really try to kidnap Rose again?”
“Apparently. I wasn’t there. I had told them not to go anywhere without telling me, but of course they went charging off on their own as soon as their chaperone came down ill. Blasted woman.”
“Yes, it was rather inconsiderate of her to fall sick.”
Royce gave him a sour look. “Easy for you to make light of it. You aren’t the one who has to attempt to keep them in order.”
“Is it that great an ordeal?” Fitz asked, his blue eyes laughing.
Royce let out a short bark of humorless laughter. “One must explain to them that they cannot simply go wandering down to the stables to look at the horses or chat with the stableboys, as apparently they were wont to do at the tavern back home. Or why the servants take it amiss when the girls start helping the footmen move the furniture. The dancing lessons are fine, but every day there is a new quarrel with Miss Dalrymple. She is a tiresome woman, I admit. But I cannot always side with them against her, and Miss Dalrymple is usually right, although God knows I wish she could find a more felicitous way of telling them how to behave. And that she could overlook some of their minor transgressions.”
“They are wild?”
“Not wild, exactly. Simply … accustomed to more freedom than an English lady. Miss Dalrymple is correct; their ways will probably get them into trouble. Yet one cannot want to see them … suppressed.”
“I think the Bascombes would be devilish hard to suppress.” Fitz paused, then added carefully, “You seem to have become fond of the American girls.”
“Fond?” Royce’s brows soared, and he let out a chuckle. “I don’t know that I would have described it quite that way, but … yes, they are amusing. Life is never dull when they are about.”
“And is there one in particular whom you find ‘amusing’?”
Royce shot his brother a cautious look. “I’m not sure what you mean.”
“I mean that it appeared to me just now that when you entered the room, your eyes went straight to Cousin Mary. And there was more in your gaze than when you looked at anyone else.”
“Lady Mary and I are … I find her …” Royce glanced around, then set his glass down with a thud. “Truth be told, I plan to marry her.”
“What!” Fitz leaned forward in his chair. “Are you serious? You are going to marry the girl?”#p#分页标题#e#
“Of course I’m serious. But she’s furious with me right now—and rightly so.”