Val could see the protest forming on his grandmother’s lips. But then, she simply let out a heavy sigh of capitulation.
“Very well, Miss Burkhart. We shall have a small wedding, family and the closest of friends only. I suppose St. Paul’s might be a bit much, but it’s the only place worth getting married these days. Even with limited guests, you’ll still at least get a bit of coverage in the columns,” the dowager duchess added.
“Do we want coverage in the columns?” Lilly asked, her tone one of horror and dread.
“Of a certain, we do!” The dowager duchess shook her head. “My darling girl, what is the point of marrying so well if no one is to know one has done it?”
For one point, it would make their lives easier. The more people that knew she had the protection of his name and rank, the fewer people who would be willing to risk the consequences of acting against them.
Val rang for the maid and requested another cup. When she’d gone, he turned back to his grandmother. “You make all the plans you desire, so long as Miss Burkhart is in agreement with them. I will be there at the appointed time.” In truth, he wouldn’t. Neither would Miss Burkhart. If he had his way, they’d already be married by then. “But, I’m having Highcliff obtain a special license regardless.”
“Why can’t you obtain one?” Lillian asked.
“The archbishop does not especially care for me,” Val admitted reluctantly. A lecture would surely follow, he was certain.
His grandmother shook her head. “You gambled with the archbishop, didn’t you? We’re not only ruined now, we’re all bound for eternal damnation due to your recklessness!”
“No, of course not. The archbishop doesn’t gamble, as far as I know,” Val said. “But I might have relieved his rather idiotic and whey-faced nephew of a good portion of his inheritance. And before you say it, I tried to dissuade him. I encouraged the stupid boy to drop out of the game numerous times and he would not. At any rate, I thought it best to let Highcliff handle things.”
“Really, Valentine!” his grandmother said in abject disapproval. “One day, my boy, you will get yourself into a situation that neither your charm nor your friends will be able to get you out of. What will you do then?”
The maid returned with another tray bearing a single cup. He watched as she placed it with the others and Lillian filled it from the steaming pot. Watching her, with the innate grace of her movements, he said, “Whatever is necessary, Grandmama. Whatever is necessary.”
Chapter Ten
They walked in the garden that evening. It seemed that everyone, including the two of them, were attempting to act as if it were a real engagement or, at the very least, a traditional one. Lilly could feel the tension in him. Something was clearly bothering him but she didn’t know what it was. And while she was prepared to marry him, she wasn’t necessarily prepared to pry into his thoughts, especially if they were about how terribly unsuited she was to the position of Viscountess Seaburn, and future Duchess of Templeton. It was that, more than anything else that had occurred, which gave her pause about their arrangement.
“Are we making a mistake?” she asked.
“What?” he asked, glancing at her in surprise. “Are you having second thoughts?”
“I wasn’t. I may be now. I suppose that rather depends on what has you so deeply in thought,” she replied. “I know you offered impulsively. As much to irritate your relatives as for the other reasons you and I discussed. If you wish to cry off—”
“I’ve no wish to cry off. I understand that this is impulsive,” he said. “And the simple truth is that I owe you an apology for offering for you in the way that I did. It was thoughtless and careless. Insensitive and spoiled just as my grandmother accuses me of being. Had you turned me down flat, I’d have deserved it and the ensuing humiliation entirely.”
Lilly walked on a few paces ahead. “But I didn’t, did I? I said yes and now we’re both facing the very real consequences of that. We don’t even know one another, much less whether or not we’d actually want to be married to one another!” And hot, drugging kisses aside, they had no basis for a marriage between them.
He closed the distance between them, moving so that he stood in front of her and they were facing one another directly. “That’s true enough, but my consequences are, well, inconsequential comparatively. I have to marry. That is beyond question. I can’t let the fortune fall into Elsworth’s hands… what he’d do with it could have far reaching consequences for all of England. Thousands of lives hang in the balance if he does. And yet, your life now hangs in the balance as well.”
“Weighed against so many, it cannot be considered,” she replied.
“But it can,” he insisted. “It must. My impulsive decision has put you in an untenable situation. And your life is in danger because of it.”
Lilly thought of the exchange with Elsworth earlier in the day. It had been a threat. Veiled, yes, and perhaps his tripping her had only been an accident or mostly harmless bullying. But she couldn’t help think that was not the case. “I will not say that you are wrong about the potential threat I am facing. My own clumsiness from the morning of our meeting aside, the last two days have seen more precarious circumstances than I care to consider. The timing of the attack this morning is something that should not be ignored. It cannot be coincidence that my life is suddenly placed at risk after agreeing to your offer, especially with—” Lilly turned away, unwilling to finish the statement.
He frowned at the abrupt manner in which she’d simply halted her statement. “Did something else occur?”
She hadn’t wanted to tell him but, under the circumstances, it seemed foolish not to, especially since she was not the only one at risk. “Elsworth threatened me this afternoon… just before I went into tea with your grandmother. It wasn’t overt, really. He didn’t say he would kill me or that I was in danger.”
He grasped her arm, halting her as they walked and then turned her to face him. His jaw was clenched tight with anger. “Tell me everything.”
Lilly sighed. “I was coming down the stairs and he was waiting—hiding in essence, as he didn’t appear until I literally couldn’t avoid him—at the bottom. He blocked my path and I asked him repeatedly to move.”
“Did he hurt you? Did he touch you, at all?” Val demanded. “So help me, Lilly, if he harmed you—”
“No he didn’t! And you mustn’t challenge him openly. I know you’re trying to protect your grandmother from the truth about him and if you allow your temper to get the better of you here it will all be for naught!”
“I won’t let him bully and terrorize you!”
Lillian laughed. “What makes you think he can do either of those things? I’ve been taking care of myself for quite some time. My betrothal to you does not alter that! Do not let his pettiness sway you from your course. Threatening him or coming to blows with him now, regardless of what he said or did to me could hamper your ability to get the information you need. Couldn’t it?”
He was quiet for the longest moment, a muscle ticking in his jaw. Finally, his breath came out in a rush. “Fine. For now. But if it happens again, I will not stay my hand where he is concerned. You’d tell me if he really hurt you, wouldn’t you?”
“Yes, of course, I would. He didn’t strike me or shove me… but he did trip me, and I’m fairly certain he did so on purpose. And then he said that I should be careful because it would be a shame if something were to happen to me. And now I am wondering if he was responsible for the other event in the park… but you already suspected that, didn’t you?”
“I did,” he admitted through clenched teeth. “And it does sound like a threat, but a very vague and cowardly one. And your ankle wasn’t further injured with this?”
“Only my dignity, but it’s taken several blows of late,” she said with a laugh. Growing serious again, she added, “He also said that you had discovered enough dead women in your life without adding myself to the list. I’m paraphrasing, of course,
but it was something to that effect… and he told me about your mother.”
Val’s expression shifted into something unreadable. It wasn’t angry or even hurt, just impassive. “I see. And what did he tell you about her?”
“That she’d been using laudanum and had ingested too much of it. And that you found her after,” Lilly admitted. She wished fervently that she hadn’t even broached the subject. What right did she have to pry into such things? His past was his and his alone.
“That is all sadly true. And she was melancholic and there were questions about whether or not she had done so intentionally… ultimately, and likely with great influence by my grandmother, both the church and the local magistrate deemed that it had not been suicide but an accident. We were permitted to bury her near the chapel at our country estate.”
Regret coursing through her, Lilly offered, “I shouldn’t have asked. I should never have mentioned it at all.”
“No, you should have. I should have told you without you having to ask,” he said. “You’re certainly entitled to know. Heaven knows you’ll be confronted with gossip about it at some point or other. But it isn’t just my mother that he’s referring to… there was another girl. It was before I left for the army. She was a country girl, local gentry and rather free with her favors, unfortunately. I fancied myself in love with her and even thought to offer for her. Alas, I didn’t. I lost my nerve. And then two days later, I was out riding with Elsworth and some other young men from the area and I found her body in the stream. There were questions.”
“But no charges?” she asked.
“No,” he said. “It was determined that she’d slipped and fallen into the water during a heavy rain. With her skirts so heavy, she’d been unable to get herself up and out of the water… or so the magistrate had surmised.”
“You disagreed with his assessment?” Lilly asked.
“I did. I still do. She had bruises about her throat that were not caused by drowning. It was very clear to me that someone had committed an assault against her, but whether or not that was the cause of her death, I cannot say,” Val admitted to her. “And I don’t know why it was hushed up and never investigated. Perhaps my grandmother thought I was guilty and did the same thing she had done after my mother’s death and simply made it all go smoothly.”
“Or perhaps she thought Elsworth was guilty. You are not the only grandson she must protect,” Lillian suggested. “And if we are right about him now, he’s clearly shown that he is capable of violence against any woman who threatens his position as your heir.”
She saw the shock that flitted across his face, as if it had never occurred to him to question his cousin’s involvement in the death of another young woman. But no one wished to believe ill of those closest to them. It was always easier to suspect a stranger of such terrible and heinous acts than one so near.
“My God,” he said. “You could be right. For so long, I had thought perhaps she had another lover, or that she’d spurned someone’s advances and been met with the terrible consequences of their temper. But it makes sense for Elsworth to at least be a suspect, does it not?”
“Did he know your intentions?” Lilly asked.
Val’s expression turned grim. “He did. But he didn’t know that I had changed my mind about asking her. He had every reason to expect that she would say yes given my status and my expectations. And if that is the case, that he murdered her to protect what he perceived to be his future, then our betrothal has painted a target on your back. You are in danger and it is entirely my fault.”
“No, it isn’t. The fault lies only with those who commit such unspeakable acts. Breaking our engagement will not make this go away,” she said. “He won’t stop now, because he’s shown me what he really is. I know the truth of him and men like that… they don’t forgive that easily nor do they forget.”
“You still wish to marry me,” he said. “Even knowing what you do about me and about my family? Not just Elsworth, but my mother and all of it. You think we should still go through with it?”
Lilly cocked her head to one side, meeting his worried gaze. A soft smile tugged at her lips. “Without a doubt. And I would be the worst sort of hypocrite to hold the circumstances of your mother’s death against you. Heavens, look at my own. If it’s even true. Perhaps she’s alive and well and just wanted no part of me. I certainly heard of her desperate act from an unreliable source. So, yes, I do wish to continue with our plan, foolhardy as it may seem to others. Do you?”
He frowned at her for a moment. “Oddly enough, yes, I do. Without a doubt, as you said.”
Lilly arched her eyebrows. “Really?”
He grinned, dispelling the darkness that had settled over them with their earlier conversation. It was an attempt to put them both at ease, and Lilly was glad of it.
“Perhaps a few small doubts,” he admitted teasingly. “Every man is entitled to question the end of his bachelorhood, isn’t he?”
“Only if every woman is entitled to question whether or not tying her fate to a feckless man is the best course of action,” she shot back, in her best imitation of the Dowager Duchess of Templeton.
He laughed at that, shaking his head. “I think that’s fair. And I’m beginning to see why my grandmother engineered all of this. You’re a bit like her, you know? In your thinking and your view of the world. More forthright and less manipulative to be certain. That’s not a complaint by the way. I’ll take your forthrightness and be thankful for it.”
Lilly began walking again, easing along the path in the small garden. It wound around rocks and bushes, trees and statuary to make the most of the small amount of space there. “You may rethink your stance on that as time goes by.”
“Perhaps. But there are other aspects of marriage that I think will allow us to be forgiving of any foibles and flaws we might see in one another,” he said.
“You’re referring to our kiss this morning,” she said. Recalling it left her feeling weak and breathless.
“That is exactly what I meant. Perhaps if I kiss you now, in the privacy of our own little garden, we won’t be interrupted by spies or attempted murders,” he suggested.
“We could be interrupted by something far worse,” she answered. “A dowager duchess.”
His hand snaked out, grasped her wrist and tugged her to him until she fell against his chest and their mouths were scant inches apart. “I’ll brave the risk,” he whispered. Then his lips were descending on hers once more.
Doubt fled. Questions and rationality were banished to the furthest reaches of her mind. Instead, she simply clung to him and the sweetness of that moment. She let the heat invade her, let it wash through her until she was breathless with it. As long as he was kissing her, anything seemed possible.
*
God above, but the taste of her was all that was both sinful and sweet. Every time he touched his lips to hers, he only wanted more and more. It was as heady and intoxicating as any spirit he’d ever imbibed and produced its own peculiar brand of euphoria.
She sighed, her lips parting and allowing him entrance. He savored it, committed it to memory even as he took the kiss further. Maneuvering them off the garden path and into the shadows of a tall hedge, he tipped her head back and deepened the kiss even further. When her hands came up, locking behind his neck as her fingers threaded into his hair, he was lost. Any thought of stopping, any thought of where they were and what paths of impropriety he might be leading her down simply fled. He was driven by his own desire and his need of her.
There was a small bench nestled there against the hedge and, somehow, he managed to get them to it without ever breaking the kiss. Sitting down, tugging her onto his lap so that he could hold her close and touch every damnably tempting inch of her, he hadn’t forgotten where they were. He simply didn’t care. Discovery and scandal be damned.
The gown she wore, one of the castoffs she’d been given, fit loosely enough that it offered little or no resistance when he tugged it down
to reveal the generous swells of her breasts above her stays. As much as he enjoyed the sweetness of her lips, he longed to kiss her elsewhere, to test the porcelain texture of her skin and see if it felt as smooth beneath his lips and tongue as it appeared. Dipping his head, he pressed his mouth to her breast, laving the satin of her skin with his tongue and then nipping with his teeth until she shivered against him.
“You are wicked,” she said on a ragged breath.
“So are you,” he replied, his whispered words skating over her skin as he shifted one hand to cup the fullness of her breast. Even with layers of cloth between them, he could feel the hardened bud of her nipple against his palm and he wanted nothing more than to divest her of every garment right there. “Wicked and, if I am the luckiest man alive, perhaps a bit wanton.”
She said nothing to that, but then she didn’t have to. Instead of words, she arched toward him, offering herself to him in the sweetest way he could have imagined. Unable to resist, he grasped the laces of her stays and slipped the knot free. The fabric parted just enough that he could reach inside and touch her bare flesh. Every touch was gentle—coaxing and seductive. He could see her response, the initial shock and the pleasure that followed as well as the undeniable yearning for more.
“I warned you, Lilly… Pandora’s box has been opened. Every time I touch you, you will want more, you will become bolder and more brazen. Curiosity and desire will drown out your fears,” he vowed.
“I think they already have,” she admitted. “But we have to go in. The dinner gong will sound any moment and I need to change.”
She was right, of course. And if they didn’t return promptly when it sounded, there would be hell to pay. Reluctantly, he removed his hand from the confines of her clothes and helped her do them up once more. As she rose, she looked neat and tidy as ever, albeit with a sparkle in her eyes and a flush in her cheeks that had not been there before. And her lips, swollen from his kisses and more delectable for it, tempted him once more. He kissed her gently then, aware that to do more would only result in greater frustration for them both.
Regency for all Seasons: A Regency Romance Collection Page 57
