Page 45 of Romancing the Rifleman
Carl Frederick beamed.“Wonderful.I have adopted your English country hours so dinner will be at seven.I will leave you two to get settled.”
The duke departed with a bow, leaving Diana and Harrington alone.She considered her strategy.The servants would be arriving any minute with their trunks.Diana’s lady’s maid, Veronique, had accompanied them from London.But, like most junior army officers, Harrington had grown accustomed to dressing himself and no longer employed a valet.
This meant that, while Veronique would be fussing around Diana’s room, unpacking her things, Harrington’s bedroom would be free of servants.
All she had to do was make it clear that she would not object to holding their wedding night at half two.
Whirling around, she looped her arms around his neck.He did not lower his head, so she began pressing kisses against his jaw.“We have some time.”
“T-time?”he stammered.
“Time,” she confirmed.“Before dinner.To bealone.”
From the wild look in his eyes, you would have thought that he was the skittish virgin and she the experienced rakehell.“A-alone?”His voice was half an octave higher than its usual register.
“Of course!”She laughed.“You can’t tell me you haven’t thought about it.”She leaned forward, rubbing her stomach against the bulge that had sprung up behind the placket of his trousers, and made her voice sultry.“That you aren’t thinking about it right now.”
He jerked back as if he’d been stung.“I, er… I think I hear the servants.With my trunk.I’d best go and unpack!”
He hurried back to his room.Diana tried to follow but found the glossy white door shut firmly in her face.
Her shoulders sagged.That was strange.He was clearly interested in consummating their marriage, physically, at least.
So why had he fled as if terrified?
She didn’t know, but she meant to find out.
Harrington pressed his back against the connecting door to Diana’s room, breathing hard.Damn, but the next five days were going to be torture.The woman he’d been infatuated with from the moment he first spoke to her was on the other side of that door, and by all appearances, she was not only willing buteagerto make love with him.
And here he was, having sworn on his little brother’s grave that he wouldn’t touch her.
Shaking himself, he spun around.The connecting door between their rooms did have a keyhole, but there wasn’t a key in the lock.He dashed around the room, checking in drawers and on tables, but he couldn’t find the key.
A pair of footmen arrived bearing his trunk.He pointed toward the wardrobe in the corner.“Set it down over there.Thank you.”
As they turned to leave, Harrington gestured to the connecting door.“Say, I don’t suppose you know where the key to this door might be?”
They exchanged a glance, and no wonder, because what newly married man wanted to bar his new bride from his room?“I’m not sure,” one offered, “but I’ll ask the butler.”
“Great.Thanks.”
Harrington tried to distract himself by unpacking his trunks.It wasn’t long before a knock sounded at the door.“Come in.”
It opened to reveal a grey-haired man with a butlerish look about him, who bowed.“Gavin said you inquired about a key to that door,” he said, nodding.“I am sorry, Lieutenant, but we did not receive many keys when His Grace let the house.I am not sure where it might be.”
Harrington grimaced.“I understand.Thank you for checking.”
The butler bowed again and was gone.Harrington searched the room for some means by which he could secure the door.There were a couple of plush wingchairs in the sitting area, but they weren’t the right height to wedge beneath the doorknob.He could tie something around the knob, but there was nothing he could connect it to.He supposed he could push the sofa or the wardrobe in front of the door, but how odd would that look?Besides, he doubted it would be heavy enough to keep Diana out.If he had learned anything about Diana, it was that she was not easily deterred.
That thought made him smile.He quickly wiped the expression from his lips.The last thing he needed to do was moon over her.He had it bad enough as it was.
He threw himself back onto his bed and draped an arm across his face.The next five days were going to be the longest of his life.
Chapter24
At dinner that night, Harrington watched Diana charm Carl Frederick.She conversed with the duke in a mixture of English and French, giving no indication that she understood his native Swedish.It was fairly common knowledge amongst thetonthat Diana had studied a half-dozen languages courtesy of her Aunt Griselda, who had been born on the Continent.But Carl Frederick’s dozen guests consisted mostly of army officers he’d befriended in Hanover and their wives.They did not move in the same circles as Diana and had better things to do with their time than trading petty gossip.Hopefully, no one would know enough to mention the possibility that Diana spoke Swedish to their host.
The meal was a decadent spread of French dishes—ironic, given that Britain and Sweden were sworn enemies of Napoleon.But Harrington had to admit it was delicious.After thepoire à la beaujolaise—pears stewed in sweetened red wine until they were a brilliant shade of scarlet—were cleared away, the ladies excused themselves to take tea in the drawing room, leaving the men to their port.
