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‘Just for that I am going to take you upstairs and make love to you all over again.’ He picked her up and strode over the threshold as she laughed and pretended to struggle.
The study door opened as they were halfway to the foot of the stairs. Jack stopped and set her on her feet, for which she was grateful. It was embarrassing enough to be caught looking as though she had been tumbled on the lake shore without actually being in Jack’s arms.
‘Excuse me, my lord.’ Mr Lyminge saw her and blushed. ‘My lady.’
She could see Mr Paulson behind him looking uncharacteristically serious.
‘Did you want to speak to me?’ Jack asked. He was smiling, but she could hear the impatience he was trying to conceal and his hand still held hers.
‘If it is not inconvenient. There is something... You might be aware of it, of course—’ Douglas Lyminge was clearly uncomfortable.
‘But I very much doubt it,’ Paulson said. ‘I do feel that you should look at what w
e have found, my lord.’
‘I will probably drip pond weed on you,’ Jack said. ‘But very well, if it is urgent, we will come now.’
‘It is nothing we need concern her ladyship about,’ Paulson said hastily.
She should insist, of course, but the magic of the afternoon lingered and accounts were like a black cloud on the horizon. Jack would tell her about it later and they could decide how to deal with whatever the problem was. ‘In that case, I will leave you to the ledgers,’ she said with a smile.
‘I will see you at dinner, my dear,’ Jack said quietly and squeezed her hand.
Madelyn rang for Harper and bathed, washed her hair, sat on the window seat in the sunshine brushing it dry and studied the garden. She listened for Jack coming up to his room to bathe and change, but the two men must be keeping him over the accounts. She did hope they had not found bad news about the state of the other estates. It was beginning to dawn on her that her father had neglected all of them, not taking trouble to find the best tenants, not investing as he should.
It would mean a great deal of work, worry for Jack, considerable investment. But they could do it—she would discover how she could best help. It might take several years, but they would restore all the Dersington lands, repair the damage their fathers had wrought.
And there, at last, was the sound of his footsteps in the room next door. She knew his tread, knew it was not Tanfield. The connecting door opened, banged back against the wall.
Madelyn turned, swung her feet down off the window seat. Goodness, but he is in haste! It was rather flattering. Then she saw his face.
‘Get out,’ he said to Harper, who had put down her mending and stood up to bob a curtsy.
The maid looked to Madelyn and she nodded. Harper went to the connecting door and closed it behind her, leaving them alone.
‘I am not sure what I ever did to deserve this of Aylmer—perhaps my father caused him harm in the past,’ Jack said, as though carrying on an ordinary conversation over the teacups. ‘I would not be surprised. But I am at a loss to understand why you should dislike me quite so much.’
‘I do not... I... Jack what are you talking about?’ There was ice in the pit of her stomach. ‘What is wrong?’
‘I had thought that what you proposed to me, what your father had so carefully constructed, was a fair exchange. After all, he was a gentleman, you are a lady. One would think one could trust your word. A wife and my lands back for me and, for you, a husband of his choosing and the family and status you wanted.’
‘Yes,’ Madelyn agreed. ‘Exactly that.’
‘How long did you think you could keep me distracted with your kisses and your smiles and your imitation of an affectionate wife? It was very good, I have to tell you. I was quite taken in, quite sure that you were becoming fond of me. Fool that I am.’
‘But I am. Jack, I love you.’
‘Very good.’ He applauded, three slow handclaps. ‘If you had said that a few hours ago on the lake shore, I think I would have believed you.’
‘But it is true.’ The ice was chilling her entire body now.
‘Don’t, Madelyn. Don’t make it worse with more lies. I thought I was agreeing to an exchange, but what I was doing was walking into a trap, one baited with rotten meat.’
‘I don’t understand.’ She sat down, unable to stand, let alone go to him. ‘I know the estates are not in as good a condition as they should be. My father was careless, did not pay them the attention they needed. But we can make the neglect good.’
‘Really? What with, might I ask? Not with that damn castle of yours and its land and its treasury of valuables because that is all in trust, is it not? And not with any ready cash or investments either, because you spent all that on settling debts and paying off mortgages before their time and meeting loans that had years to run. I have my estates, thank you, Madam Wife. I have my estates in tatters and not a penny piece to restore them with.’
Chapter Twenty
