Something Borrowed (Borrowed Brides 3)

t put to rights in no time." Lee held the gate open and waited for Mary to enter.

"That's easy for you to say," she accused. "You won't have to clean this place."

"Mary." He spoke her name in a firm voice that brooked no further argument.

"All right." She grabbed a handful of skirt, lifted it a few inches as she stepped through the gate, then preceded Lee up the brick walkway to the house. She paused as she reached the porch. A pile of luggage was neatly stacked beside the front door. Mary stood tapping her foot impatiently as Lee inserted the key into the lock and opened the front door. "Let's get this over with." Mary took another step forward but Lee stopped her.

"What is it?" she demanded, her brown-eyed gaze shooting sparks at him.

"Princess, your castle awaits."

"I don't understand."

"I believe it's customary to carry the bride over the threshold, and you're the only bride around." Lee gave her his most devastating smile, then bent and lifted her and Maddy into his arms and carried them into the house.

His romantic gesture surprised her as much as it charmed her. Mary melted into his embrace and let herself enjoy the unique pleasure of being cradled in Lee's arms. She sighed and released a measure of her pent-up anxiety. Perhaps he was right. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad after all.

* * *

Chapter Ten

The inside of the house was cleaner and in better shape than Mary expected, but it was cold and as much a mix of styles and furnishings as the exterior. The interior designer had shared the architect's appalling lack of taste and had apparent delusions of grandeur. She studied her surroundings as Lee set her down on the marble floor of the entrance hall, before he returned to the front porch for Judah and the luggage. The intricate stained glass window above the door depicted a jousting tourney of a much earlier time where a knight on a black horse tilted against a knight riding a white charger. The stained glass window panels on either side of the massive front door continued the theme—a king, possibly Arthur, stood on the right side of the door and a queen, possibly Guinevere, occupied the left. Curious to see whether the rest of the decor continued the castle theme, Mary ventured farther down the hall and peeked into the front parlor.

"Oh my goodness!"

It was red. And gold. Ruby-red flocked wallpaper covered the walls, while the woodwork and moldings—even the mantel above the fireplace—were coated in gold. A gilt chandelier, decorated with dozens of crystal droplets, hung from the plaster ceiling. Even the ceiling, some sixteen feet above the hardwood floor, was painted red.

As if that weren't bad enough, a huge billiard table dominated the room. Two smaller game tables, several leather chairs, and a built-in mahogany bar occupied a good deal of the remaining floor space, along with a marble statue of Merlin that overlooked the gaming tables. Silver ash stands stood beside the leather easy chairs and brass spittoons occupied each corner of the room. The red Turkish carpets were dotted with tiny burns and brown tobacco stains.

A gilt-framed portrait of a female reclining nude hung above the fireplace, and a replica of Excalibur hung over the bar. A roulette wheel took up most of the area along one wall, and two floor-to-ceiling windows—covered in heavy Chinese-red velvet drapes fringed in gold that reeked of cigar smoke—overlooked the unkempt front lawn.

"What's wrong?" Lee asked, coming up to stand behind her.

"This room," Mary told him. "It's every bit as bad as I feared. It looks like…" Mary shifted Maddy to her hip.

Lee leaned over her shoulder to get a view of the parlor and began to laugh. "At least this castle has some creature comforts. This room reminds me of nearly every private gentlemen's club I've ever visited." That was his polite way of telling Mary the front parlor of her new home could have doubled as a gaming room in some of the most exclusive brothels this side of the Mississippi.

"And I'll bet you've seen quite a few," Mary snapped back.

"I've seen my share," he replied good-naturedly. "After all, I am a grown man." Lee let his gaze wander over the attractive blush spreading across Mary's cheeks. "And I do travel a lot."

He was right. She was acting snappish. But the house was such a shock. And this room… Mary didn't know what to make of it. She turned to Lee. "You don't suppose Maddy's father ran a gambling house, do you?"

"Nah," Lee said. "Not with a two-and-a-half-year-old daughter around." He turned Mary to face him, then unbuttoned his duster so that she could put Maddy down. Mary leaned over and set the child on her feet. "Then why do you suppose he had a parlor like this?" Mary couldn't imagine anything reputable taking place in a red room furnished with a bar, a billiard table, and roulette wheel.

"A lot of big houses have rooms like this. Places where a man can entertain his friends and business acquaintances. It comes in handy. A man can play cards and gamble, shoot billiards," Lee walked into the room and over to the bar where he picked up a bottle of Scots whisky. "And consume vast quantities of expensive liquor and tobacco without leaving the privacy of his home." He turned to Mary and grinned, waiting to see her reaction.

"Something you know a great deal about," Mary replied acidly, remembering Lee's days masquerading as a barman at the Satin Slipper Saloon in Peaceable. "You'll probably feel right at home in no time."

"So will you, if you give it half a chance," Lee told her.

"I'll never feel at home with that," Mary pointed to the painting of the nude woman hanging over the mantel, "hanging in my parlor."

Lee studied the painting. "It's not so bad," he said. "In fact, I'd say the artist was rather good. Think of it as having a Rubens on display in your very own home."

"It's not a Rubens," Mary reminded him. "It doesn't look anything like a Rubens."

Lee looked at the painting again, then raised his right eyebrow at Mary. "It doesn't?"