The Earl's Inconvenient Wife (Regency Collection Book 1) (4 page)

“What are you doing?” her husband asked in a mixture of shock and irritation
as he stepped out of the carriage.

“
What does it look like?  I’m going into my new house,” she snapped before opening the door.

She ignored the butler and footman and stormed up the first flight of stairs she found.  Despite the commotion going on behind h
er as a confused butler and footman asked Roderick what the problem was, she pressed on.  Had she not been so angry, she would never have acted in such an unladylike way.  But she figured she had nothing to lose since her husband already loathed her and people were already laughing at her expense.

When she reached the top of the staircase, she pretend
ed she didn’t hear Roderick demand she stop.  Instead, she proceeded forward, checking each room along the way to determine where her bedchamber would be.  She heard his footsteps as he came up the stairs.  Startled, she hurried to find the room meant for the lady of the house.  To her dismay, he was already closing in on her when she finally found it at the end of the hall.

She glanced back in time to see a scowling earl heading her way.  Refusing to let him intimidate her
anymore, she scowled in return before darting into the room.  It wasn’t a lady’s room, exactly, but it had a bed, a wardrobe and other items to make her prison comfortable.  She tried to close and lock the door before he could reach her, but he stuck his foot in the doorway.  She tried to kick it out of the way, but it was no use.  He was going to come into the room whether she liked it or not.  Groaning under her breath, she left the door, plopped down on the bed, and crossed her arms.

“This is my house,” he snapped.  “You will n
ot treat my staff that way.”

She shrugged as if she couldn’t care less what
he thought.  And really, at the moment, she didn’t care what he thought, good or otherwise.

“You have no right to be defiant to me
.”

She rolled her eyes.

He stood in front of her, his hands on his hips and stared at her.

She refused to look up at him.  Maybe if she waited long enough, he’d go away and leave her alone.

“This mess is your doing, Blair, so I suggest you—”

Furious, she
made eye contact with him.  “Blair?  My name isn’t Blair.” He had just stood there at the wedding, signed the document with her name on it and everything, and he was calling her Blair?

“Whatever your name is, I suggest you—”

She bolted to her feet and glared at him.  “My name is not Blair.  It’s Claire.”

“Your name doesn’t concern me.”

“It should.”

“But it doesn’t.
  Your manners, however, are a pressing matter.  You don’t think the way you stormed into this house and ignored the butler and footman will go unnoticed?  People have a tendency to gossip.”

“I want you to repeat my name.”

He blinked in surprise.  “What?”

“My name is Claire.  I want you to say it so you’ll remember it in the future.”

“I won’t take orders from you.”

She gritted her teeth, her hands balled into fists at her sides.  Her husband was impossible.  “Doesn’t my name matter to you at all?”

“Not really.”

“You could at least address me formally since you don’t say my name as a term of endearment.”

He stared back at her in a silent challenge she was sure was meant to intimidate her into submission.

The insufferable oaf!  She had a mind to smack him right upside the head.  “
I’m your wife.  I demand to be addressed with respect.”

“That would be true if you had behaved honorably
.  Since you concocted this scheme to trap me into marrying you, I don’t respect you.  So no, I won’t refer to you as Lady Roderick.  But never mind all that.  It’s done, and until you give me an heir, we’ll have to bear with one another.”

She cringed at the thought of him touching her.  “I can’t be with you that way.”
Especially when he hated her!

“You should have thought about that before your clever little ploy last wee
k.  You can’t deny me my husbandly rights, so whether you like it or not, we’ll be working on getting that heir and we’ll start tonight.”

Before she could voice her protest, he shot her an amused smil
e and left her alone.

Chapter Four

N
ate slouched in the chair in front of his desk in the library, and though he stared out the window, he didn’t see anything.  His life kept replaying in his mind.  The games he and his older brother had played as children, the realization that titles meant more to ladies than love, the news of his brother’s death and funeral.  He recalled the ladies his brother fancied but couldn’t decide on one he could marry.  And it wasn’t like his brother was nearing an old age when he fell off his horse and died.  At twenty-three, they all thought he had enough time to get a wife and an heir.  Nate sighed.  And now at twenty-three the responsibility fell to him.

The door to his library opened but he didn’t look away from the window.  “Lord Clement is here, my lord,” his butler called out from the doorway.

Nate motioned for him to let his friend into the room in a half-hearted gesture then let his hand fall limp in his lap.  He heard the familiar tap of Perry’s cane as he entered the room and managed to turn his head in his friend’s direction.  Perry limped to the chair on the other side of his desk, so he straightened up and faced his friend.  When Perry sat down, he rested the cane against the desk and stared at him, his eyebrows raised in what Nate was sure was amusement.

“I hear you married,” Perry said, a slight twitch turning the corner of his lips up.

He scowled.  “You missed the wedding by three hours.”

“It wasn’t intentional, Nate.”

“I know.  It was just as well that you didn’t make it.  It was more like a funeral anyway.”

His friend chuckled.  “You shouldn’t mope about.  Look at the bright side.  You don’t have to worry about finding a wife anymore.  You have her, and now you can have the heir.”

“You mean to tell me you haven’t heard about my transgression outside Lord and Lady Cadwaladers’?”

“You know I d
on’t pay attention to what the Ton says,” he said in a soft voice.

Nate
glanced at the cane and knew his friend was right.  Why would he pay the busybodies any mind when they pitied him for being born with one leg shorter than the other?  It wasn’t a big difference, but it did enough to dissuade most ladies from wanting to marry him.  “It’s unfortunate you wish to marry but can’t while I didn’t wish for it but had to.”

“That’s the way it goes sometimes.”

Nate stood up and lumbered to a cabinet to retrieve two glasses.  After he poured whiskey into them, he handed one to Perry and sat back down.  “Are you aware of who my wife is?”

“Yes.  I got your missive.  You married Miss Claire Lowell.”

He gritted his teeth.  “Yes.  Mister Lowell’s daughter.”

“I met her.”

“Did you?”

“I think she’ll make you a good wife.  In fact, I came to congratulate you.”

Nate grunted.  “You are aware that Mister Lowell is ambitious to see his daughters married to titled gentlemen who are wealthy?”

“Yes, I heard of his reputation.”

“So what makes you think my marriage to his daughter is going to be a good one?”

“Her father might be ambitious, but he’s harmless.  He just wants a good life for his daughters.  You can’t begrudge a
gentleman that, Nate.”

“Not unless he lets his daughter lure titled
gentlemen outside where his daughter figures out a way to create a scandal.”

Perry laughed.  “That’s ridiculous!”

“Is it?”

“Yes.  Lady Roderick isn’t the type who’d lure you outside.”

“Well, she did.”

“How?”

“I saw her go out on the veranda so I followed her outside.  I suggested she go back in before the wrong kind of gentleman found her and took her into the gardens.  She refused to listen to reason and fell onto the grass.  I couldn’t leave her there, thrashing about like a drunken sailor—”

Perry laughed harder.  “Thrashing about like a drunken sailor?”

“You know what I mean.”

He shook his head.  “I’m af
raid I don’t.  I’ve never seen a lady fall off a veranda.”

“She wasn’t exactly graceful as she tried to get up.  It’s a wonder she managed to walk down the aisle today without tripping on her gown.”

“That isn’t a nice thing to say,” his friend kindly admonished.

“I don’t feel like being nice, Perry.  The point is, she and her father orchestrated it so that everyone had to come running out to find me trying to help her up.  I don’t know how she did it, but she made sure her dress was up to her knees.  She did a good job of making it look like I was, in fact, trying to take liberties with her.  Now I know why she kept pushing me away instead of helping her.”

“She was pushing you away?”

“Clever, isn’t she?  I
might detest her, but I’ll be the first to admit that she’s not stupid.”

Perry leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs.  “I met her in the ballroom right before I got called away to take care of my ward, and I don’t believe she was trying to get you in trouble.  I think she’s shy.  You probably startled her, and when she fell, she was too embarrassed to let you help her.”

He rolled his eyes.  “You have a lot to learn about ladies.”

“One lady
who jilted you in the past doesn’t make you an expert either.”

Granted, his friend had a point, but Nate had accurately assessed the situation and knew what kind of mess he’d gotten himself into.

Perry lifted his glass and held it up.  “I propose a toast to you and Lady Roderick.  May you have a dozen children together.”

Nate growled at him.

Undaunted by his friend’s sour response, he drank some whiskey and added, “I know you didn’t ask for my advice, but I’m going to give it.”

Nate knew this was coming.  His friend always found some cheerful way of looking at things, no matter how awful something was and this was no exception.  He drank from his glass and reluctantly waited for him to continue.

After taking a sip, Perry said, “You needed to get married, and even though this wasn’t what you planned, you should make the best of it.”

“That’s easy for you to say.  You’re not the one who had to marry her.”

“I wouldn’t have opposed marriage with her, Nate, even if the only reason her father would have permitted the marriage was because of my title.  She was one of the few ladies who didn’t see me with my cane and run away from me.”

Startled at the soft tone in his friend’s voice, he lowered his glass and studied him.  “I’m sorry they do that, Perry.”

He shrugged but smiled.  “It could’ve been worse.  I could’ve been born unable to walk.”

“True.  I don’t know how you manage to always look at the bright side, but I admire that about you.”

“It’s not hard.  You just need to think of what you have instead of what you don’t.  Like you.  You have a wife and now can have the heir to secure your family line.  I know it’s hard to believe, but everything will be all right.”

Nate sipped his whiskey and drummed his fingers on the edge of his desk.  “Is it going to cause tension because I ended up marrying her when you’d fancied her for yourself?”

“No.  Our friendship is too important for that.  You both have my blessing.”

“Besides her family, I believe you’re the only person who is glad for this marriage.”

“Once you stop being stubborn, you’ll be glad, too, but I can see you won’t listen to my words of wisdom anytime soon.  You’ll need to give the poor thing some grief before you come to your senses and realize what an oaf you’re being.”

Though Nate scowled, he couldn’t be entirely angry at his friend who, once again, had shown how gracious some people could be.  “We’ll see.”

“Yes, we will.” He took another sip from his glass and set it on the desk.  “I wish I could stay longer, but I need to buy a wedding gift.”

“I really wish you wouldn’t.”

“I have to.  You’re like a brother to me, and considering all I have are sisters, that means something.”

Chuckling, Nate rose to his feet as his friend grabbed his cane and eased out of his chair.  “I hope you’ll still make it to White’s
tomorrow.”

“You’re not going to show your wife around London?”

“I’d rather not spend time with her.”

As they walked to the door of the library, his friend asked, “Should I welcome Lady Roderick now or wait until you’re in a better mood?”

“She’s hiding in her bedchamber.  I don’t think she’ll come down unless someone carries her out of it.  As soon as we came home, she ran up the stairs and to the first bedchamber she found that suited her needs.”

“
You can’t blame her for getting away from you.  You can be a brute when you’re not happy,” Perry teased.

“If you continue to take her side,
I might refuse to play chess with you in the future.”

He let out a gasp.  “You wouldn’t!”

Nate raised an eyebrow in silent confirmation.

Shaking his head, he led the way out of the room and down the hall.  “Send your wife my sympathies.”

They stopped at the entrance, and the butler handed Perry his hat.

“Thank you.” Perry put his hat on and shot his friend a pointed look.  “Be good.”

He kept his face void of emotion simply because he knew it would make Perry wonder if he’d heed his advice or not.

Perry sighed before going out the door.

Even though the day hadn’t been ideal, Nate realized his friend’s visit had cheered him up.  Perhaps he’d manage to get through the meal with his wife without scowling at her.  That would be a vast improvement over the carriage ride home from their wedding.

Breaking free from his thoughts, he faced the butler.  “Is the lady’s maid here yet?”

“Yes.  She came shortly after you and Lady Roderick arrived.”

He blinked in surprise.  “She did?”

“I told you.  You were in the library.”

“Oh.” He briefly recalled that the butler had mumbled something about his wife, but he’d dismissed it since he didn’t see how the news should apply to him.  “Well then, everything is set until dinner.”
Turning back to his library, he decided to read a book.

***

“You look beautiful, my lady,” Marion said as she brushed Claire’s hair.

Claire refused to look in the mirror.  She didn’t want to see everything Marion was doing to make her presentable to that big oaf she was now condemned to spend the rest of her life with.  Her gaze unwittingly went to the bed and she shuddered.  She knew it was her duty to be with him tonight, but every time she thought about it, she felt sick to her stomach.  There was no way she’d be able to eat anything at dinner.  As it was, she couldn’t even bring herself to drink the water Marion had brought for her.

Marion finished brushing her hair and reached for the pins on the vanity table.  “What would you like me to do with your hair?”

“I don’t care.”

“Then I’ll use one of my favorite styles.”

Claire glanced at Marion’s reflection in the mirror.  At most times, she had a tendency to forget Marion was there, but today, she was glad to have her there.  Marion was a familiar presence in her new, and very scary, world.

She turned her attention to her hands which were folded on her lap and wondered if she dared to talk about anything personal with her.  Up to now, she hadn’t.  Most of the topics they’d shared had to do with what she might wear or what she might do for the day.  Marion had been married, until her husband’s death, so she knew about intimate matters.

Marion slipped some pins into her hair.  “You’ll be happy to know Cook has prepared roast chicken tonight.  Apparently, Lord Roderick has good taste.”

Claire returned her gaze to Marion’s reflection and forced a smile.  “I suppose so,” she forced out, though she didn’t know how she was going to eat anything, even if it was one of her favorite meals.

“Lady Claire, in some ways you are like the daughter I never had, and I don’t like seeing you this miserable.  Is there anything I can do to make things better for you?”

Touched by her concern, Claire made eye contact with her.  In all the years she’d known her, Marion hadn’t been one to gossip.  Perhaps she could trust her in personal matters.  Clearing her throat, she managed a weak, “How long does it last?” When Marion’s eyebrows furrowed, she pointed to the bed, her cheeks flushed from being so bold.

Understanding lit up her eyes.  “Oh!  Of course.  I should have known that’s been troubling you.” She offered a kind smile and patted her shoulder affectionately.  “I can’t say for sure.  Some
gentlemen last longer than others, but I’d say no more than a couple minutes once he’s…involved…in the process.  You shouldn’t worry so much about it.  I know you can’t help but feel uncertain about the whole thing, but it’s a very natural process and one that brings pleasure.” Marion finished pinning her hair back and motioned to the mirror.  “What do you think, my lady?”

I think I’m going to throw up, she thought as she glanced one more time at the bed.  Swallowing the nervous lump in her throat, she turned her attention to the mirror and studied her reflection.  She looked like a virgin all dolled up so she could be sacrificed on an altar.