Desire by Design

by Heather Boyd

  “May I offer you another biscuit, my lord,” the younger cousin asked, offering him a half-full plate to pick over.

  “No, thank you. I am quite satisfied with the cup of tea I have.”

  Alexander didn’t drink tea, but took a small sip now and then to be polite and pass the time, barely managing not to gag on the vile stuff.

  Alexander had learned a thing or two about Sylvia’s cousins today. Of the pair, the younger was a bit more like Sylvia, bolder, quicker to smile, and smart, too. The older cousin was damn near frightening when Sylvia wasn’t here to divert her attention.

  At last the front door opened and banged shut. “I’m home,” Sylvia called.

  The elder Hillcrest cousin rose gracefully and slipped out of the room without another word. He exchanged a quick smile with Aurora Hillcrest and set his cup down as his heart began to pound with familiar anticipation.

  When Sylvia sailed into the room, he was on his feet in a second. He bowed and, upon noticing alarm in her eyes, quickly said, “Mama is fine.”

  She curtsied to him and took a chair to the right. “What are you doing here?”

  Eugenia took her place behind the desk again, and Aurora was on his left. He felt himself surrounded and uncomfortable. Was this how they tortured those poor devils without the wits to find wives without help?

  Alexander seated himself. “I find myself in dire need of advice,” he began. “I know my actions last month have caused the academy to close, but I believe I can help settle matters in your favor again.”

  “Go on,” Eugenia said but she studied him like a specimen under glass until he nearly squirmed.

  Sylvia could not have any idea why he’d come to her today, and he enjoyed that look of consternation on her face. But it was not likely he’d ever surprise the woman again after today. If their conversation turned out the way he hoped, he’d never have a secret he didn’t share with her again. He’d also be adding these other two women to his life. If they were anything like his mother and Sylvia together, he might as well confide in them, too.

  He wanted Sylvia back—and he’d do anything to make that happen.

  Eugenia shuffled some papers. “We’d be only too happy to help you if we can?”

  He may as well get right to the point. “I have a problem with a particular lady.”

  Two of the three women sat forward eagerly. “Do you now?”

  He did his best to not look in Sylvia’s direction for the moment. “Indeed. I’m not quite sure how to reach the conclusion I desire with her.”

  Two of the three exchanged an alarmed smile, quickly squashed. The moment he ran his words back through his own mind, he caught his double entendre. He caught Eugenia’s eye, filled with surprise.

  The woman he’d thought prudish was on the verge of laughing at him because she thought he’d implied he could not get a stiff cock. “Not that sort of problem,” he chided.

  “As you say,” Eugenia choked out, looking down with a half-hidden smile. “Did you wish to break from her entirely then?”

  “No. I want to keep her. Isn’t that what other men come here to get advice for? To design the perfect courtship to ensure the woman they desire becomes theirs forever?”

  Sylvia gasped, and then her lips pressed together hard.

  Aurora caught his eye. “Never with so much grim determination as you seem to project today.”

  “Marriage is a serious business.”

  “It is indeed.”

  Sylvia’s face seemed too pale for the good news he hoped he’d be imparting. He’d honestly expected for some sign, a blush or a welcoming smile, that indicated he wouldn’t have to prostrate himself at her feet, pleading to receive the affection that might yet still be his.

  But if he had to, he certainly would.

  He was going to unburden himself of everything before her cousins whether she liked it or not. “I should probably start my tale from the very beginning. We met through mutual acquaintances, and hit it off straight away—or at least, I saw no harm in her. I was not looking for a serious attachment. My thoughts were as far away from marriage as I could get. I’ve been so busy, I’d not even replaced my last mistress or had time to look for another.”

  “How terrible for you,” Aurora murmured, sarcasm barely hidden.

  He ignored her for the moment. “Anyway, we kept being thrown together, and an opportunity arose for a bit of fun. The sex was incredible,” he admitted. “The best I’ve ever had. She had me hot for her, and reveled in my eagerness, too.”

  Now it was the turn of the other Hillcrest women to gasp, and for Sylvia to turn a lovely shade of embarrassed.

  “My lord, we don’t need to know the particulars of your amorous conquests.”

  “But I don’t believe I conquered her. Quite the other way round, actually.”

  “My lord, please, there is more to making a marriage than intimacy,” Eugenia chided.

  “But it certainly helps,” Aurora admitted, and then quickly added, “or so I’m told.”

  Alexander looked at the two cousins, women who one day soon would be part of his family, and nearly groaned aloud. Like Sylvia, they were bold, forthright women.

  And like Sylvia, they might actually not be the inexperienced spinsters they first appeared to be.

  He would absolutely insist that the pair come to live under his roof when he married Sylvia, just so they’d have his protection if they ever needed it one day.

  But for now…his first concern was Sylvia and their future together.

  “As we became more involved, I discovered she’d make decisions that did not align with my wishes at the time.”

  “Such as?”

  “She meddled in my family affairs.”

  “Women are, by and large, often unwilling to share their opinions with men who value only their own.”

  “You see, there is how she misunderstood me. None of us are ever exactly as we seem. She acted quiet and proper in front of everyone else, but underneath, in private, she’s entirely a handful. Deliciously wicked and devious, too. In and out of bed, my head is spinning from her tricks. Mark me well, it is the quiet ones that always bear watching.”

  “Lord Wharton, you seem fixated by the physical side of your relationship with this woman,” Eugenia said. “There is more to love and marriage than instant gratification.”

  “Instant! If you do it right the first time, it should take all night. A very wise woman once said to the wife of a friend of mine that men think of sex all the time, and it’s a miracle anything gets done. I tell you now that it is absolutely true. If a fellow is happy at home, he’s a better man and far more productive in his business affairs. I haven’t been truly happy since she set me back on my heels.”

  “How long has that been?”

  “A day was too long. But in the month that has passed, it’s occurred to me, too, that her meddling in my affairs was actually the best thing that ever happened.” He glanced at Sylvia finally. “I have reconsidered what matters most in my life, and I can’t give up. She might have refused me the first time but I won’t give up.”

  Sylvia arched one brow. “If you consider this lady you talk of so essential, do you have any idea why she wouldn’t accept you the first time you asked?”

  “I haven’t actually asked her to marry me yet, but I intend to rectify my mistake today. I went in a wrong direction and have regretted it ever since.”

  Sylvia inclined her head.

  “Husbands and wives can make a formidable team if they worked together instead of apart,” he suggested.

  She nodded again. “It sounds to me as if you were already working together for the same ends.”

  “Only I didn’t expect it, or appreciate her involvement enough. I reacted poorly to what I perceived as the undermining of my authority. I was an idiot. I’m trying to apologize.”

  “You are exceedingly arrogant to think a quick apology thrown out would be enough to make up for the crushing disappointment of a secon
d-rate offer.”

  “Arrogance was the first skill I learned at my father’s knee,” he said, smiling at how Sylvia was playing along while her cousins looked completely lost to what was really going on around them still. “The next was how to become irresistible.”

  Sylvia suddenly laughed. “Always so modest.”

  “I doubt I will ever change.”

  She sobered. “No, I expect that would be asking too much.”

  “I have a great many flaws, and I will always be the first to admit them. When I want something, I charge ahead boldly. So do you, for that matter.” He fished in his pocket and held out his hand. “I have already picked out a little ring, you see, for my bride. With luck it should suit, or if not, I have many others in the family safe.”

  The ring was huge, even by his standards. A large square-cut diamond, surrounded by more diamonds, interspersed with rubies and embedded in a heavy yellow-gold surround and band.

  Before Sylvia could claim the ring, her cousins asked if they could see it closer up. Alexander pursed his lips, making a show of considering the matter, and then passed the costly piece to Sylvia first.

  She held it as if terrified of damaging it. Alexander wasn’t the least bit worried. The ring was in the safest hands he knew.

  “There’s a tiara, necklace and bracelet to match,” he murmured. “I did not think to bring them with me today. They’d have spoiled the lines of my coat. But what do you think of the trinket? Will the woman I love like and accept it as her due?”

  Aurora took the ring from Sylvia, studying it carefully before handing it to Eugenia to admire next. Alexander couldn’t help but notice a look of longing cross Sylvia’s face as it moved away from her. She wanted the ring back, he’d wager.

  But might she want him now, too?

  “This is no mere trinket,” Eugenia noted. “Do you believe a fortune in gems is all it takes to sway a woman to accept you?”

  “I certainly hope not, but I have a vault full if she likes that sort of thing. I feel confidant the woman I marry will not be swayed by my title, either, impressive as that is, too.”

  Sylvia met his gaze. “So what recommends you for a husband then?”

  “When it comes right down to it, all I can offer is myself. Faults and all.”

  “And a willingness to share a life,” Eugenia Hillcrest suggested.

  “Together, yes. I am also willing to be managed,” he suggested.

  “It must be love, indeed,” Aurora said with a shy smile. “For a man to willingly put himself into a wife’s hands.”

  He nodded. “She’s very capable. So how should I proceed? How do you usually advise a man on how to perform the perfect proposal of marriage?”

  Eugenia nodded. “I would think a little of what you shared today would suffice, perhaps leaving out declaring your deepest amorous inclinations in front of witnesses, particularly family.”

  He grinned. “I’ll consider it, however, the lady I love has always been willing to speak of her amorous inclinations openly to me.”

  “There is no absolute best way to propose marriage,” Aurora told him. “I suggest you consider the setting and try to put yourself in her shoes. Is she at all romantic? Would she really want to see you on both knees or would a tender, private conversation away from her family allow free rein to any emotions she’d rather keep hidden from them?”

  Sylvia wasn’t watching him now, but her head started to bob up and down.

  “Thank you,” he said to Sylvia more than to the other pair. He stood. Paused, ready to deliver exactly the opposite. To fall to his knees and deliver a gushingly sweet offer of marriage, regardless who heard him do it.

  Sylvia hurried to stand and, one of her hands stretched out, urgently forestalled him falling to the floor. “Do you mean it?”

  “Of course.” He glanced at her in surprise. “Half the fun of being with me is that I tell a tall tale that’s based in absolute truth. I want to marry very much.”

  “Lord Wharton?”

  “Yes, Sylvia?”

  She worried her bottom lip “Could I see that ring again?”

  “Certainly.” He withdrew it from his pocket and held it out to her.

  Sylvia didn’t take the ring but held out her left hand, fingers spread wide.

  “Ah. I see.” He slid the ring on her finger. “There you go, my love.”

  Sylvia held up her hand to admire the piece on her finger.

  Eugenia was suddenly at her side. “Sylvia? Is this what I fear it is?”

  A shy smile crossed Sylvia’s lips as she met his gaze.

  Alexander grinned back, waiting for her to say the words he longed to hear.

  “The marquess is mine,” she announced proudly. “Faults and all.”

  “Yes!” Wharton crowed, and when Sylvia grabbed his lapels, he swooped down to kiss the woman he loved soundly. Her cousins made some noises around them, but he was so happy to finally be claimed by the woman who never failed to surprise and please him in so many ways that he paid them no mind at all.

  He smiled down upon Sylvia when they came up for air. “How did I do with my first ever proposal?”

  “Very well, Alexander,” she promised, laughing. “No one was more shocked than me when you started talking about your feelings in front of my cousins. Your father did that to your mother, too.”

  “We will be happier than them, I swear. I saw firsthand how he treated her, ignored her. I don’t think I’ll be able to with you,” he promised. “We should go soon to tell Mother, and I’m sure if we promise her those grandchildren she’s craving, she’ll get used to having us all around her in time.”

  Sylvia’s brow furrowed. “Don’t you mean both?”

  “It might be a bit of a squeeze at first, at least until Mother can be moved to Wharton house, but I want you and your cousins to move in with her immediately, if you can. They’d be company for Mother as well when we go out together, and if they are anything like you, they probably have secrets that’ll turn some poor gent on his head. They might need us to keep the ton on our side one day, if they want to take their place on the marriage mart.”

  “That will be up to them.”

  He nodded. “People should really only marry when they are prepared to share their lives, and their mothers too, don’t you think?”

  Sylvia laughed and pulled him down for a quick kiss. “Indeed I do.”

  Epilogue

  Alexander adjusted his sleeve unnecessarily again as the dull roar of the guests outside rumbled in his ears, glad his long engagement was almost over. It had been many months since he’d proposed to Sylvia. I quick wedding had not been acceptable. “Will you come away from the door,” he called. “You know I detest arriving too early.”

  “Sorry, but you have to see this. It’s standing-room only out there,” Carmichael noted in awe. “Is there anyone your mother didn’t invite?”

  “Probably not.” He smiled. “Anyone who’s anyone would attend my wedding day.”

  Scarsdale lurched to his feet. “God, you’re unbelievable. They’re here to see the bride, and not you.”

  Scarsdale was not taking the news of Alexander’s imminent marriage well. He was convinced Alexander had been bewitched. “They’d better be here for my bride. I want her to be the center of attention.”

  He wanted every good thing for Sylvia. A home, loving family, true friends, endless challenges, and adventures. Passion. Respect. Passion. He glanced up at the ceiling, sent a loving thought toward his future wife, and turned for the door as the bells began to chime the hour. “Now, it’s time.”

  Carmichael wrenched open the door and allowed him to leave the vestry first. He walked slowly along the nave, with his two best friends following close behind. As Carmichael had warned, St. George’s Cathedral was full and the sound was overwhelming at first. He noticed his mother’s absence in the family pew but was not at all concerned where she might be at that moment. No doubt she was waiting by the door to catch her first glimps
e of his bride as she arrived at the church. Alexander had sent a carriage to collect her and ensure she arrived exactly on time.

  His brother, Toby, scowled at him from the first pew, while his silly sisters laughed, and their new husbands endeavored to keep them in their front-row seats.

  He took his place, and then turned to look up the length of the chamber at all the witnesses and friends who had gathered for this most important occasion.

  His mother was just sitting down, and although she appeared serene and calm, Alexander couldn’t miss the excitement brimming in Mama’s eyes. She turned quickly to nod to friends. Mother wasn’t quite herself yet. Sylvia had warned him that she would only dance once today, and only with him because he could be trusted to be gentle when spinning her about.

  It was at Mama’s insistence that the marriage was happening now and not several more months into the future, when she was at last fully healed. Impatience was the family curse. Mama simply couldn’t wait until her eldest child was settled, and they’d agreed to finally tie the knot to make her happy.

  Mama inclined her head regally, approving his appearance and letting him know, too, that all was ready for the marriage ceremony to commence.

  Somewhere, a violin started playing, and a hush fell over the sacred church.

  The violin fell silent then, and he clearly heard the turning of a latch as the church doors creaked fully open.

  Everyone turned to face the back of the room on cue.

  Mother had such a flair for the dramatic that she’d probably planned that moment years ago when he was still in the nursery.

  Alexander found himself holding his breath, waiting for his first glimpse of Sylvia.

  Finally he saw movement—and then Sylvia came. She was dressed in sparkling jewels and pristine white muslin. She had never looked more assured or beautiful. He was one hell of a lucky man.

  She was wearing Mother’s favorite jewels. A high collar of blue sapphires surrounded her throat and encircled her wrists. “Something borrowed and something blue,” he murmured, casting a quick glance at his mother.