An Unexpected Pleasure (The Mad Morelands #4)(91)
*
MEGAN AWOKE THE NEXT MORNING in her own bed. She stretched and lay still for a moment, a smile hovering about her lips, letting herself luxuriate for a little while in the pleasure that permeated her body.
She felt a little sore and bruised, used in a wickedly delightful way. And she had never felt quite such satisfaction and happiness in her life.
Her smile widened to a grin as she stretched and sat up, pulling the sheets up to cover her nakedness. Her nightgown, she noted, was laid across the foot of her bed. Theo must have carried her in here sometime in the night, she thought. She had been so deeply asleep, she had not even known it.
Megan would have liked to have awakened in his bed, cuddled up to his long, hard body. Then they could have held one another as they had last night after they had made love, talking about nothing and everything, lazily caressing one another until the need had overtaken them and they had made love all over again, more slowly and thoroughly this time, but with no less cataclysmic pleasure.
But it wouldn’t have done, she knew, for her to still be in his bed when the rest of the household got up. It would be a tremendous scandal if one of the maids had come in upon them, or if Megan ran into the duchess in the hallway as she made her way back to her room, still clad in her nightgown.
Secrecy, she knew, would have to be a watchword of their relationship, however much it pained her. The fatalist in her knew that Theo was her destiny, that her heart was his for the rest of her life. The realist in her knew that she could be no more than a beloved mistress to a future duke. And if that knowledge ate a little at her happiness, well, that was simply something she would have to overcome, just as she would have to overcome the fierce disapproval of her family.
The important thing was that she had found her love, her life, and she had no intention of letting him go.
She rose and bathed, then dressed, in a quiet hum of happiness. She was late to breakfast, for the twins were long finished and already up in their schoolroom, so she grabbed only a quick bite and a cup of tea before she joined them.
“Miss Henderson! I mean, Mulcahey,” Alex hastily amended. “You look beautiful.”
“Why, thank you, Alex,” Megan replied, her grin springing up again.
“What happened? Did you find out something about your brother?” Con asked, leaning forward, interested.
“A little,” Megan admitted. “But I found out more about myself. And it’s very nice.”
The boys looked puzzled, but shrugged it off and returned to their studies. Megan tried to settle down to their schoolwork, too, but she found her mind wandering off with regularity, hopping from Theo to her future to the Cavendish Museum to speculation of just what had taken place on the day her brother died.
She was afraid she blushed later in the morning when Theo strolled in, and, after one dazzling smile for him, she struggled to keep her distance and an aloof manner.
She realized that she must not have done a very good job of it when, after Theo left, Con asked her bluntly, “Are you in love with Theo?”
“What? Don’t be absurd,” she said repressively.
Con and Alex rolled their eyes at one another, and Con went on, “’Cause he’s silly about you.”
Alex nodded. “Just like Rafe was with Kyria.” He screwed up his face in a puzzled look. “Are grown-ups always like that?”
Megan could not help but laugh. “I’m not sure. Perhaps they are. It’s…fun to be silly about someone.”
Con shook his head, and the boys bent their heads once again to their schoolwork.
She was going to have to be more careful, Megan thought. It would not do to let everyone see how she felt about Theo.
After lunch, when the boys were released for their science lesson, Megan went down to the garden to walk. It had become a habit with her during the time she had been here at Broughton House. Today she found Theo waiting for her.
They walked through the garden, talking and laughing, even sneaking a few heart-stopping kisses in the shadowed secrecy of the rose arbor. And for those few hours, she thought not at all about Julian Coffey or Andrew Barchester or the Cavendish Museum.
It wasn’t until that evening, after the family supper, when the problem of Coffey intruded on her again. As she sat with the rest of the family in the piano room, chatting while Anna played a few popular tunes, Megan saw a young blond man stop outside in the hall. He looked into the room, and when Theo’s head turned in his direction, he raised his eyebrows significantly. Theo rose, turning to look at Megan.
“Miss Mulcahey? I believe we have a matter that concerns you?” he said politely, ignoring the interested glances of the rest of the family.
“Yes, of course.” Megan rose, excusing herself to the duchess and the others, and followed Theo out into the hallway.
“Megan, this is Tom Quick,” Theo introduced her.
“Ah, yes, the man who followed me,” Megan replied tartly. “It’s nice to actually meet you face-to-face.”
Tom Quick shot her an unrepentant grin. “My pleasure.”
“What brings you here, Tom?” Theo went on. He had set Quick to watch the museum after they had followed Andrew Barchester there the day before. “Did you learn something about Coffey?”
“I’m not sure, sir,” Quick told him. “But there is something strange going on over at that museum.”