«In America they are. An American woman does for herself and for her man as well.»
«Betsy said she worked in a household that had twelve servants.»
«Betsy must have worked for a carpetbagger.»
Jessica blinked. «I don’t think so. The man sold stocks, not rugs.»
Wolfe tried not to let humor blunt his anger. He wasn’t completely successful. «A carpetbagger is a kind of thief,» he said carefully.
«So is a rug merchant.»
Wolfe made a muffled sound.
«You’re laughing, aren’t you?» Delight and relief were in Jessica’s voice and in her face when she looked over her shoulder at him. «You see? It won’t be so bad, being married to me.»
The line of Wolfe’s mouth flattened once more. All he could see from where he stood was a badly buttoned dress and the graceful curve of a woman’s neck. But Jessica wasn’t a woman. Not really. She was a cold, spoiled little English aristocrat, the precise kind of woman he had detested since he had been old enough to understand that the glittering ladies of privilege didn’t want him as a man; they wanted only to know what rutting with a savage was like.
«Wolfe?» Jessica whispered, searching the face that had once again become that of a stranger.
«Turn around. If I don’t get this bloody thing done up, we’ll miss the stage.»
«But I’m not dressed for the theater.»
«Theater?» Belatedly Wolfe understood. «Stagecoach.Notthat you’re dressed for that, either. Those crinolines will take up half the bench.»
«Stagecoach?»
«Yes, my lady,» Wolfe said mockingly. «A means of conveyance having four wheels, a driver, horses —»
«Oh, do hush up. I know what a stagecoach is,» Jessica interrupted. «I was just surprised. We went by horseback and carriage before.»
«You were a proper little aristocrat then. Now you’re a plain old American wife. When you get tired of it, you know the way out.»
Wolfe reached for another button. A gold chain gleamed just beneath his fingers. He remembered giving the chain and locket to her. It was a symbol of a time that would never come again, a time when he and his redheaded hoyden had been free simply to enjoy one another.
Except for an occasional low curse, Wolfe silently finished fastening the maddening jet buttons on Jessica’s day dress.
«There,» he said with relief as he stepped away. «Where are your trunks?»
«My trunks?» she asked absently, wanting to groan with the relief of no longer having to hold the heavy, slippery mass of her hair over her head.
«You must have packed your clothes in something. Where are your trunks?»
«Trunks.»
«Lady Jessica, if I had wanted a parrot I would have become a sea captain. Where are your damned trunks?»
«I don’t know,» she admitted. «The footmen attended to them after Betsy unpacked.»
Wolfe raked a big hand through his hair and tried not to notice the picture Jessica made with her ice-blue day dress peeking through the muted fire of her unbound hair.
«Bloody. Useless. Lady.»
«Swearing at me won’t help,» she said stiffly.
«Don’t bet on it.»
Wolfe stalked out of the hotel room and slammed the door behind himself.
Jessica barely had enough time to hide her unhappiness beneath a serene expression before Wolfe reappeared with a trunk balanced on each shoulder. Behind him were two rough-looking strangers who were little older than boys. Each carried two empty trunks. The young men dumped their cargo and stared with great interest at the fashionably dressed woman whose loose hair tumbled in shimmering waves to her hips.
«Thank you,» Wolfe said to the young men as they set down the trunks.
«My pleasure,» said the younger one. «We heard a real English lady was in town. Never thought we’d get a chance to see one.»
«Actually, I’m Scots.»
The youth smiled. «Either way, you’re pretty as a kitten in a velvet box. If you need any help getting the trunks to the stage, just holler. We’ll come running.»
Jessica flushed at the young man’s open admiration. «That’s very kind of you.»
Wolfe grunted and gave the youths a look that sent them out of the room in a hurry. The bold one turned back and tipped his hat to Jessica just before he shut the door.
«Bind up your hair,» Wolfe said coldly. «Even in America, a woman doesn’t let anyone but her family see her with her hair rumbling to her hips.»
Without a word, Jessica went to the small dressing table and picked up one of the brushes Betsy had set out before she left. Drawn despite himself to the implied intimacy of her unbound hair flowing around her hips, Wolfe watched from the corner of his eye as Jessica began brushing.
After a few minutes it became apparent that Jessica wasn’t happy with the brush. She kept shifting it in her grip, trying to figure out the best way to tame her seething, silky hair and make it behave as Betsy had. Twice, Jessica dropped the brush. The third time the brush fell, Wolfe picked it up, ran his fingertips over the ivory handle, and looked at Jessica curiously.
«It’s smooth, but not slippery,» he said, handing it to her.
«Thank you.» Jessica looked at the baffling tool that seemed to do nothing more than make her hair leap and crackle with electricity. «I don’t understand what’s wrong. It worked well enough for Betsy.»
«It worked well enough for…» Wolfe’s voice died.
«You’re right. There seems to be a parrot loose in this room,» she said blandly.
«My God! You don’t even know how to dress your own hair.»
«Of course not. That was Betsy’s job, and quite good at it she was.» Jessica looked at Wolfe cautiously. There was a stunned expression on his face. «I take it that American women complete their toilet unassisted?»
«My God.»
«Ah, then it’s a religious custom.» Jessica sighed. «Very well, if every Betsy and Abigail here can do it, so can I. Give me the brush, please.»
Wolfe was too staggered to resist. Numbly he watched as Jessica brought the brush down through her hair with great determination and no finesse. The too-rapid stroke caused another surge of static electricity. Her hair crackled and fanned out, tangling with buttons and clinging to whatever it touched.
One of the things her hair touched was Wolfe’s hand. Fine strands wrapped around his skin and clung like a lover. The sensation was indescribably silky. His heartbeat doubled. With a curse he snatched his hand back, accidentally yanking her hair in the process.
Jessica’s breath came in with a startled sound as her eyes watered. «That wasn’t necessary.»
«I didn’t do it on purpose. Your hair attacked me.»
«Attacked you?»
«You have a point. We must do something about that blasted parrot.»
She turned and saw her hair wrapped around his wrist and tangled in the button on his cuff. «Are the teeth very sharp?»
«What?»
«Betsy warned me about my hair’s unruly appetite for buttons,» Jessica said gravely, «but she said nothing about flesh. I hope your wound isn’t serious.»
Wolfe’s shoulders moved as he tried to stifle laughter at Jessica’s solemn teasing. He snickered as he picked individual strands of hair from the button.
«Perhaps I’d better do that,» she offered. «If you startle the red ones, they bite quite savagely.»
Wolfe gave up and laughed aloud, knowing as he did so that he was a fool but unable to do anything about it at the moment. Of all the people he had ever known, only Jessica was able to make him laugh so easily.
«Damn it, elf…»
Jessica smiled and touched Wolfe’s hand. The light caress made his hand jerk, but he said nothing. When the last silky strand of hair was freed from his clothing, he went to the table and poured clean water over his hands from the ewer. Shaking off loose drops, he went back to Jessica.