Page 34 of Their Wildest Dreams

“Because I have known you since you were in leading strings, and you have not the least notion how to conceal anything from me.” She opened the wardrobe and began examining the gowns within. “His lordship has also looked as if he has not slept since the wedding.”

“Has anyone else noticed?”

“Noticed what? He comes to your chamber each evening and is not seen leaving it. The passage between your rooms permits him to come and go without walking through the house. For all any servant knows, he spends every night in this bed.”

“But you knew.”

“I suspected. That is not the same thing.” Mrs. Mercer selected a morning gown and laid it across the chair. “And if anyone else has formed the same suspicion, they will have the good sense to keep it to themselves. I’ll brook no gossips in this house.”

Harriet thought of Selby watching them in church. Good sense had never prevented him from doing anything that served his purpose. “Selby would not.”

Mrs. Mercer’s expression sharpened. “No. I imagine he would not.”

“If he learned of it, he would use it. Benedict believes he may try to challenge the settlement and perhaps the marriage itself. At the very least he would cause enough trouble that my father would be forced to defend it.”

“Then we will be careful. But you will not take his lordship into your bed simply because Selby has driven you there. That would give the man more power over you than he deserves.”

It was a much more difficult admission, but a vital one. “It is not only because of Selby.”

Mrs. Mercer waited. She had always possessed a particular manner of waiting which suggested that whatever Harriet refused to say would eventually be dragged into the light.

“Benedict kissed me last night.”

“Ah.”

Harriet bristled. “What does that mean?”

“It means several things now make considerably more sense.”

“I do not know why I bothered telling you.”

“Because you wish to ask me something and have spent the last five minutes attempting to work your way toward it.” Mrs. Mercer sat in the chair beside the bed. “Ask.”

Harriet drew a slow breath. “What should I expect if I invite him to stay?”

Mrs. Mercer’s brows rose. “You grew up in the country, child! Surely you have some idea.”

“I would hope that things between two people would be slightly different than rutting beasts in a field!”

Mrs. Mercer smirked a bit. “You might be surprised.”

“What the devil does that mean?” Harriet insisted.

Mrs. Mercer’s mouth twitched, but she had the grace to suppress the smile. “Never you mind. That is for another day.”

“I am serious,” Harriet said. “I know what occurs. I do not know what I am expected to do or how I ought to behave—” She stopped, suddenly uncertain how many humiliating questions she intended to ask before breakfast. “It is different when people are involved, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is. People think too much.” Mrs. Mercer reached out and smoothed a crease in the counterpane. “Whether it is painful depends much upon how patient the gentleman in question is. As you’ve been wed for a week, I daresay he’s proven his patience.”

“That is not particularly reassuring.”

“It is not meant to frighten you either. Benedict will know what he is about.”

“You cannot know that.”

Mrs. Mercer gave her a look of profound disbelief. “My dear, his lordship is a handsome, unmarried gentleman of rank who has spent a considerable portion of his adult life away from his mother’s supervision. I can assure you he is not a novice to the process.”

Harriet felt heat rush into her face. The knowledge should not have surprised her. Benedict was not a green youth, and gentlemen were permitted freedoms women were expected not even to understand. Still, she did not enjoy imagining him exercising those freedoms with someone else.