Edith Layton (13 page)

He stopped, and then surprised her by laughing out loud. “Oh Lord,” he said, running a hand over his eyes. “Did you hear that? What claptrap. What right have I to recommend something I’ve never found?” His eyes were dark as the sky above them as he stared down at her. “But that’s what I believe, Daisy. That’s what I want to believe.”

He shook his head. “And I never even mentioned the best reason for marrying a man of an appropriate age. What an oversight, especially from me! Pleasure in the marriage bed, my dear,” he said, bending his head and whispering. “If it’s good, it’s worth twenty years of peace, any day or night.”

She shivered at the feeling of his warm, whis
pered breath on her ear. “Do you mean to discourage Geoff about me?”

He cocked his head to the side. “You disappoint me, Daisy; you cut me to the quick. No, I don’t. I just wonder if you’ve thought it through. Because if you decide a decade from now, when Geoff may need you most, that you’d rather play in another bed than sleep in his, you might very well break his heart. I’ve seen that happen. I’ve no wish for Geoff to feel what my father did, though I’ll allow that I like him much more than I did that sorry old man. My father doubtless deserved what he got, but sometimes I wonder if that didn’t make him what he became.

“Mama cuckolded him with a Gypsy, to start, which is how I got my half brother, Daffyd. It didn’t stop there. She became more discreet, as well as less fertile, but no more constant. Don’t do that to Geoff, whatever you do, Daisy. Because
that,
I couldn’t stand, or stand for.”

“And all this is for Geoff?” she asked.

“Why no,” he said, with a huge smile. “Of course not. It may have been at first, but now? I want you; of course you know that.”

She stood a moment, staring at him, and then she sighed. “Well, keep wanting, if it makes you happy.”

“The point is, I’d like to make you happy.”

“Ha!” she said without humor. “Much luck with that. The best way to do that is to forget your desires. I don’t share them, I don’t like them,
so you might as well cut line, and that’s the truth.”

“Them?”
he asked.

“Don’t play the fool, you know exactly what I mean!” she said angrily. “What you were talking about.”

He looked puzzled.

“The marital act,” she whispered.

He frowned in incomprehension.

“Coupling, having it off, swiving, f—
you know what I’m saying,
” she hissed.

“Oh,” he said so blandly, she knew he’d understood right away and had been toying with her. “I see. So why do you want to marry Geoff? He’s a vigorous man, and though he plays the doting papa with you, I assure you he is
not
a monk. There’s a certain widow in Claridges Street who’d swear, happily, to that, too. She’s not the only one. He prefers relationships to encounters, but that’s not always possible.”

Daisy stared.

“Poor Daisy,” he said softly, his eyes caressing her. “You didn’t know? If you think he’d be a safe harbor from demands of the flesh, I promise you that isn’t so. If you love the man, you’ll have to love him body
and
soul. Come, you’re no fool. Your late husband was doubtless a beast; that doesn’t mean all men are. So many women wouldn’t be mad about lovemaking if that were true.
I’d
love to show you why.”

“I’m sure you would!” she said, and scowled,
knowing that was a feeble retort. But she had to think about what he’d said as much as about how he made her feel just by being close, before she could come up with something clever. “I’d like to go in now,” she said stiffly. “Geoff must be wondering where I am.”

“Doubtless,” he said calmly, and offered her his arm.

“Excuse me, my lord, but have you seen Mrs. Tanner?” Helena asked the earl breathlessly. “I’ve been looking everywhere for her.”

He broke off the conversation he’d been having, said good-bye to the gentleman he’d been talking to, and took Helena aside. “Don’t worry,” he said softly. “She’s with Haye.”

“Not worry?” she gasped. “Being off somewhere with him could be fatal to her reputation!”

The earl laughed. “In the ordinary way, possibly. But not here. I saw them go outside to the garden. Don’t worry, rackety he may be, but Leland knows I have her under my wing, and he wouldn’t do anything to harm her in any way.”

“But being seen alone with him would harm her,” Helena insisted.

“He can’t be alone with her, because half the party has been out that door in the past half hour, if only to breathe. It is deucedly hot in here. Would you care to come out with me, to find them?”

She shook her head. “Thank you, my lord, but I wouldn’t presume. I’ll just step out by myself.”

“No,” he said, taking her hand and putting it on his arm. “Come with me. There’s no need for you to go alone.” He smiled at her. She wore a neat blue gown with long sleeves, her hair was arranged primly, and the only ornament she wore was a golden locket at her throat. Still, if she hadn’t been a companion, he thought, she’d have gotten a companion for herself by now. Helena Masters was a fine-looking woman, and a gentle-spoken, intelligent one, too.

“You take your duties seriously,” he said, as they strolled toward the door to the terrace. “That’s good but not necessary, here at least. Daisy may be young and inexperienced at social matters, but she’s got a fine head on her shoulders.”

She nodded. “But the viscount, while a friend of yours, is a man with a certain reputation, and after meeting him, I quite understand how he got it. That’s all I worry about.”

He stopped. “Never say Lee’s got you entranced, too? The man has half the females in London ready to eat crumbs from his hand, but I thought you’d be able to resist him!”

Her eyes crinkled as she smiled, making her look much less severe, transforming her entirely, in fact, he thought. “No, no such luck,” she said, laughing. “I haven’t been enraptured in many a long year.”

“Leland didn’t beguile you?” he asked in mock
amazement. “Now, that is too bad. We have to find someone who does. Maybe I’ll give it a try. What are you looking for in a gentleman?”

She saw that though he was joking, he was concerned. Her smile became sad. “I look for the impossible, my lord, because no man looks at me.”

“Untrue!” he said. “Or if true, ridiculous. At least to me, if only because I’ve so recently come from a land that, for all its faults, recognizes a man or a woman for who they are rather than for what they’re worth in pounds and shillings. You, Mrs. Masters, could name your price in rubies, were you to go to the colony at Botany Bay.”

“Really? What do you suggest I steal to get there, then?” she asked.

He’d been smiling, but now his smile was arrested, and he looked at her as though he’d just seen something new in her.

She held her breath.

And then, as though called, he looked up.

Daisy and the viscount were coming back into the room. And then the earl appeared to forget everything except that Daisy was smiling at him.

While everyone else in the room turned to stare at Daisy, with sudden avid interest.

L
eland frowned at his naked knees. Folded up as he was in his bath, he couldn’t help seeing them. He had a large tub, but he was larger than most men. His knees were unlovely, but not the source of his rage. He washed quickly, stood up, and took the towel his valet handed him. He stalked into his bedchamber. There were things he had to do this morning, and if he had to hoist people up out of their beds to do it, he would.

“Don’t fuss,” he told his valet. “This is fine, thank you.”

He looked at himself in the glass and considered the result of his hurried toilette: one tall, thin man, dressed in correct morning clothes. His boots shone, his breeches were without a
wrinkle, his neck cloth was pristine and tied just carelessly enough to make him the envy of every young blade in town. Much he cared this morning. But everything was as it should be. Except for the long face. He stared at himself in the glass. He looked like a murderer about to select a victim, and fast.

Good,
he thought, and strode from the room.

His mother’s butler stared at him.

“I’m not a frequent visitor,” Leland said in clipped tones. “But surely, you know me. Kindly tell my mama that I wish to speak with her.”

The butler took a step back. “Indeed, I know you, my lord, but we were not expecting company this morning. The household went to bed quite late last night, and your mama is still sleeping.”

“Doubtless she didn’t go to bed until dawn,” Leland said. “It makes no matter. I wish to speak with her.
Now.
” When the butler hesitated, Leland added with acid sweetness, “Or would you prefer I wake her myself?”

“I shall bring word to her. If you would care to wait?” the butler asked, showing Leland the salon.

“I would not care to wait above five minutes. Tell her that,” Leland said, and went into the room to pace.

It took a full fifteen minutes for the viscountess to come down the stair. Leland was astonished
that it took so little time, and realized he must look even more murderous than he felt.

“Haye, what has happened?” his mother said from the doorway.

“I had thought you could tell me that,” he said.

She wore a robe over her negligee; her hair was simply dressed, and though she looked well, the morning sunlight wasn’t kind to her. It wasn’t that she looked ancient, in fact she looked uncommonly young; her fair complexion was smooth even without powder. He supposed that was because she seldom laughed or scowled, and so her skin had remained relatively free of wrinkles. She took constant care of herself; he could still see the faint sheen of whatever cream she used on her skin. But her eyes showed her age: They were cold and too knowing. This morning, the effect of them staring out of her smooth face was unsettling.

“Sit down,” she said. “And tell me your grievance. Because now I see it isn’t an emergency, it’s only that you’re angry at something you wish to lay at my door. That’s nothing new. But I don’t know what crime it is this time.
Do
enlighten me.”

He didn’t sit, but only stood facing her. “Do you not?” he said. “Odd that you could forget so quickly. It was only last night.”

Her cheeks showed a faint flush of pink, but she stared at him defiantly.

“You told everyone about Daisy Tanner while she was out of the room, did you?” he asked, though her reaction had given him his answer. “I only wonder what you told them.”

“I?”
she said.

“They might have guessed she had been a convict,” he went on. “The earl never made a secret of his past, nor did any of his ‘sons,’ including my brother Daffyd. If your guests heard she was a friend of the earl’s from Botany Bay, I imagine they could have supposed as much. But there had to be more to account for the sudden stir she made. We came in from the garden to find she was suddenly the center of attention. The party came to a dead halt, and she was gaped at. No one said a thing to her, but no one looked away. I fancy myself a brave fellow, but even I was taken aback. Obviously someone had said something appalling about her. I’m here to find out what it was.

“She was transported for her father’s crimes,” he said. “Anyone knowing that might have been shocked, but certainly not so much as they seemed to be last night. We had to get Daisy away before it broke her heart, but I need to know what you did so that I can undo it, swiftly.”

“So it’s you who has an interest there?” she asked, with what might have been a real smile. “Beware, Haye. If she’s the earl’s friend, he won’t allow you to toy with her. Or you’ll be caught. Have you remained single all these years so that you could find a convict bride?”

“
Ex
convict,” he said, his dark blue stare as cold as her own. “Lovely footwork, madam, but we are not dancing. What did you tell them?”

She shrugged. “I mentioned she’d been a convict; I spoke of Botany Bay. I didn’t know her crimes so I didn’t detail them. I merely said she’d been a prisoner in the Antipodes, had married there and now was a widow. A wealthy one. Or so I surmised. Unless the earl has been paying her bills, in which case she was something else as well.”

“Well, that makes sense,” he said with quiet fury. “Sorrowful sense, but it accounts for why they were aghast. A gentleman doesn’t invite his mistress to your soirées, is that it?”

“A
gentleman,
” she said icily, “does not take his mistress to any gentlewoman’s home. Indeed, he doesn’t even invite them to his own. But, of course, you never understood that, did you?”

“That stung, did it?” he asked. “All those years of privation. Was it the fact that you were excluded from your lovers’ homes that rankles, or that you couldn’t have them at yours?”

She didn’t reply.

“It hardly matters,” he said. “So, all I have to do is tell your guests and the immediate world what she was in prison for to set matters right. And that she is wealthy enough and principled enough to pay her own way. That’s simple. But why did you do it? You think Geoff’s going to marry her? Who knows? He may. And why not?
She’s bright, charming, and very unlike you in that she’s highly moral, thoroughly prim, even prudish.”

He strode to the door. “Then, good day, madam. I’ve work to do, or rather undo.”

“Haye?” she said.

He stopped and looked at her.

“Do you really think he means to marry her?”

“I’ve no idea. Why? Did you think there was a chance he’d marry you? Unthink it, Mama. I believe you terrify him.”

“Indeed,” she said with a smile of bitter satisfaction. “I see. And what did
you
tell him about me?”

His smile was thin-lipped. “Nothing. That’s the truth. What could I say, after all? I can only gossip about people I know. I never knew you, did I?”

He nodded, clapped on his hat, and left her house.

She sat in the salon for long moments, thinking, before she got up and left it herself.

“I don’t want to go to any party,” Daisy said plaintively. “You can say that you’ve explained things and eased my way, but I don’t want to risk it. Why must I go? Does it mean that much to you, Geoff?” she asked the earl. “I thought you hated the social world.”

“I don’t hate it, I just…avoid it,” he said. “I’m past the age for that nonsense. You’re not.”

They were in his study. He’d called her there to speak with her and asked Helena to wait outside. Daisy thought he’d have some wonderful surprise for her, and had been musing about whether he’d offer her a trip to his estate, or his hand in marriage. Instead, she found Leland there as well, now that he was up and about, he said, he’d spent the morning assuring that she could go back into Society and not be stared at.

“You’re young and need diversion, and company,” the earl said. “What sort of friends can you make if you’re shunned by the polite world? They’re not all poseurs and fops, you know.”

“Exactly,” Leland said sweetly. “Why, just look at me.”

“Yes,” the earl said seriously, causing Leland to look startled. “Well, face it, Lee, you’re welcomed everywhere but you hardly ever go there.”

Leland laughed. “That’s the rhyme a caricaturist once put on a broadsheet about me,” he told Daisy. “It may be true. I love the theater and music, and literature. Where should I find people to discuss such things with? In taverns? With the light ladies I am said to sometimes accompany? I go to parties and gentlemen’s clubs as well as to sporting events because I need diverse friends.”

“Just so,” the earl agreed. “Daisy, you had friends in the Antipodes and I’ll wager you miss them. But they wouldn’t be suitable for you now. You need women of your position as well as of equal intelligence and wit.”

Daisy sat still. “What
is
my position? Do you know? I don’t.”

“You will,” Geoff said enigmatically. “So please reconsider. Especially after Lee has gone to so much effort to make you welcome. Yes, it’s another party. And yes, many of the same people will be there. But Lee will have spoken to many of them, too, as will I. You can go without fear of being rejected, I promise.”

“I’m not afraid of being rejected!” she said. “Well, I suppose I am. Who wouldn’t be worried about being in a room full of people who dislike them? Well, maybe not the viscount,” she added, and Leland smiled. “But the point is that I don’t want them as my friends. I have you, Geoff.”

Leland suddenly lost his smile and looked at her so intently that she lowered her gaze. “And the viscount, of course,” she said quickly, “I have Daffyd and…Helena, and your other boys when they come to London again. I can talk to them. I never imagined myself flitting around Town from one party to another; that’s not my way. I only need a few, good, close friends. I have them. Who needs more?”

“But I’m old enough to be your father, Daisy,” the earl said slowly. “I’m hardly a friend, at least not in the context I meant.” He looked down at some papers on his desk, and aimlessly moved them from one place to another. Then he looked up and turned the tables. “
Am
I your friend,
Daisy?” he asked softly. “Just what do you think I am to you?”

She darted a glance at Leland, but now his face bore only an expression of polite interest. Drat the man! she thought. She couldn’t say anything to make Geoff consider a declaration with him in the room. “That’s up to you, Geoff,” she said.

He nodded. “So it is,” he said. “Well, then, my dear,” he said, looking at her with a peculiar expression, half amusement and half wonder. “Will you come with
me
to the party tomorrow night?”

She smiled. “Yes, of course, Geoff.”

She looked at the viscount again. He was expressionless. But she rejoiced. She’d won! she thought with barely contained exhilaration. And it hadn’t even taken that long. At least, not once she’d seen him again. All those years of dreaming about a kindly, tolerant husband were over. She’d traveled across a sea and halfway around the world to find safe harbor. Now all that was left was to go to the party, listen to Geoff’s proposal—for surely he’d have a ring for her or some other family heirloom to seal the compact with by then—and her goal would be met.

She gazed at the earl with fond possession. He looked very well for a man of his years, she thought. He wasn’t the sort to make any woman’s heart beat faster, but she’d never wanted that. Still, he was fit. He wore tolerably fashionable clothes, which meant they were tight-fitting, and yet she couldn’t see a bulging stomach. Though
her father had been a similar age when she’d last seen him, Geoff was much more muscular than her father had ever been, and he certainly had more hair.

Then she glanced at Leland and saw rueful knowledge in his eyes. She remembered that he’d said Geoff also acted like younger men, as far as women were concerned. Which meant that he’d want to bed her.

The thought made the blood rush to her face, not in mounting desire, but with embarrassment. Kindly, charming, Geoff wanting her
that
way? The sudden vision she had of him, naked in bed with her, was appalling, repellent, beyond embarrassing. She didn’t think of him that way.

In that moment, she could swear the viscount knew what she was thinking. He looked back at her with a deadly serious, sad expression, and nodded as though confirming her thoughts. She quickly turned her attention back to Geoff.

He, at least, was looking at her with warmth and approval, and obvious affection. He wasn’t leering, but only smiling, and she realized that now he’d every right to think of her that way. Could she change the way she thought of him? Could she stroke his naked body? Could she relax in his arms as he mounted her? Would he make the same sounds, groaning as Tanner had while he was at it, carrying on like a pig at the trough? The thought was terrifying. Because then how could she ever think of him the same way again?

And unlike Tanner, would he expect her to enjoy it, as Leland had said women should? The viscount had turned her thinking so much, she no longer knew where she stood. She wondered if Geoff’s kiss would shatter her defenses as Leland’s had. She suddenly felt ill at the thought of sharing a warm, openmouthed kiss with Geoff. She shot to her feet.

“Well, thanks, Geoff,” she said in a rush. “You’ve convinced me to go to the party. And thanks to you too, Viscount. So, should I wear the fantastic gold gown the modiste made for me, or is this less formal? What I mean is, what should I wear, do you think?”

“Whatever you wish. You’ll look lovely in a sack, or even without one,” Geoff said, laughing to show it was a jest.

He’d meant it as a joke and a compliment, she knew. But Leland didn’t laugh, and neither did she. She was suddenly very sorry that he’d said it.

Daisy felt weary and apprehensive.

She hadn’t been feeling well since the morning she’d met with Geoff and Leland. Now it was night, and she’d be seeing Geoff again, and maybe now he’d ask the question she’d come so many miles to hear. And for the first time in a long time, she didn’t know what to do.

Every step of her life since the day she’d landed in Botany Bay, dazed and hurting in body and
spirit, Tanner at her side, had been spent in daydreams and night fancies and dreams of escape.