Page 104 of A Scandalous Bargain
“I plan to show this drawing to people and ask if they’ve ever seen a folly like it and that I plan to build one at Spring Hollow.” That was the pleasure garden Rafe owned in Clerkenwell.
Selina smiled at him. “A brilliant plan.”
Rafe tipped his head and lifted his glass of port. “I hope so.”
They spent the rest of the evening as a family should—in conversation and camaraderie. By the time Beatrix left with Tom, Harry, and Selina, her face hurt from laughing.
The walk back to Tom’s house took only a few minutes. Harry and Selina’s coach was ready, as they’d sent a footman to the Grosvenor Square mews in advance.
“I’m not even going to pretend you’re coming with us,” Selina said. She kissed Beatrix’s cheek. “Just be discreet. Like we were.” She sent a sly smile toward Harry.
Harry helped her into the coach and waved at them before they left.
Beatrix took Thomas’s hand and led him back down the square.
“Where are we going?” he asked.
“We’re being discreet.”
“We’re going in through the garden, aren’t we?”
She narrowed her eyes at him playfully. “Walking in the front doorisn’tdiscreet.”
He laughed. As soon as they were out of the square and in the alley that led to the mews and his back gate, he took her in his arms and kissed her.
Beatrix pressed her body to his and held him tightly. She reluctantly pulled back and tugged him toward the garden. “Come on or we’ll never get inside.”
“Sorry, I’ve been waiting an eternity to do that.”
Giggling, Beatrix led him into the garden. They walked, hand in hand, to the balcony where Beatrix stopped short. “Is it all right that we will live here?”
“Because of her?” he asked quietly.
Beatrix nodded.
He faced her, taking her other hand too. “When I look at that balcony, I see you climbing over the side and almost-waltzing with me. I don’t see sadness. I feel happy. For the first time in ages, I feelhappy.”
“Oh good. I really don’t want to move. There’s something delicious about living next door to the duke and waving at him as good neighbors do.”
Thomas let out a belly laugh. He pulled her toward him and kissed her again. “How I adore you.”
“I hope you won’t mind if I refurbish her room, however.” She didn’t think she needed to clarify who “her” was. “I was thinking we could make it into a family sitting room that’s less formal than the drawing room and larger than your sitting room—something with toys and maybe a small bed where Regan can sleep if she wanders downstairs. Not that I mind her sleeping with us,” she added. “I just thought there might be times when, well, when we…”
Tom clasped her waist and drew her against him. “There will be plenty of those times, including tonight. You, my love, are brilliant.”
Waggling her brows at him, she turned and went to the trellis.
“Wait, you aren’t going to climb that in your gown, are you?” he asked.
She put her hand on her hip. “Do you have a better suggestion?”
“Perhaps we should go inside and take the stairs.”
“I can do it,” she said. “Or do you think I can’t?” She fluttered her lashes at him.
“You can do anything—of that I’m certain. Let me go first and help you.” Tom quickly ascended the trellis and leapt onto the balcony. He held out his hand.
Beatrix grasped the iron and started to climb. “My dress isn’t the problem. It’s these damned slippers.” And she’d even worn her sturdiest pair since they’d planned to walk from Tom’s to Aylesbury House. “Useless accessories.”
Tom helped her onto the balcony and into his arms. “But they look lovely on your feet.”
She lowered her voice to a seductive tone. “Wouldn’t they look better off them?”
He swept her into an impromptu waltz straight into the house and onward into his—their—bedchamber. “Most definitely.”
