Page 84 of My Darling Mr. Darling

“Among other things,” she said. “It’s time to stop living in the past. Do you mind?”

He shook his head. “I was always saving it for you. It was meant to be yours.”

“Ours,” she said, shimmying out of her chemise and bending to roll off her stockings. “Will you stay here with me until our renovations are complete?”

“Just try to keep me away,” he said, on a low laugh, pulling her into his arms. “Thanks to Grey, I now know how to pick a lock.”

∞∞∞

Something pinged off the windowpane, rousing Violet from her light doze. The candle on the bedside table had burned low, but had yet to extinguish itself, and she rubbed at her eyes, stretching the sleep from her limbs.

Anotherpingrattled off the windowpane. Sleet? But it hadn’t been nearly cold enough for it. John grumbled as she pulled herself away from the broad expanse of his chest to reach for her wrapper, which hung off the bedpost. Draping it about her shoulders, she climbed out of the bed, padding across the floor to the window to peek out. Oh, no—not sleet at all.Pebbles, lobbed at her window to attract her attention.

Her gasp had John sitting up in bed, instantly alert. “Oh lord,” she whispered. “It’s Mr. Simmons!”

“What the devil?” his voice raspy with the remnants of sleep, John shook off his languor and fought to free himself from the tangle of the covers.

From the garden below came the shrill recitation: “She walks in beauty, like the night!”

“Iknewit would be bloodyByron,” John snarled.

A weak laugh bubbled up in Violet’s throat. “But the wedding announcement was inThe Times!” she said.

“Well, it would seem our Mr. Simmons is not an avid reader of the newspaper,” John said. With a gesture toward the window, he inquired, “May I?”

“Please, by all means,” Violet said, scuttling back. “Best you hurry. He’s climbing the trellis.”

“Of course he is,” John groused, at last shoving aside the mound of blankets he’d created, throwing his legs over the side of the bed, and padding naked toward the window, which he threw open.

Violet bit her lip to stifle the laughter that rose in her throat as she heard Mr. Simmons say, in a tremulous, uncertain voice, “Darling?”

“Quite,” John bit off, “though doubtless not thedarlingyou might’ve been expecting. Now, if you might cease romancingmy wife, Simmons, I would be most grateful.” He reached one hand out of the window, grabbed the sturdy frame of the trellis, and shook it violently.

There was an indignant squawk, followed by thethudof a body hitting the ground, and Violet gasped. “John! You didn’t!”

“He’d only made it a few feet up. Only his pride is bruised, I assure you. Let it stand as a message that this time hecannotignore.” He slammed the window closed, flipped the latch, and flicked the drapes into place with an uncharacteristic huff. “You’ll tell me if any other gentlemen—and I use the term loosely—trouble you like this?”

“Of course,” she said, laughing as she pulled him back toward the bed. “So long as you promise not to kill anyone.”

“Mm,” John said, which was not an answer at all, and earned him a pinch on the ribs.

“John!” Violet said severely.

“I’mthinking,” he protested, drawing her close to his side.

“You ought not need tothinkon whether or not tomurdersomeone,” Violet said, and jabbed her elbow into his stomach, which produced a wheeze from John.

“You’re an intelligent woman,” he said, his voice somewhat less than steady as he pulled her over him to straddle his hips. “Convinceme.”

∞∞∞

It had taken a little over a week, when all was said and done, to revitalize the townhouse that had spent the last decade languishing in the past. Violet had not yet seen the finished result, but John had assured her that the master suite was well and truly complete, and that they could continue to make changes as they went—and Violet was ready to behomeat last.

But leaving was harder than she had anticipated.

“Oh, Davis, don’t cry,” she pleaded, as the stalwart butler blotted his eyes with his handkerchief. “I’m notleaving—I’ll only be residing a few streets away. I’ll see you Thursday at the very latest.” She and Serena would need to refine their lesson plan for their next classes to incorporate everything they had learned in instructing their first students.

With an awkward sniffle, Davis tucked away his handkerchief and squared his jaw. “Can’t help it, miss. The house will be so empty without you.”