Page 43 of Contracted as His Countess

Madelyn wanted to lean over and kiss him. She ran her tongue over dry lips and grimaced. If she edged to the side of the bed and slid out, she might make it to the dressing room and a toothbrush before he woke. Besides, the amount she had drunk was making itself felt in other ways, as well.

‘Where are you going?’ Jack muttered the moment she shifted her weight. His eyes were still closed, the long body still relaxed.

‘Dressing room. Toothbrush.’

There was a sleepy grunt.

Had Jack gone back to sleep? She eyed him dubiously, then slid out from under the covers and teetered on unsteady legs to the dressing room door.

She found the chamber pot behind the screen and used it, sighing with relief, then poured cold water from the ewer into the basin, pulled off her nightgown and washed all over, shivering. It felt wonderful. Cleaning her teeth was even better. Then she tipped up the ewer and drank the rest of the water, her body feeling like a shrivelled plant that was coming back to life aft

er a shower of rain.

Only then did Madelyn risk looking in the mirror. A pink-nosed, heavy-eyed creature stared back at her from beneath a haystack. Dragging the brush through her hair hurt her aching head, but the result was worth it for the slight improvement. She found another nightgown—all of them seemed to be constructed of a small amount of thin lawn, an excessive amount of lace and a few ribbons to hold everything together—and put it on, vowing never to let Harper out to buy her intimate garments unsupervised again.

Perhaps if Jack kept his eyes closed...

He was sitting up against the pillows when she edged cautiously back into the room, his eyes wide open, the intense blue gaze fixed on her.

‘Good morning, Lady Dersington. That is a quite delightful nightgown you are wearing.’

‘I am so sorry.’

‘For the nightgown?’

Infuriating man.

She was hot with embarrassment. He could probably see her glowing pinkly through every inch of the indecent garment. ‘For last night. For drinking too much. I did not realise that the sherry was so strong and I forgot that I had the champagne at the breakfast.’

His lips twitched, then he was serious again. ‘I should take the blame. I had thought that a few glasses of wine might make things easier for you. We both miscalculated. Do you have a headache?’

Madelyn nodded, then almost winced. It was not wise to move her head too much, but it certainly was not politic to appear less than eager to join her husband in bed.

‘I will have Tanfield give Harper his infallible hangover remedy and you must drink it straight down. I warn you, it tastes ghastly, but it will settle your stomach. Breakfast and then fresh air will do the rest.’ He reached for the bell pull beside the bed.

‘What are you doing?’ Stretching like that had made muscles ripple and drew her attention to that intriguing dark hair on his chest.

Is it rough or silky? Oh, my goodness, I had forgotten he was naked. How could I have forgotten that?

‘Ringing for your maid.’

‘You do not want to...? I mean—’

‘We have rather less than two hours before we need to set off, unless we want to arrive at Dersington long after dark. And besides, you need to give Tanfield’s remedy an opportunity to work before you do anything more strenuous than wielding a bath sponge.’ He gripped the edge of the covers as though to throw them back, and Madelyn turned tail and fled back into the dressing room.

She was sitting on the edge of a chair trying to will her spinning head into some sort of steadiness when Harper came in carrying a glass of cloudy brown liquid on a small tray. ‘Here you are, my lady. Mr Tanfield’s remedy for a hang... For a headache.’

‘It is a hangover,’ Madelyn said grimly, taking the glass. It looked thoroughly nasty. She held her breath and gulped it down, pressed her lips together and waited. Something seemed to be happening. Either she was going to be very ill or cured.

‘I think it is working,’ she said after a minute.

‘Thank goodness. If I’d had to drink that, I’d have cast up my accounts,’ Harper said, whisking a napkin over the glass. ‘The hot water for your bath is on its way, my lady, and His Lordship has gone back to his own chamber.’ She set the screen between the bath and the chair so that Madelyn was hidden when the footmen brought in the water and began to busy herself with soap and towels.

‘I do not understand how men can drink so much,’ Madelyn said. ‘I felt awful. Oh, how could I?’ Harper was her maid and she knew she should be maintaining a dignified front before the staff, but she was a woman and Madelyn badly needed a female to confide in. ‘On my wedding night!’

‘Hush, my lady. Here come Charles and Saul with the hot water.’

Madelyn sat listening to the sound of pouring water and Harper hustling the footmen out again. Her head was slowly clearing and that only made everything worse. Her memory was returning with horrible clarity, presenting her with one disturbing image after another.

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