Harry allowed himself to be pushed from the nursery without defending himself further, despite the urge to shout from the highest mountain his recognition of just how lucky they all were to have Plum. Instead he bathed, shaved, and donned fresh clothing, ignoring both the dull rumble in his belly and the thick throb at the back of his head as he went downstairs to make amends with his wife.
"-and I don't see why I shouldn't have them, they will make riding so much nicer, and it's not as if anyone will see-oh, good, Harry's here. Can we eat now? I'm practically faint with hunger."
Plum, Thom, and Temple were all sitting on the verandah, enjoying the cool evening air. Raised voices, shrieks of laughter, and loud accusations of cheating hinted that the children were engaged in a game in the overgrown garden.
"Yes, of course we can eat now." Plum's voice was cool and impersonal as she rose and prepared to follow Thom into the house.
Harry, who had much experience being a husband, knew better than to let another moment pass without correcting the slight he had inadvertently made against his wife. He put a restraining hand on her arm and gestured Temple on. "We'll be along in a moment."
Plum kept her gaze on the wall beyond Harry's shoulder, her face expressionless. He tried to form the words of an apology, but everything sounded too stilted and insincere. In the end, he did the only thing he could do. He pulled her into his arms and kissed the breath from her lungs.
"You've married an idiot, Plum," he murmured against her lips when his mouth finally parted from hers. "A fool, a simpleton, a bona fide half-wit."
Plum, who had been stiff as a board through the entire kiss, relaxed against him, her lips curving under his. "I wouldn't go so far as to say you were a half-wit, but a fool... well, we all have our foolish moments."
"Some of us more than others," he agreed, and pressed kisses along her jaw to her hair. "I'm very sorry for what I said earlier. I realize how insulting that must have sounded, and I can assure you that was the last thing I meant. It's been a while since I had a wife, so you'll have to forgive me if I forget to go down on my knees every morning and bless you for taking us all in hand."
Plum giggled and wrapped her arms around his waist. "You've never once gone down on your knees to me."
He smiled into her hair, pressed a last kiss to her temple, and with a sigh of regret, released her, grinning at her disgruntled look. "It's not that I don't want to kiss you, wife, but once I start, I don't think I'll be able to stop."
Plum's eyes went all liquid at him. He sucked in his breath and thought for a moment about just taking her right there, and damning everyone else, but his body-willing as it was to fulfill that plan-was at war with itself over what it needed most.
His stomach won out. It growled in a most vociferous manner.
Plum laughed, and pushed him into the house. "I'd better feed you if I want you to make good on that promise in your eyes."
"I hunger for many things," he teased as he held the door to the dining room open.
"So do I," she said with a provocative glance that went straight to his groin.
Dinner was a trial. Oh, the food was good, and the company-just him, Plum, Thom, and Temple- was convivial enough, but his eyes kept returning to the woman seated down the length of the table. Every time he looked at her, erotic, sensual images arose in his mind.
With the soup, he thought about how smooth her flesh was against his mouth. With the game course, he mused over the flowing silk of her hair. With the fish, his nostrils were filled with the remembered scent of her skin, a scent that was faintly jasmine with overtones of warm, arousing woman. He ate whatever was set before him, his eyes on Plum as she chatted with both Thom and Temple, his mind filled with all the things he wanted to do to her, and quite a few he wanted her to do to him. This evening the house could come down around their ears for all he cared-he was going to consummate his marriage, or die trying.
"What do you say, Harry?"
He blinked away the mental image of Plum writhing with pleasure and looked at Thom. "What?"
"Haven't you been listening?" Thom's gray eyes laughed at him.
"Leave him be, Thom, he's hungry," Plum said, her little pink tongue flicking out to lick her lips. The very sight of it had him hard and aching with desire.
"Hungry. Yes, hungry," he said, his gaze never leaving her mouth.
Plum's eyes lit with sudden recognition, a slow, knowing smile curved her lips in answer to the plea he knew to be in his eyes.
He almost swallowed his tongue.
"You've eaten enough that you can converse civilly. This is important, Harry. Plum is being too old-fashioned for words."
It was an effort, but he dragged his mind away from his wife and tried his best to pay attention to what Thom was saying. "What is?"
She gave a martyred sigh and said, "My breeches."
"Your what?"
"Breeches! I want breeches to ride in, and Plum says it would shock anyone who saw me and ruin all my chances of making a good marriage, but as I've told her time and time again, I don't want to be married. I don't see why I shouldn't have a pair of breeches to ride when we're in the country. It's not as if we know anyone here. You wouldn't mind if I were to ride in breeches, would you?"
Harry, no fool he, slid a glance toward Plum before deciding how to answer his niece-by-marriage's plea. Plum's straight brows told him nothing, but the thin line of her lips spoke volumes. "I'm sure that Plum knows what's best for you, Thom."
She made an annoyed sound and glared at Plum. "It's all your fault, he's besotted with you and wouldn't dare do anything against your wishes. Now I'll never get a pair of breeches."
He grinned at Plum. "I'm a bridegroom, I'm supposed to be besotted with my bride."
Plum grinned back at him as Temple made a witticism about husbands being led by the nose. He relaxed, warmed by both the avid look in his wife's eye, and the knowledge that all in his world was well. McTavish was on the road to recovery, he had corrected his first misstep with Plum without too much difficulty, and she was evidently looking forward to the evening's activities as much as he was. If there was one complaint he had to make against his late wife, it was that she seldom enjoyed their bed sport. She tolerated his advances, but no matter how much he tried to bring her pleasure, it was only rarely that he was left with the impression that she enjoyed herself. Plum was different. Harry was conscious of a pleasant tension that filled the air between Plum and him, a slight feel of static electricity in the air, as if a storm was approaching.
Temple turned to him near the end of the meal. "While you were sleeping, I had the footmen scour the estate for poisonous berries. They found several, but none in the area Digger said the children were playing before McTavish became so ill."
Harry nodded, selecting a ripe peach from the bowl before him, his mind automatically traveling the paths of soft, ripe fruit to softer, riper woman. "Send what you found to Doctor Trewitt. He might be able to tell us if that's what the boy ate."
"I wonder if he could have eaten a leaf," Thom asked, slicing a bit of cheese from a large hunk of white cheddar. "My uncle used to tell me he thought I was part goat because I was forever eating leaves. You must be used to this sort of thing, Harry."
He stopped stroking the peach's round, full softness and looked a question at Thom.
"Your other children-you must be used to them having stomach upsets and such."
"Oh, yes. Somewhat used to it, none of them have ever been as ill as McTavish. Thankfully, Plum was here to take care of him."
Plum beamed at him.
"She's very good at that sort of thing," Thom agreed. "She's especially good with babies. They all seem to love her."
"I have no doubt of that," Harry answered, giving Plum a little waggled of his eyebrows, just to let her know he was thinking about her. Her eyes flashed in response.
"You'll see how good she is with your babies."
He turned his head to look at Thom, puzzled by her comment
. "What babies?"
"Your babies. The babies you and Plum will have."
If he could have throttled Thom without Plum noticing, he would have. Dear God, what devil prodded her to say such a thing in front of her aunt? A few more comments of that ilk and Plum would leave him for certain. "We're not going to have any babies."
Thom glanced from him to Plum. "You're not?"
"No!" He watched Plum carefully, noting the sudden pallor of her cheek, and the stillness with which she held herself. Damn it! She probably thought the only reason he married her was to be a broodmare, popping out children of her own in between taking care of his five hellions. He prayed she could read the sincerity in his eyes. "I wouldn't put Plum through that hell for anything in the world."
"You wouldn't?"
Plum's face was pale, her eyes black, her lovely chest not moving as if she wasn't even breathing. He mentally cursed Thom, then set about making things right with his wife. "Women die in childbirth. My wife-my first wife-died of a fever shortly after McTavish was born."
"Oh." The word was soft, filled with relief, with understanding. Color rushed back to Plum's face as she spoke. "Not every woman dies in childbirth, Harry. It's tragic that the late Lady Rosse did so, but I can assure you that should you wish to have more children, I would be willing-"
He quartered his peach with a savagery that belied his inner feelings. He would not lose Plum as he had lost Beatrice. He would take whatever steps were necessary to see that she did not become pregnant. "I believe the children we already have are sufficiently challenging to keep you busy for many years yet."
"But"-Thom looked from Plum to him-"but Plum..."
"Never mind, Thom," she interrupted, her cheeks pink with a blush. He glanced at his secretary, who kept his gaze on the grapes before him. No doubt Plum was embarrassed by such frank talk in front of Temple.
In order to spare her any more discomfort, he turned the conversation to a general discussion of his plans for bringing life back to the estate. Temple and Thom argued long and hard over the subject of which was the better crop to plant-wheat or corn-and although Harry participated, he noticed that Plum had little to offer on the subject. Once her gaze met his, and her adorable little chin rose as if he had challenged her. He couldn't help but smile at that. She was so utterly perfect, from the tips of her pink little toes, to the gentle curve of that obstinate chin.
The ladies withdrew arguing over whether or not a riding habit with breeches underneath was a substitute for breeches alone. Harry sipped at a bit of port as Temple expounded on his recommendation for rebuilding cottages and charging the tenants a higher rate. He answered mechanically, his eyes frequently straying to the clock that sat on the sideboard. A half hour had passed-surely that was long enough for Plum to have chatted with Thom?
Yes, yes it was. They couldn't possibly have anything else to say.
Smothering a yawn he had to force, Harry stood up, made a pretense of stretching, and said, "Good, good, it all sounds wonderful, Temple. Write it up and I'll look at it in the morning. I'm off to bed."
Temple pursed his lips. "I suppose it would be impolitic to point out that just a few hours ago you awoke from a ten-hour sleep?"
Harry shared an entirely male grin with Temple. "That would be extremely impolitic."
"Then I won't do so. May I bid you a pleasant evening, sir?"
Harry laughed, and threw pretense to the wind as he hurried upstairs to his bedroom. He undressed quickly, dismissed his valet, and waiting only long enough to draw on his dressing gown, went in search of his wife.
He found her in the nursery, sitting on the edge of McTavish's bed, all five children clustered around her in their nightgowns as she read to them from a familiar-looking volume. "'September 30, 1659. I poor miserable Robinson Crusoe, being shipwreck'd, during a dreadful Storm....' Oh, Harry, have you come to say good night to the children?"
"Yes, yes, I have. Good night children," he said. He plucked the book from Plum's hands, and handed it to a startled India, scooping Plum up in his arms. "Finish the chapter."
"Harry! I was reading to them-"
"India can read, taught her myself. Good for her." He hoisted Plum high on his chest, and quickly opened the door before she could slide down.
"But... but... the children--"
"Will be just fine without you." He paused just before closing the door and leaned his head back into the nursery. "McTavish? How are you, lad?"
"Hungry!" the boy shouted, jumping up and down on the bed.
Harry nodded, said good night again, and stalked off down the stairs, ignoring Plum's protests.
"You needn't have made such a scene, you know. I would have finished the chapter and tucked them all in, and no one would know that you and I... that we ..."
She really did blush in a most delightful manner. He grinned at her, warmed to the toes by the shy little glances she was giving him. "Sweetheart, not even the archbishop of Canterbury could stop me from bedding you tonight."
"Harry!" Plum gasped in a delighted sort of way.
"Plum!" he gasped back to her as he kicked open the door to his room, just as delighted, if not more so.
She giggled.
He strode over to his bed, his lovely bed, his lovely big bed that would soon be all that much lovelier because it would hold Plum, and said in his best gothic villain voice, "You are in my power, alone with me, my seductive little wife. Now I shall ravish you as you have never been ravished."
"Really?" Plum asked, her eyes aglow with excitement. Her eyelids dropped for a moment, then she peeked up at him in a most fetching manner. "Perhaps I have been ravished many ways before, my lord. What sort of ravishment did you have in mind?"
He set her on her feet, and without waiting for her to offer assistance, quickly stripped her of gown and stays, leaving her standing in her chemise and stockings. Since he was a gentleman and not an animal, he gave her a moment to recover her breath while he admired the scenery. He nodded his head. Twice. "Yes, yes, you're lovely in your underthings. You do appreciate the fact that I think you're lovely with your clothing on, don't you? I'm not an animal who just wants you naked and writhing with pleasure beneath me while I thrust into you again and again, burying myself in you, losing myself in your heat, wanting to pound my flesh into yours until I pour every single last drop of life I have into your body? You know that, yes?"
Plum looked a bit dazed. "I... well... I suppose..."
"Good!" Without further ado, he grabbed the neckline of her chemise and tore it from top to bottom, gently pushing her on the bed at the same time he yanked off his dressing gown, tossing his spectacles onto the table.
"Harry!" Plum shrieked as he threw himself onto top of her, bracing his weight with his arms so he didn't crush her into a woman-shaped bit of pulp.
"Yes, it's me, how clever of you to recognize me without my spectacles. Now, what have we here? I don't see too well without my spectacles, so you'll have to excuse me if I need to examine very closely the various parts of you." He leaned back to look at her, to allow his gaze to sweep her from crown to toes. "Mine," he said in a voice laden with possession.
"Yes, I am yours, but Harry!"
He dragged his eyes up to hers.
"I still have my stockings on."
He looked to where she gestured, admiring the lovely length of her legs. They weren't too long, or too thin, just right, with the exact amount of curve and softness he required in his wife's legs. "Yes, you do. It's a bit shocking, isn't it? I shall remove them. Later." He leaned closer, his breath brushing her mouth. "With my tongue."
"Oh," she breathed, her eyes huge and filled with hope and desire and a good dollop of anticipation.
Harry gave her a heated look promising a reward for all that anticipation before focusing his attention on the twin mounds that heaved before him. "What's this?" he asked, squinting slightly at one perfect breast. "Breasts?"
"Yes, I have two of them. They're a set," Plum said.
/> "Matched, too. I loved matched pairs." His mouth closed over the taut little peak crowning her silky white breast. Plum bucked beneath him, her eyes alight with passion as he nibbled and kissed his way around her breasts. He was suddenly filled with the overpowering desire to taste her, all of her, to lick the satin skin that glowed with a pearly luminescence that seemed to fill his soul. He kissed the twin of the first breast just so it wouldn't feel slighted, then licked a path down her ribs to the little mound of her belly. Plum moaned and writhed beneath the onslaught of his mouth, but Harry would not be stirred from his course. He held her down with a hand on either hip, and after kissing each hipbone, nipped his way across her belly, pleased by her reaction to his touch. Her breath shuddered within her, making her flesh quiver and contract wherever he licked. He dipped lower, breathing in the perfume that was the very essence of Plum, reveling in the thought that it was he who stirred her, that she was reacting to him and no other. He kissed a line across the top of her pubic mound, and then paused. "Give yourself to me, Plum. Open for me."
Her legs tensed. "Harry, I'm not sure-"
"But I am," he said, sliding a hand up the soft length of her thigh. He gently insinuated his fingers between the tightly clenched legs. "You'll enjoy this. Trust me, Plum."
He could almost hear her thinking it out, reasoning with that delicious mind of hers, weighing his words against her natural modesty and hesitancy. He willed her to yield, to give herself to him in an absolute show of trust, and thought his heart would be ripped from his chest if she didn't. Just as her legs relaxed, allowing him to spread them and breathe in her scent, the knowledge struck him with blinding force.
His heart was already hers.
He shook the thought away, unwilling to acknowledge it, unwilling to admit that she had such power over him, and concentrated on giving his wife pleasure. He rubbed his cheeks gently along the sensitive flesh of her inner thighs, enjoying the hitch in her breathing his actions caused as he kissed a hot trail to the core of her womanhood.
"You are all pink and rose-hued," he murmured, kissing the juncture between her legs. "You are soft like the finest silk, and these sweet petals hold your heat for me."