Page 29 of Unmasking the Silver Heiress
"Not a bother. I suppose I should thank you for seeing to her needs, but you might have scrawled a quick note so that I didn't have to interrogate half the staff to find out where you'd gone."
Kit's widening smile only deepened Nate's frown. "My apologies," he said, as though he wasn't sorry at all. "Don't let me keep you any longer. You clearly are eager to spend time with your beloved."
"You sound surprised," Nate said coolly.
"I am surprised!" Kit replied. "Unlike you, I enjoy a good surprise. Now, go back inside. I'll return in the morning and we can open up some of the rooms on the ground floor, hm? Maybe I'll finally find those dice I lost when we were small."
Nate scoffed but gave a begrudging half smile. "Perhaps. Stranger things have happened."
Kit did not reply to that, but Nathaniel felt his sentiment all the same in the way he smirked. He gave a curt wave and turned on his heel and returned to the house in search of his bride.
Chapter 15
Nate had the strangest urge to knock before entering his own bedroom, even though he knew he was expected. Upon returning to the dining room, he had been informed that the lady of the house had wished to dine in the bedchamber, and that unless he was opposed, they would be serving him up there too.
He wasn't sure how they were going to manage that with nothing but a bed and a wardrobe in that room, but he was certainly willing to try.
He steeled himself and pushed the door open, revealing the glow of candlelight and a small, makeshift arrangement of a coffee table that had once been in the drawing room and two cushions from the parlor couch serving as chairs. An old privacy screen had been set up beside the fireplace, and from where he stood, he could see shadows moving about behind it.
There were servants in the room, which made his trepidation about entering even more ridiculous. One was arranging the food and wine onto the low table, another unpacking the paper boxes from Dover, while one set lanterns around the perimeter of the room for want of a functioning lighting fixture in the dark.
"Sarah, might you hand me one of those lanterns or just a candle if you have it?" Nell called from behind the screen. "I cannot see a thing back here."
"Yes, ma'am, of course," said the curly-haired maid who had arrived in the carriage with Nell this morning. She handed the box she was unpacking to the other maid and swept up a lantern to attend her mistress, stepping around Nathaniel as though he were just another piece of furniture.
"Would you like anything else, sir?" a footman asked quietly, gesturing to the strange dinner arrangement on the floor. There was a bowl of cherries in the center of the table, two empty glasses, a bottle of wine, and two plates heaped with meat and potatoes.
Nathaniel thought his wife might benefit from a glass of water rather than more spirits, but when he turned to address her through the screen, all coherent thought died in his throat. The illumination of the lantern made the silhouettes of the two women behind it crystal clear, down to the individual strings in the stays that the maidservant was currently loosening around Nell's torso. The light traced the curvature of her legs, even with the ghost of her shift flowing over it through the barrier.
He realized in one horrifying flash that if the footman turned around, he would also be treated to this marvelous view.
"Nothing," he said, perhaps a little more curtly than he'd intended. "You are all dismissed. I will ring if we require anything further."
"Sir," the footman replied stiffly, beating a hasty exit rather than linger with an agitated master. Mercifully, this meant he did not turn back around.
"Sarah, you may go," Nell's soft voice murmured from behind the screen. "If you could just pass me the new dressing gown first, I will braid my own hair for bed."
"Yes, ma'am," the maid replied. She stepped out from behind the screen, forcing Nathaniel to feign deep interest in the state of his cuticles until she had passed the dressing gown over and said goodnight to her mistress. She did, however, get a clear look at how poorly the privacy screen was performing insofar as protecting Nell's modesty.
Nate did not look at her face as she passed by him on the way out, but he could swear he felt the knowing smirk that was likely on her face as she breezed past. Once the door was closed again, he was free to ogle the display, which he managed not to do for all of four seconds as he made his way to the foot of their bed to remove his boots.
It was only that the eye couldn't help but be drawn to the moving shadows behind that screen. She moved so elegantly, with a slow deliberation that was likely because she was a touch intoxicated. Though, he would wager that she had always taken great care with what little she owned, which meant she did not undress or discard garments with haste, even with the clearest mind.
He dropped the boots onto the floor and gave up on attempting to convince himself he was interested in anything other than this unintentional seduction.
She pulled the pins out of her hair and shook it free, long, wayward curls falling down to her elbows. He realized he had never seen her with her hair down. He had not imagined it so long and wild. How had she fit such a luxurious mane into those prim little buns that were always just a little lopsided?
She drew her shift up over her body and tossed it over the top of the screen, bending forward to retrieve one of her new garments from its box. From where he stood, his breath static in his lungs, he could see the detailed shape of her breasts and the tantalizing way they shifted their weight as she tipped herself forward. Her bottom rounded pleasantly and gave a delightful little bounce when she shook out the garment she held. She pulled it over her head with care, shimmying it down to its proper place rather than tugging at it.
She extended an arm and retrieved the dark blue dressing gown he had commissioned for her from where it hung on the corner of the screen. He had chosen the fabric with her coloring in mind and had detailed the shape he thought most flattering to Mme. Bisset: cinched at the waist and generous flow at the bottom, so that even her feet would be insulated by the warm and intricate fabric. She sighed happily as she put her arms through it, hugging it to her for a moment of girlish indulgence before tying it into its proper place and smoothing it down her legs.
She stepped out, the robe swaying gracefully at her hips, her hair a glorious tangle over her shoulders, and gave a little start to find him sitting there, eyes locked on her.
"Oh! Nathaniel!" she squeaked, touching the sash at her waist as though she had just realized she wasn't fully dressed. "I hope you do not mind my impromptu dinner arrangement, but I was dreadfully uncomfortable and desperate to change into the lovely things you bought me."
"I do not mind in the least," he assured her hoarsely, followed by a hasty clearing of his throat.
She hesitated, bashful and oblivious to the vision she presented. All that dark hair tumbling down on either side of her pale face, those big gray eyes set off like diamonds by the deep royal blue of her collar. How had he ever thought her mousy or plain?
