Page 82 of A Duke at the Door

To rise at dawn, with a lover, with hermate, was a joy unlike anything Tabitha had ever known.

To watch him Change and then run and run throughout the park was beyond her capacity for expression, even more breathtaking than thecursiohad been. His speed took her breath away, his agility stunned, and his playfulness, once he returned to her, was more than she could have hoped for. He was a fearsome predator, but he was her fearsome predator, and it was thrilling to know his essential self recognized her and enjoyed her company. He sat at her feet and allowed her to thread her fingers through his mane, welcomed her hands running over his powerful shoulders, and rubbed his nose against hers. She would never confuse him with acatcat, and the purr he raised as she scratched him on the skull was not too far away from Alwyn’s reaction when she did the same.

With Alwyn back in his manskin, both of them wrapped in a quilt and perched on the step, they watched the sun ascend over Lowell Pack lands. As usual, Tabitha was bundled up to her nose, but the heat Alwyn exuded was prodigious, so she had no complaints to level against the frosty spring air. With Ostara in the past, the days would warm, and she found she would miss the finer English weather. She laughed to herself and shrugged when he poked her with his nose inquisitively, not unlike his lion had when he wanted more scratching of his mane.

“I was thinking I would miss England in the summer when all I had wanted was to be elsewhere.”

“We shall come and go,” Alwyn said. “Or we can wait if you like. We may do as we please.”

“What a thing, to do as we please.”

“It would please me to do this.” And he kissed her.

Sometime later, Tabitha asked, “Shall we go soon?”

“When your brother sent the footmen on the scent of that snake, I gave one of them a task as well. If you do not wish to delay, then we have passage on a ship making for France at the end of the week.”

“We should leave this afternoon, then, to address our business in London and make Dover in good time.”

“Your heart is beating like a rabbit’s,” he murmured.

“I am excited and a little terrified. You may prove to be as efficient as I. It is a maiden’s dream.”

“Is it really?”

“Well, it does depend upon the maiden.” They excelled at kissing while smiling. “And whether or not she is a maiden. That ship has sailed. As ours will. At week’s end.”

“We are decided, then.”

“Yes. But we cannot depart without letting everyone know.”

“Nor can we miss finally seeing the play.” He rose effortlessly to his feet, the blanket falling away to reveal that belly of his, and if they whiled away another hour or two until it was time to meander toward the village, there was none to say them nay.

***

“Now to ’scape the serpent’s tongue,” declaimed Mr. Peasley as Puck, tapping the side of his nose and looking comprehensively ’round the spectators in the front rows, “we will make amends ere long…”

Puck’s epilogue was more apt than usual. In place ofHamlet, the Peasley Troupe of Traveling Players mounted a rousing and precise production ofA Midsummer Night’s Dream.Bottom’s transformation was played with an insider’s touch of proprietary knowledge, and His Highness was heard to guffaw more than once.

“Give me your hands if we be friends!” Mr. Peasley sang; he, Mrs. Peasley, Quincy, and the company’s day player jumped from the stage and urged the audience to its feet, convincing them to all take hands. As one, players and watchers chorused the last line: “And Robin shall restore amends!”

The ovation was rapturous, and the troupe returned to the stage to bask in it fully; the response had to do as much with the quality of the performance as it did with the players seeing the thing through to its end with no interruption.

As ever, watching the audience was as diverting as the play; Tabitha would not be so ill-mannered as to take her attention away from the stage, especially given what the troupe had gone through, but once concluded, the attendees created their own spectacle.

The contingent from Arcadia was especially rapturous: Osborn, serving as the day player, had acquitted himself with great vigor in his myriad roles of few words but great presence; his wife was heard to compliment him on his spear carrying, which sent her in-laws into gales of laughter.

Timothy had no sooner begun to mingle than he was surrounded by his pupils, who followed him to the tea table like a brood of ducklings; he encouraged them to share their opinions of the production. The Duchess of Lowell asked him if he thought Shakespeare, given the themes of this play, had been a man of more than one nature, and a lively debate followed.

Mr. Quincy was beckoned to join the Humphries; the Dowager Duchess took both his hands in hers, and they spoke quietly while her grandchildren swarmed around their feet. Tabitha hoped the Peaselys took their good fortune well and that their elevation in the theatrical ranks did not inspire them to change their style one whit.

Beyond the dowager duchess, Mr. MacCafferty sulked around the edges of the crowd; Tabitha considered bequeathing him her brooding boulder beneath the chestnut tree. The colts capered around him, seeking to shake him out of his dolor, and the merest quirk of a smile sent them into greater efforts to be even more amusing than the actors.

And if one knew what to look for, one would notice Mr. Bates and Jemima making an effort of their own to avoid one another’s company and yet never letting the other out of their sight.

As turnabout was fair play, Tabitha’s ease on the duke’s arm did not go unremarked.

“As I said to Beatrice only weeks ago, we must notYour Graceeach other to death. Your Grace.” Felicity smiled like all the lupine festivals had happened at once.

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