“Did I ever explain what a superlative nanny Nanny McCubbin is? She made a harness for Mittens, and then told Debo that she’d never manage to teach the cat to wear it—that cats cannot be trained.”
“Oh, how clever. Of course, Debo rose to the challenge.”
“Indeed she did, and it was a battle of wills that lasted several days and entertained us all. But now Mittens is out in your garden, wearing an elegant red harness as if to the manner born—Debo not having sufficient confidence in the manners of that ginger tom toward visiting kittens.”
Alice laughed.
“Now, what was it you wanted to speak to me about?”
The bottom dropped out of Alice’s stomach. He always did this to her, made her forget about whatever it was she’d been worrying about. Now all her earlier tension returned with a vengeance.
“Uh...” She tried to swallow. There was a giant lump in her throat.
His brows rose. “Yes.”
“I’ve been thinking...”
He inclined his head and waited.
“About...” She could feel her cheeks heating.
“About ‘um’?”
His euphemism for bedroom activities. She nodded. “Yes, I’ve decided to... to try it. Again, I mean. With you.” There, she’d said it. She waited for his reaction, her stomach hollow and her pulse racing.
His eyes darkened. His brows drew together in a slow frown. He didn’t say a word.
Did he not understand? Had she not been clear enough? Lord knew, her nerves were playing havoc, and she might not have made her meaning plain.
She took a deep breath. “I am willing to become your mistress.”
The furrow between his brows deepened. “My mistress,” he repeated in a flat voice.
“Yes.”
“I see,” he said after another long pause.
She waited, fidgeting nervously with the fabric of her skirt. The longer the silence stretched, the more she knew she’d made a terrible mistake. But she couldn’t unsay the words. And even though she felt as if she might throw up at any minute, she wasn’t going to back down from her decision.
After an age, he cleared his throat. “So, you won’t be my wife, but you will be my mistress.”
Put like that, it sounded terrible. Bald and blunt and ugly. And scandalous. But it was how she felt.
“Yes,” she croaked.
“Even though you dislike ‘um.’ ”
“I always disliked it with my husband.” She swallowed again. “But perhaps...”
His frown darkened. “You’re thinking that perhaps it might be different with me.”
She nodded, her cheeks aflame. “You did say as much,” she reminded him.Turn “um” into “yum.”
“I did, didn’t I? Well then.” He rose abruptly, his expression grim. “I’m going to have to think about this. I will return in an hour to collect my children. I’ll give you my answer then.” He strode from the room.
Alice stared at the empty doorway, confused by his reaction. She thought he’d be pleased, thought he’d jump at the chance, but he seemed neither pleased nor eager.
The drawing room felt chilly. Childish laughter floated in from the garden.
