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She cackled. “I’ll be in the morning room. Come see me when you’re done.”
After she tromped away, Royal quietly tapped on the door. A moment later Betty opened it.
“Good morning, Betty.” He smiled when the girl stifled a yawn. “I take it you didn’t get much sleep last night, either.”
She flashed him a charming set of dimples. “Aye, my bed is callin’ to me. I’ll be snugglin’ in for a nice, wee nap as soon as I can.”
Ainsley, propped up in bed writing at a small lap desk, glanced up. “That will be all, Betty. You can go downstairs and get your breakfast.”
The girl looked dubious. “Are ye sure, my lady? Mam said it wasn’t proper that I left ye alone with Mr. Kendrick last night. There not bein’ a proper chaperone, and all, after her ladyship retired.”
Ainsley stared at the girl with disbelief. “I assure you, Mr. Kendrick and I will not be getting up to any frolics. Besides, you are the last person one can imagine serving as an effective chaperone.”
“Happens you’re right, my lady. Mam says I’m a terrible flirt,” Betty cheerfully replied.
“Your mother is a perceptive woman,” Ainsley said.
Royal choked down a laugh that largely stemmed from the enormous relief flooding through his veins. Clearly in fine fettle, his sweet lass looked unexpectedly robust and so, so beautiful, even after what she’d just been through.
“We’ll be sure to ring if we need anything,” he said to Betty.
The maid flashed him another saucy smile. “Aye, sir, if ye need anything.Anything.”
Including a frolic, apparently.
“That girl is positively indefatigable,” Royal said after the door closed behind her.
“You mean incorrigible,” Ainsley replied. “Not that I truly blame her. There’s not been a man under the age of sixty in this house for two months. She’s only got poor Willy to flirt with, and he’s only sixteen.”
“I’m enjoying being the decorous one, for once,” he said, as he strolled over to the bed.
The massive four-poster was ornately antique and, like the rest of the furniture, was from a time when clan fought clan and life in the Highlands was dramatic and wild. The setting was perfect for Ainsley, who might have been a Scottish princess come to lord it over her loyal subjects.
Like me.
She gave him a wry smile. “Everyone in my aunt’s household is so ridiculous that your dreadful manners pale in comparison.”
When he burst into laughter, she cast a quick glance at the cradle by the fireplace.
“Sorry,” he said softly. “I take it the little mite is sleeping.”
“After I fed her, she went right to sleep. I must say, she’s a very good baby, so far.”
Royal grinned. “She was only born six hours ago, lass. I’m not sure if that’s quite enough time to make a determination.”
Ainsley’s chin went up in that imperious little tilt he loved. “I’m her mother, so I should know.”
“I stand corrected.” He leaned against the bedpost, enjoying the sight of her.
She was garbed in a white dressing gown lavishly trimmed with lace, and her ebony-silk hair was piled into a simple knot on the top of her head. With her pink-cheeked complexion and her clear violet gaze, Ainsley looked so lovely it was hard to believe that mere hours ago she’d been doubled over with pain, thin-lipped and sweating her way through each painful contraction.
“And you’re really all right?” he asked softly.
“Healthy as a heifer, according to Dr. MacTavish,” she said. “He made a point of telling me that my anatomy was exceedingly well designed for the task at hand, if you can believe it.”
“‘Broad in the beam’ was the exact phrase, I believe.”
She crinkled her nose. “How rude of you to remember.”
