"Absolutely none."
John sat back and eyed his niece with a suspicious glance. "You swear you weren't privy to their plans, and yet you didn't inform us immediately when you couldn't locate them. I think you're lying to me, Alanna, and I shan't forgive it."
"Oh, Uncle John, I wouldn't lie to you and Aunt Rachel," Alanna swore.
Convinced that was only another blatant prevarication, John refused to believe her. He looked away and ignored her for the remainder of the trip home.
* * *
Just as Ian had predicted, the chaplain was easily convinced to perform a marriage ceremony. Due to the lateness of the hour, Ian presented Melissa with his own onyx signet ring, and they were pronounced husband and wife within thirty minutes of leaving the ball. He then hired a carriage for the journey to Melissa's home and, in the comfort of the lumbering vehicle, he held her in his arms and kissed her until neither of them could recall ever being apart. Once they reached their destination, he bribed the driver handsomely to return to Williamsburg without divulging where he had gone, or who his passengers had been. None of the Barclays' servants slept in the main house, and as the couple entered, it seemed eerily quiet.
"We dare not light any candles," Melissa whispered. "Someone might see the light and come to investigate."
"That's fine with me. I don't want any company other than yours."
"I want to bring some wine upstairs with us. We ought to toast ourselves, don't you think?"
Ian was already so drunk with desire, he doubted he could taste it. "If you don't insist that my tributes to your beauty rhyme, I'll be happy to answer each of your toasts with one of my own."
"No, I know you're a soldier rather than a poet." Melissa went into the dining room and returned with a bottle of a neighbor's peach wine she knew to be especially potent and
crystal goblets which s
he handed to Ian to carry. She then led him up the stairs. When they reached the second floor, she paused again.
"I want to go to my room first for a nightgown."
Ian didn't argue, but he planned to strip her nude as soon as she joined him in bed. He waited at her door as she fetched the gown. The room held a subtle hint of her perfume, and its teasing assault of his senses increased his impatience to make her his own. When she returned to him, he shifted the goblets to one hand, grabbed her in a fervent embrace with the other, and kissed her long and hard.
Breathless when he finally broke away, Melissa pleaded softly, "Can't you wait until we're upstairs?" Despite her complaint, she was thrilled by his eagerness to consummate their marriage, for it meant he would be all the easier to fool. When they reached the third floor, she made her choice without conscious thought, and guided him to the room Hunter had occupied. Once inside, she turned the key in the lock to assure their privacy, and then asked him to pour the wine.
It took a moment for Ian to locate a table, but once he had, he opened the bottle she handed him, and filled both goblets. "Thank you for becoming my wife," he offered rather shyly.
Melissa pretended to take a sip of her wine, and was pleased when Ian nearly drained his goblet. She promptly refilled it. "Thank you. That was a fine toast. I knew you could do it. Now let's drink to a long and happy life."
Again, the wine only caressed Melissa's lips, while Ian took a generous swallow. She pretended to refill her goblet, and then replenished his. "We should also hope for prosperity, don't you think?"
"Yes, indeed." The peach-flavored wine was too sweet for Ian's usual tastes, but that night it seemed perfect. When Melissa gave him more, he took a generous sip. "We ought to wish for bright and beautiful children."
"With us as parents, they will certainly be both intelligent and handsome." Melissa touched the lip of her goblet to Ian's and he took another drink without noticing that she hadn't. She was ashamed to be resorting to alcohol to facilitate her plan, but dared not risk bedding him sober. He obliged her request for toasts with several more, and when he began to get silly and giggle, she knew his perceptions were no longer clear enough to allow him to see her for what she truly was.
"I think you've had enough," she said as she took his goblet and set it aside. "Will you help me remove my gown, please? Be careful," she cautioned. "I shall have to wear it again in the morning."
Pleasantly tipsy, Ian leaned down to kiss her bare shoulder. "I've never been a lady's maid," he apologized. "You'll have to tell me what to do."
With a deliberately languid pace, Melissa provided suggestive directions, and they peeled away her gown, then her hoop-skirt and the first layers of petticoats. She had only to think of Alanna to portray a virginal shyness Ian never questioned, but she also led him on with her well-practiced charm. She leaned close to brush the tips of her breasts against his chest, and then drew away as though her motions were the natural ones required of disrobing, rather than a seductive dance meant to further cloud his already befuddled mind.
"Do you plan to come to bed in your uniform, Lieutenant?" she asked as she again stepped free of his arms.
Ian had not appreciated how much time Melissa would need to disrobe, and he was aching to make love to her. That he would have to remove his clothes first was only a minor annoyance. "Certainly not," he assured her, but he was grateful the room was too dark for her to see what he feared was an ungentlemanly haste, or how clumsy he had become.
"Water!" Melissa suddenly remembered. "We'll need water in the morning, and there's none in the pitcher. I'll get some while you undress."
Ian was about to argue that the morning would take care of itself, when he realized she might have a greater need to bathe than he. Not wishing to be inconsiderate, he did not object, but he moaned softly as Melissa hurried away. Because he would have no change of clothes, he lay his uniform coat across a chair to keep it from becoming wrinkled, and placed his wig on top. He discarded his shirt and boots, but remained in his pants. Enough moonlight entered the room for him to believe the bed looked wonderfully inviting, and he turned down the covers as he waited for his bride. When she came through the door carrying the now-filled pitcher, he hurried to relock it behind her.
"I simply took the water from my room rather than go out to the well, but it's directly below this one, and I heard you drop your boots! We must be more careful. We don't want Alanna to hear us when she comes home."
Ian followed Melissa to the washstand, wrapped both arms around her waist, and gave her another enthusiastic hug. His words were slightly slurred as he made a heartfelt vow. "I want to make love to you all night long, and I don't care whether or not Alanna hears us."