A Match Made in Bed (Spinster Heiresses #2)(75)

Logan liked the idea.

“Come now, to bed,” Soren said. “We have work to do on the morrow.” His son obeyed. He’d always listened to Soren, who had never understood why his mother had the issue she did with this child . . . save for her insistence Logan was not all English.

She refused to appreciate how strong and healthy he was. How white and straight his teeth were. Or admire his energy and ingenuity, two qualities Soren valued. Logan was going to do well in life. And if Lord Liverpool, who was rumored to have Indian blood, could rise to the highest offices in the land, then so could his son.

Soren went through the motions of preparing for bed himself. Logan watched quietly a moment, apparently content, before he slipped into sleep. His child was exhausted, as was Soren.

However, he’d become accustomed to having his wife beside him. As soon as he believed it was safe, he climbed out of his bed and made his way to Cassandra’s.

He’d hoped she’d be waiting up for him.

Instead, she slept as if she was home at last. Even when Soren put his weight on the mattress, she did not stir.

The last days of the full moon that had followed them from London streamed through her window and outlined her body. She was naked, and he silently laughed.

She’d done it to tease him, and it would have worked, if she’d been awake.

He did not have the heart to disturb her. He lifted a lock of her hair and rubbed it between his fingers.

“Thank you, my love,” he said. “And I promise you will never regret this marriage.”

For the first time since he’d silently made this promise to himself, he knew it would come true.



The first ray of dawn woke Cassandra. She was not ready to start the day. The bed had felt better than she could have imagined. She stretched as she turned over, and then saw her husband’s body beside her. He wasn’t under the sheets with her but had the counterpane over his most intimate parts.

He was very enticing in his relaxed state.

She wondered what would happen if she nibbled on his neck.

Rolling onto her belly, she carefully scooted her way toward him—

Soren rose up and leaped on her. He’d been lying in wait.

His hand over her mouth prevented her surprised cry. And then his lips on her mouth kept her busy.

He was already fully aroused. She should have noticed the change in the counterpane. It didn’t matter. She now had what she wanted.

Their coupling was good, very good . . . quietly good. He turned her on her side to enter her, his thigh over her hip. She covered his hand with hers, holding him to her.

It was all so right, and just when she felt his release, when she, too, experienced that sharp shiver of completion, the door between their rooms started to open.

“Logan, wait,” Soren ordered. He grabbed the counterpane to cover them.

To his credit, the child did stop.

“I will be right there.” He gave Cassandra a hard buss. “We will have to think this through.”

“I may have an idea.”

“Will it mean you are in my bed?”

“That is where I wish to be.”

“Then do it.” Leaving her the sheet, he wrapped the heavy counterpane around him and walked out of the room.

“It would help if you wore nightclothes,” she reminded his retreating figure. His answer was a grin.

But she did have an idea, and she had Miss Edgeworth to thank for it. She would turn her bedroom into Logan’s room. Then she could share Soren’s.

It didn’t take much to make the change. Over breakfast she outlined her plan to Soren and Logan. “I need your help,” she informed her stepson.

“We were going to tell stories,” Logan answered.

She was pleased he remembered. “We can do it as we change the rooms.” He liked that idea.

And, so, while Arabella was moved to a cottage by the house servants, four stable lads helped Logan and her set up what she was calling the “children’s” room. Because, she told him, he was too old for a nursery. He agreed.

She used Miss Edgeworth’s book as a guideline. The first advice was to have only furniture that, should it be spoiled, would not cause anyone grief. Cassandra had her bed moved to the nursery and the nursery’s furniture in her room. She had Logan pick out toys that interested him. There were not many. So, she instructed one of the stable lads, following a suggestion in the book, to cut different shapes and sizes of wood into blocks.

Later, when the room was set up, she and Logan sat on the portico and sanded those blocks of wood so they would not give him splinters. He liked having work. He was also proud of what he’d done and showed his handiwork to his father.

That night, Cassandra slept in her husband’s bed and it was exactly as it should be, although she could not convince either of the men in her life to wear nightclothes.



The next day, she made it a point to call on Arabella. She had Cook prepare a basket of bread, jam, and cheese. “Do you wish to come with me?” she said to her men.

“She sent me a note letting me know she is highly displeased,” Soren answered. “I shall give her more time.”

“And you, Logan? Will you join me?”

He looked to his father. “It is your decision,” Soren told him.

Logan considered the matter in his grave manner that was actually endearing in such a young child. “I will go with you, friend.”