The Courtship - Catherine Coulter [97]
HE HAD HELD STEADY. HE couldn’t believe it. He was immensely proud of his strength of will. He was also so randy he thought he would grind his teeth to dust.
He’d had to button Helen’s gown up the back, but still he had managed to hold firm. He leaned forward to kiss her shoulder blade, then bit down on his lip.
“No,” he’d said aloud to the ceiling of the bedchamber. “I will keep to my vow.”
“Who do you think you are, Galahad?”
Helen was irritated with him. Because he wouldn’t make frantic love to her, three times in fifteen minutes? He just smiled. “In one month from now, we can stay in bed until we are smiling and witless.”
“I suppose you are right,” she said finally at least two hours later, when they were riding back to Court Hammering in the carriage he had rented. At his arched eyebrow, she added, “We will wait. We will find the lamp. We will discover if indeed Gerard Yorke is alive. We will find out who killed poor Reverend Mathers. In short, we have a lot on our plate. And to accomplish those things, we must have our wits about us.”
“You mean that when I am loving you, you have no wits?”
“Not a one,” she said and poked him in the arm. “And you know it. Indeed, you are proud of it.”
When they arrived at Shugborough Hall, Lord Prith and Flock met them at the front door. Both were beaming at them. Lord Prith continued to beam even as they walked into the entrance hall, saying nothing at all.
Finally Flock said, “His lordship wants to know the result of Lord Beecham’s outrageous strategy. Just imagine, kidnapping you, Miss Helen, to bring you around to his way of thinking. You will consider telling us everything now, Miss Helen.”
Helen said to her father, “I received a letter from Gerard Yorke six months ago. Until we find out if he is indeed still alive, we cannot marry. However, we are planning to wed in a month. We will tell the world about our upcoming nuptials. If Gerard is here, on this earth, he will have to do something, and then we will see.”
Lord Prith was impressed with this plan. “Naturally, Teeny showed me the letter, Nell, some three months ago. She thought I should know about it, smart girl. I nearly told Spenser about it the other night when he poured out all his frustrated passion to me, your dearest father. But then I thought, no, let the children deal with it. It is a good plan, my boy.”
“Thank you,” Lord Beecham said.
“Teeny is a superlative girl,” Flock said, and lowered his head mournfully. “She did not tell me about the letter.”
“It will work,” Lord Beecham said. “It must.”
“I agree. Bring champagne, Flock.”
“Why champagne now, Father?”
“One must always think positively, Nell. If we celebrate now, doubtless we will be celebrating the same thing again when you and Spenser are wedded.”
“Is my valet still breathing, sir?”
“It has been a close thing, my boy. Flock and Nettle usually just eye each other and sniff, like two stray dogs in the same territory. However, it is Teeny who has stayed their more violent tendencies.”
“What has she done?”
“She has informed them that she is going to marry Walter Jones. She told me, however, in private, that Walter is a ne’er-do-well and that she will have to teach him what’s what. She told me that she has memorized all of your excellent discipline strategies, observed many of them and has selected the ones she believes will be most efficacious with Walter if ever he strays. She is fully prepared to use them.”
Helen laughed so hard that Lord Beecham had to rub her back.
Later that afternoon, while Helen was at her inn in Court Hammering, seeing to her accounts and doubtless doling out punishments, Lord Beecham was working on the leather scroll in her small study. He was humming. The translation wasn’t going too badly now. Reverend Mathers had helped considerably. Poor Reverend Mathers. He paused, frowning. He would write to Lord Hobbs in hopes that he and his Bow Street Runner, Mr. Ezra Cave, had discovered something.
Lord Beecham looked up when Flock cleared his throat from the doorway.
“Yes?”
“My lord, there is a Lord Crowley here to