Loving a Fearless Duchess: A Historical Regency Romance Book(47)

Cecilia and Avery got along well, and Penelope thought her mother much improved since Avery’s arrival the previous day. Penelope watched her mother eat most of her meal. Being on the road was helping her. Penelope wondered if Avery and her mother were close when they were younger, before her mother married her father.

“Mother, it’s nice to see you and Uncle Avery together. Are you enjoying his company?”

Cecilia smiled. “I lost touch with Avery when I married your father. Avery didn’t approve of him. Now, the years have melted away. We are catching up with a lifetime of births and deaths and everything in between.”

Penelope smiled and kissed her mother. “Goodnight, Mother.”

“Goodnight, dear.”

The carriages stopped at the foot of Uncle Avery’s townhouse, and Edward took Penelope’s hand. They looked out the window at stairs that went to a black door with a brass knocker. A brass knocker in the shape of the lion was attached to the door but it wasn’t used because the butler opened it and bowed as they entered. He took their overcoats and wraps.

Avery introduced his sister and her children with pride. He directed the butler to put their trunks in rooms he assigned to them and let the butler know they wanted tea. They all went into the parlour and sat with a collective, “Aah.”

Avery told them he would send up a tray of food to hold them over until dinner. They could bathe and rest.

Penelope loved her room, and it adjoined Cecilia’s so she could keep an eye on her mother.





Chapter 18


Penelope spent the next few days with her mother, planning her wedding, at the modiste’s for her trousseau and wedding gown or shopping for hats, shoes, and gloves and endless other things. The modiste talked her into some lovely shear underthings Madame thought Nash might like. She always thought Uncle Avery had taken good care of her needs as well as those of her mother and brother, but the things she had in her wardrobe were inadequate for her new station as a Duchess. She didn’t fault her uncle. She just realized how much more she needed.

One day when Coleman opened the door for Penelope, and a footman carried in the shopping bags, he told her Henry was in the parlour waiting for her. She gave Coleman her wrap and asked him to let Henry know he would never be welcome there. She went upstairs without a backward look.

***

Edward saw Nash and Penelope to the Dover docks so the newlyweds could get on a boat to Calais and begin their honeymoon. Nash gave Edward the name of three hotels they were staying at during their travels. Paris, Rome, and Catania, Sicily, if reaching Nash were absolutely necessary.

Penelope hugged Edward, and he slapped Nash on his back. The footmen moved the travel trunks from the carriage to the boat, and the honeymoon began.

Penelope was excited on the boat trip to Calais. It wasn’t as long a ride at around six hours, than the trip from Nantes to Rome would be, so it was an easy leg of their journey. When they reached Calais, the carriage ride to Paris was about two and a half days. Penelope hoped her enthusiasm would still be intact when they arrived in Paris.

Nash stole looks at Penelope, leaning over the boat rail, breathing in the sea air, and silently laughed. She was jumping out of her skin right now. Her head would be on Nash’s shoulder, too tired to keep her eyes open, during their carriage ride to Paris. No matter, after ten days in Paris, Penelope would be recovered enough for the grueling trip to Rome.

“Oh, Nash. This suite is beautiful. Our stay in Paris will be quite comfortable.”

“Yes. I stayed here before a few years ago. I was afraid it might have lost its appeal since then, but it’s still as I remembered it.

“What would you like to do first, Penelope?”

“I’d like to bathe then eat lunch. Maybe we can walk around after that?”

“Sounds perfect. I’ll call for water. See the tub in the corner?” Nash brought her to it. “There is a plug and a pipe. When you are done, you unplug it, and the water goes down the pipe. Clever, don’t you think?”

Penelope’s eyes widened. “There? Why don’t we do that at home?”

Nash gave her a smile, “We will. This hotel was built with the pipes planned in every room. Our bedchamber has the rock walls and no pipes.”

After a lovely late dinner at a café near their hotel, Nash and Penelope headed to bed. Nash lay in bed with his hands crossed, cradling his head while he waited for his bride. She was undressing behind the screen.

“Madame Leduc insisted I buy this nightgown. She said every woman on her honeymoon should have one. Promise not to laugh?”

Nash rolled his eyes. He would want her tonight if she were in a potato sack. But he would make sure to praise her when she joined him in bed no matter what she was wearing.

“I promise.”

She walked from behind the screen and stood in front of Nash in a sheer white nightgown with thin straps over her shoulders, no sleeves, and a very low cut.

He could see her birthmark right above her left breast, her bellybutton and her –

“Nash. Say something,” she said, a beautiful blush on her face.

Nash held his hand out to her.

“Come here wife. Madame Leduc is a very wise woman. Remind me to send her a bonus when we get back to London. You are an angel sent from heaven just for me.”

Penelope let out a breath, and her nerves settled. “I wasn’t sure if I should have brought it or if I should wear it.”