“What was your mamma like?” Rosa asked almost shyly. “My mamma loved to sing and play the pianoforte.”
Adel stretched her legs out, and propped her weight on her elbows. “Those are such wonderful skills. My mother was very unconventional and when she sung, our dogs barked in protest.”
The girls giggled and Adel grinned. “And Mamma sang every morning, with the most atrocious accent.”
“Was she French?” Rosalie whispered.
Adel winked. “American.”
The girls’ eyes widened and they glanced at her consideringly.
“Mrs. Galloway told us the Americans are savages.”
Adel frowned. “And pray tell who is Mrs. Galloway?”
“Our governess. Father fired her when she smacked Sarah,” Rosa said.
“We put frogs in her bed…and she smacked us,” Sarah said giggling.
Adel was happy to see they were not scarred from the experience. “And why would you girls do such a ghastly thing?”
“We did not like her,” they said together.
“She was very mean,” Sarah said, her lower lip trembling.
“Come here, my darling,” Adel said, then “oomped” at the force Sarah flung herself into her lap.
“Today is not a day for bad memories. We are going to eat, have some lessons, and have fun.”
Rosa shifted closer to Adel’s side, but did not hug her.
“Now the first lesson…let me tell you of the red Indians and…dare I say it? They are called savages by some.
”
They gasped and Adel settled into what would be a glorious afternoon.
Chapter Fifteen
Edmond strode toward the wide pond at the eastern side of Rosette Park, Maximus at his heels as usual. The night wrapped around Edmond in a cool caress, a welcome respite from the sweltering heat earlier. Dinner had passed in a blur, with minimal conversation between him and Adeline.
Amusement wafted through him. She had spent a good portion of it glaring at him, and it was not that he willingly ignored her, he was just too tempted to partake in all she had to offer. Her smiles, her wit and conversations, and the kisses she was hell bent on tempting him toward.
Vexing woman.
He’d been content to allow her and his mother to lead the evening, but had excused himself from joining them in the parlor for reading. That had been over an hour ago. He’d spent the time visiting his girls in their bedchamber and had read to them before kissing them goodnight.
Maximus’s heavy body bounced him, and Edmond ran his hand through his thick coat. After a few minutes he reached the cypress tree overlooking the pond and sat on the stone bench, Maximus sprawling at his feet.
There was a rustle of sound and he twisted and spied his duchess walking down the grassy knoll from the opposite direction. He frowned, not sure if he hadn’t somehow conjured her. What was she about? Edmond observed in fascination as she ran down the embankment and halted at the water’s edge. She tipped her head to the night sky, and a smile curved her lips.
His skin prickled in response to her presence. He fleetingly wondered if he were to bed her and get the deed over with, would he be so aware of her. She started to strip. He slammed his eyes shut and opened once more and his duchess was still removing the pale high waist yellow gown she had worn to dinner. It pooled at her feet in a whispering sigh. A few seconds later she stood in her white chemise, the gentle blowing breeze conforming the material to her body. Rounded hips and buttock, high pointed breasts, and well-curved thighs were revealed in stark silhouette.
Christ.
She dipped a toe into the water, and with a soft yelp retreated. Then she grinned, backed up, and launched toward the water. Edmond watched in stunned disbelief as she jumped into the lake. Despite it being summer, the water would be cold, and larks like this he would expect of himself in his younger days, or from his brother Jackson, not from a young lady.
Seconds later she surfaced and a shout of laughter escaped her, throaty yet incredibly feminine. He stepped forward, and she spun in the water with sleek grace toward the sound, an expression of shock settling on her lovely features.