A Scandalous Bargain

by Burke, Darcy

  Now, in the drawing room, Thomas addressed everyone with Beatrix by his side. “Thank you for inviting me to dinner this evening. While you are no doubt already aware, I wanted to formally announce the betrothal of myself and Miss Beatrix Whitford. She has made me the happiest man alive.”

  “Not possible,” Harry said, grinning from across the room, his arm around Selina, who elbowed him gently.

  Thomas laughed. “Very well. I know this betrothal will spur a tidal wave of gossip given the abbreviated length of my mourning period, but as my Aunt Charity has assured me—I will be forgiven since I’m a man with a small child.” He glanced toward his aunt, who’d also joined them for dinner.

  “Because you are clearly in desperate need of a wife,” North cracked.

  “As it happens, I am.” Thomas looked down at Beatrix. “I’m desperately in need of this wife.”

  Beatrix felt her heart would burst. She could not wait to get him alone and hoped that might be possible later.

  “Because of that,” Thomas said, addressing the room once more, “I will be obtaining a special license tomorrow so that we may be wed on Saturday. Perhaps that will give the gossips something else to talk about it.” He winked at Beatrix, and she couldn’t help but laugh.

  “Let them talk about anything they wish,” she said.

  “My goodness, that is quick,” Lady Aylesbury said. “How can we plan a proper wedding breakfast?”

  “I would prefer something small—just those who are present, in fact. And my daughter, of course. The wedding will take place at my house as well,” he said.

  He and Beatrix had discussed this on the way to dinner. She’d ridden to Tom’s house with Selina and Harry. They’d all then walked the short distance to Aylesbury House on Mount Street.

  “That sounds lovely,” Harry’s sister Rachel said. “So many weddings.” She looked at their brother North, her brow arched. “I think it must be your turn.”

  North’s eyes rounded in horror. “Not me. Him.” He jabbed his thumb toward Rafe, who stood to his left.

  Rafe simply shook his head, then sipped his port.

  At Selina’s suggestion, Beatrix wanted to ask Rafe if he would give her away. She was a bit nervous about it, but Selina had assured her he would be delighted. Even so, Selina had agreed to support her when she asked.

  As conversation started around the room, she decided now was as good a time as any. She exchanged a look with Selina who nodded. Beatrix then turned to Tom. “Will you excuse me a moment? I need to speak with Rafe.”

  “Of course.” Tom knew what she meant to ask, for they’d discussed that as well.

  Beatrix met Selina near Rafe, then they pulled him into the corner.

  “This looks serious,” Rafe quipped.

  “Not terribly,” Beatrix said. “I have a request, and I hope you won’t think it too forward since we haven’t known each other very long. It’s just that, well, I find myself without a father or a brother.”

  “Not true,” Selina said. “You have a brother. He’s standing right there.” She looked at Rafe expectantly.

  “Yes, you do,” he assured her. “What do you need?”

  “Someone to give me away at the wedding. Would you mind?”

  Rafe was silent a moment, his vivid blue eyes settling on her and that orange mark in the right one giving him an added intensity. “It would be my honor,” he said softly.

  Beatrix relaxed. “Oh, thank you.”

  He arched a brow at her. “You didn’t really think I’d say no?”

  “I told her you wouldn’t,” Selina said.

  “I take nothing for granted,” Beatrix said in her defense.

  “That is an excellent outlook.” Rafe pulled a folded piece of parchment from his coat. “I’m glad to have a moment to speak with both of you. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about that folly I remembered the other day. I drew a picture of it.” He opened the parchment one-handed and showed it to them.

  Selina took the drawing and held it for Beatrix to study it along with her.

  The illustration was incredibly detailed. It showed a small, templelike building with a statue of a woman in the middle. There were fish and other water creatures around the base.

  “This is astonishing,” Beatrix said. “I’d no idea you were a skilled artist.”

  Rafe snorted softly. “I wouldn’t say that I’m skilled.”

  Selina’s brow creased as she studied the drawing. “Is that Aphrodite in the center?”

  “I think so,” Rafe said. “Because she came from the sea.”

  “You remembered quite a bit of detail,” Selina remarked.

  “Some of it is my imagination filling things in, but I recall the statue of a woman—a goddess, I am almost certain—and that dolphin in particular. I also recall other fish, but not what they were specifically.” He folded the paper and replaced it into his coat. “I’d like to find it.”

  “I can’t imagine it will be difficult given the specifics you remember.” Beatrix hoped it would be possible. “Do you think you could discover who your parents were?”

  Rafe’s eyes took on an even darker intensity. “That is my objective.”

  Selina touched his arm. “Even if we find the folly, we may not find our parents. What if this is just one place they visited?”

  “Presumably, they would have known the owner, and I have to believe that person would know of a couple with small children who visited. Especially since those people died in a fire. That isn’t something one forgets, even after twenty-seven years.”

  “How will you go about finding it?” Beatrix asked.

  “I plan to show this drawing to people and ask if they’ve ever seen a folly like it and that I plan to build one at Spring Hollow.” That was the pleasure garden Rafe owned in Clerkenwell.

  Selina smiled at him. “A brilliant plan.”

  Rafe tipped his head and lifted his glass of port. “I hope so.”

  They spent the rest of the evening as a family should—in conversation and camaraderie. By the time Beatrix left with Tom, Harry, and Selina, her face hurt from laughing.

  The walk back to Tom’s house took only a few minutes. Harry and Selina’s coach was ready, as they’d sent a footman to the Grosvenor Square mews in advance.

  “I’m not even going to pretend you’re coming with us,” Selina said. She kissed Beatrix’s cheek. “Just be discreet. Like we were.” She sent a sly smile toward Harry.

  Harry helped her into the coach and waved at them before they left.

  Beatrix took Thomas’s hand and led him back down the square.

  “Where are we going?” he asked.

  “We’re being discreet.”

  “We’re going in through the garden, aren’t we?”

  She narrowed her eyes at him playfully. “Walking in the front door isn’t discreet.”

  He laughed. As soon as they were out of the square and in the alley that led to the mews and his back gate, he took her in his arms and kissed her.

  Beatrix pressed her body to his and held him tightly. She reluctantly pulled back and tugged him toward the garden. “Come on or we’ll never get inside.”

  “Sorry, I’ve been waiting an eternity to do that.”

  Giggling, Beatrix led him into the garden. They walked, hand in hand, to the balcony where Beatrix stopped short. “Is it all right that we will live here?”

  “Because of her?” he asked quietly.

  Beatrix nodded.

  He faced her, taking her other hand too. “When I look at that balcony, I see you climbing over the side and almost-waltzing with me. I don’t see sadness. I feel happy. For the first time in ages, I feel happy.”

  “Oh good. I really don’t want to move. There’s something delicious about living next door to the duke and waving at him as good neighbors do.”

  Thomas let out a belly laugh. He pulled her toward him and kissed her again. “How I adore you.”

  “I hope you won’t mind if I refurbi
sh her room, however.” She didn’t think she needed to clarify who “her” was. “I was thinking we could make it into a family sitting room that’s less formal than the drawing room and larger than your sitting room—something with toys and maybe a small bed where Regan can sleep if she wanders downstairs. Not that I mind her sleeping with us,” she added. “I just thought there might be times when, well, when we…”

  Tom clasped her waist and drew her against him. “There will be plenty of those times, including tonight. You, my love, are brilliant.”

  Waggling her brows at him, she turned and went to the trellis.

  “Wait, you aren’t going to climb that in your gown, are you?” he asked.

  She put her hand on her hip. “Do you have a better suggestion?”

  “Perhaps we should go inside and take the stairs.”

  “I can do it,” she said. “Or do you think I can’t?” She fluttered her lashes at him.

  “You can do anything—of that I’m certain. Let me go first and help you.” Tom quickly ascended the trellis and leapt onto the balcony. He held out his hand.

  Beatrix grasped the iron and started to climb. “My dress isn’t the problem. It’s these damned slippers.” And she’d even worn her sturdiest pair since they’d planned to walk from Tom’s to Aylesbury House. “Useless accessories.”

  Tom helped her onto the balcony and into his arms. “But they look lovely on your feet.”

  She lowered her voice to a seductive tone. “Wouldn’t they look better off them?”

  He swept her into an impromptu waltz straight into the house and onward into his—their—bedchamber. “Most definitely.”

  Epilogue

  The afternoon was bright and warm, more like August than June. Thomas swung the picnic basket as he walked beside his cousin-in-law, the Earl of Sutton. Ahead of them were their wives and children—his son and Thomas’s daughter.

  Wife.

  Thomas could scarcely believe he’d married Beatrix two days ago. He was the luckiest man alive, regardless of what Harry believed.

  Beatrix walked beside Aquilla, and in front of them, the children chased the four kittens, two of whom would be coming home with Regan, much to her delight.

  “Look, Bebe, they’re chasing a butterfly!” Regan took Beatrix’s hand and pulled her forward.

  They crested the small hill, and the lake came into view. “Beautiful,” Thomas said.

  Sutton briefly shielded his eyes. “Thank you. This is a nice spot, especially at this time of year.”

  They walked down the hill to a flat area in the shade of a tall oak tree. Sutton laid out the blanket he’d carried, and Thomas set the basket down on the edge.

  “Regan, don’t get too close to the water,” Thomas said.

  “Yes, Papa.” She stopped and looked toward him. “Do kittens like water?”

  He smiled at her. “I don’t think so, sweeting.”

  “Oh good.” Regan skipped after the largest of the kittens, a fluffy gray one.

  Beatrix stood just outside the shade and looked to the other side of the lake, which was long and narrow. “Lord Sutton, does that folly belong to Sutton Park?” She turned her head toward the blanket.

  “No. That’s Ivy Grove. The lake divides our properties.”

  “Who owns it?” Beatrix asked.

  “The Earl of Stone.”

  Thomas went and joined Beatrix, snaking his arm around her waist and pulling her against his side. “Devereaux House doesn’t have a folly, I’m afraid.” He could hardly wait to show her his estate later in the summer.

  “I’m interested in that folly,” she said, her gaze fixed on the small temple. “That’s a dolphin at the base, isn’t it?”

  Thomas looked more closely. “It is indeed. And a whale beside it. I think that must be Aphrodite in the middle, don’t you?”

  “Yes.” Beatrix turned and went back to the blanket.

  Aquilla was in the process of laying out the food, but the children were already eating. “I’m afraid I couldn’t stop them,” she said with a laugh.

  “Have you been to that folly?” Beatrix asked, sitting down next to Regan, who was nibbling a strawberry that was turning her fingers red.

  “Yes, but not in some time,” Sutton said. He looked toward his wife. “I don’t think you’ve ever been there, have you, dear?”

  Aquilla shook her head. “I haven’t. But I admit I find it fascinating. The sea creatures are splendid.”

  “The Earl of Stone, you say?” Beatrix asked, sparking Thomas’s curiosity. What was this about?

  Before he could ask, Beatrix looked at him and barely shook her head. She mouthed, Later.

  And so it was much later—after they’d returned to London—before Thomas could ask about the folly. He lay in bed as Beatrix emerged from the dressing chamber in a night rail so transparent that it may as well have been nonexistent.

  “I like your nightgown very much. But is there really a point to it?” He held the covers back for her.

  She glanced down and shrugged. “I suppose not.” Then she whipped it over her head and cast it aside before climbing into the bed.

  Thomas laughed as he gathered her against him, pulling the bedclothes around her. She snuggled against his chest as he rested against the headboard.

  “I’ve been waiting to hear about your interest in that folly today. What was that about?”

  She put her palm on his chest. “It’s extraordinary, but I think it may hold the key to finding Selina and Rafe’s parents. I told you they died in a fire, and Selina and Rafe were taken in by a man who claimed to be their uncle, but who turned out to be no relation whatsoever.”

  Thomas wasn’t sure he understood. “A folly is the key to finding them?”

  “That folly in particular,” Beatrix said. “Rafe drew a picture of it from memory—right down to the statue of Aphrodite in the center and the dolphin on the base. He recalls sitting on his mother’s lap at the edge of a lake and looking up at that folly. It has to be the same one. He was there as a child.”

  “He’s certain?”

  “Quite. He’d forgotten about it until I gave Selina her wedding present—that coral necklace. It’s similar to one their mother wore. When Rafe saw it, he recalled the folly.”

  “Does he think he visited there?”

  “He doesn’t remember, but perhaps the Earl of Stone can help him. Perhaps the earl knew their parents.” She looked up at him, her eyes glowing. “Wouldn’t that be wonderful?”

  “It would. However, that was a long time ago, wasn’t it?”

  “Yes, but surely he would remember a couple who died not long after that in a fire.”

  “Did no one look for the couple’s children?” Thomas asked.

  “That is a mystery. Rafe doesn’t know what happened, just that their parents died in the fire and he and Selina were rescued.”

  “By a man who claimed to be their uncle. That’s suspicious, isn’t it?”

  “He didn’t do the actual rescuing. That was their nurse.” Beatrix laid her head back against his shoulder. “Rafe remembers the smoke and heat and the nurse taking him and Selina to safety. And telling him that their parents were gone,” she said sadly.

  Thomas stroked her shoulder. “How tragic. I hope this helps them discover who their parents were.” He took a deep breath. “And yet, I worry how that will affect you. If they suddenly have parents—who would be known to the Earl of Stone—where does that leave you, their supposed sister?”

  She turned her head and looked up at him, her lips curling into a smile. “You are sweet to think of me, but I don’t care where that leaves me. Deborah is still out there and may yet decide to call me a bastard.” Beatrix had told him all about Deborah.

  “And I don’t care if she does,” Beatrix continued. “I don’t care if people learn I’m illegitimate or that I am not actually related by blood to Rafe or Selina. I have everything I want and need right here.” She leaned up and kissed him. “And upstairs.” R
egan.

  Beatrix’s love for his daughter was a gift he would cherish for all his days.

  “I feel precisely the same way.” He kissed her again, his tongue finding hers in a gentle exploration. It wasn’t, however, enough. He scooted down and rolled her to her back.

  She stroked his face with her fingertips. “You don’t mind being married to a thief and a bastard?”

  “It’s a vast improvement over my last wife.” He grimaced. “Sorry, I don’t ever mean to compare you. I’m just so damned grateful to have you in my life.”

  She gave him a soft smile. “I know. We’re both lucky. What started as a scandalous bargain between two strangers became something much more.”

  “It became everything.” He lowered his head and kissed her thoroughly—first her mouth, then her neck, then lower still.

  She twined her fingers in his hair. “I love you, Tom.”

  “And I love you, Beatrix.” He looked up at her from her navel and gave her a wicked grin. “Let me show you how much.”

  And so he did.

  Want to discover who Rafe and Selina’s parents were? Can a disillusioned Society miss heal the heart of a former criminal or will he succumb to the darkness of his past? Find out in the exciting next book in The Pretenders series, A ROGUE TO RUIN!

  Thank you so much for reading A Scandalous Bargain! It’s the second book in The Pretenders trilogy. I hope you enjoyed it!

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