Jessica was looking at the two of them with great curiosity. Alex had certainly never kissed her like that. Not that she’d ever wanted him to, but she’d never tried to stop him either.
“Jessica,” Alex said, “this is the Countess Tatalini and, Sophy, this is my wife. Sophy and I knew each other before my fever.”
“Fever? Alex are you ill? Is that why you’re dressed—”
Alex put his arm around her waist and squeezed hard. “I’m no longer ill but I have been. Jess, could you get some of these layabouts to carry the countess’s luggage? You are staying with us, aren’t you?”
“Why, no, I’m on my way to—”
“We won’t hear of it, will we, Jess?”
Jessica didn’t say a word but looked from one to the other.
“Jess?” Alex asked. “We would love to have the countess as our guest, wouldn’t we?”
Jess still didn’t answer but kept looking at the way the countess was curving her body into Alex’s. She didn’t seem to mind at all that he was fat, that he slouched, that the color in his cheeks was probably rouge.
“Jessica,” Alex said in a familiar whine, “you have to help me. I feel my strength going. Could you help with the baggage while the countess supports me?”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Jessica said at last. “And we have plenty of room for you. I’ll get the luggage.”
Alex leaned heavily on Sophy and she didn’t say a word until they were in a room in the Montgomery house. Then she turned on him.
“I demand that you tell me what is going on.” She reached forward and snatched the wig off his head. “I thought for a moment you’d shaved it. Alex, whatever have you gotten yourself into now?”
Smiling, running his hands through his hair, Alex sat down in a chair. “Sophy, you don’t know how good it is to hear that question. You can’t imagine how wonderful it is to hear a woman accuse me of not being what I appear.”
“I’m glad you’re happy.” The countess was tapping her small foot impatiently. “Alex, you may be receiving pleasure, but I am not. I am supposed to be in Boston in two weeks to see my husband and our children. He will be very angry if I am not there.”
“Like the last time, when I climbed out on the balcony?”
Sophy smiled. “In the rain with not a stitch on. And when he was gone you were nowhere to be found. I was frantic. I thought the dogs had you. Instead—”
“A housemaid had. Could I help it if she felt pity for me? And then I had to show her my gratitude. Of course, since I had no clothes on, I fear my gratitude was self-evident.”
“You!” she said but she was laughing. “My husband will never believe what I say if he finds out I’ve been here with you.”
“With me and my wife and a house full of the nosiest people on earth.”
“That wife of yours is a beauty, a little slow perhaps, but what does that matter in a woman? Her beauty is what counts. Is she why you’re dressed like that? Alex, that disgusting thing isn’t actually your belly is it?”
Alex stroked the protuberance fondly. “It’s cotton, a little string, a pistol and knife and not much me.” He glanced at the door as he heard a sound. “It’s Jess.” He grabbed the wig, slammed it on his head in a practiced gesture, then slumped until he was S-shaped.
“In here,” Jess said, directing men in stacking the countess’s many trunks. “I thought you’d put her in your mother’s room.” Jess kept standing there after the trunks were stacked.
“Jessica,” Alex said in a voice of great tiredness, “could you leave us? We are old friends and have so much to talk of. Perhaps you could finish the accounts of four years ago. Or see to Sophy’s maids’ comfort.”
Jess looked from one to the other, then nodded and left the room.
Sophy turned on Alex. “Of all the—! If my husband ever spoke to me that way, I’d remove his ears and his—”
Alex bent and kissed her. “Yes, you would and so would Jess if she thought I was a man.”
“A man? What does she expect from a man if you can’t fulfill it?”
Alex kissed her again. “Sophy, you are making me feel better by the minute. Did you see the way Jessica looked at you? If you don’t have to be in Boston for two weeks, then you have a few days. I’d like to ask a favor of you. I’d like you to stay here and make my wife jealous.”
“You do not try to make a husband or wife jealous, you try to prevent it.”