The Mischievous Bride (The Clearbrooks)
Page 13
A part of her wanted to run away and tell him she was immune to his touch. But the other part held still. No matter how feeble it sounded, she wanted every morsel of attention he was willing to give. She was a fool, a lovesick fool.
Her knees trembled as he spread his hand over the side of her face. She closed her eyes, smelling the clean scent of the soap he had used in his morning bath.
“Milli,” he said again and drew her nearer. She leaned into him. His breath fanned her lips. The aroma of sweet wine drifted to her nostrils.
“Marcus . . .”
Gabby’s squeal of delight sounded down the hall.
Marcus jerked. She jumped.
His silver gaze darkened as he stared at her. “You, uh, had a speck on the corner of your mouth.”
She licked her lips, her heart sinking. “I did?”
He swallowed, looking uncomfortable. But not as uncomfortable as she was feeling. She actually thought he was going to kiss her. He must think her an utter fool.
“About that list,” he continued as if they were in the middle of a ballroom with a hundred people around. “Perhaps you could tell Jane you are looking for a husband. You need to sooner or later.” His smile didn’t quite meet his eyes. “You aren’t getting any younger, you know.”
Her heart snapped in two. He didn’t think twice about her marrying someone else? Well, she would not let him see how much his words cut through her.
“Why use me for an excuse? I certainly have no need to marry right away. Jane can have her parties without that ruse. She is a duchess, after all.”
He lifted a sarcastic brow. “Humor me. Jane needs this. Roderick needs this. We have to have some sort of plan. Have you no wish to help them over this hump?”
She colored. “Of course, I want to help them. I’ll do it. Are you going to be there?”
He opened his mouth, but she didn’t let him speak. Blood pounded through her head, making it hard to think. He didn’t want her at all. He never did.
“Never mind,” she said curtly. “It doesn’t signify. I will help Jane, whatever the cost.”
He bent his head to whisper in her ear. “I suspect you know, she can no longer have children?”
He breathed against her neck, sending chills down her spine.
He was so near, but yet he only saw her as a pawn in his play. She stepped away, not wanting to embarrass herself anymore. Her throat started to tighten.
She shifted her blurry gaze down the hall, anywhere but toward those two pools of silver. “Jane is the most gentle person I know. She would be a wonderful mother, if she only had the chance.”
Gabby’s voice was getting closer. Marcus mumbled something, directing Milli into the blue salon a few steps away. The very touch of his fingers upon her waist sent desire coursing through her. She walked quickly away from him, needing to increase her distance.
He gave her a worried stare, but continued talking. “I will be searching for wife at the party, if that’s any consolation.”
Milli’s gaze jerked to his. “A wife?”
He raised a thoughtful brow. “Yes, does that surprise you? It seems I am the Clearbrook who is to produce the heir. Clayton has a girl, and who knows if he will have another child.”
Milli wanted to sink into the floor and cry. Marcus needed a wife, but it wasn’t going to be her. She swallowed past the pain. “I know Briana had a tough time with Victoria. Mothers die in childbirth all the time.”
“Women have had babies for thousands of years. Briana will hopefully have another child. But as for an heir, we don’t know. Then there is Stephen and Elizabeth...”
“I warn you, if you say something about my sister, I shall wallop you!”
His silver eyes lit with laughter. “I don’t doubt it. I hope she has five boys.”
His smile vanished as soon as it came. “However, since I am the next in line to inherit the title, it is my duty to make certain I have a boy, as many babies as it takes. The duke is no longer in the running.”
Milli blinked, shocked at his bluntness. She would love to have had Marcus’s children. Boys or girls, it didn’t matter to her. But all he was thinking about was a wife who would reproduce and reproduce and reproduce.
“That is a rather callous look on things, is it not?”
His eyes hardened. “Callous or not, it is reality. I must marry. The festivities in Bath will offer me ample selection in terms of a wife.”
Milli felt ill. “Goodness, you don’t care whom you marry, do you? You don’t need love. You don’t need a wife. You need a baby farm!”
He flinched as if she had struck him.
Well, good! Milli wanted to make him suffer. He seemed so heartless; she wanted to smack him silly. “Just so you have an heir and a spare! That’s the old saying, is it not?”
His eyes blazed with anger. “If you think marriage has to do with love, you are looking at the wrong man. I am responsible for the duke’s title now. That is my duty.”
Her temper rose like a volcano ready to explode. The insinuation was quite clear. “Ha! I am not looking at you for a husband! And if you think that because I had childish feelings for you years ago, you are a fool!”
“You may find your prince at the house party, and I will find my wife. Then we will both be free of each other.”
“Oh, happy day indeed. What happened to the old lady who was to keep me prisoner in Bath?”
His smile was cold. “Touché, my dear. There will be no one keeping you prisoner. But mark my words, your acting will get you into trouble someday, and when that happens, Stephen and I won’t be there to rescue you.”
She scoffed. “Rescue me. Ha! I have no need of rescuing by you. Believe me, I have learned my lesson.”
He took a step toward her, his eyes glinting like two smoking pistols. “Have you?”
She put up her hand. “You stay away from me! You are diverting the true issue here. I know all about Lady Madeleine.”
He froze. “Leave her out of this conversation, Milli. I’m warning you.”
“I am Miss Millicent to you.”
He spun on his heels to leave. But she wouldn’t have it.
“I know what’s wrong with you,” she bit out.
He looked over his shoulder. “I would stop right there if I were you.”
“You are not me!” She shook her finger at him. “You felt the fool and are afraid to love again. Your Lady Madeleine searched for attention with other men. She stomped on your heart like it was made of nothing at all. But that is not love.”
He glared at her in icy silence.
She took in a deep breath and raised her chin. “You, sir, are a coward.”
He whirled to face her, every muscle in his body taut with anger. “And you, my girl, have the boldest mouth in all of England.”
She didn’t know why she goaded him, but something inside her felt free. She sent him a smile as sweet as honey. “Oh, I think Lord Hughmont adores my mouth.”
A few seconds passed as his shocked gaze flew to her lips. He finally looked up. “The devil, you say!”
She shrugged, her flirtatious grin working its way down to her toes. “That is none of your concern. But I will give Jane a list of my suitors, if that will help. I agree. She needs something to focus on other than her loss.”
Her heart was beating hard as they stood staring at each other. But she would die before she would let him know how much he had hurt her.
Something flickered across his face. Regret? She wasn’t sure.
But when he flipped his hand in the air, as if she were nothing but a fly on his plate, her heart shattered. “I don’t care who you invite. Hughmont. Bennington. Valford. Invite them all. By George, even Knightengale will come if I ask him.”
“And whom will you invite? Miss Canton?”
“Perhaps.”
She clenched her fist. If he thought she was bold before, let him think about this. “Ah, I see. You are keeping your list a secret? How mysterious.”
“Things?”
Milli detected the warning in his tone, but she forged on regardless.
She gave a careless shrug. “Oh, I believe I shall have to kiss a few gentlemen to find the one I like best. Lessons, you know.”
Let him eat his words, she thought mockingly.
But the dangerous glint in his gaze made her blink twice.
“You confounded little flirt. You are just like Lady Madeleine. A spoiled brat, living the life of a dreamer, with no thought to anyone but yourself. I shall be deuced glad when some fool takes you off our hands. Maybe he will be a sea captain, and we won’t ever see you again. That will be the happiest day of my life.”
With a mumbled oath, he turned his back to her and strode from the room.
Milli stood stock still. An icy chill swept over her, numbing her senses. What in the world had she done?
He was wrong. She wasn’t like Lady Madeleine. She didn’t go from man to man—
She jerked her watery gaze toward the door. But was she like Lady Madeleine? Did she think of anyone but herself?
She wiped her eyes with the back of her hands. She vowed to do better. She would help Jane get through this tough time.
She straightened her dress. She would travel to Bath and pretend she enjoyed every minute of husband hunting.
For Jane. She would do this for Jane.
She pinched her cheeks before she entered the hall. Who was she trying to fool? Marcus had broken her heart. But she would show him she was no mere shallow of a woman. Drat and double drat that man. She would show him he had not affected her at all!
Chapter Twelve
“Oh, Milli, this is just what I needed to get back on my feet! I’m so excited. Roderick wanted me to go to Bath for the waters, but this way, I can have a month of parties and soirees and heal at the same time. Helping you find a husband makes everything brighter. I can take care of someone I love.”
Milli smiled past the numbness that settled in her brain. She loved Jane. The loss of this last baby had taken the sparkle from her friend’s eyes. Marcus was correct. Telling Jane that she would like to start looking for a husband was just the information the duchess needed to hop out of bed and start making her lists. Although the duke had mentioned traveling to Bath might be good for the entire family, Jane had not thought much about it until Milli had made her announcement.
Not that Milli had wanted to start looking for a husband. She had hung her hopes on Marcus since the first day she had seen him in the Elbourne ballroom. But he hated her now. Her theatrics had gone too far. Throwing Lord Hughmont in his face had only pushed Marcus further into the hands of Miss Canton.
Milli wanted to cry. Miss Canton was beautiful and sophisticated and had all the connections that Marcus needed to fulfill his dream of traveling to America or anywhere he wanted.
Besides, what single man could deny Miss Canton? She was the belle of any ball, and would look good on any gentleman’s arm. Marcus may not love the lady, but that didn’t seem to matter to him.
Milli listened to Jane make her lists for Bath. But in the back of her mind, Milli knew she needed to forget about Marcus. She needed to halt her adoration of a man who had no idea she was a woman.
His kiss in the library had been a grand lesson. A lesson that told her he could kiss any female he pleased, but he would not attach himself to any. At least not in love. Lady Madeleine had broken his heart, and considering his parent’s unhappy marriage, nothing Milli did would change his thoughts about loving his wife.
Her heart felt stripped and beaten.
Marcus was looking for a convenient bride. In the end, it would probably be Miss Canton. Milli knew she was not even on his list. But she didn’t want to be now, not with his rules.
She stiffened her resolve to start anew in Bath. She would always be fond of Marcus, but she had no need of a man who would push her love aside.
She perked up when she thought about a new plan. Perhaps she would look into the property for her new school that she wanted to buy in Bath.
She let out a real smile as she followed Jane about her bedchambers. Yes, a new school was the answer. If she could help other young ladies in Society believe in themselves, let them know that they were capable of much more than being a woman without a brain, she could fulfill her dream. She could find a greater meaning in life than just thinking about Marcus, who didn’t think she was anything but a spoiled child.
“Is there anyone you would like to invite?” Jane asked, pulling Milli from her thoughts. “I would think you have some idea.”
Milli pursed her lips. “I will send you a list as soon as I can.”
Jane clasped her hands, but there was still a glimmer of sorrow in her eyes. “Oh, Milli, you have given me my life back.”
Tears choked Milli’s throat as she tipped her lips into a tight smile. “I am certain my sister may want to be a part of this too. I have yet to tell her the news.”
Jane laughed. It was the first real laugh Milli had heard in weeks. “Elizabeth will be a bit shocked, but I have no doubt she will help me host the parties. We will be the toast of Bath. There won’t be a single gentleman or lady who won’t want an invitation to one of our parties. And we will surely find you a husband.”
“Goodness, I don’t want to look like I’m a charity case, scouring the entire ton for a spouse.”
Jane’s blue eyes glittered with delight. “You are not a charity case, dearest. You are an heiress. But most of all, you are a beautiful, intelligent woman with your own mind. If you do not find a husband in Bath, we will keep searching.”
Jane took Milli’s hands in hers. “But you must marry for love, dearest. There are fortune hunters out there who don’t play fair. Yet I believe Roderick and his brothers will help clear that path for you. My goodness, the man wouldn’t live to tell about it.”
Milli shrugged. “I am thinking I may never get married. Roderick, Clayton, Stephen, and Stonebridge are not known for their gentleness.”
“Yes, well, I will have a talk with them.” She peered at Milli through cautious eyes. “But what about Marcus?”
Milli looked back, realizing Jane saw more than most. “He thinks I am a child.”
“Perhaps he thinks you are too young to marry. The Clearbrook gentlemen are quite protective, and I think Marcus is the worst of them all. He was in love once. When he was a few years older than you. The lady was quite the flirt. He didn’t see her flaws. He eventually discovered she had been playing with the affections of many gentlemen. So, because of his past, perhaps Marcus wants only the best for you and is afraid of anything less.”
Milli heaved a tired sigh. “I don’t know about that.”
Jane pulled Milli back to the sofa. “If you want to fund a school for young women, rest assured, Roderick and I will be there for you. You do not have to marry at all.”
Milli wanted to tell Jane the truth, but the duchess seemed so happy. “I know, but I think it best if I take a look at the prospects, do you not?”
“But if you do not fall deeply in love, you may stay single all of your life. Do we agree?”
Milli squeezed out a grin. “I daresay, husband hunting cannot be that disagreeable.”
Jane gave her a hug. “You must be on the outlook for those fortune hunters.”
“Oh, have no worries. Before Papa died, he talked to me about that. I will know a fortune hunter when he comes courting.”
“How will you know?”
Milli’s eyes twinkled. “When he kisses me, of course.”
“When he kisses you?”
“Yes, if I get a wart on my nose, I will know for certain he is not my prince, but a fortune hunter who was once a frog.”
Jane burst out laughing. Milli joined in, and that was the sound Roderick and Marcus heard as they walked up the stairs
.
Roderick grabbed the banister and halted on the steps.
Marcus glanced at the duchess’s bedchamber door. He stared at Roderick. “Perhaps the move to Bath will be just what she needs.”
Roderick’s shoulders seem to sag in relief. “I thought she was going to die. The doctor said I could have lost her. I don’t think Jane knew how bad it was. We almost did lose her that night of the ball.”
Marcus followed the duke up the steps. “I didn’t know it was that bad.”
Roderick pushed a hand through his black hair. “I would die without her. She is everything to me.”
Marcus regarded his brother. “You are a different man since you married her.”
Roderick stopped in the hall. He turned to Marcus. “That is Milli in there with Jane. They must not have noticed the door is open a crack.”
Marcus lifted his brows as he listened to the laughter drifting from the room. “The little elf is probably swooning and twirling about, giving your wife quite the show.”
Roderick shook his head. “It’s more than that. That tiny female has done what I could not. She has put the happiness back into my wife’s life.” His tone softened. “I will never forget it.”
Marcus felt a lump lodge in his throat. Hell’s bells, he had never seen Roderick so emotional. Milli put happiness into many lives. But she wanted love, and he could not give that to her.
Roderick grabbed the banister and scowled. “The thought of anyone hurting that delicate female makes my blood curdle.”
Marcus agreed. “I think I would shoot any man who hurt a hair on her head.”
Roderick looked thoughtful.
Marcus’s face beamed with mischief. “Do we dare enter your shared chambers and fetch the cigars you have in your bureau?”
“I could have sent the butler, but I wanted to see how Jane was doing. I can barely be away from the woman.”
The ladies’ laughter was contagious. Marcus smiled. “What the devil could be so amusing?”
“Perhaps they are talking about you?” Roderick said with a chuckle.
“Or perhaps Milli told Jane she was ready to start husband hunting.”