Romancing the Countess

I will send you one more letter when I confirm the time, and then we will be together.

Leah set the teapot down and handed the cup to Lady Elliot, smiling. “I’m glad to hear Lord Elliot is feeling better.”

“Oh yes.” Lady Elliot waved her hand in the air. “He’ll be fine. The viscount has the stamina of a man of twenty, if you take my meaning.”

In the chair to her left, Adelaide choked a little on her tea. Beatrice patted her back as she coughed delicately into a handkerchief. She hadn’t even needed to draw the square of fabric out; it had been laid across her lap, at the ready, as if anticipating another risqué comment from the viscountess.

Lady Elliot glanced at Leah, her brow raised. “Should I apologize?”

Mrs. Meyer gave a deep sigh and settled back against the sofa. “Not every man has the sort of constitution as yours does, Verna. Talk about it often enough, and it will seem like you’re gloating.”

Leah leaned forward and stirred another spoonful of sugar into her own tea. “I wouldn’t say Lord Elliot’s the only one—”

“Leah!” her mother admonished, giving her a pointed look.

“—although perhaps we should turn the conversation, as my sister is unwed.”

“Mr. Grimmons is still besotted.” Adelaide folded the kerchief and tucked it away.

“Mother,” Beatrice warned.

“I’m only saying, although I’m confident I’ve instructed you well enough to catch a husband during the Season, there is always a last resort. I’m certain Mr. Grimmons will be waiting for you when we return to the countryside.”

Leah glanced at the empty chair to her right. Although Miss Pettigrew’s father had allowed her to keep company with Leah once she married Sebastian, the young woman only came to take tea with them from time to time. She claimed that Leah’s mother and Lady Elliot intimidated her, but Leah was more inclined to believe that Miss Pettigrew chose instead to visit her father at the bank in an effort to catch a glimpse of a certain clerk.

At the sound of a child’s voice outside the drawing room, all of the women turned toward the door. Henry entered, tugging Sebastian along by the hand. Leah’s heart turned over in her chest to see the two of them together, her husband and son. Henry’s hair had begun to darken at the roots, and although his eyes were still as blue as Angela’s, his smile was a younger, more innocent replica of Sebastian’s.

“Grandmother, Grandmother, look at my crat.”

Sebastian gave them all an apologetic shrug, a corner of his mouth curved upward. “He insisted he too wear a cravat today.”

Henry broke free from Sebastian and ran toward Adelaide, who held out her arms.

“Henry,” Leah said. “Don’t forget your manners.”

Sliding to a halt, Henry turned toward Lady Elliot and bowed. Then Mrs. Meyer. He smiled up at Beatrice, who gave him a wink.

“What a fine young gentleman,” Lady Elliot declared.

Henry touched the blue dotted silk bow at his throat. “Did you see my crat?”

“Oh, yes,” Mrs. Meyer said. “Well. You look just like your father now, don’t you?”

Henry beamed, then turned into Adelaide’s arms. “Did you see my crat, Grandmother?” he whispered.

Sebastian leaned down and gave Leah a kiss on her cheek. “Hullo, my love.”

“You couldn’t stay away for an hour or two, could you? A cravat? Truly, Sebastian, I’m beginning to think you might be quite infatuated with me.”

“Oh, but I am,” he whispered in her ear, sending a smile to Lady Elliot and Mrs. Meyer, who watched them closely.

“I suppose I forgive you. I missed you, too.”

“You’re not going to chastise me for interrupting your tea again?”

“Did I chastise you last time?”

“No, but that was only because Henry was able to distract your mother.”

As soon as he spoke, Henry squealed, catching Leah’s attention as well as Lady Elliot’s and Mrs. Meyer’s. “But Papa says I shouldn’t have ice cream,” he told Adelaide, then cast a sad look over his shoulder at Leah and Sebastian.

Adelaide sniffed and scooped him into her lap. “As well you shouldn’t if that’s what your papa says. But Grandmother will let you have some when you’re with her.”

“Oh, Sebastian,” Leah whispered. “You just wait.”

Soon the other women were rising, their tea unfinished. Apparently a decision was made that they should all go get ice cream.

“I can’t believe . . .” Leah began, then paused as Henry turned and ran to her, a grin splitting his face. She bent and hugged him, squeezing him tight. “Did Papa tell you to ask Grandmother for ice cream?”

Henry stepped back and looked up at Sebastian, then back at Leah. Grinning again, he nodded. Leah laughed. “Go on, then.” She turned him around toward Adelaide. “Wait, Henry.” He glanced over his shoulder. “I love you,” she said.

“You too, Mama,” he said, then rushed in between Adelaide and Beatrice to grab ahold of their hands. Leah swallowed, then waited for everyone else to leave the drawing room before she turned to Sebastian, her arms crossed over her chest.

“Next time, don’t wait so long.”

“You want us to come in after half an hour?”

“Twenty minutes,” she said. “No, ten.”

Sebastian smiled and took hold of her arms, uncrossing them and placing them over his shoulders. He set his hands at her waist. “I’m beginning to think, Lady Wriothesly, that you are the one obsessed with me.” He kissed her temple, then her cheek.

“And if I am?” she asked, lifting her mouth toward his.

“By all means, don’t stop.”

“I don’t intend to.”

A moment passed, then: “Are you going to kiss me?” she asked.

“I was waiting to see if you would change it to five minutes.”

“I have a better idea. Next time, we’ll just send Henry and his nurse to have tea with the ladies at Mother’s house. Perhaps they’ll take him shopping. And we’ll dismiss the servants for the day. We’ll be alone.”

“All by ourselves?”

Sebastian smiled, a wicked curve of his mouth that lifted the heat pooling in her stomach to flush across her skin. “Now that, my lady, deserves a kiss.”