How to Seduce a Bride

Chapter Thirteen

Leland frowned at his naked knees. Folded up as he was in his bath, he couldn’t help seeing them. He had a large tub, but he was larger than most men. His knees were unlovely, but not the source of his rage. He washed quickly, stood up, and took the towel his valet handed him. He stalked into his bedchamber. There were things he had to do this morning, and if he had to hoist people up out of their beds to do it, he would.

“Don’t fuss,” he told his valet. “This is fine, thank you.”

He looked at himself in the glass and considered the result of his hurried toilette: one tall, thin man, dressed in correct morning clothes. His boots shone, his breeches were without a wrinkle, his neck cloth was pristine and tied just carelessly enough to make him the envy of every young blade in town. Much he cared this morning. But everything was as it should be. Except for the long face. He stared at himself in the glass. He looked like a murderer about to select a victim, and fast.

Good, he thought, and strode from the room.

His mother’s butler stared at him.

“I’m not a frequent visitor,” Leland said in clipped tones. “But surely, you know me. Kindly tell my mama that I wish to speak with her.”

The butler took a step back. “Indeed, I know you, my lord, but we were not expecting company this morning. The household went to bed quite late last night, and your mama is still sleeping.”

“Doubtless she didn’t go to bed until dawn,” Leland said. “It makes no matter. I wish to speak with her. Now.” When the butler hesitated, Leland added with acid sweetness, “Or would you prefer I wake her myself?”

“I shall bring word to her. If you would care to wait?” the butler asked, showing Leland the salon.

“I would not care to wait above five minutes. Tell her that,” Leland said, and went into the room to pace.

It took a full fifteen minutes for the viscountess to come down the stair. Leland was astonished that it took so little time, and realized he must look even more murderous than he felt.

“Haye, what has happened?” his mother said from the doorway.

“I had thought you could tell me that,” he said.

She wore a robe over her negligée; her hair was simply dressed, and though she looked well, the morning sunlight wasn’t kind to her. It wasn’t that she looked ancient, in fact she looked uncommonly young; her fair complexion was smooth even without powder. He supposed that was because she seldom laughed or scowled, and so her skin had remained relatively free of wrinkles. She took constant care of herself; he could still see the faint sheen of whatever cream she used on her skin. But her eyes showed her age: They were cold and too knowing. This morning, the effect of them staring out of her smooth face was unsettling.

“Sit down,” she said. “And tell me your grievance. Because now I see it isn’t an emergency, it’s only that you’re angry at something you wish to lay at my door. That’s nothing new. But I don’t know what crime it is this time. Do enlighten me.”

He didn’t sit, but only stood facing her. “Do you not?” he said. “Odd that you could forget so quickly. It was only last night.”

Her cheeks showed a faint flush of pink, but she stared at him defiantly.

“You told everyone about Daisy Tanner while she was out of the room, did you?” he asked, though her reaction had given him his answer. “I only wonder what you told them.”

“I?” she said.

“They might have guessed she had been a convict,” he went on. “The earl never made a secret of his past, nor did any of his ‘sons,’ including my brother Daffyd. If your guests heard she was a friend of the earl’s from Botany Bay, I imagine they could have supposed as much. But there had to be more to account for the sudden stir she made. We came in from the garden to find she was suddenly the center of attention. The party came to a dead halt, and she was gaped at. No one said a thing to her, but no one looked away. I fancy myself a brave fellow, but even I was taken aback. Obviously someone had said something appalling about her. I’m here to find out what it was.

“She was transported for her father’s crimes,” he said. “Anyone knowing that might have been shocked, but certainly not so much as they seemed to be last night. We had to get Daisy away before it broke her heart, but I need to know what you did so that I can undo it, swiftly.”

“So it’s you who has an interest there?” she asked, with what might have been a real smile. “Beware, Haye. If she’s the earl’s friend, he won’t allow you to toy with her. Or you’ll be caught. Have you remained single all these years so that you could find a convict bride?”

“Ex convict,” he said, his dark blue stare as cold as her own. “Lovely footwork, madam, but we are not dancing. What did you tell them?”

She shrugged. “I mentioned she’d been a convict; I spoke of Botany Bay. I didn’t know her crimes so I didn’t detail them. I merely said she’d been a prisoner in the Antipodes, had married there and now was a widow. A wealthy one. Or so I surmised. Unless the earl has been paying her bills, in which case she was something else as well.”

“Well, that makes sense,” he said with quiet fury. “Sorrowful sense, but it accounts for why they were aghast. A gentleman doesn’t invite his mistress to your soirées, is that it?”

“A gentleman,” she said icily, “does not take his mistress to any gentlewoman’s home. Indeed, he doesn’t even invite them to his own. But, of course, you never understood that, did you?”

“That stung, did it?” he asked. “All those years of privation. Was it the fact that you were excluded from your lovers’ homes that rankles, or that you couldn’t have them at yours?”

She didn’t reply.

“It hardly matters,” he said. “So, all I have to do is tell your guests and the immediate world what she was in prison for to set matters right. And that she is wealthy enough and principled enough to pay her own way. That’s simple. But why did you do it? You think Geoff’s going to marry her? Who knows? He may. And why not? She’s bright, charming, and very unlike you in that she’s highly moral, thoroughly prim, even prudish.”

He strode to the door. “Then, good day, madam. I’ve work to do, or rather undo.”

“Haye?” she said.

He stopped and looked at her.

“Do you really think he means to marry her?”

“I’ve no idea. Why? Did you think there was a chance he’d marry you? Unthink it, Mama. I believe you terrify him.”

“Indeed,” she said with a smile of bitter satisfaction. “I see. And what did you tell him about me?”

His smile was thin-lipped. “Nothing. That’s the truth. What could I say, after all? I can only gossip about people I know. I never knew you, did I?”

He nodded, clapped on his hat, and left her house.

She sat in the salon for long moments, thinking, before she got up and left it herself.

“I don’t want to go to any party,” Daisy said plaintively. “You can say that you’ve explained things and eased my way, but I don’t want to risk it. Why must I go? Does it mean that much to you, Geoff?” she asked the earl. “I thought you hated the social world.”

“I don’t hate it, I just… avoid it,” he said. “I’m past the age for that nonsense. You’re not.”

They were in his study. He’d called her there to speak with her and asked Helena to wait outside. Daisy thought he’d have some wonderful surprise for her, and had been musing about whether he’d offer her a trip to his estate, or his hand in marriage. Instead, she found Leland there as well, now that he was up and about, he said, he’d spent the morning assuring that she could go back into Society and not be stared at.

“You’re young and need diversion, and company,” the earl said. “What sort of friends can you make if you’re shunned by the polite world? They’re not all poseurs and fops, you know.”

“Exactly,” Leland said sweetly. “Why, just look at me.”

“Yes,” the earl said seriously, causing Leland to look startled. “Well, face it, Lee, you’re welcomed everywhere but you hardly ever go there.”

Leland laughed. “That’s the rhyme a caricaturist once put on a broadsheet about me,” he told Daisy. “It may be true. I love the theater and music, and literature. Where should I find people to discuss such things with? In taverns? With the light ladies I am said to sometimes accompany? I go to parties and gentlemen’s clubs as well as to sporting events because I need diverse friends.”

“Just so,” the earl agreed. “Daisy, you had friends in the Antipodes and I’ll wager you miss them. But they wouldn’t be suitable for you now. You need women of your position as well as of equal intelligence and wit.”

Daisy sat still. “What is my position? Do you know? I don’t.”

“You will,” Geoff said enigmatically. “So please reconsider. Especially after Lee has gone to so much effort to make you welcome. Yes, it’s another party. And yes, many of the same people will be there. But Lee will have spoken to many of them, too, as will I. You can go without fear of being rejected, I promise.”

“I’m not afraid of being rejected!” she said. “Well, I suppose I am. Who wouldn’t be worried about being in a room full of people who dislike them? Well, maybe not the viscount,” she added, and Leland smiled. “But the point is that I don’t want them as my friends. I have you, Geoff.”

Leland suddenly lost his smile and looked at her so intently that she lowered her gaze. “And the viscount, of course,” she said quickly, “I have Daffyd and… Helena, and your other boys when they come to London again. I can talk to them. I never imagined myself flitting around Town from one party to another; that’s not my way. I only need a few, good, close friends. I have them. Who needs more?”

“But I’m old enough to be your father, Daisy,” the earl said slowly. “I’m hardly a friend, at least not in the context I meant.” He looked down at some papers on his desk, and aimlessly moved them from one place to another. Then he looked up and turned the tables. “Am I your friend, Daisy?” he asked softly. “Just what do you think I am to you?”

She darted a glance at Leland, but now his face bore only an expression of polite interest. Drat the man! she thought. She couldn’t say anything to make Geoff consider a declaration with him in the room. “That’s up to you, Geoff,” she said.

He nodded. “So it is,” he said. “Well, then, my dear,” he said, looking at her with a peculiar expression, half amusement and half wonder. “Will you come with me to the party tomorrow night?”

She smiled. “Yes, of course, Geoff.”

She looked at the viscount again. He was expressionless. But she rejoiced. She’d won! she thought with barely contained exhilaration. And it hadn’t even taken that long. At least, not once she’d seen him again. All those years of dreaming about a kindly, tolerant husband were over. She’d traveled across a sea and halfway around the world to find safe harbor. Now all that was left was to go to the party, listen to Geoff’s proposal-for surely he’d have a ring for her or some other family heirloom to seal the compact with by then-and her goal would be met.

She gazed at the earl with fond possession. He looked very well for a man of his years, she thought. He wasn’t the sort to make any woman’s heart beat faster, but she’d never wanted that. Still, he was fit. He wore tolerably fashionable clothes, which meant they were tight-fitting, and yet she couldn’t see a bulging stomach. Though her father had been a similar age when she’d last seen him, Geoff was much more muscular than her father had ever been, and he certainly had more hair.

Then she glanced at Leland and saw rueful knowledge in his eyes. She remembered that he’d said Geoff also acted like younger men, as far as women were concerned. Which meant that he’d want to bed her.

The thought made the blood rush to her face, not in mounting desire, but with embarrassment. Kindly, charming, Geoff wanting her that way? The sudden vision she had of him, naked in bed with her, was appalling, repellent, beyond embarrassing. She didn’t think of him that way.

In that moment, she could swear the viscount knew what she was thinking. He looked back at her with a deadly serious, sad expression, and nodded as though confirming her thoughts. She quickly turned her attention back to Geoff.

He, at least, was looking at her with warmth and approval, and obvious affection. He wasn’t leering, but only smiling, and she realized that now he’d every right to think of her that way. Could she change the way she thought of him? Could she stroke his naked body? Could she relax in his arms as he mounted her? Would he make the same sounds, groaning as Tanner had while he was at it, carrying on like a pig at the trough? The thought was terrifying. Because then how could she ever think of him the same way again?

And unlike Tanner, would he expect her to enjoy it, as Leland had said women should? The viscount had turned her thinking so much, she no longer knew where she stood. She wondered if Geoff’s kiss would shatter her defenses as Leland’s had. She suddenly felt ill at the thought of sharing a warm, openmouthed kiss with Geoff. She shot to her feet.

“Well, thanks, Geoff,” she said in a rush. “You’ve convinced me to go to the party. And thanks to you too, Viscount. So, should I wear the fantastic gold gown the modiste made for me, or is this less formal? What I mean is, what should I wear, do you think?”

“Whatever you wish. You’ll look lovely in a sack, or even without one,” Geoff said, laughing to show it was a jest.

He’d meant it as a joke and a compliment, she knew. But Leland didn’t laugh, and neither did she. She was suddenly very sorry that he’d said it.

Daisy felt weary and apprehensive.

She hadn’t been feeling well since the morning she’d met with Geoff and Leland. Now it was night, and she’d be seeing Geoff again, and maybe now he’d ask the question she’d come so many miles to hear. And for the first time in a long time, she didn’t know what to do.

Every step of her life since the day she’d landed in Botany Bay, dazed and hurting in body and spirit, Tanner at her side, had been spent in daydreams and night fancies and dreams of escape.

She’d finally put those plans into action, and now she found herself wanting to escape again.

What would she say when Geoff asked her to marry him? She had to ask for more time. In the long night awake she’d just had, she’d decided to do that. But once he asked, she’d have to at least kiss him; that was only fair. She’d decided in the early hours of the morning that she’d do it, just to see what it was like.

And if it was unbearable?

Then she’d leave London, and go back to where she’d been born and raised, buy herself a cottage, and live alone, with chickens and geese and a dog. No one would bother her there; she wouldn’t be ostracized by Society as she’d been in London, or threatened by greedy suitors as she’d been in Port Jackson. There were worse fates. One thing she knew. She’d never put herself into a prison again, whether it was made of laws or iron bars, or her conscience telling her to do her duty.

“I never thought blue would suit you, but that blue is vibrant, and you do look lovely,” Helena said, as she gazed at Daisy in her new gown.

“It’s the gold trim,” Daisy said absently. “You look lovely, too. Red becomes you.”

“It’s too fast a color for a companion,” Helena said. “I’ll just go change.”

“You won’t,” Daisy said. “I won’t allow it. I’m a terrible employer, aren’t I? Never mind. Wear it because you look good in it. Now, let’s go downstairs; Geoff and the viscount are probably waiting. But one thing, Helena: If I meet that wall of eyes again, if people start whispering about me, I’m leaving. At once. Understood?”

“If they stare, it will be in wonder, because you’re very attractive,” Helena said. “If they whisper, it will be because you’ve been seen with the earl and the viscount, and gossips will be alerted. Because one is known for his flirts, and the other is never seen with a woman. They’ll wonder which of them is the one you’re involved with.”

“Does going to a soirée with someone automatically mean you’re involved with them?”

“With that pair of gentlemen?” Helena said. “Yes.”

Well, so she was, or would be, or couldn’t be, Daisy thought. She raised her head and went out the door. It was time to find out which of those fates hers would be.

But Geoff wasn’t downstairs waiting for her. Only Leland, looking cool and self-possessed, and incredibly attractive in his severe black and white evening clothes.

“The earl had some last-minute business to take care of,” Leland said. “He said he’d meet us there. So, ladies, I’m a very lucky man because I’m your sole escort tonight. Unless, of course, the idea appalls. Then I’ll simply go hang myself in some convenient dark corner.”

Helena laughed.

Daisy frowned. Did that mean Geoff had second thoughts? Maybe it meant he had to go somewhere to get that family heirloom so he could give it to her when she said yes. She frowned, wondering if that was what she would answer.

“Mrs. Tanner is obviously of two minds about it,” she heard Leland say.

“No,” she said, raising her head. “Thank you, we’re grateful to you.”

He bowed. “Thank you for that,” he said. “Now, ladies, let’s go dazzle them.”

Daisy hesitated only at the last minute. They stood in the doorway, looking into a crowded ballroom, waiting for the butler to announce them. She held her breath.

“Don’t worry,” Leland said at her ear. “If they seem stiff when they look at you, it’s only because they’re afraid-of me. I can rake up old coals they’d rather not be roasted with. And so I told them. Courage.”

Daisy nodded. When she heard her name announced, she stepped forward. She couldn’t go more than two steps. Because she was swarmed.

“That’s the only word I can use!” she told Leland an hour later, when he took her into the courtyard out back of the town house so she could breathe. “Swarmed. ‘Oh, Mrs. Tanner, do you remember me?’ ” she quoted, laughing. “And, ‘Dear Mrs. Tanner, how good to see you again!’ when I don’t remember ever seeing them in the first place. What did you threaten them with? What crime could they have committed that was so bad that they’d grovel-yes, grovel to get my attention? You’d have to beat me with chains to get me to do that, and I don’t think I would even then!”

She subsided to giggles and sank down to sit on the wide marble lip of an ornamental fishpond. “Oh, Lord! How could I have taken them seriously?” Her face grew grave. She looked up at him. “I know you threatened them. But I was a convicted criminal; surely they can’t forget that.”

Leland sat next to her. “They don’t forget it, but they excuse it. Anyone would. Your crime was being a good daughter. Your punishment far exceeded the crime. It was a travesty of justice.”

She shrugged. “Maybe. But people are hanged every day for less. I was lucky. I didn’t stay in Newgate long, and I lived to get to Botany Bay. The only unlucky thing was having to marry Tanner.”

“Geoff said he was a brute; Daffyd agreed,” Leland said softly, conversationally, not wanting to break her mood when she was in such a confiding frame of mind. “What else? I know it’s not my place to ask. But you could answer, if only because it might make you feel better, and I do want to know.”

“Why?” she asked, turning her head to look at him, all traces of her hilarity gone.

“Because I like you,” he said simply.

He sat so close to her, she could feel the warmth of his hard thigh at her side through her thin gown. They were far enough away from the other guests to be alone, and yet not so far as to provoke a scandal. They could be seen, but only in silhouette. It was a cool, azure night; the moon was full and the sky free of clouds. The sounds of the party were in the background; the burbling of the fountain that fed the fishpond was the loudest thing they heard. It was curiously intimate, while being public. They could speak freely and not be overheard.

“Do you like me?” she asked. “Maybe you do. All right, I’ll tell you. Why not? What did Tanner do? What he could, and that was a lot. He didn’t like me much. But he didn’t like anyone much. He did like having a woman and other men envying him for it. What else? I used to count up his virtues when I was feeling particularly blue, so I could get through another day.

“On the good side,” she said, holding up one gloved hand and counting off on her fingers. “He wasn’t a bad-looking man. I suppose it would have been worse if he looked disgusting. But he didn’t. He was a little heavyset, to be sure, but men can carry extra weight. He was ginger-haired and had blue eyes. He wasn’t a beau, but he wasn’t ugly. That’s a point in his favor, I suppose. He saved me from having to accommodate a lot of men; he told me that all the time. He did legally marry me, which I suppose he didn’t have to do. And he became rich.

“On the bad side,” she said, holding up her other hand. “He had a terrible temper, little learning, and no use for more. He had no talent for conversation, at least with women. He never read, though I think he could, and he didn’t like to bathe. He cheated at cards, and hit people who couldn’t hit back. When he drank he got meaner, and he drank a lot. He ate with his fingers, and spit wherever he chose. He couldn’t have children; he hinted as much once when he was drunk and had the sobbing staggers-you know, when you drink so much you think everything’s a misery? Lucky for me he forgot the next morning; he’d never forgive me knowing he couldn’t father a brat. Although that might be one on the good side, I never decided. And I’ve run out of fingers.”

She folded her hands in her lap and looked at them. “I hated him, pure and simple,” she said in a harsh whisper. “The best day in our marriage was the day they came to tell me he was dead, gone over his horse’s head and landed on his neck, breaking it. I cried. Because I was so glad. I lived in fear of him every minute of every hour of every year. I was his wife and his slave, and there was no way I could get even. So I celebrated when he died. Surely that’s a sin.”

Leland took one of her hands. “I’m sorry,” he said.

“Only that?”

“What more can I say? I’m really sorry. You deserved better. You’ll have it in future, if you remember that Tanner was an exceptionally bad man, and most men aren’t remotely like him.”

“So you think I can’t be happy in future without a man?” she asked haughtily, snatching her hand from his.

“Don’t you think that? Isn’t that why you came back to England? Or would you prefer to live alone?”

“You still want to know if I’m trying to snare Geoff,” she said angrily, bounding to her feet.

He rose slowly and caught her hand. “Do you still know?” he asked.

She stared up at him.

“Geoff’s not your father, and he’s not Tanner. He’s a warmhearted, gentle man. Are you looking for that? If so, fine. But if you’re not sure… Daisy,” he said suddenly, “you should be sure. That’s all I can say.”

“But that’s not all you will say,” she said bitterly.

“Of course not,” he said with a tilted smile. “You know me well. But why should it matter to you?”

She hesitated.

“Daisy Tanner,” he said quietly, in a slow soft voice, his gaze locked on hers, “what I’d like to do now is take you in my arms and kiss you senseless. Not with violence, but with slow pleasure. I’d like to kiss you and hear you ask me to do it again. Not for my pride, but because I’d want to, again and again. I’d like to make love to you, with you knowing that you could stop it at any time you wished. I’d like to show you that you wouldn’t want to.

“Unfortunately,” he said in his normal dry, mocking tones, “we can be seen from the house, and if we were seen embracing it would be a scandal. Pray do not get a mote in your eye, or we’ll find ourselves affianced. I don’t want to force you to anything. But know this,” he said in a softer voice, “you wouldn’t run from me. That, I promise.”

“You’re very sure of yourself,” she said with a shaky laugh.

“No, of you,” he said. “You’ve bottled up too much for too long. You were meant for pleasure, and somehow, somewhere, you know it. Think of that when you think of your future, Daisy. That’s all I ask. For your sake, and for the earl’s.”

“And yours,” she said flatly.

“Of course,” he said.