ROMANCE: The Surprise That Rocked Me

by Linda Wright

  “You cherish tragedy, but what feels like a crown of thorns is really a diamond studded crown worn upside down. You’re a very lucky woman and I should know.”

  The hat in Elizabeth’s lap blurred as her eyes filled with tears. She bravely looked up and allowed herself to imagine the adoring look in the brown eyes was real. “How do I turn the coin over?” The handkerchief was again pulled out and put to use.

  “Easy. You start seeing the happiness; you notice the positive aspects of whatever life throws your way. There’s always a positive and a negative. How you choose to view life largely determines your luck. If you focus on the positive you’re lucky. If all you see is the negative then you’re unlucky. Simple. Evens and odds; the dice are as loaded in favour of happiness as tragedy, but only if you notice.”

  “I fear we may be playing with two different sets of dice, but I’m glad you accepted Doodle’s stupid wager. I do feel lucky to have met you, you’re good and kind.”

  The man flushed with pleasure and whispered, “I feel like dancing you to the moon. I don’t want to leave you, but I should return to Lady Llewellyn or she might not let me see you tomorrow.” He dropped his voice again. “I’m going to buy you a magnifying glass. It’ll be an excuse to see you and if I’m lucky I’ll get to kiss you.” His smile faded as he glanced towards the door. “Oh no…Strathmore the plaguey pox; I hope the next time he sails to France he falls overboard in a thick fog…did I say something wrong Miss Penny? You look upset.”

  “Benjamin, my fiancé, died at sea…”

  “Curse my tongue; I’m terribly sorry…no that’s a lie. Don’t hate me Penny, but if you’d married him I wouldn’t have tasted the sweetest lips ever created.” Elizabeth was working up the nerve to tell him she’d equally enjoyed his kisses when the drawing room door swung inwards and the beautiful Duke of Strathmore stepped into view followed by a sour faced Sophia who was clearly displeased that her eminent guests preferred the company of her old maid cousin. Elizabeth obediently bent over her hat and tried to keep her eyes on the ribbon, but they kept bouncing upwards to make sure warm brown eyes were still smiling at her. Could the man fill her life with happiness? His adoring wink made her blush as she bit back a smile. There was something in the way he looked at her that made her want to jump into his arms and press her excited heart into his green striped waistcoat. She meekly ignored the desire and braced herself for her cousin’s wrath.

  Chapter 9

  James turned to see Strathmore and Lady Sophia join them and managed a polite expression. Strathmore was a human pox, but his entrance was lucky because it brought a few more minutes with the woman glancing up at him every five seconds. His eyes gravitated back to Penny’s pretty features relaxed with happiness. Seeing her lips still flushed from his kisses made him smile. Every time she glanced up at him he felt a dose of bliss heighten the luxurious throbbing as if pleasure had multiple layers he’d never explored. If he was lucky she’d be his by the end of the week. The first thing he’d do was throw her hideous cap in the fire so he could see her beautiful ears. He’d take her in his arms and press his aching chest against soft heaving silk. He could feel his body playing a symphony in C minor. He was going to marry her and thoroughly make love to her, but he’d have to wait. The length of waiting was almost irrelevant as long as he didn’t have to wait seventy-seven or seven days; he wanted to pick her up and carry her away immediately. Would she let him? She might. The thought caused another wave of bliss. She thought him good and kind. She’d returned his kisses. His toes curled in his boots as he struggled to moderate his physical desire. His chest felt swollen with happiness as he caught another shy glance that made him feel like the luckiest man ever born.

  The Duke stopped beside him and looked James up and down with an amused smile before turning to greet the seated woman. “Good morning Miss Elizabeth…I see my early morning call has been given a boring prologue. Pinhead…you’re looking rather...” The Duke pursed his lips in amusement as he glanced at James’s skin tight trousers. “…sharp this morning. Be careful around Miss Elizabeth; she’s not a pin-cushion. We wouldn’t want you to accidentally poke her…she might bleed.” James felt the blood drain from his face in embarrassment and then flush red with anger. James glanced at the seated woman relieved to see she was completely unaware of the Duke’s double-entendre. The impulse to put his fist in the man’s face was resisted by the thought of having to explain to Penny why he’d hit the man. His hands stayed firmly behind his back. “You’re not as sharp as I thought Pinhead. A sharp man knows what he wants and obtains it. Hesitation has cost many a field marshal his life. Nelson is a hero because he disobeyed orders and sailed into battle. History snubs men who hesitate; Miss Elizabeth…would you do me the honour of accompanying me for ride in my new carriage?” James felt the words like a knee in the groin. He instinctively knew that Lady Sophia would never have allowed Penny out for a ride with him. Of course the Duke would be granted the privilege; Strathmore had a mesmerising affect on the female sex. He’d have to watch his Penny being tucked into Strathmore’s carriage and there was no telling what the man would do. The thought twisted James’s stomach in a knot. His inner organ converting blood into bliss had been cauterised leaving the lonely sensation of acute anxiety. His only relief was the look on Penny’s face. She looked like the Duke had asked her to sew herself a death shroud.

  “It’s very kind of you my Lord, but I’m afraid I can’t go out today. I have work…”

  Lady Sophia grabbed the yellow bonnet out of Penny’s hand. “Don’t be stupid. His Grace’s offer is an honour not to be snubbed. Go change out of that black rag into something with colour and leave off that hideous old maid’s cap. We don’t want people to think His Grace is escorting his housekeeper on a ride about town.”

  “I hardly think I’d be taken for his housekeeper…”

  “Shut up and go change. Your rudeness sickens me.”

  “But it looks like rain…it might thunder…perhaps another day Your Grace.”

  Lady Sophia’s eyes widened in horror; to impede Strathmore was to earn his wrath. That would lead to a painful social death as surely as the sun would rise in the morning. “Elizabeth Morgan…go change or I’ll be changing my companion.”

  “Yes my Lady.” Elizabeth rose from her chair and curtseyed in the direction of the two men before glancing into James’s eyes. “Thank you for thinking of me Lord Devonshire; it was a pleasure to see you today.” Her silent plea for help caused brief elation. She trusted him and he couldn’t think of any way to rescue her. He felt like he’d stumbled upon a dragon about to eat his Penny and he’d left his sword at home. Her took her offered hand and reverently kissed it. Had he imagined her returning his light squeeze? His eyes followed her exit, his whole body swivelled to watch her disappear taking all colour from the room. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Strathmore lean towards him.

  “Poor Pinhead; it must hurt to see your beloved Penny go dress for me. Ah love, the emotion that produces ecstasy and agony in equal measure.” James felt stunned as the word love reverberated in his heart like a true clear note. “What’s the matter Pinhead? You look perturbed. Does it hurt to imagine what might happen to your Penny in my new carriage?”

  James’s impotence to protect his Penny boiled out of his mouth. “Touch her with any part of your poxy person and you’ll regret it.”

  The Duke merely raised a single contemptuous eyebrow. “You forgot to thrust out your chest when making the challenge Boy. Didn’t your father live long enough to teach you how to act a man?”

  “I’m man enough to pummel you.”

  “Unlike you, Pinhead, I am a gentleman. I’d never injure a lady’s finer sensibilities by courting her stinking of unchanged linen or picking my nose and eating the crust. Your silly Doodle was quite forthcoming with the details of your adventure. I wonder when you fell in love…before or after she refused you?”

  “You’re a vulgar miscreant.”

  �
��I’d rather be a vulgar miscreant than a fastidious pinhead.”

  “Why are you doing this? She’s not even your type.”

  “How do you know my type Boy? A pretty sensible brunette is just what I need. She may even live past the first two children.”

  “She isn’t going to marry you.”

  “Perhaps not…we’ll have to wait and see how fate flips the coin.”

  “Penny is going to marry me.”

  “Oh? How many times has she turned you down? Is it an unsatisfying number? Perhaps you need to experience rejection a few more times. Your blushing cheeks betray you Pinhead. Who do you think a sensible woman would choose; a wealthy beautiful Duke or a fool who picks his nose and forgets to change his smalls? It’s not a difficult choice. I win.”

  James blinked back unmanly tears as his fists tightened. “You’re only chasing her because I want her. This is all because I won your stupid carriage, isn’t it?”

  “Let’s just say…it would have been more fortuitous for you to have lost that game of cards or to have accepted my offer of payment in gold. Your eccentric habit of refusing to wager money no doubt makes your life easier Pinhead. We all know you’d have to count every coin you won. Heaven knows it would have taken you so long to count two thousand guineas that you wouldn’t have had time to bed your mistress before she died of the pox. That would have been sad; you might have forgotten what it felt like to count your thrusts. I suspect you’ll be wishing you’d chosen to count a pile of gold when you read in a magazine that your Penny has married me.”

  James felt the words like a blow to his chest. “You’d ruin my life because of stupid carriage?”

  “No Pinhead, you ruined your life by insisting I offer collateral instead of money. That carriage was…particularly comfortable.”

  “You can have the blasted carriage; I don’t need it or want it.”

  Strathmore rolled his eyes and heaved a heavy sigh of irritation. “I don’t want it now that you’ve touched it. Your thorough presence on my seats has ruined it. Sell it for scrap for all I care.”

  “You’d marry a woman you didn’t want just to make me suffer because I won your stupid carriage? Are you mad?”

  “Who said I didn’t want her? Society women are so predictable. They hear my name and throw themselves at me in worshipful oblation like lambs to the slaughter; it’s such a bore. Miss Elizabeth, however, will make a pleasantly unpredictable companion. The crowning pleasure of course will be making love to her at nine every morning. You’ll look at the clock and know that I’m counting my thrusts and my pleasure will cause you to writhe in agony.” The Duke’s smile didn’t reach his eyes as he looked his stunned victim up and down with satisfaction. “If I have my way, you’ll never pin yourself to her bed sheets. Ah Miss Elizabeth…I’ve never known a woman to change so quickly with such stunning results. You look utterly fetching in pink and that bonnet...a delightful frame for such a pretty face. Excuse us Devonshire; I have an enjoyable hour planned for Miss Elizabeth…”

  James was deaf to his persecutor. Wrenched around at the command of his heart, he stared with an equal measure of pleasure and pain at the pretty woman in pink. Seeing Strathmore step towards Penny, James rushed forward shoving his rival out of the way. Grabbing her hand he reverently kissed it and held it to his chest. “Penny, come away with me right now. If you don’t want to buy a license we can ride to Gretna Green…I don’t care…marry me.”

  His Penny’s cheeks flushed bright red as she glanced between the two men. “Lord Devonshire; I’m honoured, but…”

  Strathmore shook his head. “I’d forbear that offer if I were you Miss Elizabeth. Lord Devonshire was just telling me he wants to marry my cousin Guinevere. He raptured over her impressive dowry as well as her black silky hair and willowy frame; at least that’s what he said. I fear he’s one of those men who doesn’t know what he wants.”

  “Strathmore is a cursed liar. I’d never marry his bluestocking cousin. The last time I danced with her she asked me if I knew any pirates and looked disappointed when didn’t. When I reluctantly called on her the next day as a dutiful gentleman she practically chained me to her pianoforte and had me singing pirate songs till I was sea sick; I’d rather marry a pirate than his cursed cousin.”

  “Guinevere would make you a perfect wife Devonshire. She’s beautiful, wealthy, intelligent and desperate; the last adjective having the most in common with your good self.”

  “I don’t want your poxy cousin; I want Penny.”

  Strathmore’s left eyebrow arched accentuating the dangerous gleam of hatred in his brown eyes. “Miss Elizabeth will have plenty of time to make up her mind whether to throw her life away on a pinhead or accept a better offer.”

  “Don’t go with him Penny; come with me.”

  None of them noticed Lady Sophia until she took hold of Penny’s arm and firmly led her towards the door. “Elizabeth is going to have a carriage ride with His Grace. Your errant knight theatrics Lord Devonshire are unhelpful and embarrassing. Take my advice; that silly face would never convince a woman you love anything other than drama.”

  James followed the trio out to the carriage. It all seemed to happen in slow motion. Penny was helped into the carriage by the evil Duke where she stared out the window like a lost soul on her way to Hell. The Duke sat down beside her and leaned over her shoulder to smile at James. Seeing the Duke pick up the end of one of the bonnet’s ribbons and visibly kiss it caused an eruption of rage in James’s heart. The woman he loved was being carted off into unknown dangers. Shaking in fury he watched as the footman closed the door and the horses were whipped into motion.

  “My horse!”

  Lady Sophia looked at James with pursed lips. “If you’re going to order me about in that tyrannical tone I suggest you take yourself off to the mews and saddle your nag yourself. Good Day my Lord.” James didn’t bother to retrieve his hat and gloves. He had to make sure nothing happened to Penny.

  Chapter 10

  Elizabeth ignored the noise of the carriage wheels clunking over cobblestones and turned to look at her unwanted suitor. The beautiful man looked pleased with himself as he folded his arms and propped his feet on the opposite bench. His sneering smile gave the impression he was savouring a private amusement. Catching her gaze his lips relaxed into a more genuine gesture, but his eyes remained cold and unmoved. She felt like a ladybug about to be cocooned in a spider’s web saved to be eaten at a later date. She clutched her large reticule and wondered if it might be prudent to take out her embroidery.

  “Are you comfortable?”

  “Yes Your Grace.”

  “Good. Your comfort is important to me.” The man’s eyes appraised her with obvious pleasure and then smiled as if she amused him. She could believe Lord Devonshire wanted to marry her because he enjoyed her company. The man seated next to her made her feel like a horse up for sale. The only pleasant aspect of her ride with the Duke was that she had Lord Devonshire’s gift to look forward to at the end of it. She’d left it wrapped up and hidden under a loose floorboard.

  “Where are we going?”

  “For a ride; there’s nothing to fear Miss Elizabeth. I’m not going to hurt you.” Elizabeth silently disagreed as she opened her reticule and took out the eternally unfinished embroidery stuck through with her largest needle and started making tiny slow stitches swaying as the carriage turned a sharp corner. “Do you always work embroidery when a man tries to court you?”

  “Are you courting me? I remember rejecting your offer my Lord.”

  “I remember some silly protest over our lack of intimacy, but once you get to know me you’ll find I’m excellent husband material. Half the women in London would poison their husbands to sit where you’re sitting.”

  “You don’t strike me as a man who’d take a snake to his bosom.”

  His smile was almost genuine. “What do I strike you as Madam?”

  Elizabeth’s hand holding the needle paused. She turned her head an
d took in the curious amused expression. “You strike me as a spider Your Grace. I suspect you enjoy spinning webs and catching people.”

  His features crumpled into boyish laughter momentarily erasing years from his face. “We shall get along famously.”

  “Why?”

  “You won’t bore me.”

  “How do you know?”

  “No one’s made me laugh like that in almost seventeen years.”

  “You can’t know many amusing people.”

  “That’s a truth. Society’s boring sycophants can’t kiss my…hands fervently enough. Few people speak anything, but cant these days.”

  “Why don’t you like Lord Devonshire?”

  The smile twisted into a sneer. “The man’s a pinhead.”

  “Why must you call him that? How would you feel if he addressed you as Pinhead?”

  “He’d regret it.”

  “That’s hypocritical!”