“Your responsibilities as Countess of Kilmartin do not include finding me a wife,” he said.
“They should.”
He laughed, which delighted her. She could always make him laugh.
“Very well,” she said, giving up for now. “Tell me about something wicked, then. Something John would not approve of.”
It was a game they played, even in John’s presence, although John always made at least the pretense of discouraging them. But Francesca suspected that John enjoyed Michael’s tales as much as she did. Once he’d finished with his obligatory admonitions, he was always all ears.
Not that Michael ever told them much. He was far too discreet for that. But he dropped hints and innuendo, and Francesca and John were always thoroughly entertained. They wouldn’t trade their wedded bliss for anything, but who didn’t like to be regaled with tales of debauchery and spice?
“I’m afraid I’ve done nothing wicked this week,” Michael said, steering her around the corner to King Street.
“You? Impossible.”
“It’s only Tuesday,” he reminded her.
“Yes, but not counting Sunday, which I’m sure you would not desecrate”-she shot him a look that said she was quite certain he’d already sinned in every way possible, Sunday or no-“that does leave you Monday, and a man can do quite a bit on a Monday.”
“Not this man. Not this Monday.”
“What did you do, then?”
He thought about that, then said, “Nothing, really.”
“That’s impossible,” she teased. “I’m quite certain I saw you awake for at least an hour.”
He didn’t say anything, and then he shrugged in a way she found oddly disturbing and said, “I did nothing. I walked, I spoke, I ate, but at the end of the day, there was nothing.”
Francesca impulsively squeezed his arm. “We shall have to find you something,” she said softly.
He turned and looked at her, his strange, silvery eyes catching hers with an intensity she knew he didn’t often allow to rise to the fore.
And then it was gone, and he was himself again, except she suspected that Michael Stirling wasn’t at all the man he wished people to believe him to be.
Even, sometimes, her.
“We should return home,” he said. “It’s growing late, and John will have my head if I let you catch a chill.”
“John would blame me for my foolishness, and well you know it,” Francesca said. “This is just your way of telling me you have a woman waiting for you, probably draped in nothing but the sheets on her bed.”
He turned to her and grinned. It was wicked and devilish, and she understood why half the ton-the female half, that was-fancied themselves in love with him, even with no title or fortune to his name.
“You said you wanted something wicked, didn’t you?” he asked. “Did you want more detail? The color of the sheets, perhaps?”
She blushed, drat it all. She hated that she blushed, but at least the reaction was covered by the night. “Not yellow, I hope,” she said, because she couldn’t bear to let the conversation end on her embarrassment. “It makes you look sallow.”
“I won’t be wearing the sheets,” he drawled.
“Nevertheless.”
He chuckled, and she knew that he knew that she’d said it just to have the last word. And she thought he was going to allow her the small victory, but then, just when she was beginning to find relief in the silence, he said, “Red.”
“I beg your pardon?” But of course she knew what he meant.
“Red sheets, I think.”
“I can’t believe you told me that.”
“You asked, Francesca Stirling.” He looked down at her, and one lock of midnight black hair fell onto his forehead. “You’re just lucky I don’t tell your husband on you.”
“John would never worry over me,” she said.
For a moment she didn’t think he would reply, but then he said, “I know,” and his voice was oddly grave and serious. “It’s the only reason I tease you.”
She’d been watching the pavement, looking for rough spots, but his tone was so serious she had to look up.
“You’re the only woman I know who would never stray,” he said, touching her chin. “You have no idea how much I admire you for that.”
“I love your cousin,” she whispered. “I would never betray him.”
He brought his hand back to his side. “I know.”
He looked so handsome in the moonlight, and so un-bearably in need of love, that her heart nearly broke. Surely there was no woman who could resist him, not with that perfect face and tall, muscular body. And anyone who took the time to explore what was underneath would come to know him as she did-as a kindhearted man, loyal and true.
With a hint of the devil, of course, but Francesca supposed that was what would attract the ladies in the first place.
“Shall we?” Michael said, suddenly all charm. He tilted his head back in the direction of home, and she sighed and turned around.
“Thank you for taking me out,” she said, after a few minutes of companionable silence. “I wasn’t exaggerating when I said I was going mad with the rain.”
“You didn’t say that,” he said, immediately giving himself a mental kick. She’d said that she’d been feeling a bit odd, not that she’d been going mad, but only an idiot savant or a lovesick fool would have noticed the difference.
“Didn’t I?” She scrunched her brow together. “Well, I was certainly thinking it. I’ve been rather sluggish, if you must know. The fresh air did me a great deal of good.”
“Then I’m happy to have helped,” he said gallantly.
She smiled as they ascended the front steps to Kil-martin House. The door opened as their feet touched the top stair-the butler must have been watching for them- and then Michael waited as Francesca was divested of her cloak in the front hall.
“Will you stay for another drink, or must you leave immediately for your appointment?” she inquired, her eyes glinting with the devil.
He glanced at the clock at the end of the hall. It was half eight, and while he had no place to be-there was no lady waiting for him, although he could certainly find one at the drop of a hat, and he rather thought he would-he didn’t much feel like remaining here at Kilmartin House.
“I must go,” he said. “I’ve much to do.”
“You’ve nothing to do, and you know it,” she said. “You just wish to be wicked.”
“It’s an admirable pastime,” he murmured.
She opened her mouth to offer a retort, but just then Simons, John’s recently hired valet, came down the stairs.
“My lady?” he inquired.
Francesca turned to him and inclined her head, indicating that he should proceed.
“I’ve rapped on his lordship’s door and called his name-twice-but he seems to be sleeping quite soundly. Do you still wish me to wake him?”
Francesca nodded. “Yes. I’d love to let him sleep. He’s been working so hard lately”-she directed this last bit at Michael-“but I know that this meeting with Lord Liverpool is very important. You should-No, wait, I’ll rouse him myself. It will be better that way.”
She turned to Michael. “I shall see you tomorrow?”
“Actually, if John hasn’t yet left, I’ll wait,” he replied. “I came on foot, so I might as well avail myself of his carriage once he’s done with it.”
She nodded and hurried up the stairs, leaving Michael with nothing to do but hum under his breath as he idly examined the paintings in the hall.
And then she screamed.
Michael had no recollection of running up the stairs, but somehow there he was, in John’s and Francesca’s bedchamber, the one room in the house he never invaded. “Francesca?” he gasped. “Frannie, Frannie, what is-” She was sitting next to the bed, clutching John’s forearm, which was dangling over the side. “Wake him up,
Michael,“ she cried. ”Wake him up. Do it for me. Wake him up!“