Regency Romp 03 - The Alabaster Hip by Maggie Fenton

Author:Maggie Fenton [Fenton, Maggie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-03-27T07:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

IN WHICH THE VISCOUNT MISS JONES SEDUCES MISS JONES THE VISCOUNT

WHEN MINERVA RETURNED to the nursery that night, she found the twins still awake and playing spillikins, despite having tucked them in before the start of dinner. It was obvious having Lord Barming under the same roof was the reason they were unable to settle for the night, but she supposed she couldn’t blame them. The last time their grandfather had been around, they’d been shipped off to West Barming School for Recalcitrant Young Ladies. That was enough to cow even the most intractable of souls.

She managed to coax them back into bed by promising them a chapter from Gulliver’s Travels—a book they seemed to love despite its gruesome politics (though that was probably why they liked it)—but just as they were settling in, the viscount appeared at the door, looking weary and rumpled, his jawline already starting to reveal its bruises and the cut in his lip just beginning to scab over.

After all that had happened at dinner—all that had been revealed—she understood his mood and his desire to seek solace in his children. He had routed the duke, but the cost to himself had been high. He must have been used to his father’s contempt—had even expected it to be rained down upon him—but she doubted that familiarity had made it any easier to bear the earl’s vicious words. She barely resisted the urge to go to him and offer some sort of comfort, for he looked as if he needed it. But it was not her place. She doubted it ever would be, though she was beginning to wish it were.

When the girls caught sight of him, they jumped from their beds, decorum completely abandoned, and mobbed him. The weary look on the viscount’s face immediately faded away, and his tense lips smiled gently as he held his children close. But then Beatrice looked up at her father and frowned. “Papa, what happened to your face?” Beatrice cried in alarm.

Marlowe touched his bruised jaw and split lip as if he’d just remembered the abuse he’d received and froze. “I tripped,” he said.

“Tripped?” Beatrice said skeptically.

“Tripped and fell into a door.” It was a ridiculous explanation, but Minerva supposed it was better than the truth.

“It must have been a very angry door,” Bea said, her brow furrowed as if she still did not quite believe it.

“It was,” he agreed. “And speaking of angry doors, I have good news. Your grandfather will be leaving tomorrow morning.”

The twins both breathed a sigh of relief at this. “Can we have our reward, then?” Beatrice demanded after exchanging an excited look with her sister.

Marlowe fixed Minerva with a mock serious look. “Miss Jones, how did my daughters fare today?”

“Very well, my lord,” she managed. They’d been so well behaved it had been disconcerting. “We did figures this morning”—both twins made retching sounds at the reminder—“and they both chose books to read for the afternoon.”

“We’ve been ever so good today, Father,” Bea said, gazing up at her father with her big brown eyes.

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