Page 10 of How to Seduce a Viscount
Luce slid a look over the rims of his glasses to where Wren sat across from him at the long library table. The snow had kept her here as predicted and the past week of rest and good food had worked wonders. Her strength had returned to a degree that she could spend her days with him in the library and perambulate under her own power about the corridors, peeking beneath Holland covers with him in unfinished rooms as he discussed his renovation plans. Health pulsed beneath her naturally pale skin, bringing a soft pink tinge with it to override the deathly white that had characterised her early days with him. Today, she was dressed in a blue gown of merino wool loose enough to notdisturb her stitches, courtesy of Mrs Hartley’s efforts, and her hair was plaited in a thick braid that hung over one shoulder.
If one didn’t know better, one would never guess a little over a week ago she’d lain unconscious and fever ridden, fighting for her life. But Luce did know better. She might appear to be all right, but it would be a while before she was entirely restored to health. She’d proven to be resilient but one could not hurry the body in replenishing lost blood. She’d still need to stay a while longer. Surprisingly, the thought did not sit poorly with him, despite his original intent of hibernating alone. It was clear that her company was more welcome to him than his company was to her. She’d made it plain that she wanted to be gone as soon as possible, which prompted the question of why? Was there some place she had to be?
She looked up and caught him staring. ‘What is it?’
Luce gave a slow smile, unbothered by being caught out. ‘You look like winter, all blue and white.’
She laughed and tossed her braid. ‘Youlook like you’re not concentrating on the code.’
Luce tipped his chair back on two legs and pushed a hand through his hair. ‘I wasn’t getting anywhere with it even when I was concentrating. I know I’ll crack it. Eventually. But at the moment I am entirely blank.’ Now that they had the message literally translated, their efforts had focused on trying to deduce what the ‘school’ might be. So far, all they’d done was eliminate options.
‘It’s because you’re restless. When you aren’t looking at me, you’re looking out the window. You want to be out there, in your precious snow.’ She waved a hand towards the windows. ‘You’ve been cooped up inside too long on my account. It’s not your nature to be indoors all day.’
‘What do you know of my nature?’ Luce chuckled but he couldn’t disagree. Hewasrestless and he did some of his bestthinking outdoors. He’d foregone his usual rambles in order to work on the code and to stay near in case she needed him. A good host didn’t set out after breakfast and leave his guest alone until supper. Grandfather would expect better of him.
She didn’t answer but gave him a smug smile that suggested heavily she felt she was in possession of a great secret. ‘Up with you.’ She rose slowly from her chair, a reminder that she was still recovering despite her looks to the contrary. ‘Let’s go for a walk. The fresh air will do us both good.’
Lucedidfeel much better outdoors even if they did stay on the grounds. Mrs Hartley had found Wren a shawl and the gardeners had shovelled the paths earlier so that they were able to stroll in the cold late-afternoon with relative ease, although Luce kept a tight grip on Wren’s arm lest she fall. He gestured to the barren snow-covered beds. ‘I found the original plans for the gardens in the library, from back when this place was a fully operating monastery. I added a few flourishes and a little modernisation so the gardeners will be able to re-establish them in the spring. This garden here will be dedicated to herbs, both for the kitchen and for medicinal use. Through here,’ he led her beneath an arch way that opened into another garden, ‘will be a scientist’s garden. It was once used for growing and collecting species of plants from all over the world. I want to recreate that. Perhaps in time it might again become a place of interest for botanists in the region and they will want to visit for study.’
He noticed she suppressed a shiver despite the shawl. Perhaps he’d kept her out too long. Her blood was thin at the moment. ‘The orangery is over there. It’s a work in progress like the rest of the house. Let’s go in. There isn’t much to see yet, but it’s warm and we are using it to keep some cuttings and trees alive through the winter.’
The orangery was indeed warmer and he could see that Wren relaxed immediately as he guided her around the space pointingout special cuttings. ‘I hope I haven’t bored you?’ Luce brought his tour to a halt beside what once had been the orangery’s pride: a fountain basin done in Talavera tile from Spain.
‘Not at all,’ she said. Perhaps she was just being polite, although he didn’t think she was in the habit of saying things she didn’t mean. ‘This house suits you. It’s full of history.’
There she went again, telling him about himself. Luce sat on the wide rim of the basin. ‘Sometimes I feel as if you know far more about me than you should on short acquaintance.’ He gave her a speculative look. ‘Have we met before?’ he asked, not for the first time. He would have remembered her, he was sure of it.
She shook her head and sat carefully beside him, smoothing her skirts. ‘The earl talks of you, all of you, at least to me. So, yes, after fifteen years as one of his agents I do feel like I know you.’ She gave a coy duck of her head that Luce found charmingly irresistible. ‘We’ve not met, not technically, but I did see you once through a keyhole.’
‘That’s rather alarming.’ Luce chuckled. ‘Keyholes imply a certain level of decadence. Was I dressed?’ He could only imagine what he might have been up to and who he might have been up to it with. There’d been a steady parade of lovers over the years, although no one staying for long, which was how he preferred it.
She shook her head and laughed. ‘You were wearing a long coat and talking with your grandfather. Something he said made you laugh. It was at Sandmore and it was all very decent, I assure you.’
It was at Sandmore. She spoke of the place like one would a home. It had been more to her than just a place to live between trainings and school terms. It was a reminder that she shared fifteencloseyears with his grandfather. She’d also used the term agent this time, not messenger, and Luce was fairly certain his grandfather didn’t tell just anyone about his family. Oncemore, her references spoke of the immense trust his grandfather had in this particular agent and of the type of relationship his grandfather shared with her, which seemed to border on the paternal.
‘I am almost jealous of you,’ Luce confessed. ‘Visiting Grandfather’s home in the summers was a treat nonpareil for me and my brothers. We coveted our time there.’ Talking to her was like talking to a stranger who wasn’t a stranger. There was so much more about her that he wanted to know—who she was, how she fit in to the Sandmore network—and yet they also had memories of a shared space, memories of a shared beloved person. They’d walked in each other’s footsteps without realising it. ‘When did you go on your first mission?’
Wren gave a laugh and blushed with humility. ‘I don’t know if I would call it a mission. I was twelve and I didn’t have to leave Sandmore for it. It was a little nothing thing. The earl had some gentlemen and their wives to supper. He’d told me that two of the men were working secretly for France and that they were planning on using the supper as a chance to pass messages. It was my job to pick their pockets and ensure those messages never the left the house.’
Luce shook his head in amazement and disbelief. ‘I don’t know whether to laugh or be offended that Grandfather used a twelve-year-old for such an important task. Were you successful?’
‘Of course I was.’ Her eyes danced and she leaned forward confidentially, a casual hand resting on his thigh that sent his blood racing. Usually it was the other way around. When was the last time a woman’s touch had roused him so thoroughly? So immediately? Had she done it on purpose or did such gestures come naturally to her? Had she even noticed she’d done it? Luce certainly noticed.
‘It turned out it was vital information, too. It was good practice for me and it proved to the earl that I could be trusted for other missions. Although, they were all at home for a while.’At home. Luce did not miss her reference again to Sandmore as home. Grandfather must have cared about her very much.
‘I didn’t go abroad until I was old enough to be out in society. I went to Paris for the earl when I was sixteen.’
‘Sixteen is not old enough to be out in society let alone travelling to the Continent,’ Luce corrected.
‘I wasn’t alone. The earl had arranged chaperones. I stayed with the Comtesse de Varigny. It was all very above board.’ She shrugged off the concern.
‘Iknowthe Comtesse de Varigny. She’s quite, um, progressive, to say the least. Hardly a proper chaperone for a young girl.’
‘Well, I didn’tlooklike a young girl. With cosmetics and the right clothes, Icanpass for older.’ And for a lovely courtesan, the kind of young woman the Comtesse would take under her wing. Luce could imagine how that visit went.
‘You could also pass for younger,’ Luce said pointedly. ‘I thought you were a waif when you collapsed on my doorstep.’ All of his protective instincts were awake and wanting to work on her behalf even though she clearly didn’t need them.
She shrugged and replied, ‘People see what they’re told to see, what they expect to see.’
