The Earl's Bargain (Historical Regency Romance)

by Cheryl Bolen

  She handed Ellie a handkerchief.

  Ellie dried her tears. "I don't know how I shall do that, but I must."

  Chapter 27

  During the following week, Harry called every day at the Grosvenor Square house, but the butler's grim reply was always the same. Mrs. Phillips is not in. After that week, he did not call any more.

  When it was clear to Louisa that Harry would not call again, Louisa convinced herself that his remonstrances were merely to assuage his conscience. While he would resume the usual practices of men of fashion, she felt she had nothing to return to. The pain in her heart was irreparable. She lost interest in her Tuesday meetings with the bluestockings. She did not feel like writing essays. She spent a great deal of time dwelling on the month she and Harry had spent together in Cornwall. Every glance, every conversation that had passed between them continued to invade her thoughts. And the intimacy they had shared invaded her dreams.

  Ellie, too, was glum and full of remorse over her refusal of Mr. Coke. Like Louisa, she spent hours on end reliving in her mind those few glorious days she had spent with the most wonderful man on earth. She had decided that Louisa was right. She was the one who needed to make the first step toward repairing the damage, but she did not know how, nor did she know if such a move would meet with any success at all. It wasn't as if Mr. Coke were beating her door down, as Lord Wycliff was doing for Louisa.

  Ellie had rather resigned herself to the fact that she and Louisa would live a most sedentary life together. No more gentlemen of quality paying morning calls. No reason whatsoever to dress fashionably for no one who mattered would ever see them. So it was that she and Louisa were sitting in the drawing room sewing one afternoon when Williams informed them that he had shown Mr. Coke into the morning room.

  Looking at Louisa, he said, "Your denial to Lord Wycliff did not extend to his companion, did it?"

  Smiling, Louisa assured him that Mr. Coke was most welcome. Then, turning to Ellie, she said, "It appears you will have your chance with Mr. Coke. It is hoped you will not destroy it -- for you may never get another." Inwardly, Louisa ached with her own regrets. Perhaps she had been too unwavering with Harry. But she knew her chance was long gone. Harry had already lost interest in her.

  Ellie leaped to her feet, her hands on her cheeks. "I cannot go to him like this. Just look at what a horrid sight I am!"

  Louisa laughed. "You are not, my pet. You always look lovely." She took Ellie's hand. "Remember, Mr. Coke made his offer to you when you were dressed like a lad. I think he loves you however you look."

  "Pshaw!" Ellie protested.

  "Trust me." Louisa squeezed her hand. "Mr. Coke will find you beautiful."

  * * *

  Edward had never been so nervous in his life. It had taken him a week to gather the courage to come see Miss Sinclair, then another week to think of an excuse for his visit.

  When Miss Sinclair walked into the morning room, the air nearly swished from his lungs, fairly robbing him of breath. Demmed but she was a deuced fine looking girl. Or was eighteen considered a woman? Her looks were so extraordinary, she even made a fine looking lad. At the thought of her dressed as a lad, sitting up beside him on the box hour upon hour, he grew melancholy. Never before in his life had he wished to turn back the clock. Until now.

  His throat grew dry. His pulse accelerated. "How very good it is to see you again, Miss Sinclair."

  As graceful as a swan gliding across a pond, Miss Sinclair strolled to him and offered him her hand.

  He took it in both of his hands and bent to kiss it. When he came back up, his face was flaming. He could not even remember what excuse he had come up with to explain his presence. Fortunately, she did not ask for one. "How very good it is to see you again, Mr. Coke," Ellie said, her eyes alive and dancing. "Won't you please sit down."

  He sat on one of the twin settees that faced each other in the middle of the room, and Miss Sinclair sat on the other one.

  "I see the fine weather we enjoyed on our journey to Cornwall has continued," she commented.

  "Yes. Very fine indeed." Then he had no idea what he was going to say next.

  "You have enjoyed good health?" she asked.

  "Excellent. You?"

  She sighed. "Physically, quite excellent." Then she took a deep breath and continued. "I find myself reminiscing with unexpected fondness over the journey you and I took together." She could not meet him in the eye.

  A smiled flashed across his face. "It is the same with me! I find I think most fondly of the journey."

  "Not just the journey," she said coyly. "The degree of closeness we gained -- you and I -- during the journey. I have found that I enjoyed that excessively."

  "'Twas the same with me! I'd give my next quarterly to do it again."

  "A pity I was so beastly proud when you felt compelled to offer for me, for I believe I should very much have enjoyed being married to you." She had not been able to look him in the eye when she spoke.

  He leaped to his feet, bounded across the patterned carpet, and dropped to one knee in front of her. He took her hands in his. "It's the same with me, Ellie." He looked up into her smiling face.

  "Oh, Edward, I am so very happy to hear you say that. Would it be too presumptuous of me to ask you to procure a special license so we could be wed quickly? I find myself wanting to be with you every minute of the day."

  He rose up and joined her on the settee. "I will have it today."

  Then he took her in his arms and kissed her soundly.

  * * *

  The following week, they married one morning at St. George's Hanover Square. Louisa and Harry stood up with them. It was the first time Louisa and Harry had seen one another since the day she returned to London.

  After the ceremony, he said, "I beg that you will allow me to escort you back to the house."

  To protest would only be to make things difficult for everyone.

  She allowed him to hand her up to his carriage. They rode in silence for the first block. "You might be interested to know," he began, "That I alerted the House of Lords about Tremaine's murder attempt."

  "Had the magistrate confronted the vile man?"

  "We did together, just as soon as I saw you off with Edward."

  Her hand flew to her heart, and she directed a frightened gaze at him.

  "You'll be pleased to know Tremaine is now being incarcerated. I don't know if I'll ever regain Wycliff House, but doing so is no longer as important as it once was to me."

  Her pulse quickened. What, then, was important to him? "What of your mother's portrait?"

  He smiled. "I have it."

  "Lord Tremaine gave it to you?" she asked incredulously.

  His eyes danced with mischief. "Let's just say I convinced the magistrate it was my property, and I actually filed a theft complaint against Tremaine."

  "But, Harry, the man will find a way to kill you!"

  He lifted a brow. "You care?"

  She sat up ramrod straight. "Not at all."

  "Then don't worry your pretty head. Tremaine is terminally ill. The doctors don't give him another month."

  Her eyes narrowed. "Good!"

  They grew silent again. Then Harry said, "Your anger toward me for my lack of sincerity in your causes was well placed. It made me start thinking, trying to analyze what my own positions were on the causes you promulgate."

  "And?"

  "And I realized that you really had won me over despite my initial reluctance. I admit that I had no intentions of taking my seat in the House of Lords, and I especially had no intentions of embracing your radical politics.

  "But the more I thought on it, the more I realized how right you have been all along. I came to know that I was obligated to work toward all those reforms you and I had discussed. The extension of the franchise. Restrictions on child labor. Penal reform. Compulsory education. All the things I had initially laughed at behind your back."

  "You are not lying to me to get beneath my skirts
," she asked, looking up to him with smiling eyes.

  He stopped. Right there in the middle of Piccadilly Road. "I will never lie to you again."

  "Would that I could believe you," she uttered.

  Traffic grew snarled behind them, and harsh voices shouted at him.

  All of which he seemed oblivious to.

  "I have taken my seat in Parliament," he announced. "That I am a Whig, I thought, would make you happy."

  Her heart was bursting with joy and love. "I can think of no better wedding present," she said. When he did not respond for moment, she began to tremble. Had she horridly embarrassed herself with her forwardness?

  She watched as Harry set down his riding crop, turned to her, took her into his arms and kissed her slowly and passionately.

  Neither of them minded -- nor even seemed to hear -- the angry shouts from behind them on Piccadilly Road. "Perhaps Miss Grimm has been right all along," he said. "I do aim to get beneath your skirts -- after you're Lady Wycliff, that is."

  THE END

  Other Cheryl Bolen ebooks:

  The Bride Wore Blue (The Brides of Bath Series #1)

  Cheryl Bolen's writing draws you into her fast-paced story. 4 Stars – Romantic Times

  Cheryl Bolen returns to the Regency England she knows so well. . .If you love a steamy Regency with a fast pace, be sure to pick up The Bride Wore Blue. – Happily Ever After

  * * *

  For six long years Thomas Moreland has dreamed of the beautiful young noblewoman who rescued him from death. While amassing his fortune in India, not a day passed he did not recall Felicity's fair loveliness, did not recall the silken tones of her sweet voice, did not desire to possess her.

  Now a widow, Felicity Harrison does not recognize the handsome nabob as the young man left for dead by highwayman years earlier. Though she wants nothing more than to snub the arrogant man who promises to rescue her family from financial ruin in exchange for presenting his sister to Society, she cannot snub him. She must force herself to bear his company. But the longer she is with him, the more she has to force herself to remain true to her dead husband's memory. Why is it the humbly born Thomas Moreland possesses more nobility that any man of her class? And why is it she finds it harder and harder to mourn a dead man when Thomas's virility awakens her deepest desires?

  With His Ring (The Brides of Bath Series #2)

  Texas Gold's Runner-up for Best Historical Romance 2002

  Highly recommended. – Under the Covers

  Cheryl Bolen does it again! There is laughter, and the interaction of the characters pulls you right into the book. I look forward to the next in this series. 4 Stars – Romantic Times

  With His Ring is a good book. Once you start reading you will not want to put it down. . .The secondary characters are a blast. They will have you laughing right along with Glee's stunts. – The Romance Readers Connection

  If you liked Cheryl Bolen's first installment in her Brides of Bath series set in Regency England, you'll like this one. With His Ring has plenty of sensuality. – Happily Ever After

  * * *

  Glee Pembroke has turned down countless offers of marriage because she has secretly been in love with her brother's best friend, Gregory Blankenship, all her life. When she learns Gregory will lose his considerable fortune if he's not wed by his twenty-fifth birthday, she persuades him to enter into a sham marriage with her. What he doesn't know is that she plans to win his heart. She will do everything in her power to make him happy – including mimicking the ways of a "fast" woman since he's noted for alliances with women of that sort.

  Why did he ever allow himself to marry the maddening Glee? He'd thought they would have great fun, but at every turn, she exasperates him. Why does she persist in wearing the bodice of her dresses so blasted low? Why do other men persist in flirting with her, his wife? And why in the blazes has his heretofore complacent life been turned upside down by this sham marriage? He finds himself longing for a real marriage, but for reasons he cannot divulge, that can never happen.

  A Fallen Woman (The Brides of Bath Series #3)

  You'll fall for A Fallen Woman, the latest Regency romance by Cheryl Bolen. .this emotional story of a woman's journey from despair to triumph has what we all want from a love story. – In Print

  A story of healing, forgiveness and change that will make readers cheer. – Romantic Times

  I would recommend A Fallen Woman to anyone." – Escape to Romance

  * * *

  Since his commanding officer in the Peninsula took a bullet meant for him, James Moore, now the Earl of Rutledge, feels responsible for the dead man's young son and the boy's exquisite mother, Carlotta Ennis – so responsible that he offers to marry the lavender-eyed beauty. Though their marriage was not to be a love match, Carlotta's torturing presence has James yearning to make her his true wife.

  Though she did not love his lordship, her desperate situation forced her to accept his proposal. Little did she know she would come to crave being with him, would hunger for his every touch. If only she could be worthy of the fine man she's married, if only she can keep him from learning her dark secret . . .

  To Take This Lord (The Brides of Bath Series #4)

  (previously titled An Improper Proposal)

  "Wonderfully Crafted... Highly recommended... 5 stars." – Huntress Book Reviews

  "Bolen's writing... creates the perfect atmosphere for her enchanting romances." –

  Romantic Times

  "Bolen does a wonderful job building simmering sexual tension." – Booklist

  * * *

  1Even though it's been two years since his cherished wife died on childbed, George Pembroke, the Viscount Sedgewick, continues to rely on liquor to blunt his grief.

  Worried about him and his children, George's sisters urge him to ask spinster Sally Spenser--a longtime family friend--to help care for his daughter and son. Sally's the perfect person. She's of high birth (but has no money) and she adores Lord Sedgewick's children. It's her deep love of the motherless children and fear that their father might marry an unfeeling stepmother that prompt Sally to consider George's proposal. Even though it will be unbearable living under the roof of the man she loves and knowing she can never have him.

  A Lady by Chance

  Cheryl Bolen has done it again with another sparkling Regency romance. . .I highly recommend it. – Happily Ever After

  Anna de Mouchet has the stuff of which Regency heroines are made – the right stuff, that is! – In Print

  * * *

  The Marquess of Haverstock is incensed when he learns the money he needed to buy crucial war information for the Foreign Office has been lost at cards to the illegitimate daughter of an English duke and French noblewoman. When the bewitchingly beautiful woman informs him the only way to reclaim the funds is to wed her, he has little choice but to agree.

  Shunned by the ton, Anna de Mouchet agrees to a bizarre proposal that has her using her skill at cards to force the marquess – whom she’s been told is a traitor – to marry her. As his wife, she will be free to spy on him and prove her patriotism to England. But once she marries the handsome lord, she’s less sure of her loyalties. Especially when she feels her husband’s silken touch.

  My Lord Wicked

  What woman would dare make her home at eerie Marshbanks Abbey, perched on a stony hill in remote Northumbria? It is said its owner, the brilliant botanist, Lord Stacks, killed his beautiful bride there ten years earlier.

  Unaware of the tales of Lord Stacks' wickedness, Freddie Lambeth comes to live with her guardian, and through his caring blossoms from a plain, shabbily dressed girl to a lovely young woman. Freddie and Lord Stacks come to need each other as his flowers need sunshine, but Stacks cannot allow himself to love her. His own wickedness has destroyed any chance for happiness.

  Lady Sophia's Rescue

  1As Lady Sophia passes through the gates of her new bridegroom’s country estate and he begins to whisper in her ear the delights tha
t await her in his bed, Lady Sophia realizes she has made a most dreadful mistake. There’s only one thing to do. She must bolt.

  The bride-on-the-run is rescued by the exceedingly handsome William Birmingham who thinks she’s a woman named Isadore, and though he’s the richest man in England, she mistakes him for a common (but well-to-do) criminal. Since she’d rather be dead than wed to her wretched bridegroom, Sophia pretends to be Isadore and take her chances with the provocative Mr. Birmingham. But how could she have known that her ruse would bring the gallant Mr. Birmingham into such peril from the wicked man she married? And how could she have known her enigmatic rescuer would ignite passions she never knew she possessed?

  The Earl's Bargain

  The impossibly young, stunningly beautiful widow Louisa Phillips finds herself penniless upon the death of her no-good husband. What's a man-hating bluestocking to do?

  Enter the Earl of Wycliff, who offers her financial security for life. All she has to do is travel across England posing as his wife. They're both hiding secrets – not the least of which is their budding love for each other.