He didn’t pretend to misunderstand her. “I imagine that it would be. Actually, it’s difficult for me as well. But my mother, as well meaning as you know she is, is not one to remain in any one place and grow roots. No, she’ll be off before very long, probably to Venice.” He looked down at his shining Hessians. “There is no one else like her, you know.”
She felt helpless, beaten down—all by a woman who was really quite nice and seemed to care about her. “She treats all of this so matter-of-factly.”
“Yes. It is the way she is, the way she will always be. I assume she accused you of being jealous?”
“She mistook my reaction to all her mistress talk as jealousy, which it wasn’t. I told you, Rohan, I am not a milksop female, nor am I like your mother.”
“I have told her that you would be an interfering wife.”
“Goodness, and she still wanted you to marry me?”
“Oh, yes, she thinks you’ll change, under her tutelage, and under the sheer glut of other women trekking in and out of my bedroom.”
“I would prefer it if you wouldn’t do that.”
“I have no intention of parading women under your nose, Susannah. I have told you that.”
“Yes, but—”
“No buts. Contrive to trust me, Susannah. Now, I don’t think we should take Toby with us to Oxford. Indeed, I have arranged for Mr. Byam to take him to the seashore for some botany studies. I think he’ll find that of much more interest than wandering about Oxford with us.”
“Yes, he already mentioned it to me. He’s very excited. In fact, he—”
They heard a howl from the entrance hall.
Rohan burst through the door so fast he nearly tripped on the suit of armor that stood too close to the room. He cursed, then saw Toby flat on his stomach, his arms and legs sprawled. Ozzy Harker stood behind him, nodding placidly.
“My God, what’s happened?”
Susannah skittered to a stop beside her brother and fell to her knees. She shook his shoulder very gently. “Toby, are you all right? Are you hurt?”
Toby gave his sister a disgusted look, pulled himself to a sitting position, and said, “I’m fine. It’s Gilly. He leapt out of my arms and Ozzy told me I was to chase him, even yell at him if I wanted to. I did and went sprawling over one of Marianne’s toys.” He raised himself and pulled a small wooden block with painted faces on each side of it from beneath his bottom.
Toby looked back and grinned at Ozzy. “Gilly’s fast, really fast. Did you see him fly across the tiles? I don’t think I had a chance of catching him.”
“ ’E’s got th’ champeen’s blood,” Ozzy said and nodded again, so pleased that Rohan thought he would yell with his fervor. But he didn’t, just nodded again and took himself off. “Tom’ll be pleased, ’e will. Lordie, ’e’s a fast littil sprat, our Gilly cat.”
“Where is the bloody cat?” Rohan said, looking around. Then they heard a scream of laughter at the top of the staircase. There was Marianne, racing around in circles, with the kitten trying to climb up her dress. Charlotte stood over her, smiling down at her, doing nothing.
Susannah collapsed against the wall in laughter.
22
THEY ARRIVED AT DINWITTY MANOR TO FIND PHILLIP MERCERAULT, Viscount Derencourt, in residence. No, he hadn’t received Rohan’s first letter, since, obviously, he wasn’t in London. He had, however, received the second letter, which Rohan had sent to Dinwitty Manor. He greeted Susannah with pleasure, hiding well his astonishment. A lady described in a letter was one thing; a lady greeting him in person was quite another.
“You’re here to visit me, you say, Rohan?” he said after all the greetings were passed about.
“Yes.”
“Don’t tell me that this is your bridal visit? Surely you would have more imagination than this.”
“No, it’s not our honeymoon, but sort of. Susannah and I have only been wed for five days, as I wrote to you.”
“Ah.”
Susannah sent him a stricken look, to which her husband said smoothly, “As I told you, Susannah, Phillip and I have been friends for so many years we can’t even remember when it started. Probably with me pounding him into the dirt. In any case, I wrote him the truth. He won’t tell anyone, will you, Phillip?”
“Not even a racing cat, if I owned one, which I don’t, since the Harker brothers never believed my commitment profound enough.”