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Jackson was silent until they reached the threshold. “I do wish you all the best, and I am sure you will be happy. Though, I do have a question for you before we leave, Marquess.”
“Oh?”
“Indeed. Would you have chosen Patricia as my match?” He raised a challenging eyebrow.
Henrietta looked abashed. “I don’t truly know, Your Gra— Jackson,” she amended the address at the arch of his expression. Jackson had insisted at their first formal meeting that there be no formalities between them. “I cannot say what I would have done, had I been asked to match you. But I think you have done quite well for yourselves, so it does not matter so much. And in any case, I shall not be engaged in matchmaking in the future.”
“And whyever not?” Eva tilted a coy look at her friend.
Henrietta blinked. “I did not win the wager.”
“Did you not?” Eva smirked and curled her hand around Andrew’s arm. “The wager was that you should see the Marquess matched and married in three months. I never declared that the match would have to be with me. You only assumed so because of the start of our conversation.”
Henrietta’s lips parted in surprise. “I…”
“You have won the wager after all, dear Henrietta. For the Marquess is matched and married indeed, and the three months still have nearly a fortnight before they expire.”
Daniel found himself laughing, joined by the others as Henrietta flushed lightly.
Of course, Henrietta was not one to be bested for long. A glint of mischief entered her pretty blue eyes. “Are you asking for my expertise on your behalf, Eva?”
“Not at all! I shall get on quite well on my own. I only wished to remind you that you need not cease your efforts, and I am sure there are plenty of members of the ton that shall benefit from your skills in the future.”
“And on that note, I should like to enjoy my lady wife’s most recent success.” Daniel gave his guests a meaningful smile that made Henrietta turn crimson once again, while the others chuckled.
CHAPTERTWENTY-SIX
Farewells were swift after Daniel’s pert remark, and soon the last four guests were clattering away down the drive and disappearing back down the road toward town.
Daniel’s arms went around Henrietta and pulled her back to him. “Alone at last.” His breath ruffled her hair, and his ardor was evident in the pressure against her back in one specific point.
“There’s Danvers.” She pointed out softly, teasing him.
“Not for long. I gave him some time off for the remainder of the day. In any case, all our servants have been ordered to stay far away from the master suite until they are summoned. So, we shall be quite alone in that part of the house.” His breath blew hot across her ear as he murmured the words, sending a tingle through her.
She was suddenly much less interested in teasing him, at least in that manner. She tipped her head back to return the favor. “Perhaps you ought to show me this master suite, so I can judge its suitability.” She dropped her voice to a sultry purr and felt his arms tighten in reflex.
“And so I shall. But first, your wedding present.” One hand slipped from her waist and there was a whisper of fabric. Soft cloth fell over her eyes and settled in a band around her head. “I wish to surprise you. Will you trust me, Henrietta? My Hetty?”
The low growl of his voice and the use of her false name, which he had taken to using as an affectionate nickname, sent more shivers of heat and desire spiraling through her. She was much less interested in any wedding gift than she was in the bedchamber. Nonetheless, she relaxed into his arms to show her compliance. “Yes.”
Daniel took her hands and led her inside, through the hall she recognized, until he turned in one direction and led her to the base of some steps. Taking unfamiliar steps blindfolded was neither easy nor particularly fun, but Daniel kept a secure hold on her, and she never felt anything less than completely safe.
At the top of the stairs, he turned her to one side, leading her down a darker hallway, patches of light and warmth alerting her to the presence of windows.
At last, he stopped, and he turned her to face a wall. She heard him fussing with something, then he stepped behind her and drew the blindfold away from her eyes. Henrietta gasped in wonder as the gift was revealed.
It was the statue. The statue she had posed for, that had been such a central part of their relationship’s beginning and growth. It sat in a recessed little alcove beside a sturdy-looking door. Only now, it was finished, clean and polished and elegant, the folds of the carved marble draping seductively to follow the lines of the figure. Details were hinted at, from the delicate bared shoulders to the barely covered breasts, which were defined enough that the sheet might have been pure gauze or missing entirely. Fabric curved and clung to outline the junction of her thighs, teasing with hints of what lay beneath as it flowed and wrapped in looser folds about her legs until it ended just above bared feet.
The face...she had not paid much attention when he was sculpting the face of the statue, too embarrassed at modeling nearly nude and too focused on her questions. But this...she had never seen herself thus in the mirror and wondered at the expression Daniel had captured in the glistening stone.
The statue’s face was tipped slightly to one side in a manner that made the expression look inquisitive. And yet there was a slight quirk of the lips, a delicate and barely defined arch of the eyebrow, that hinted at mischief, a subtle positioning of the shoulders and the arch of the neck and the line of the chin that hinted at both stubbornness and laughter.
“Beautiful.” She traced her hand over the marble, polished to a high luster and smooth as silk and satin under her hand. Only Daniel, she thought, could have captured such emotions, and only in their little games and exchanges of wit, when she had quite forgotten herself. And only his skill could have brought them to life with such amazing finesse.
“Indeed. This door here is mine…” His hand brushed the wood of the portal. “...and I had the statue placed here to remind us always of the beginning of our relationship. Of everything that brought us together.” He enfolded her in a passionate embrace once more. “No other shall ever see this finished statue. Only you and I…”
“It is beautiful. Only you could have made such an image. I feel as if your craft has given me the appearance of a goddess.”
