ONE EVENING a week later, with only eight days left before the wedding, Kit was summoned by his butler to find Rose and her sisters on his doorstep.
For a moment he couldn’t find words. But that didn’t matter, because it was only a moment before Rose launched herself at him and kissed him enthusiastically.
Laughing, he set her back. “What are you doing here?”
“We’ve come to have a sleeping party,” she informed him gaily. “With you.”
“With me?”
The shock must have shown on his face, because Lily giggled. “Not all three of us,” she clarified. “Violet and I will share a chamber; Rose assured us you have one to spare. Mum thinks we’re all at my house.”
“Does Rand know about this?”
“Of course,” Lily assured him. “He thought it was a capital idea.”
“Mum tried to keep them apart after they were betrothed, too,” Rose put in. “May we come in?”
“I’m sorry.” Surprise seemed to have robbed him of manners. “Yes, please do come in.”
“This place is stunning,” Violet said in an awed tone as they stepped inside.
“Goodness, yes, Kit.” Lily turned in a circle, taking in the tall entry with its stone walls, white ceiling, and black-and-white floor. “I thought the house you built for Rand was special, but this…” She peeked into the drawing room. “May we have a tour?”
By the time the tour ended, Kit too thought the visit was a capital idea. His cook prepared a lovely venison pasty for supper, but he and Rose couldn’t get through it fast enough. He felt a mite awkward showing her sisters to a chamber and then leaving them there rather early—but not awkward enough to spend the evening twiddling his thumbs while they played music and sang or did whatever else ladies usually did to pass the hours.
Besides, he didn’t own a harpsichord.
In any case, the guilt evaporated the minute he got Rose to his own chamber and into his arms for a proper kiss.
He’d kissed her many times, but this kiss was different, the result of depravation heightened by a sense of the forbidden. He explored her mouth hungrily, her unmistakable response making something twist in his gut.
When he finally pulled away, she gave him an uncharacteristically shaky smile. “How is Ellen?”
He turned her around and started unlacing the back of her gown. “Fine, according to her husband.”
“Her husband?”
“She still won’t talk to me. I’ve stopped by six, seven times—but she stares right through me.” As the laces came undone, he kissed his way down her slender back. “I don’t fancy being invisible,” he murmured against her skin, smiling to himself when he felt her shiver.
“She’s coming to our wedding, though, isn’t she?”
“According to Thomas, no.” Rose looked delectable with the gown open down her graceful spine. Tempting beyond words. “But let’s not talk about my sister, shall we?” He dropped to his knees and pressed a kiss to the small of her back. “We’ve much better things to think about.”
She turned, sinking her fingers into his hair as she looked down on him. “I’ll go talk to her tomorrow morning before I leave.”
The dress hung from her shoulders, poised to drop. “Hmm?”
“Ellen. She’s my friend as well as your sister. I want her at our wedding.”
He sighed and got to his feet. “This isn’t really about Ellen, is it? You’re anxious. That’s why you keep talking.”
He saw her swallow hard. “I’ve never done this before.”
“But you want to, don’t you?”
“Good God, yes. But…Lily said everyone is anxious the first time.”
He winced. He’d never bedded a virgin, and now he knew why. “If it hurts, I’ll stop,” he promised.
“Will you?”
“You have only to say the word.” With a little luck and a lot of skill, he hoped to have her so out of her mind with pleasure that words at that moment would be impossible.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
Her gown’s wide neckline slid off one creamy shoulder, and he bent his head to kiss her there.
“Kit?”
“Hmm?”
“About Ellen…”
He straightened, supposing he’d get nowhere until she’d finished this fruitless conversation. “What about her?”
“I know her attitude must pain you, especially after she didn’t come to you when she found herself with child. I cannot imagine why she’s acting like this, why she refuses to talk to you when you’re the easiest man to talk to. But I don’t like to see you hurt.”
Hurt was such a simple, innocuous-sounding word. Devastated better described the way he felt. But he didn’t want to discuss this now. Not with Rose half undressed and about to fall into his arms.
She sighed. “If you’d just give her the dowry you saved—”
“No.” He led her over to sit on his red-draped half-tester bed. “I’m not going to give her eleven thousand pounds when she won’t even deign to speak to me.”
“Clearly her behavior doesn’t warrant it, but for you, Kit, and for me. Because we want her at our wedding. What if she promised to speak to you afterwards—”
“No,” he forced out through clenched teeth. He wasn’t going to bribe his sister, either.
Rose’s half-exposed breasts rose and fell with another sigh. “I’ll go talk to her in the morning. I’ve got the perfect excuse, since I need to return her book.”
“Her book?” His gaze snapped up to her face. “You mean the book?”
“I Sonetti, yes. I’m telling you, I can hardly wait to rid myself of the blasted thing.”
“Where is it? I want to see it.”
She’d brought a small valise, which one of Kit’s maids had set in the corner of the chamber. Rose dug out the volume and handed it to him, looking more hesitant than he’d ever seen her.
In his estimation, Rose wasn’t a hesitant sort of woman. Or a prude, either. Curious, he opened the cover. He’d already heard the book contained nude pictures, so he wasn’t surprised to see an engraving of a couple making love. “I cannot read this,” he said.
“It’s Italian. Translated, it doesn’t sound much like a sonnet.” She sat beside him, hitching her dress back onto her shoulder. “Turn the page.”
He did, shrugged, then turned a few more and stared. “Lord Almighty. Are these people acrobats? My poor back wouldn’t last ten seconds in that position.” Amazed that the whole court was abuzz and dying to view these secret poses, he flipped another page, then eyed Rose speculatively. “Do you bend like that? Hell, sweetheart, I hate to disappoint you, but I don’t.”
She swallowed hard. “You’re not going to want to try these, then?”
He could only laugh. “I’m afraid I’d end up in bed for a month. And I don’t mean passing a pleasant time.”
“Thank God,” she said, and turned to launch herself at him again.