How to Seduce a Bride

Chapter Fifteen

“No one can touch you if you’re my wife,” the earl told Daisy. “There’d be no more talk of murders and such nonsense.”

He hesitated. “I promise you won’t be prosecuted for Tanner’s death, but… I’d like to know. Just between the two of us, and I’ll never speak it again. You had just cause, and I couldn’t blame you, and wouldn’t. But… you didn’t have a hand in it, did you?”

“Oh, Geoff,” she said sadly.

“I’m sorry I asked, but I had to,” he said, his face becoming ruddy. “But think on, if you’d been me, you would have done it, too.”

“Likely,” she said. She looked around the room and sighed. The bookcases were filled with heavy, beautifully covered tomes. She didn’t doubt he’d read them all. It was the room of a rich and educated man. Geoff was proposing marriage to her, but for the first time since she’d met him, that prospect had never seemed farther away.

“So,” he said, smiling again. “Give me your answer and I’ll arrange all the details. My dear Daisy, will you marry me? I confess that I mightn’t have had the audacity to ask a woman half my age for her hand, but it’s clear now that you need me. We’ll deal very well together, I think, and you’ll never have to worry again.”

He hit his forehead with his hand. “Ridiculous proposal! Where’s the romance. Where’s the drama? I ought to have brought flowers, or jewelry. But I never thought I’d actually ask. I’ve been thinking about this for some days now. Only a crisis like this could have forced me into it, though, and I admit, I’ve never been happier that it did. It seems the right thing to do for both of us. I may be too old, but not if you don’t think I am. We might even be able to start a new family. That will be odd-having a child my grandchildren’s age. But we won’t be the first or last to do something like that. I’m old”-he chuckled-“but not incapable. And never fear! You know my boys, Christian, Amyas, and Daffyd. And they know you. They won’t mind; in fact, they’ll be glad, I think.”

He put an arm around her waist, the other went to the back of her neck, and he started to draw near. He was tentative and gentle. He smelled of good shaving soap. But as he neared she could see how weathered his skin was, and that he had a few freckled blotches on his forehead. He had fine eyes, but there were lines around them, as well as those furrows that ran down from the sides of his nose to the sides of his mouth. She saw he was looking at her lips, and his own parted. She closed her eyes. He touched her mouth gently with his.

His mouth was warm and dry, and felt so terribly wrong, she wanted to weep. Her stomach seemed to do a little flip. She shuddered and pulled away.

He dropped his arms and drew back, looking at her with concern.

Daisy looked into his face. It was a dear face to her. So she had to place her words as carefully as she could. “Geoff,” she said softly. “No. It won’t do. I like you very much. The truth is, I came to England with just this in mind. I guess you knew that; everybody did. But do you know why? It’s because you made such an impression on me when I met you. Remember? You were a prisoner, dressed like the others, but you stood out. Everyone listened to what you said. You did the books for the governor! Even Tanner didn’t have a bad thing to say against you. Then you were free, but you were still nice to me. Some days, when I was feeling especially beaten down and trapped, I’d see you, and you always had a smile and a comforting word for me. You were such a gentleman, you made me start dreaming of coming back home one day and meeting a world full of men like you.

“Now here I am, and you’re still a gentleman. And you’re asking what I wanted to hear. But now I know it’s not right. It couldn’t be, though you would be the one to ask in order to set me free again. Geoff, it wasn’t a romantic proposal because it couldn’t be. We’re not in love. I like you very much but I don’t like to think of being in bed with you, or with any man. Thing is, I don’t know if I ever can.”

His expression was instantly one of deep concern.

She nodded. “See, when you were the pattern card of my dreams, that seemed fine, because I thought you wouldn’t care.” She paused; there was no way she could tell him that had been because of how old he was. “But now I know that wouldn’t be fair to the real man I’m talking to,” she said instead. “So thanks, Geoff, but marriage between us wouldn’t be right.”

“Because I’m so old?” he asked.

Trust him to come right out with it. She thought about her answer. “No,” she finally said in all truth. “Actually, because you’re not as old as I thought you’d be.”

“Ah!” he said. “I think I see.” He stepped back. He didn’t seem crushed, or relieved.

She suddenly wondered if this proposal was just Geoff doing what he thought was the right thing. It would be very like him.

“So, what are you going to do?” he asked.

“Fight,” she said, with a shrug. “I didn’t kill Tanner. They can’t prove anything because there’s nothing to prove. I’ll stay on here in England and make a nice, quiet life for myself. Maybe I’ll look for a ninety-year-old man,” she added, on a laugh.

“You would tempt him, too,” the earl said. “But I’m not taking back my proposal. That may be the only way you can really be safe now. They would not deport the wife of an earl with so little evidence. They’d be reluctant to even lay charges, especially about something that happened in another time and place. As it is, they might not be able to do more than frighten you, which, poor girl, they’ve done too well. But remember, there are enough corrupt souls back in the colony who’d lie for nothing, not to mention a sum of money. It would only take one or two to swear to your misdeeds to make enough of a case to have you brought to trial, here, or as I think they’d prefer, there. You might never be convicted, but it’s a long journey there and back again, as you know. Someone would like to make you vulnerable again.”

“For my money,” she breathed.

“Yes, I think so. You’re beautiful, but few men go to such trouble for beauty as they will for money.”

She laughed. “Too true! But I can’t go wrecking your life for my neck, can I? That’s just the kind of thing my father would do. I aim to be different. Can’t you be my friend and put in a word for me here, even if we don’t marry?”

She stood in sunlight, and he couldn’t say whether it was that, or the very fact of her presence, that made the rest of his study look dark. She was at that moment so lovely, so fragile and helpless-looking, that he wished he could say or do anything to make her agree to marry him. It shocked him. He’d only asked her because he’d thought she needed him. Now, for the first time, he realized that he wanted something as bright and beautiful as she was in his life. He’d only looked forward to his grandchildren before. Now he realized he himself had a life left to live.

“Of course I can, and I’ll remain your friend,” he told her. “Please remember, I’d never do anything to harm you or frighten you.” He coughed, and his face became ruddy again. “If you didn’t want to have marital relations, I could wait until you did. That wouldn’t be a tragedy. I’m a grown man and not a slave to my appetites. Who knows? With time and with confidence, and confidence in me as well, it might be a thing you could come to-if not want, precisely-then accept. And after that, in time, you could come to actually enjoy it. It’s truth, believe it or not.”

He put up a hand. “I know, it sounds impossible now, but think about it. Don’t worry that I’ll keep asking you to marry me, either, because I won’t. But should you change your mind, I’m here. I always will be, for you. Now, in the meanwhile,” he said more briskly, “stay close. We can be friends, if not lovers, so don’t be embarrassed or shy with me. Let’s pretend I didn’t offer what I did, while remembering what it was I offered.”

He laughed so that she could. “And don’t go on any long trips, or with any strangers,” he warned her. “Send to me if anything unusual happens. We’ll keep investigating.”

“We?” she asked. “Oh! You and the viscount. And that’s what you two were wigwagging your eyebrows about, right? He knew you were going to ask me to marry you, in order to protect me?”

“Let’s say he knew, and leave it at that,” the earl said wryly. “He’ll be surprised at the outcome. It won’t be my manly attributes he’ll think you didn’t appreciate, but he’ll be shocked that you turned down my offer. I am one of the wealthiest men in England now, and he, I’m afraid, is too cynical. This may actually help set him straight and show him all women aren’t interested only in a fellow’s money and titles. But yes, we’ll be working together on your problem. If my boys were here, they’d do the same. It might be that we can stop it here and now.”

“I hope so!” she said, and turned to leave.

“And remember,” he added, “my offer stands.”

She looked back at him. “It stands even though I won’t lie down for you?“ she asked with an attempt at humor.

“Even though,” he said. “I’m not Tanner. I could never be. You have to learn to stop thinking of him and the things he did. Give it time.”

“I know,” she said. “Still, it’s not a matter of thinking anymore, it’s part of me. But Geoff? You are a true friend.”

He bowed. “I will always be one. Depend on it.”

“I’ll remember,” she promised.

“And you’ll continue to see London with me?” he asked. “We’ve tickets for the theater tomorrow night.”

“I look forward to it,” she said.

He opened the door for her, and she stepped out, feeling terrible and wickedly ungrateful and relieved, all at once.

Helena was standing in the hallway, talking to Leland. They both looked up. Daisy’s gaze flew to Leland. His blue gaze locked on hers, sober and cold. His face was unsmiling, his long body, tensed. She didn’t know what expression she wore, but she knew she wasn’t smiling. Neither was Geoff. Leland looked puzzled. Helena, surprised.

“We’re leaving now,” she told Helena. “Good day,” she said to Leland, and then, quickly as she could, she stepped out into the sunshine again, and breathed deep.

“You’ve a guest waiting in the lobby,” Helena said.

Daisy was sitting curled up in the window seat, in her dressing gown, looking down, watching London wake up to a new day. “You know I can’t ask anyone to come up until I know who it is,” she said.

“It’s Viscount Haye.”

Daisy frowned. “Here? Now? This early? That’s peculiar. Unless he’s on his way home from a party. That makes more sense. Did he send a message?”

Helena looked at the card in her hand. “He asks to speak with you.”

“Then it’s probably an impostor,” Daisy said, turning back to the window again. “He never asks, he orders. Did you know how right you were? No lady walks out at this hour. There’s not one in the street. There are lots of maids and vendors, nannies and nursemaids and such, and ladies riding down to the equestrian paths in the park, but not one lady on foot. You said most don’t rise until noon, and I thought you were joking. But there’s not one in sight, and it looks like a glorious day. Sheep, that’s what the ladies of London are. I’m glad I’m not one of them.” Or ever going to be one, she thought, and fell still.

“This is the viscount’s card,” Helena said. “And the manager has been warned and wouldn’t disturb you if he thought it was an impostor. I think you ought to go down and see what he wants.”

Daisy shrugged. “I’ll have to get dressed.”

“He says that he expects to see you in ten minutes.”

Daisy sat upright. “Now that sounds like him.” She went quickly to her wardrobe. “I’ll just drop a gown over my head. What shall I wear? The rose or the new yellow sprigged muslin?”

Daisy was wearing a new yellow gown as she went down the stairs ten minutes later. The gossamer skirts floated and drifted behind her, making her feel young and light. She’d wanted to wait and be late, just to show him she could be. But she decided against it. She was bursting with curiosity.

Leland didn’t look as though he’d come from an all-night party. He was dressed in correct morning clothes. He looked elegant and amused, as ever. His hair was still damp from morning ablutions; his face was freshly shaven, his eyes bright and clear. He was wide-awake in every way.

“Good morning,” he said, bowing to Daisy and Helena. He eyed Daisy’s gown with approval. “Very nice, indeed,” he murmured. “Despite the cliché, I must say that you look fresh as your namesake. It’s good to see you haven’t adopted Town hours. I wanted to speak with you without multitudes hovering nearby. That let out most of my usual haunts: soirées, musicales and parties, and the theater. But we can go for a stroll in the fresh morning air. Will you come for a walk with me?

“Helena,” he said, “I know your devotion to duty and it is commendable. But if you don’t mind, I’d rather you didn’t follow too closely. I need some privacy with Daisy. There are things of a delicate nature I wish to say.”

Lud! Daisy thought; he was going to give her hell for turning Geoff down. Well, she could face it, in fact, welcomed it, because she felt bad about it herself.

“If that meets with her approval,” Helena said primly.

“It’s fine with me,” Daisy said. “I like the morning. I know you’re probably used to seeing it the other way ’round, my lord, from the night as it turns into day. But I always liked morning best. You get to breathe the air before everyone else gets to it.”

“When I’m in the countryside I rise when I’d be going to bed in London,” he said, taking her hand and placing it on his sleeve. “There’s really not much else to do at night in the country,” he added, “unless you have company.”

She laughed out loud. “Now that sounds like you. I was beginning to wonder if someone was posing as you.”

“So pleased to have relieved your mind,” he said as they went out to the street. “Believe it or not, it was an inadvertent double entendre. But a good one,” he mused. “I must remember it.”

They walked on toward the park, Helena a discreet few paces behind them.

“As I thought,” he said when they went through the park gates. “No one who knows anyone is out this early. Oh, some rugged young men and women are doubtless galloping hither and yon. But they use the equestrian gates, and go deep into the park. We’re just going to promenade on its perimeters. Helena, would you like to feed the ducks? They look ravenous. Or maybe you’d prefer to rest on that bench over there? I’ll just stroll on ’round the lake with Daisy. Nothing dreadful will transpire. Even I can’t think of a way to disgrace or dishonor her here.”

Helena smiled. “I’d love to sit and enjoy the morning sunlight, my lord. As it happens, I’ve a book with me. Take your time.”

“I always do,” he said with a lazy smile.

“How do you make even the most innocent statement sound so immoral?” Daisy asked him as they walked on.

“It’s a gift,” he said. “But that wasn’t an innocent statement.”

She laughed. It was pleasant strolling the path with him; his company wasn’t so unnerving in the day as it was by moonlight and lamplight. He was still a strong presence and a fascinating male, but she felt less threatened in such mundane surroundings. There were nannies and prams, toddlers, old folks, and many dogs everywhere. She could see a milkmaid in the distance, hurrying to where the cows grazed on the meadow. The trees were in full leaf; the day was mild, Daisy felt relaxed and happy for the first time in a long time. Which was odd, because she knew he’d soon drop his calm façade and read her the riot act.

“You turned the earl down,” he finally said.

She nodded, and watched her slippers as they walked on. “I listened to your advice, after all. It was best for him. He’s a very nice man. I’d have made a bad wife. You were right.”

“I never said you’d make a bad wife. I just said you wouldn’t be the right one for him.”

“Six of one, half dozen of the other,” she said. “I’ll leave London when this business of accusing me of all sorts of mischief about Tanner is over. I think I’d like a quiet life, after all.”

“Quieter than one spent with a scholarly man twice your age?”

That made her look up. He was serious. She looked down again. “He’s not dead. I realized that old doesn’t mean incapable. I just don’t want… a capable husband.”

“Because of your experiences with your late husband? I can understand that, certainly. Did you know,” he said idly, “that I was savaged by one of my father’s hunting dogs when I was a tot? It’s true. I got between him and his prey. He didn’t kill me, after all, and looked very shamed when they pulled him off me. He was a valuable hound, and lived to a ripe old age. I almost didn’t. Yet I bear no scars, because my nurse was a wonder with a needle; she could mend sheets so you’d never know they’d been torn, and, it turned out, earlobes and scalp lesions with the same deft hand.

“Well,” he said, rubbing the back of his head, “I may have scars at that, it’s just that I can’t see them. If I lose my hair, perhaps I will. My point,” he went on, “is that though I had parents who didn’t care, my nurse did. Do you know what she put into my bed to cheer me as I lay convalescing? A puppy. Imagine that. I learned, early on, that experience can teach you some things, but it’s far better to keep learning new things.”

“Geoff isn’t a puppy,” she said in annoyance. “And it isn’t a thing I can think about and banish.”

“Neither were my wounds,” he said. They’d stopped walking, and stood in a quiet shaded spot, beneath a huge oak.

She watched him suspiciously. They were, she realized, now out of sight of most people in the park.

“But the feel of that puppy!” he said, smiling. “Lord, I can still remember. She was fat and smooth-coated; she felt like my mother’s seal cape, only of course she was warmer. Her tongue was warm, too, and her teeth prickled when she nibbled at my fingers. My attacker had been all fangs and claws. The puppy was nothing like that. I hesitate to ruin my manly reputation, but I still shudder when a dog bares its teeth. The difference is that I also quite like dogs of any size or shape, purebred or mongrel. Speaking of which,” he went on casually, “your husband was doubtless a cur. Most men are not. I certainly am not. Neither is Geoff, but he was so devastated by your refusal, he confessed he wouldn’t know how to court you now. I do. I could. Would you care to marry me?”

She stared.

“I would make a most unexceptional husband,” he said serenely. “Once I was wed, I’d give up the chase. That, I promise. I’d never do to any other person what my unfaithful mama did to my father and brothers, and me. There are other advantages. I’d be able to help you dress, because among my few talents is a fine sense of fashion. I possess a melodic tenor, too; I like to ride, spar and fence, and discuss current affairs, in all senses of the words. Which means I’d have interests to take me from the house so I wouldn’t hang at your elbow all the time.

“My estate in the north is historic; it’s actually quite magnificent,” he said. “But I don’t go there often, because that’s where my mother lives. I prefer my little country home in the West Country. I’d want to remove to London for the Season, though. I love the theater, and am thinking of going into politics. I’ve always imagined dabbling in politics is even more delicious than gossiping. After all, just think of all the lives you can actually change by discussing them. And,” he concluded, “I’m very rich. So, what say you? If you were married to me, no one could or would dare prosecute you for anything. Unless, of course,” he said thoughtfully, “you decide to heave a bomb at our prince after shouting some stirring republican slogan at him, or stabbed him repeatedly, in public.”

“Are you mad?” she gasped.

“Almost certainly,” he said. “But benignly so.”

“Why in God’s name would you want to marry me?”

“I collect originals,” he said.

“I’m a convict-or was,” she blurted. “I’m wellborn but not titled. And I’m wealthy, but not rich.”

He smiled. “You also need some lessons in basic English. You probably meant to say it the other way around: rich but not wealthy. It hardly matters. I have enough money to last me and you, and our heirs, all their lives.”

“I won’t be giving you heirs,” she said angrily. “Don’t you understand? I don’t like the process.”

His smile faded. Something else, something both tender and determined, lit his eyes. He ran one kid-gloved finger down the side of her cheek. “Your lips told me otherwise the other day. You don’t like what you know. I can show you what you don’t. I can show you so well, you’ll be amazed at how you felt before.” His eyes never left hers.

She again felt that he’d shrunk the world to just the two of them.

“It will be slow going,” he said, his finger slowly traveling down her cheek to her lips. “And only going forward when you agree, but it will, and you will. I think, deep down, Daisy, that you already know that.”

He lowered his head to touch her lips with his. She didn’t move. Again, she felt the shock of his mouth on hers through her body. His lips touched hers for only a moment, but as they did, she felt a thrilling current of sensation.

He drew back, his eyes dark with some emotion that his expression didn’t show.

“I might not be able to give you an heir, even… if I wanted to,” she stammered. “I didn’t before. Tanner confessed it might be his fault, but how do you know it wasn’t mine?”

“I don’t,” he said softly. “But I haven’t fathered any babes, either. Of course, I’ve been careful, but one wonders if it was my prudence or my lack of ability. At any event, I sometimes wonder. So, we start even. If we can’t produce a child, we’ll at least have a flock of nieces and nephews. And we can take in as many fosterlings as you wish.”

“But Geoff…” she began to say.

He shrugged. “He knows how I feel, and though he’d rather you accept him, he’s given me his permission. Now, all I need is yours.”

“But why?” she demanded.

“Because he cares for you.”

“I mean,” she said with reluctant amusement at his deliberate misunderstanding, “why are you asking me?”

“Because,” he said, smiling with infinite tenderness, “I like you, as well as want you. And you like me. In spite of how you think you feel, and what you say, your breath, your eyes, your skin tell me so. And you’re lovely,” he went on softly. “You’re clever and strong, too. You’re like no other woman I’ve met. And you need me, Daisy. You’ve no idea of how much I need that. I didn’t, certainly. There are other reasons even I don’t know yet, but my pulse, and my skin, and my heart do, and they never lie.”

He bowed his head and kissed her again, gently. She thought she’d stop him, but she didn’t try. Instead, she leaned toward him, without thought of anything but recapturing the sensations he brought to her. His mouth was warm and soft; he touched the margin of her lips with his tongue and without realizing it, she opened her lips and breathed in the thrilling taste of him. It made her want more. He put one large hand on her waist and drew her closer. He deepened the kiss, one large hand on her back, the other stroking her cheek, her neck, her breast… And then to her surprise and guilty dismay, he stopped.

“Think about it,” he said, touching a finger to her chin. “Geoff’s offer still stands. Mine is in your pocket as well. Think long, and deep, Daisy, and let me know tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?”

“Yes. Because you do have enemies, and we have to end this nonsense that threatens you. And also because with all my oddities, I won’t be anyone’s second choice, or last resort. Now,” he said with perfect calm, only belied by the blue fire in his eyes, “shall we get back to Helena? The poor lady will begin to worry, and we can’t have that.”

Daisy stood and looked at him, her hand to her lips, still tingling from his kiss. “You’re serious?”

“Oh, very,” he said. “The point now is, are you?”