Educating Elizabeth

Chapter 36

"She turned me down flat, Vincent."

Gervase threw his hat and gloves onto the fragile table in Angelique's drawing room, took the proffered glass of brandy from his cousin, and downed it in one. He waited until his glass was refilled before sitting in one of the rose-patterned wing chairs beside the fire.

His shoulder hurt like the devil and he knew that he courted a fever by refusing to languish in bed as his physician insisted but he had needed to see Elizabeth.

Angelique, who had graciously agreed to stay in her house after Gervase made her an abject apology, reclined on a pink velvet couch, surrounded by her lap dogs. Vincent took the chair opposite Gervase, the brandy decanter in his hand, his expression full of interest.

"Elizabeth did what?" Vincent asked.

"Didn't you hear what I said? She doesn't want me." His cousin looked delighted until Gervase continued, "and there is no point in getting your hopes up, Vincent, she doesn't want you, either." He ran a hand through his hair. "What in damnation am I supposed to do now?"

Vincent started to laugh and seemed unable to stop. Gervase barely resisted the urge to strangle him with his own cravat. He waited until his cousin controlled himself and held out his glass for more brandy.

Vincent wiped his eyes. "I'm sorry, Gervase, I know this is painful for you, but you must admit it is highly amusing. The mighty Duke of Diable Delamere proposes to a nonentity, and is refused. I never thought I'd live to see the day."

Gervase swirled the brandy in his glass and inhaled its rich heady scent. "I didn't even get around to proposing. I asked Elizabeth to come home with me and she ripped up at me like a shrew. In truth, I scarcely managed a word after that." Gervase frowned, stretched out his legs, and propped his feet on the tiled hearth. He hated having to confide in Vincent and Angelique, but for once his agile mind was in total disarray. He had never fallen in love before, and a mere female had certainly never bested him.

Vincent continued to stare until Gervase began to feel uneasy. "You asked her to come home with you before you asked her to marry you?" Vincent made a tutting sound that set Gervase's teeth on edge. "I'm not surprised she flew into alt. She probably thinks you want her to continue to be your mistress."

Guiltily, Gervase recalled a snippet of his heated conversation with Elizabeth. He hadn't contradicted her when she'd assumed he wanted her back in his bed, so perhaps it wasn't surprising that she had jumped to the obvious conclusion that he still wanted a mistress rather than a wife. But still, how could she have refused him? He had been so sure that she loved him.

Disgusted with his own weakness, he looked directly at Angelique for the first time that night. "Go on, you may as well say it. I've made a complete fool of myself, haven't I?"

"Have you, Gervase?"

"Devil take it, Angelique! I want Elizabeth to be my wife." He made a violent gesture with his hand. "I want to keep her until I grow weary of her or, more likely, until she grows weary of me. And then I don't know what the hell I'll do..."

He stopped as he registered Vincent and Angelique's fascinated expressions and flung himself down into his chair.

Angelique cuddled one of her fluffy white dogs to her magnificent bosom. "I don't think all is lost, Gervase. Knowing Elizabeth, she probably needed to rail at you before her common sense reasserted itself. When she calms down, you will be able to present your arguments to her in a more logical way. I'm sure she will understand you then."

"I told her I loved her and she said that she despised and hated me. I don't think she could have been more explicit."

Angelique gave a trill of laughter. "Nonsense, my friend, if she truly hated you, there would have been no need for such passion. She is angry because she feels betrayed, and I can hardly blame her." Angelique sipped her tea and fed the nearest dog one of the dainty pastries from her plate.

Gervase pretended to study the fire before asking ungraciously, "So what do you two self-appointed experts in love think I should do now?"

Angelique sat up, dislodging the dog from her lap, and exchanged a glance with Vincent. "Nothing. You are supposed to be going to Bath to pick up Eloise from school, aren't you?"

"Yes. I'm due there on Friday. Are you suggesting I should go?" Gervase looked from one of his companions to the other and wondered if they had run mad.

"Don't you see?" Angelique leaned forward, hands clasped beneath her overflowing bosom. "If, as you have arranged, Elizabeth goes to live with her Waterstone grandparents, she will soon regret losing all the freedoms you have allowed her. From what you have said, the Waterstones are a very conventional family. How do you think Elizabeth will feel when they expect her to behave like a simpering debutante?"

Gervase stared at Angelique with gradually dawning respect. "Elizabeth will hate it. She prides herself on her intelligence and independence."

A slow grin spread across Vincent's face and even Gervase felt his misery lift a little. He reached for his brandy glass and offered Angelique a silent toast. "I think that Eloise might enjoy seeing a little of the countryside before we return to town. You might tell anyone who cares to inquire that I expect to be away for at least a month."