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Aurora stilled, moaning a protest. "What a wretched ultimatum."
"Not an ultimatum, soleil." He threaded his fingers through her hair. "Only a delay."
"I hate waiting."
"I know." He chuckled, tracing the curve of her lips. "When it comes to you, so do I."
"Very well. If we must go, we must go." She hesitated, fully awake now. "Julian, wi
ll you give some thought to what I said before?"
"Oh, I already have." He withdrew from her reluctantly, kneeling to adjust her disheveled gown. "The whole time you were asleep." He smoothed her skirts back into place. "We'll talk later, after tonight's adventure is over."
"All right." Aurora searched his face as if seeking an answer she sensed hovered just beneath the surface. Her gaze dropped and fell on her rumpled gown, and abruptly her thoughts veered off in another direction. "I can't go out wearing this," she muttered, examining the gown's ripped layers and muddied hem.
"No, you can't." Julian's eyes twinkled as he refastened his breeches—which looked equally as pathetic as his wife's gown. "That's why I woke you. If we hurry, we'll have time for a quick bath and a change of clothes. I'll have Gin arrange for both. All we have to do is slip upstairs to our rooms."
"Rooms?" Aurora tossed back her hair and laughed. "You scarcely let me peek into my new chambers, much less explore them. I hardly know where they are, or what they look like."
"They're pale blue and adjoining mine. That's all you need to know. Trust me, your chambers won't be getting much use." With a wicked grin, Julian unbolted the door. "Shall we?"
"Absolutely." Aurora crossed over, smoothing her palms up her husband's shirtfront. "You look hopelessly disheveled, you know. As if you've been making love all afternoon."
"Do I?" Julian caught her wrist, brought her palm to his lips. "That's because I have. What's more, if I had my way, the afternoon would be stretching into evening, then into night."
"I'll remind you of that later."
"I'm counting on it." His tongue traced a fine line to her thumb.
"Julian—stop," Aurora commanded, shivering. "Or we'll never leave this room, much less travel to Fowey."
"You're right." Sighing, he released her. "Are you ready to go upstairs?"
"Indeed. Maybe if we run fast enough, the servants won't notice our tousled state." Skepticism flashed in her eyes. "Never mind. Knowing your servants, I doubt we'll fool them." Aurora paused, her lips pursed as a sudden thought seemed to intrude. "Julian, that reminds me, I've been doing a bit of thinking of my own. I know this is a most unconventional household. But I am a duchess, and I do require a lady's maid, do I not?"
Julian arched a brow, wondering where this was leading. "Of course."
"And it is proper for me to select this person myself, isn't it?"
"If I remember my protocol correctly, yes, it is."
"Good." She gave him a dazzling smile. "Then I choose Emma."
"Emma?" Whatever he'd expected, it hadn't been this. "Sweetheart, she's barely fifteen. Further, she has absolutely no experience at being a lady's maid."
"True. But youth and inexperience do have their benefits. Emma will be a quick and eager study—not to mention the fact that she'll have no means of comparison and will therefore never know how unorthodox a mistress she truly has."
Julian chuckled. "I can't disagree with that."
"Then it's settled?"
Insight dawned. "How much of your decision is based on the reasons you've just given me and how much is based on the story I told you of how Emma came to be here?"
Aurora regarded him with her perpetual candor. "Equal amounts of both. Further, I can't stop remembering the way Emma looked at me when we met—as if I held all the wonders of the world in my hands. And not because I'm titled or even because I'm married to you—although she stares at you with utter worship in her eyes—but because I'm settled, happy, with a future that I embrace. I understand her better than she thinks. When I was her age my parents were gone, Slayde was constantly abroad, and I was sequestered at Pembourne like some trapped doe. I felt lonely and out of place, and despite the mass of kindly servants around me, I always felt alone, with a less than promising future. I imagine she must feel the same. I think I could help her, offer her a position she'd enjoy and a woman she can talk to."
"I agree." Julian caressed his wife's cheek, moved by her generosity of spirit. "Then Emma it is." His hand curved about her nape and he drew her toward him, lowering his mouth to hers. "Your parents' choice of names for you was most fitting," he murmured into her lips. "As was their reasoning for choosing it. You do fill the world with sunlight. Thank you, soleil." He enfolded her against him, kissing her more deeply.
"You think Emma will be pleased?" Aurora whispered breathlessly.
