Gavin shoved the maps aside and leaned against the back of the chair. He knew things could not go on as they were; he wasn’t an idiot. Of course those thoughts entered his head before he married Robbie, but like always, when faced with an uncomfortable situation, he escaped into his books and maps.
He did want her; he was a red-blooded male, for God’s sake. But would she feel he was simply doing it out of duty? Even though he could “rise to the challenge,” she was not likely to agree to it.
There was a brief knock on the door, then Colin entered. “I have to leave for a week or so. When are you having the ball?”
Colin and his sister had a townhouse in Edinburgh. The only reason Colin could spend so much time at Erskine House was that his sister supervised the other.
“I’ve sent my family word that it will be two weeks from tomorrow. I’m hoping you’ll be back in time, not only for the ball, but because I know they’d miss you if you weren’t here.”
“I’ve always envied your big family. Eve and I pretty much raised ourselves, our parents so busy socially we hardly seemed to matter.”
“Interesting,” Gavin said. “Robbie said something similar about her family.”
Colin turned to leave. “By the way, Robbie has adopted a pup so don’t be surprised if you find it in your bed, which I’m hoping will be the case upon my return. If you catch my meaning.”
“Will having a dog here bother you?”
Colin gave him a lopsided smile. “Would it matter if it did?”
“Of course it would matter. I won’t have my best friend afraid to step out of his apartment for fear of a dog sniffing his pantlegs.”
“It won’t bother me,” Colin replied.
Gavin watched him leave, then shook his head. So there would be a dog in the house after all. Why wasn’t he surprised?
• • •
Robbie fed her new little Lady Perlina, and then snuggled her until she fell asleep. She put her on her bed next to a pillow, and watched as the pup burrowed beneath. She sat before the mirror, studying her reflection. Was she such an ogre that her husband couldn’t even pretend to desire her? She frowned, turned her head this way and that, and then went to the cheval mirror to look at the rest of her. Truthfully, she hadn’t done much to make herself attractive. Her new frocks were lovely, but she looked like she always had: functional.
She pulled at her bodice, trying to lower it to show the tops of her breasts, which were ordinary in size, thankfully not too big, not too small. She pinched her cheeks to give herself some color.
Next she called for Maureen. When her new maid entered, Robbie sat down once again at her dressing table and ordered, “Do something with my hair. Please?”
• • •
Gavin couldn’t avoid Robbie any longer. He had to at least tell her about the plans for the ball. It was a start. He knocked on her door and heard her voice telling him to enter.
She sat cross-legged on her bed, her skirt covering her legs and knees. The pup slept in her lap. “So we have a dog in the family.”
She gave him a shy glance. “It’s a start, isn’t it?”
“A start?”
“For a family,” she added, lowering her gaze.
Gavin swallowed hard and cleared his throat. He crossed to the bed and looked at the dog. “Corgi means ‘dwarf dog.’ It originated in Wales in the tenth century, brought here by Vikings and the Flemish, so I’ve heard.”
She continued to stroke the pup. “So you’ve heard? Is there nothing you don’t know, Gavin?” She bent down to give the pooch a hug, and he noticed that the top of her bodice gaped a bit, exposing the top of a slightly rounded breast.
He flushed and looked away quickly, but not before he felt a stab of desire. “I…I retain information for some reason. That’s all. You…you’ve done something different with your hair.”
She put the pup on the bed; it woke up and began lunging at her playfully. Robbie stretched her arms and leaned back against them, allowing her pup to pounce on her stomach. When it tried to climb her rib cage, Gavin saw another slight swell of her breasts. “Yes. My life now is so much different than it was before. I thought a little change was due. Do you like it?”
He nodded, rather enthusiastically. “I do. It’s very becoming. I, ah, I’ve come to tell you that we will have the ball two weeks from tomorrow. That will give my family ample time to get here.”
“It will be delightful to see them again after so many years.” She yawned prettily, and stretched her arms out again. “I thought that having a beautiful and comfortable bed to sleep in would make me sleep like a baby, but it’s so big I almost get lost in it by myself.” She gave him another shy smile. “That’s why I got the puppy. She’s someone to cuddle up with.”
Gavin raked his fingers through his hair. “Is that why I often see a light on in your room at some ungodly hour?”
Robbie quickly glanced away. “Sometimes I stay up and read.”
“I figured as much. Yes, well, I should probably get back to my library. I have some correspondence to catch up on.”
“Oh, by all means.” She stood and straightened her gown and as she did so, he saw even more of her white bosom. “I don’t want to interrupt your busy schedule.”
He wondered if she was being sarcastic, but the look on her face was completely innocent. “Yes, well, then…I’ll see you in the drawing room before dinner. We can have a sherry together to celebrate our marriage.”
He took the stairs slowly, wondering at the change that had come over Robbie. Her hair was abundant and quite lovely, he realized, now that it wasn’t all screwed up at the back of her neck. And had she worn that gown before? Surely he would have remembered.
• • •
After Gavin left, Robbie said, “What marriage?” But a sly smile curved her lips. She had him flustered anyway. At least he had noticed the change in her hair. So this is what she had to do to get her husband to bed her. Act like a girl. Or a woman. Be coy. Be clever. Try to bring to mind all the years she spent with her sister.
It had been so long since she’d even tried to use charm on a man, she wasn’t sure if she remembered how. But, she thought, throwing herself back on the bed, charm apparently worked. It was, however, exhausting to work so hard at being something she was not: a coquette.
She had to keep at it. That meant finding a gown to wear at dinner that was even more appealing than the one she had on now. She went to her wardrobe, still marveling at all of the dresses that hung there, and went through them. She settled on a lavender silk with a deep bodice and a slim skirt. Perfect. Although the thought of getting into that corset contraption gave her second thoughts.
Before going down for a drink, Robbie took one last look in the mirror. She gasped when she saw what the corset had done to her bosom. Why, there was more showing that not! Could she be so brazen without feeling like a fool? She hiked up her bodice, which did little good, let out a whoosh of air, and went down to meet her husband for a sherry.
Initially it was harder to converse without Colin’s lively dialogue, but Robbie knew that if she got Gavin started on a topic that interested him, things would go well.
“The maps in your study intrigue me,” she began, amazed that her breasts hadn’t popped out while she ate.
Gavin took a sip of wine. “How so?”
“They don’t appear up to date; they seem antiquated.”
“They are old. That’s what interests me. How narrow and flat the world was back then, yet from those ancient days came some of our most brilliant scientists, physicians, and scholars.”
“And artists,” she added. “It has always amazed me that those sculptures and paintings from Egypt and Mesopotamia survived the centuries buried beneath the earth.”
Gavin’s expression grew eager. “Indeed. That’s why everything from the ancient world fascinates me.”
“I remember that you and your sister, Cassie, used to see who could answer the most questions doled out by the tutor.”
He poured himself more wine. “She’s a brilliant girl. As with me, she retains most of what she reads and hears. I don’t believe it was ever a serious competition between us, but it was lively.”
“And what about Louis?” She offered her wine glass, and he filled it.
He settled back in his chair. “Louis was…Louis. At that time he couldn’t have cared less whether he learned anything or not. He was too busy carousing.”
“And now?” Robbie’s tongue came out and licked the rim of her glass before she took a sip of her wine, letting it linger a moment before she swallowed it.
Gavin watched, mesmerized. “He has settled down a bit, but I wonder if he’ll ever find a woman who’ll have him.”
“Why do you say that?”
“He’s too hard-headed by half. A trait he got from our da.”
“And you? Who do you take after?” Robbie probed.
He pointed to his hair. “Mam, no doubt about it. And she is still as patient as a saint.”
Robbie noticed that he pulled on his collar often; she feared he would get a rash. She wondered if it was because of Colin’s absence that he was uncomfortable with her.
After dinner, she said, “Gavin, take off your collar. You’ll be more comfortable.”
He sat back, surprised. “I can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“It’s just not done.”
Robbie rose and went around to where he sat. “Give it a try, will you? Here, I’ll help you.” She leaned over to detach the collar from his shirt, allowing her bosom to brush his shoulder. When she’d finished, she said, “There. Now, isn’t that better?”
Gavin rubbed his hand over his throat. “I feel naked.”
Oh, Robbie thought, he made it so easy. “Naked? Really? I’d like to know how you feel when you remove everything.”
He wore a flustered expression. “Have you always been so…so bold?”
She sat down beside him and put her hand on his arm. “No. Certainly not when I was growing up in Birdie’s shadow. But later,” she said, becoming pensive, “when I was at university, and after that when I barely scraped by for a living, I realized that in order to endure I had to become a survivor, and if that meant becoming bold, so be it.”
Gavin’s gaze probed hers. “You’re a woman of many layers, aren’t you?”
The conversation had taken a solemn turn, so Robbie just squeezed his arm and answered, “It may not be fashionable, but it’s who I am. Now,” she continued. “What must we do to prepare for your family, and how many of them will be coming?”
He refilled their glasses again, and Robbie realized she was getting a tad tipsy, but she matched him sip for sip. It did taste wonderful.
While they sipped, he spoke of his mother, Linnea, and his father, Durham, a somewhat staid Scotsman who, when he was a young man on board a fishing vessel, had visited Finland and brought home his bride.
“Oh, that is quite a romantic story.”
“So I’m not truly a Scotsman at all; I’m only half a Scot. The other half a foreign Finlander.”
Robbie loved hearing about his family. “So we should probably prepare some of the rooms in the east wing, don’t you think?”
He raised his eyebrows and smiled at her, the wine obviously loosening him up. “I’ve already set it in motion. Mrs. Murray has hired some local girls to come in and get the wing ready.” At her surprised expression, he added, “I can be useful as well as knowledgable, you know. And by the way, I’m going into Galashiels on Tuesday to help the schoolmaster order some material. He’s also asked me to aid in some of his classes.”
“Why, that’s wonderful! Have you taught before?”
“I did teach a class at Edinburgh, rather something far beyond what these youngsters would be interested in, but I’m excited to get back into it.”
“Can I come with you?”
He gave her a quizzical look. “You want to come with me to the school?”
“Indeed. There’s so little for me to do here; I’d love the change in scenery,” she responded. And, she thought, she had a story to mail.
“All right. The day after tomorrow.”
Later, Robbie took her pup outside, then got ready for bed. After putting the pup on one of the pillows, Robbie went to the desk and pulled out her writing supplies. She must post the latest offerings tomorrow, else they wouldn’t arrive at the office in time for publication.
Lady Perlina rode the baron like a professional horsewoman, leaning into his erection. They cantered along at a good, steady speed, the baron pulling on Perlina’s nipples. Now and then Perlina bent low so the baron could take the tip of a breast into his mouth and suckle it.
“Your breasts are like sheep udders, fraulein,” the baron said. “Big with long, lovely nipples. Shall I get you pregnant so we can watch the babe suckle together?”
Lady Perlina rode him harder, the heat from his words adding fuel to her excitement. “If there ever was a man who could make me faithful, it is you, baron.” This was a lie, of course, but it made him bigger and harder beneath her, and she felt him so deep inside her, she almost fainted with the pleasure of it.
He reached between them and rubbed her, pulling upward, titillating with the tip of his finger.
Lady Perlina felt it begin, the deep heat that flooded her veins, making her skin tingle and flush and her ears ring. She screamed her pleasure.
• • •
After Robbie had gone to bed, Gavin picked up the rest of the wine. His thoughts centered squarely on his new wife. How she had looked in that gown tonight, how her breasts pushed up over the top of the silk bodice. Once again, desire stirred in his groin. He took another swallow of wine, disappointed when he realized the bottle was empty. He weaved his way toward the liquor cabinet and poured himself a shot of brandy, downing it in one gulp.
He could do this. He could bed his wife. What had made him think he couldn’t?
• • •
Robbie was roused from sleep when the door to her room flew open and slammed against the wall. Lady Perlina yipped.
“You’re my wife.”
Gavin slurred the words.
“I am.”
“You prob’ly think because I love my booksh and mapsh I can’t make love to a woman.”
Robbie sat up in bed, reached over, and lit the lamp. He stood before her, disheveled, blearyeyed, and not at all steady on his feet.
“So you’re going to bed me now, is that it?” she asked, her voice rife with sarcasm.
He nodded, making his way toward the bed. When he arrived at the edge, he collapsed into a heap; fortunately his head fell on a pillow, and he passed out. With some effort, Robbie lifted the rest of him onto the bed and covered him with a blanket.