Temple inclined his head to allow that was so.
“I dislike secrets, Temple,” Plum said, pushing back the knowledge that she had no right to adopt such a selfrighteous tone, justifying her annoyance with the memory of just what sorts of secrets men kept. They could be very harmful, indeed. “Harry said his work has something to do with an event in his past. What event?”
“You’d have to ask his lordship that, ma’am.”
Plum allowed herself to have one of her three daily sighs, and turned toward the door to Harry’s inner sanctum. “I’m disappointed in you, Temple, I truly am.”
“I am indeed grieved to hear that.”
“I had expected better of you.”
Temple bowed his head as if he was overwhelmed with grief.
“I had thought we were friends. Friends, as you must know, tell each other things, particularly when those things concern a much loved individual.”
He didn’t look the least bit contrite. “Do they, indeed, ma’am? I will remember that for the future.”
It was no use. She couldn’t shame him into telling her Harry’s secret, and in a way she admired him for standing firm; she knew what the repercussions could be of someone spreading details that were not meant for common knowledge. Taking a deep breath, she rapped briefly on Harry’s door, then entered the room. It was still dark and murky, but at least it was clean, and the windows shown brightly, allowing in more than just a mote or two of sunlight. Today they stood open, the fragrant smell of baked earth and newly scythed grass wafting in, the distant low of cattle and the chatter of birds reminding her of just how wonderful summer could be. If only she could get Harry outside to enjoy some of that lovely weather.
“Harry, do you have a moment?”
He looked up from a mountain of papers, his eyes brightening. “For you, however many moments you desire.”
She gave him a weak smile, nervous and feeling a bit clammy about her mid-section now that the moment had come to unburden herself. She walked toward his outstretched hand, allowing him to pull her onto his lap.
“I don’t suppose you came in here to work your womanly wiles on me?” he asked, nibbling along her neck. “Dare I hope that you’ve come to seduce me and save me from the mind-numbingly tedious work of sorting through these papers?”
Plum squirmed on his lap, trying to slow her beating heart, trying desperately to hang onto her good intentions. Harry always managed to drive even the simplest of thoughts from her mind whenever he touched her. Delaying her moment of truth, she seized the opening he offered. “Is your work so unpleasant, then? Is there something I can help you with?”
He kissed her ear. “Thank you for such a selfless offer, but no. I wish you could, but it’s something I must see through myself.”
She squirmed again, and he caught her hips, holding her still. “What is it you’re looking for?”
“Just some boring old notes. Nothing to concern yourself with.”
“I’m very good with notes. I would be happy to be of assistance.”
The wonderful laugh lines around his eyes crinkled delightfully as he grinned at her. “Sweetheart, I wouldn’t be able to get a single thing done were you to try to help me. I’d be too busy planning what calisthenic I wanted to try with you.”
“But—”
“No, thank you, Plum. I should be done with this in a week; then I promise I’ll be a better husband.”
Guilt washed over her in a wave that had her heart contracting painfully. He was so wonderful to her now, how could he think he was anything less than perfect? Shame made her words sound pettish and ungrateful. “Very well. If you don’t wish to share your burden with me, I won’t pry.”
Harry laughed and kissed her chin. “As if I haven’t burdened you with enough?” Plum’s heart sank. His words and tone were playful, but his meaning was clear. She hadn’t done very well with the responsibilities he had given her, it was no wonder he didn’t trust her with anything more. Before she could protest, he continued. “Before I forget myself and investigate the charming breasts I know are hiding beneath your bodice, what was it you wanted to see me about?”
Plum couldn’t meet his eyes. She bit her lip, told herself to stop being such a coward, and blurted out, “It’s something…unpleasant.”
Harry groaned. “All right. Out with it. Who did what now?”
A month’s experience of rescuing animals, objects, and sometimes people from the almost always disastrous attention of her stepchildren gave her an understanding of just what he was asking. “The children haven’t done anything.”
“No? There hasn’t been another accident, has there?”
Plum frowned. “No, you know I’d tell you if anything else happened, but as you bring that up…Harry, don’t you think it rather odd that so many things have gone wrong during the last few weeks? First McTavish got sick eating something that we’ve still to identify—”
Her husband cocked a brow. “I thought we decided he ate a poisonous berry by mistake?”
Plum shook her head. “I’m not convinced of that. He says he didn’t eat any berries, but he’s hiding something. Then the girls and Thom were accosted by that gypsy while they were out walking in the fi elds—”
“That was likely just a vagrant looking for a handout.”
“—and then Digger had that fall from his horse. You said yourself that you found two burrs under the saddle, so poor Frozen Dawn had no choice but to buck when Digger mounted him.”
Harry’s hand slid up her thigh in a most distracting manner. “Yes, but I also said that the boys had been playing with the saddle blankets, and they could have inadvertently picked up a burr or two while they were being dragged God knows where.”
“That’s unlikely,” Plum argued, ignoring the heat his touch generated.
“But not impossible.”
“Then there’s—”
Harry sighed — he did not have to ration his sighs. “Plum, are you going to recount every incident that’s happened during the last month? Because if you are, I’d prefer you be naked so I can at least enjoy the scenery.”
She slapped his hand away from where it was creeping, annoyed that even after a month of her trying to control the children, they still behaved like maniacs. “Harry, I’m serious.”
“I know you are, sweetheart, and I appreciate that you’re so concerned for the children, but close acquaintance with them forces me to be blunt — disaster follows them like shadows. What they don’t cause by their own actions, seems to be drawn to them. Once you learn to accept that, you’ll be much easier in your mind.”
“Hrmph.” Plum didn’t agree with that, but realized the moment to fight that battle was not now.
“Was that all you wanted?”
“No, what I have to say to you concerns me.”
Both of his eyebrows raised. “You? What could you have to tell me about yourself that was unpleasant? You haven’t changed your mind about me and now want to run off with Juan?”
“No, it’s not that,” she answered, unable to keep from responding to his teasing grin. She kissed the tip of his nose. “There’s no other man who could possibly compare with you, Harry.”
He had the smug look of a man with a well-pleasured wife, but as she was the wife in question, she didn’t mind.
“It’s…uh…about last night.”
“Last night?” His eyebrows rose again. “What about it?”
Plum’s cheeks turned pink under his gaze. Stupid cheeks. She had worked through a great many of the calisthenics with Harry, had seen, touched, and tasted almost every part of his person, and still she blushed whenever she mentioned their activities. “Last night, when you performed Matador Facing a Wild Bull, you…you”—her gaze dropped to his shoulder—“finished inside me rather than out, as you have done in the past.”