An Earl For Hire

by Bethany M. Sefchick

  Miri watched Sarah weave her way back through the garden towards the house. She stood there for long minutes, well after her sister in law was gone, before sinking down onto a stone bench her brother had placed there when he was fourteen so that he might watch the birds in solitude.

  "Do you think I wish to be alone forever?" Miri whispered, even though there was no one about to hear her. "Do you think I would choose this life if I had another option?" She reached down and massaged her lame leg, the muscles beginning to protest and tighten from overuse. "No, I would not, but it is the life I have been given so let me live it in peace. Let me live it as I choose. And if that is with Will, then so be it. He is my choice. He does not have to be yours."

  There was no reply to her soft pleas, nor had Miri expected there to be. Instead, there was only silence but at the moment, that silence was not as appealing as it might have been a few days before. Now she had been given a glimpse - however brief - of a different life, a different future and, drat it all if she, like every other silly chit in London, was beginning to desire the future with a man instead of a future full of knowledge. Perhaps she was not that different from other young women after all.

  Chapter Nine

  The weather was warm and clement for this time of the year as Will strolled among the guests at Lady Weatherby's garden party. Few people would ever dare to host such an event better suited for the country at this time of year, but then, Lady Weatherby was not known for her practical thinking. Instead, she was rather known for doing as she pleased, Society and gossip - and the weather apparently - be damned. Perhaps that was why he found her and her husband so completely charming.

  In the past, he would not have attended such an event, partly because it did not really suit his nature and because of the additional expense such an outing incurred. After all, his breeches, waistcoat, and topcoat were of decent quality, but hardly the stuff of Watson and Webb, the foremost of men's clothiers in all of London these days. Nor would Anna's wardrobe contain anything quite so fine as to be appropriate for an outdoor garden tea. However, that was before Miri and her seemingly endless supply of funds. Just that morning an extra, and rather unexpected sum of money had been deposited into his account.

  Will did not have to guess at the source; he knew. Though why Miri was being so generous, he could not guess. Was it because of the chocolates and flowers he had sent? Quite likely, he supposed. Perhaps he should have informed her the previous evening at Lady Morgan's musicale that he had used his own funds, limited as they were, to purchase the gifts. After all, Anna had not been around to lurk in corners and listen where she should not, as the largesse from The Letter included a chaperone from the ranks of the infamous Gray Ladies so that his sister could go off to events that were more appropriate to a young lady seeking a husband. Last evening, Anna and her chaperone, Lady Isabelle, had attended the theater as guests of Lord Rosemont, the Duke of Candlewood.

  It was a coup of the highest order and under no circumstances would Will have forced Anna to attend a dreary musicale with him inside of being seen in a duke's theater box. Especially not when his goal was to further seduce Miri and become one more step closer to bedding her. It was also helpful to have his sister out of the way when he confessed that he had spent his own limited funds on the gifts since he did not wish to explain to Anna why Miri would be even the least bit concerned with where the finances for such things had come from.

  However Miri had been behaving oddly from the moment she arrived, and once she had taken her seat beside him under the watchful eye of her ever-present mother, the words he meant to speak had died upon his lips. Again, no one could know of their arrangement, and Will had the suspicion that Lady Ophelia Bexley had excellent hearing when it suited her.

  So instead he had said nothing and behaved with complete decorum. He said and did the right things, fetched punch and refreshments for Miri and her mother and offered an occasional pithy comment with it seemed appropriate. In short, the evening had been an utter bore and Miri not at all acting like herself. Especially after those delicious kisses on the rooftop of Raynecourt House a few nights previous.

  Days later, Will still could not wipe the taste and feel of Miri from his mind. In fact, she was like a drug and he an addict, so desperate was he to have more of her. He had to be losing his mind. After all, what sane man lusted after a woman he barely knew who just also happened to be paying him for eventual sexual congress? None that he was aware of certainly.

  Yet there was something about Miri that was utterly alluring, something he had not counted on when he had made his unholy bargain with her. She was innocence and knowledge in one, a vixen when she wished to be and a complete schoolroom miss on other occasions. If he did not know her as well as he did, he would think she was funning him with this act of hers. Except it was no act. For as sophisticated and brash as Miri was on the surface, beneath everything there was an uncertain young woman still attempting to feel her way in the word. Unfortunately for him, he was attracted to both sides of her he was quickly discovering, which was beginning to put him in something of a quandary.

  What if the ruse became a reality? What then? He needed funds more than he needed a wife. That was why he could not allow himself to become any more attached to Miri than he already was. The goal was, per her request, seduction, bedding and then departure. A few nights ago, he had been so certain he could do just that. Now, with Miri wandering through Lady Weatherby's delightful spring garden looking like a flower in bloom herself in a pretty pastel pink gown? Well, he was far less certain of himself than he had once been, damn it all.

  "My lady," he said with a wave as he approached Miri where she was strolling arm in arm with Lady Pearl.

  Given the way Miri was gripping her walking stick, Will worried that she was having some difficulty navigating the uneven ground, something that was borne out when she tripped in a small hole of some sort. She would have fallen and possibly injured herself, but he was there to catch her just in time. He did his best to ignore how right she felt in his arms once again.

  "Lord Blackthorne," Miri managed as she did her best to right herself with Lady Pearl's help. Though to Will's eye, Lady Pearl was doing more to push Miri back into his arms than she was helping her friend to her feet. "Thank you. I am usually not so clumsy. I merely lost my footing."

  He waved away her words. "Happens to us all now and then." Though unfortunately, it likely happened to Miri more often than not. Yet even now, she refused to allow her bad leg to define her and instead, brushed off the incident as if it was nothing.

  "Yes, well, I really ought to be more careful." She shook her head and Will watched, entranced, as her gorgeous auburn curls danced in the sunlight.

  "Or Lady Weatherby's gardener really ought to be more thorough in removing moles who make holes," Lady Pearl quipped. Will could easily understand why these two young ladies were friends. There was something refreshing about Lady Pearl that would likely appeal to an unconventional young woman like Miri.

  "Pearl!" Miri hissed at her friend, obviously aghast. "And you wonder why you have difficulty."

  Instead of being chastised, however, Lady Pearl merely laughed, something of her true self showing through the carefully crafted facade for a moment. "I fear commenting on a mole hole is far from my worst transgression." She looked slyly at Will and gave him a conspiratorial wink. "Last night at Lord and Lady Westerly's dinner party, I had the sheer cheek to mention how dreadfully hot and humid Maryland can be in the summer, though if one catches a proper breeze off the Chesapeake Bay, Baltimore can be quite lovely, even in the doldrums of August."

  Will was now utterly confused. "And this was not a topic fit for discussion?" As far as he knew any discussion of the weather was appropriate dinner conversation for a young lady in mixed company. Even if that weather happened to occur on the other side of the Atlantic.

  Lady Pearl rolled her eyes in disgust. "Apparently not when Lord Westerly's most recent mistress sailed away for
that heathen land last fall, taking his latest bastard along with her." She then snorted for good measure. "As if I could possibly have known that. Maryland is a state. Not a city. And as such, it is a good deal larger than a village like Bath or Lower Puddington. There is no possible way I could know every chit and child in the whole of Maryland, yet that was not an acceptable explanation either it would seem."

  "I am truly sorry, my lady." Will offered her a bow as well, though he had no idea why he was doing so. He supposed it was because he simply felt bad about the way Lady Pearl was being treated by his countrymen. "I am afraid that the English nobility is a troubling and quarrelsome lot."

  Pearl nodded in Miri's direction. "Not all of them, thankfully." Then, apparently spotting someone over his shoulder she did not wish to speak with, she gave them both a nod. "Lord Blackthorne. Miri. I must be off. I trust neither of you will get up to any sort of mischief once I am gone." Her eyes sparkled. "Or if you do, said mischief will be accomplished elsewhere."

  Then she was gone, disappearing through an opening in a large hedgerow that served as the border to Lady Weatherby's small garden maze. Pearl had not been gone more than thirty seconds when a young man Will did not recognize came rushing up to them. "Have you seen Lady Pearl?" he asked almost breathlessly.

  "Ah, no. Sorry." The lie was out of Will's mouth before he could think. While he did not know much about the lady in question, she was Miri's friend. That was enough. He would lie for her if need be. "I understand they are arranging a game of bowls on the far back lawn, at least according to my sister who is completely enthralled with the game. You might try there." Though really, given how small a patch of earth Lady Weatherby had to work with, he doubted the lawn game would be all that successful. At least not without smashing a window or two.

  The young man nodded. "Thank you, Lord Blackmore. I shall seek her there." Then he hared off towards the far lawn and in the complete opposite direction Lady Pearl had departed.

  When he was gone, Will looked over at Miri who was doing her best not to laugh. "Something funny, love?" he asked as he offered her his arm.

  Miri was behaving more like herself today and he hoped that whatever had been plaguing her last evening had passed. It was not his place to ask what was troubling her, though he very much wished to do just that. Instead, he did what he could considering the circumstances - offering her his arm, though he very much wished to offer her something else instead. When she took his arm without hesitation, Will felt something warm unexpectedly unfurl in the vicinity of his chest but he quickly dismissed the feeling as indigestion - even though it had been hours since he had last eaten.

  She nodded in the direction where the young man had departed. "Just poor Lord Bilby. He's only recently come into his title as Viscount Leesford and he is as wild as a March hare with the realization that women, drink, and gaming can now all be his." Miri clung to Will's arm a bit harder as she navigated a particularly uneven piece of ground. "For some reason, he has set his sights on making Pearl his wife. Perhaps because she borders on the scandalous and his mother is a notorious high stickler for observing the proprieties."

  Will snorted. "Lady Pearl would eat that nabob for breakfast in one sitting, I'd wager. The woman is fierce."

  "She is not so bad, really," Miri amended, clearly feeling the need to defend her friend. "She is a good and loyal friend and she does not judge a person on appearances."

  "Oh, I meant no offense," Will corrected. "I only meant to say that she is far more of a woman than a green young buck than Bilby can handle. He needs to set his sights a bit lower. Even my sister Anna would likely cut the man to shreds. Fortunate that she is not wealthy or Bilby would be chasing her around the estate today. Instead it is poor Lady Pearl who is the unfortunate recipient of those overly flowery affections."

  Miri just laughed, a sound that Will was coming to anticipate hearing more than he probably should have been. "Ah, but who can dictate such a thing when the heart is involved?" Her eyes twinkled as she spoke and he was glad that she was back to her usual good humor.

  "Or other parts of one's anatomy." Will knew he was flirting with danger but as they strolled together, they had moved deeper into Lady Weatherby's maze. By design or by accident, he could not say. Though the sun still shone high overhead, the noises from the garden party had faded a bit and it was almost as if he and Miri were the last two people on earth.

  "Will! Behave!" Miri chastised lightly, though he knew she was only teasing. "Someone might hear you!"

  He led her to a small bench. "Here? Unlikely. All of the other guests are across the lawn with Anna playing bowls." He cocked a grin at her. "And you cannot tell me that you have not been thinking similar thoughts. I know you better than that."

  Miri's gaze strayed to the front of his fawn-colored breeches where his growing erection was becoming quite evident. "Perhaps," she admitted a bit coyly.

  "Only perhaps?" He was teasing now, too.

  "Oh, very well," she groused with a wave of her hand. "I have been thinking about you, your lovely kisses and your delightful body ever since the other night on my brother's roof. There? Is that what you wished to hear, you rogue?" She crossed her arms over her chest but she did not look all that put out after having made such an admission.

  Will gave her a wolfish smile. "Very much so, as I think you well know." He wanted to add that it was she who had insisted on the rushed timetable for this courtship the night they had made their agreement, but he did not. Such a comment would sully whatever moment they were presently sharing and he had no wish to do that. For this one afternoon, Will wanted to be happy and pretend that this courtship was real. That an impoverished and morally questionable man like him could truly convince a beautiful, intelligent and completely delectable woman like Miri to fall for him.

  She shook her head as she moved just a little closer to him on the stone bench that had been warmed by the afternoon sun. "You are impossible, Will Davenport. A true rogue, as I said."

  Feeling far happier and more euphoric than he had in some time, Will waggled his eyebrows at her. "I thought you liked that about me."

  "I do. Perhaps a bit too much." Miri glanced away, suddenly quiet. "Will, I think..."

  He put a finger to her lips, silencing whatever she might have said next for he feared that he would not like it much. Will was afraid that he was losing her. He had to act now, while he could. While she still thought well of him. Before she changed her mind and branded him a rake and a scoundrel. Or a whore. Selfish man that he was, he needed her just one time before she saw the man he truly was beneath the fine manners and tailored clothes. "Do not think, love. Whatever you might wish to say, simply don't. Now is not the time."

  Miri opened her mouth to speak again, but once more, Will shushed her. "No. No words. Just know this. I need you, Miri. Soon. I know that I promised you a seduction, but it is the knowledge of passion you are truly after, is it not?" He could feel his heart pounding in his chest with fear - though fear of what he could not say. Perhaps that she was about to change her mind? He did not want that. The money he would receive from bedding her could go hang. It was Miri that he found he desired more than the coin. He had to have her or he thought he might die of want - if that was even possible.

  She swallowed thickly. "It is, Will. You know that."

  "Then soon, love. Soon you shall have the knowledge you seek." There was more he wished to say but he did not for fear that he would reveal too much of himself. This growing attraction between them was moving too quickly and he was a fool to think that whatever fledgling emotions he was feeling were real and true. Or that they could last. Or that they were even returned. However he could no more slow himself or his body down than he could a runaway carriage. "Please, Miri. Say that you desire me as well."

  "Again, you know I do." There was a raw honesty in her eyes and Will wondered if she had ever felt this attracted to another man. He didn't want that to be the case, but he had no doubt that she had set her cap
for a gentleman at least one other time in her life. Despite what she claimed, Miri was not frigid or unfeeling. She was afraid. And somewhere, deep in her past, a man had likely stirred her blood just as Will himself did now. Yet he would be the man to bed her, to mark her as his and, if she held true to her word, the only man she would ever know pleasure with. There was something very powerful in that realization and in this moment, he wished to give her a small taste of what was to come.

  Will nuzzled her neck, inordinately pleased when she gasped with delight. "Then let me show you a bit of how pleasurable passion can truly be."

  "Will, I don't think that's a good idea," Miri protested. "What if someone hears? Worse, what if someone discovers us?"

  He nipped at her earlobe and she shivered. "It is only a taste, love. Not to mention that there are many ways to give and receive pleasure. Wouldn't you like to discover as many of them as possible before our relationship ends?" Then he traced the shell of her ear with the tip of his tongue and she moaned.

  "Yes," she agreed softly. "I think I should adore that above all other things."

  That was all of the agreement Will needed.

  Gently, he kissed along her jaw again, cradling her head in his hands. She sighed in delight and tilted her head, affording him the opportunity to nibble on the delicate flesh of her neck. He traced the fine veins there with his tongue and sucked on the hollow of her throat, being careful not to mark her delicate skin.

  "Will." His name sounded like a prayer on her lips and his cock stiffened even more at the realization that she desired him. Him and no other. "Please."

  "Please what, love?" he asked as he kissed his way back up her throat to seize her lips in another passionate kiss, doing his best to tamp down the desire that threatened to overtake him. If he had her alone, truly alone, her skirts would be over her head by now and he would be burying his cock in her delicious feminine core. But they were not and he had to show some degree of restraint - even if it all but killed him.