LITMIR.BIZ

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Leslie poured himself another large goblet of red wine and settled himself by the fireplace, sipping the liquid nectar slowly. Tomorrow they would go to Archambault, and he knew that Jasmine would devote her time there to her children. He, however, would seek counsel from Madame Skye on how to win her granddaughter, and win Jasmine he would.

      In the morning she behaved as if everything was exactly the same between them as it had been the day before. She came to the highboard dressed for riding, in green wool breeches, high leather boots, a cambric shirt, and her doeskin jerkin with the silver-and-horn buttons. She ate heartily, which both amused and delighted him. He liked a woman who enjoyed her food and did not toy daintily with her plate. His mother was such a woman. Jasmine never drank wine in the early morning. Her servants brought her a blue-and-white porcelain dish, pouring into it a fragrant hot liquid which she always drank with relish.

      Curious, he asked her, “What is it you drink, Jasmine?”

      “It is called tea,” she told him. “Would you like to taste it, Jemmie? Adali, bring another saucer for the earl.” She smiled at him. “We brew it with hot water, using the leaves of the tea plant. It is native to India. The leaves are cured or dried before use. It is a very pleasing drink. My mother and my aunts frequently put cloves or cardamom in the tea to add additional flavor to it.”

      Jasmine’s steward placed a deep saucer before him and poured some of the tea into it from a pitcher. “This is black tea, my lord,” he said. “The Chinese grow a green variety.”

      “It is more delicate,” Jasmine said. “Our Indian tea is a most hearty brew. Taste it, Jemmie!”

      He sipped at the hot liquid, finding the taste pleasant, but not particularly stimulating or exciting as wine, ale, or cider.

      “I am thinking of suggesting to grandmother that we import tea into England,” Jasmine told him. “The Dutch have been doing it for the past six years although they do not know how to market it and have not had a great success with it.”

      “The Dutch are excellent merchants,” he replied.

      “Indeed they are,” she agreed, “but they still do not know how to sell tea. Tea is not spices or cloth that can be easily hawked to any housewife in the market. Tea must first be sold to the rich and the powerful. Only when they have taken it to their bosoms and made it a drink of the exclusive will the masses seek to have it.”

      Her analysis of the situation surprised him. He had always known that Jasmine was an intelligent woman, but he had put that particular brand of intelligence down to female common sense, but she was beyond that obviously. “You may be right, Jasmine,” he said slowly. “Aye, I can see where having tea drunk by a select few would eventually make it modish, and very desirable to the general population.”

      She arose from the highboard. “We’ll talk to Grandmama about it,” she said. “Come, Jemmie, and let us be off. I have not seen my darlings in almost two weeks, and I am eager to be with them!”

      They took the direct road to Archambault, arriving quickly, and Jasmine was out of her saddle almost immediately, sweeping her children, who were awaiting her upon the steps of the great château, into her all-encompassing embrace. On the top step Madame Skye stood with a distinguished gentleman the earl rightly guessed to be the comte de Cher. Alexandre de Saville shook James Leslie’s hand and bade him welcome. The earl then kissed Madame Skye upon her pale cheeks.

      “So, James Leslie,” the old lady said, tucking her hand into his arm as they entered the château, “have you made any progress with my granddaughter?”

      “We will wed on the fifteenth day of June,” he replied.

      “Ah, good! I am glad you have managed to bring Jasmine around to a more sensible frame of mind in this matter,” Skye replied.

      They entered an elegant salon, and he saw at once that they were alone.

      “I need your advice, madame,” the earl said, “and as we have privacy for the moment, perhaps it is the time to seek it.”

      She raised an elegant eyebrow. “You seek my advice? How interesting,” Skye said, a small smile playing with the corners of her mouth. “Then, sirrah, you have decided that I am not your enemy?”

      He chuckled. “I think you are a devious, wicked lady, madame, but I still need your advice; and no, I do not believe we are enemies, nor have we ever been.”

      They sat upon an upholstered settle, and he took her hand in his. “I believe that Jasmine has become shy in things of an intimate nature, Madame Skye. She is not comfortable once matters pass a certain point. It is not in her nature, I believe, to be cold.”

      “Hmmmmmmm,” Skye said.

      “I considered other reasons for her reluctance, but the only one I believe true is the fact she has not known a man since some time before wee Charlie’s birth. I think she may feel at a disadvantage.”

      “God’s boots!” Skye answered him. “What is the matter with the girl? You are handsome, and well made, and she has shared your bed on one occasion and not found you displeasing.”

      “We are being pushed into doing our duty,” the earl replied. “I think I need to court her, Madame Skye, but how does one go about courting a woman with everything? What can I do, or say, or give her that she has not heard or received? My first wife and I were promised as bairns. I did not court Isabelle, but then we were both very young and used to one another. Our families had agreed to our marriage, and that was the way it was done in Scotland at that time.”

      Skye nodded. Now here was a small tangle that needed unknotting. She had not considered that Jasmine, once become sensible, would behave like a sheltered virgin, and her a woman with four children! It was simply ridiculous! “I will speak with my granddaughter,” she said.

      “Nay, madame, I beg you do not!” the earl implored her. “She would be mortified to learn that I knew her secret. Just instruct me in how to please her so that she will lose her shyness with me, and matters may progress naturally.”

      “God’s blood!” Skye swore passionately. “What is the matter with you young men of today? In my day the men were bold! They swept a woman off her feet and into their arms without their permission. None of my daughters were like me, but this one granddaughter is. You will gain your goal with her by being audacious and gallant, and not by pussyfooting around.”

      “But Madame Skye . . .” he attempted to interrupt her.

      “There are no buts where love is concerned, James Leslie,” she told him sternly. “Do you know that Jasmine’s grandfather seduced me the first time he met me? Like Jasmine I was mourning a loss and had been without a man, but Adam wanted me, and he took me.” Her gaze softened with the memory. “I should have seen that he was the man for me then and there, but I outlived two more husbands before he realized that his first manly and fearless approach to me had been the way to my heart. We were fortunate, and in those days it seemed as if time went on forever.” She was silent a moment, then sighed gustily before looking at him again. “Seize your opportunity, dammit! Give my granddaughter a taste of passion again. You cannot help but overcome her outrage with it.” She chuckled wickedly. “I envy the girl, my lord, I do.”

      He raised the hand he had been gently holding to his lips and kissed it. “Thank you,” he said.

      She nodded, her Kerry blue eyes twinkling, yet wise. Then she said, “I believe that you and Jasmine should be together alone for a few more weeks, James Leslie. What would you think if I took the children on to visit Paris, and from there home to Queen’s Malvern, where we will await you? It is already mid-March, and if I am to prepare for a wedding and notify the family, I cannot linger much longer in France. The children yet prove a distraction to their mother, so perhaps it is better they travel with their great-grandmother?”

      “I tend to agree, madame,” the earl said, restraining the chortle that threatened to burst forth from his throat. He had known that the old lady would not allow Jasmine’s bairns to return to Belle

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