Page 22 of An Accidental Elopement

Mrs. Jenkins had an almost blissful expression on her face, whereas Cecilia looked flushed and hot. Her eyes went wide with – he hoped – surprise when she saw him.

“My lord, I can assure you that we are doing a most thorough job of going through the linen. Lady Archibald has already found many pieces of linen that should be discarded, and we are to order new ones,” Mrs. Jenkins beamed.

“Excellent, Mrs. Jenkins,” Archie said and tried to return her smile. “If you will excuse me, I would like to speak to Lady Archibald in private.”

“Certainly, my lord, certainly. I will leave this instant,” Mrs. Jenkins told them in an exhilarated voice. Archie had an inkling that buying new linen would please her but had never suspected just how much.

Archie had already reached for Cecilia’s elbow to gently coax her to leave the linen closet with him when Mrs. Jenkins hurried out the door and closed it behind her. They both stared at the door for a moment. Archie could not hold back a smile as he turned to Cecilia. Luckily one seemed to be playing around her lips as well.

“Not exactly what I meant,” he told her as he scratched his neck. Now was the time when they would have to talk. “Is the state of my linen as poorly as Mrs. Jenkins will have me believe?”

Cecilia opened her mouth to speak, but he interrupted her by saying:

“Our linen. I mean of course, our linen.”

A frown occurred between her eyes, then she shook her head slightly and it was gone.

“I think she might exaggerate a bit. It seems that she has saved the especially appalling pieces for me to discover. I believe that she thinks she will have more money to buy linen if I ask you for it, instead of her,” Cecilia told him.

Archie was pleased to note that there was at least a note of mirth in her voice, although he could also hear the trepidation. Her eyes flickered to the pile of linen on a side table. He could not tell by looking at it whether it was the discarded linen or the ones meant to stay.

“Well, she is not entirely wrong. If you want money for anything around the estate to make any changes at all, you just have to tell me.” He looked tentatively at her, but her expression gave nothing away.

“Thank you,” she merely said, but there was no smile. For a moment they looked at each other, but she did not hold his gaze long as her eyes once again strayed to the pile of linen. It almost made Archie want to examine them to figure out whether there was anything out of the ordinary with that particular pile.

“Cecilia,” he murmured and reached for her hand without having the slightest idea of how to go on.

Her attention turned back to him, but she did not reach to take his hand, and he ended up putting it in his pocket because he did not know what else to do with it. Now was the time to kiss her senseless, yet she seemed so distant and aloof. No, kissing her would not be the way forward, but talking then... Although a linen closet seemed all wrong to have such a conversation. If things had gone differently between them last night, the thought of having her alone in a linen closet might have been enticing, but now the small room only seemed to create an atmosphere that was too stuffy for words to come out.

“My mother has invited us to a dinner party in three weeks. Just the family, she wrote. My siblings will be traveling to Great Farleigh Hall for Hester and Lord Lambourn’s wedding.”

Cecilia only nodded and looked at him with wide eyes. Was it fear or trepidation that he saw in them? Was she actually afraid to be alone with him? He still had no idea what had prompted her crying last night. He had assumed that it was simply nerves, but there could be another matter behind it. He would have to find out somehow. Perhaps tonight after dinner would give them a better opportunity to speak. A better location certainly.

“Do you wish to attend?” he asked.

“Of course. I have met Lady Winterbottom and Lord Seacourt. And Lady Hester of course, but not Lady Charlotte or Lord Gregory. I would like to meet them.”

There was a polished note to her voice as if she was merely putting up a façade. As if she was reciting something that her mother had had her learn by heart. Where was the spirited woman that he had met while she was recuperating?

“You can call them by their Christian names. They are your brothers and sisters now as well,” Archie said.

“Of course.” Cecilia blushed again. “How foolish of me.”

Her tone was completely flat, and she did not meet his eyes. Instead, he could see that her gaze was focused on something on his chest. It made him want to look down to see whether he had stained his waistcoat when he ate.

“I will see you at dinner then,” he muttered.

Cecilia’s gaze moved to his momentarily and she gave him a small smile as she nodded.

Eleven

Cecilia’s heart pounded in her chest as she once again awaited Archie’s arrival in her bedroom. The room still smelled heavily of the perfume that she had spilled yesterday. She had had to open the window when she entered the room to be able to bear the scent. She hoped that it would wear off in a day or two.

Their conversation at dinner had been as stilted as it had when they had met each other in the linen closet. The whole situation with the housekeeper leaving them there had been beyond absurd yet they had not been able to laugh about it as they would have before.

It was as if there existed an Archie and a Cecilia who were friends before they married but had turned into completely different people after they gave their vows. The result was an Archie that was not flirty and did not try to charm her, and a Cecilia that was just as uncomfortable in her own skin as she had been when she had been a debutante. She wished for the old Archie and Cecilia to appear to at least have their friendly banter and their conversations about nothing important back, but it seemed that they could not even manage that at the moment.

When Archie had found her in the linen closet, she had actually thought that he might want to consummate their marriage there. She had kept looking around the room for a flat surface where it would be possible. But there was only the floor and the small side table. Despite her hesitation to sleep with him, she had still found the idea of them being together on the table highly erotic and knew that she had blushed every time she looked at it.