The Courtship - Catherine Coulter [124]
“Not much fairness there,” she said, “but since I think you are the most handsome man in all of East Anglia, it is all right.”
She turned in his arms and smiled right into his beautiful eyes. “I wasn’t ill for a single day with Jordan. Mrs. Toop told me it was because I somehow managed to make you sick for me, only you were too proud to admit it. She said it was a charming discipline that, as far as she knows, no one else has yet discovered.”
“That’s it exactly. I retched up my innards while you blissfully fattened up and ran my life. Now, I heard yesterday that you had to go all the way to a Level Six punishment with Geordie.”
“Yes, the idiot got drunk and grabbed one of the guest’s maids. He tried to maul her.”
“Did she want to be mauled or not?”
“I asked her most particularly about that. She told me that she is still considering her feelings in the matter.”
“Ah, if she deems him a clod, will you let her inflict some of his punishment?”
“Oh, indeed. Her eyes sparkle when she even thinks about it. I fear she will deem him a clod simply because she wants to conduct the discipline. She wants to punish him herself, and, I imagine, she also wants to examine what he was mauling her with more closely.”
“A bunch of hollyhocks? Will you strip poor Geordie down to his skin?”
“Oh, yes. All the village will come and participate. I believe that the squire and his wife wish to make it into a party. The vicar loves lobster patties, and he has announced that he will provide them to everyone who comes. Of course, only the women will be allowed to whip Geordie. They do it with so much more finesse than men. They tease and stroke ever so delicately, and poor Geordie will moan and groan, much more than last time.”
Lord Beecham rolled his eyes. Lobster patties at a discipline party presided over by the vicar, whose wife would probably be wielding a bundle of hollyhocks. He had never realized how exciting living in the country could be.
Lord Beecham removed his jacket and they sat on the floor of the cave, kissing, talking, worrying a bit about the horses, when Helen said, “Something is different, Spenser.”
“Different? What?”
“I just noticed that there is wax here on the cave floor. Why would there be wax?”
“Why don’t you stay right here and think of new disciplines for me? I will just walk back into the cave and see if perhaps someone has been sleeping here.”
He heard her muttering as he walked toward the back of the cave. Then he stopped cold. He couldn’t see a foot in front of him. He had no candle. He began to laugh as he walked back to his wife.
He stopped abruptly and stared at Reverend Titus Older, who was standing over Helen.
Water was dripping off him, but he looked triumphant, joyous. What was going on here?
“Reverend Older,” Lord Beecham said as he carefully stepped toward him. “It is raining. Is it not strange for you to be out strolling in this inclement weather? You wished to see us that badly? This is an odd visit, surely. Perhaps you would like to tell us why you are here, in this cave?”
Reverend Older pulled a gun from his capacious coat pocket. He aimed it directly at Helen.
“Lord Beecham, such a pleasure, my boy. Come and join your lovely Amazon. Yes, that’s right, just sit right there beside her. I wasn’t sure that I should come in on you. I feared that you would be in an intimate way, if you know what I mean. Not that there is anything wrong with that, don’t misunderstand me.”
Helen eyed that gun he held, then focussed on his face as she said, “What are you doing here, Reverend Older? You haven’t, by any chance, been sleeping in this cave, have you?”
“Well, yes, my dear, for the past three days. You see, my once-sweet wife-to-be, Lilac, has kicked me out of her bedchamber. She doesn’t want me anymore. She has even told all her friends that she doesn’t wish to marry me, and thus I was forced to come here, to Shugborough, where I heard you were still in residence.”
He paused a moment, looked around at the grim walls of the cave, and sighed. “This is not a comfortable place. Even with six