Lady Beauchamp's Proposal by Amy Rose Bennett

Author:Amy Rose Bennett
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: 0
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Over the next week, despite her nightly lack of sleep and subsequent exhaustion, Elizabeth knew that she glowed with a certain indefinable something. She saw it when she looked in the mirror after she’d woken every morning—her grey eyes shone softy, as if lit from within, and she couldn’t seem to stop smiling.

Others seemed to notice the change in her too. Mrs. Roberts smiled at her knowingly whenever Elizabeth went into the kitchen to discuss the day’s menu. Roberts even winked at her when he passed her in the hallway one day. Of course, Elizabeth had blushed, but it truly did seem that Lord Rothsburgh was correct when he had originally asserted that his staff would not condemn her. It felt quite bizarre that others would be so accepting of the fact she was the marquess’s mistress, especially when she could hardly believe it herself.

Thankfully, James did not press her again on the subject of quitting Eilean Tor and installing her somewhere else as his mistress proper. Instead, they had fallen very quickly and easily into a mutually satisfying pattern of existence. James spent every night in her bed—although sleep was the furthest thing on both their minds—until the morning light began to creep into her room. Then she would rise late, and go through the charade of pretending to be just the housekeeper with only domestic matters on her mind, when really all she could think about was James and his love-making.

But then James gave her little time to think of anything else. Highly important and ‘confidential’ discussions on household management behind locked doors invariably turned into something else entirely. She quickly learned that one didn’t just make love in a bed, but that desks, dining room tables, window seats, battlements and even piano stools could all be used in a number of unconventional ways to perform sexual feats that she had never dreamed of.

Elizabeth had also given up using a copious amount of hair pins to secure her coiffure; braiding and twisting her hair into a tight knot at the nape of her neck with only the barest number of pins turned out be the only sensible way to ensure she didn’t leave a trail of them all over the castle. Not that it really mattered, given it was obvious what James and she were up to. But the conservative side of her still wanted to pretend she was a decent woman.

One of the unexpected delights of this arrangement was that Elizabeth experienced—for the first time in her adult life—the simple pleasure of being with a man who obviously enjoyed her company. James regarded her as an intelligent equal in conversation—her opinion mattered to him. Sharing banter, engaging in discussions about anything and everything, even trying to trounce James at chess—he was a formidable player—all were equally stimulating and enjoyable. Hugh had rarely even given her the time of day.

The only testing part of the whole scenario was taking care to avoid slips of the tongue about who she really was.

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