“Well, it does sort of put Christmas to rest until the next year.”

“Who says it has to be put to rest? I rather liked your concept of ‘sharing.’ ”

She smiled, reached for his hand to hold it. “We won’t need a tree for that.”

He brought her hand to his lips. “No, I don’t suppose we will.”

Chapter 28

Chapter 28

“OH . . . OH, MY.”

That didn’t quite express Larissa’s degree of surprise, it was more indicative of her speechlessness when she finally noticed the large painting hanging on the wall at the head of Vincent’s bed.

They had been married that morning, just a small gathering of family and friends. Viscount Hale had wanted to throw them the biggest party London had ever seen, but Vincent had adamantly refused, mentioning something about theaters and what had happened the last time the ton got a look at Larissa, and that he’d like to keep her to himself for a while more as they settled into marriage.

Jonathan understood perfectly, if Larissa didn’t. She had enjoyed the theater, but she wasn’t sure she would enjoy a huge London bash, so she was rather glad her husband had declined the offer.

Her father had welcomed Vincent to the family with open arms, as she had predicted. Her brother hadn’t. Having witnessed the turmoil of her emotions while she was falling in love, and blaming many of those tears on Vincent, Thomas had taken a “wait and see” attitude. For him, Vincent was going to have to prove that he could make Larissa happy. She was sure it wouldn’t take long, though, when she was already happier than she could ever have thought possible.

“Oh, my,” she said yet again, causing Vincent to chuckle this time as he came to stand behind her next to the bed.

She was staring at an exquisitely beautiful, naked young maiden cavorting with four satyrs in a woodland glade. That was the modest description of La Nymph. The depicted scene was actually much more lurid, and anyone with any degree of imagination could make whatever he or she wanted to out of it.

“Our wedding gift from Jonathan,” Vincent explained, his hands resting on her shoulders.

“We don’t have to keep it, do we?”

He laughed. “No indeed, and in fact, it’s only on loan to us. He expects it back, though I don’t doubt he’s glad to be rid of it for a while. He was somewhat amazed to find the notorious effect of the painting quite true, at least for him.” He explained to her, briefly, the history of La Nymph, ending with, “The day he brought it home, after purchasing it from your father, he ended up visiting four of his mistresses, quite an exhausting experience, I would imagine.”

She turned around, stared at him wide-eyed. “He had that many—lady friends?”