Leslie Lafoy (29 page)

Go to hell and take Seraphina with you?
He took another drink. “No, I’m fine, thank you.”

“Well, you don’t seem fine to me.”

He felt her presence, felt her gaze sliding over him. He looked up to find her standing in the doorway—just where he’d known she would be. She was wearing—not the conservative blue gown she’d worn when they’d gone out together, oh, no—but the bright green one with the crystals sprinkled over her bodice. The crystals that winked and dazzled and said, “Look! Wouldn’t you like to touch?”

“Good evening, gentlemen,” she said quietly, her gaze darting away from his. “Sawyer told me you were in here. I hope I’m not intruding.”

Aiden—the drooling weasel—smiled and gushed, “You look ravishing, Seraphina.”

“Thank you,” she said, somehow managing a blush. She looked back at him and touched that pretty little tongue of hers to her luscious lower lip before asking, “How did Lady Caruthers receive the presentation today?”

“She adored the plan and gave me carte blanche,” he replied, raising his glass to her. “Just as you said she would.”

“I’m happy for you, Carden. When do you actually start the project?”

He shrugged in reply, glad that she sounded every bit as tense and miserable as he felt.

Aiden looked back and forth between them several times, sucked in his cheeks, then gushed again, saying, “Well, I think we should probably be going, Seraphina.” He crossed to her and presented his arm, adding, “Dinner is at eight.”

She took Aiden’s arm blindly, her gaze on his as she said, “The girls are in the kitchen with the puppies. They’re trying to think of names. Anne will be down for them shortly and see them tucked in for the night.”

“Enjoy your evening,” he drawled, hoping Aiden would trip on her hem on their way out. He waited, listening, and when the only sound that came was that of the front door closing, he snarled and tossed the last of the brandy down his throat.

If Sera was going out on the arms of other men, then, by God, he wasn’t going to sit at home and pine over it. There were plenty of women in London who would be more than happy to spend an evening—a whole damn night!—in his company. He’d have one more brandy to celebrate his reentrance into the world of successful seduction, get himself something to eat and a quick shave, and then he’d go find a woman who not only understood, but truly appreciated the considerable merits of purely recreational sex.

*   *   *

Aiden’s discomfort hadn’t been lost on her, and as he settled into the opposite carriage seat, Sera knew that it was only a matter of time before he began to ask questions. Despite the jading influence of rogues like Carden Reeves and Barrett Stanbridge, he was such a caring and empathetic young man. Somewhere out there in the world was a young woman who had no idea how incredibly lucky she was going to be someday.

“Seraphina,” he predictably began as they edged out into the evening traffic, “even a blind man could see that something’s gone terribly wrong between you and Carden. What happened?”

She was tempted to tell him that unless they were driving to Edinburgh, there wouldn’t be time for the story. Instead, she smiled and replied, “I appreciate your concern, Aiden. I truly do. But it’s personal.”

She expected him to make another attempt—he was too kind to abandon the effort after only one—and he didn’t disappoint her. “Would it help to talk to another female about it? I could take you to see Lady Lansdown.”

“Oh, Lord,” she half-gasped, surprised by his choice of tack. “Thank you, but no thank you. Honoria’s the very last person I’d talk to about Carden.”

“What’s he done? Maybe I could prevail on his good sense. If that fails, I could probably get one good punch in on him.”

“Just one?” she asked, amused and hoping that he’d allow the conversation to go in another direction.

“Maybe two,” he amended, grinning. “Any more than that would be by sheer dumb luck. I may be younger and faster than he is, but he’s more experienced and considerably meaner. In the end, he’d win. But I’d be more than willing to sacrifice myself if you’d just tell me what he’s done.”

Nice
and
persistent. Nicely persistent, actually. “He hasn’t done anything.”

“Is that the problem? He hasn’t done something you hoped he would?”

Hoping someone would love you didn’t obligate them to do so. “Oh, Aiden,” she replied, shaking her head, “it’s very kind of you to offer to help, but as I said, it’s personal.”

He leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. “Please talk to me, Seraphina,” he asked earnestly. “I can’t fix it for you if you won’t tell me what’s gone awry.”

“It can’t be fixed,” she admitted, remembering the caged look in Carden’s eyes as he’d considered spending forever with her.

“Nonsense. Did you do something?”

What hadn’t she done? She’d accepted—no, invited—Carden’s advances. She’d stepped to the very edge of an affair with him and then scrambled away, hiding behind pride and anger and an incredibly dubious claim to virtue. And when he’d reached for her, tried to ease her fears, she’d struck out at him, knowing where his weaknesses lay and deliberately aiming for them. She’d intentionally battered him in her effort to escape the consequences of her own decisions.

And to punish him for not loving her.

The tears came, spilling in hot rivulets down her cheeks. Suddenly Aiden was beside her, his arm around her shoulders as he pressed a handkerchief into her hand and whispered, “What, Seraphina? What did you do? Tell me and I’ll set it right with Carden.”

“You can’t set it right,” she cried, flinging her hands up at the futility of it all. “It can’t be undone.”

“What did you do?” he asked again, his patience clearly at its end. “Spit it out!”

“I foolishly, blindly, utterly, and completely fell in love with him!”

He stared at her, his mouth slightly agape, and she looked away, scrubbing his handkerchief over her cheeks and silently daring him to tell her that he could do something about
that.

His laughter caught her completely off guard. She’d barely turned her head to look at him when he hugged her tight and buoyantly declared, “That’s not a bad thing, Seraphina. That’s not bad at all. In fact, it’s wonderful. The best news I’ve ever heard.”

She put her hands flat against his chest and pushed herself away so that she could see his face. “Falling in love with a confirmed, committed rake is good news?” she asked incredulously. “You’ve lost your mind, Aiden.”

He laughed again and shook his head. “Carden’s days as a rake are over. He just doesn’t know it yet.”

She stared at him, not knowing what to think, what to believe, what to say. “Honestly, Seraphina. He’s so in love with you he can’t see straight. Which is the problem at the moment. He’s so in love that he doesn’t know that he’s in love. Does that make any sense?”

It did. And her heart so wanted to hope that it was true. But in knowing Carden, she also knew that hoping would only compound her folly and deepen the pain. Wisdom lay in accepting the truth. She wiped the last traces of tears from her cheeks, saying, “He doesn’t love me, Aiden. He never will. He can’t.”

“You’re wrong, Seraphina,” her companion countered, settling back into the seat beside her, his arm still comfortingly draped around her shoulder. “Barrett and I’ve been watching him tumble for you since the minute you walked into his life. He’ll come around in the end. Trust us on this.”

“Trust you?” she said, confounded yet again. “If you’re both so sure that he loves me, why have you both asked to escort me out? Don’t you consider that a betrayal of your friendship and his feelings?”

“You’ve accepted our invitations,” he pointed out. “Don’t you consider that a betrayal of your love?”

Sera carefully chose her words, needing to explain but not wanting to bruise his pride. “If you’re the only one in love, the only betrayal is of that of your own hope. And I was willing to do that to avoid embarrassing either you or Barrett by declining your invitations.”

He blinked and then knitted his brows. “You accepted out of pity?”

“I didn’t say that,” she protested, knowing even as she did that she was splitting hairs. “I was concerned for your feelings.”

He tried to look injured, but couldn’t control the smile tickling the corners of his mouth. “Well, whatever your motives, they’re dovetailing perfectly with Lady Lansdown’s plan.”

She started, once again caught off guard. “Honoria? Honoria has her fingers in this mess?” Sera closed her eyes, remembering the day Honoria had come upon them in the park. “I should have seen it,” she muttered. “I shouldn’t be the least bit surprised.”

“It’s a good plan,” Aiden assured her. “Really.”

She knew otherwise. “And just precisely what is this plan?” she asked. “What are you hoping to accomplish?”

“Lady Lansdown proposed it the first night you were here and described it as ‘time-honored.’ It’s a very simple one, actually. Barrett and I take you out and about and make Carden jealous enough to realize that he loves you.”

Oh, dear God. The plan had been put into play and the damage had already been done. Why hadn’t she seen what was happening in time to put an end to it? Why, why, why?

“And our part of it’s working very well,” Aiden continued, apparently taking her horror for disbelief. “Carden was furious about your going out with me this evening. And when he found out yesterday afternoon that Barrett’s escorting you to Lady Hatcher’s ball … I thought Carden was going to kill him right there on the spot. I really did.”

“Instead he came back to the house and we had a hideous row,” she countered, angry that they’d been manipulated into a disaster. “Whatever bridges we might have been able to build were burnt to ashes, Aiden.”

“A row over what?”

There was no point in mincing words. “Thanks to Honoria’s timeless, simple plan, it began with the fact that Barrett asked me to the ball and I accepted. It progressed from there, rather brutally, I might add, and ended when we arrived at bitter reality.”

“That bitter reality being…?” Aiden pressed. “Friends are honest with each other, Seraphina.”

But for the good, woefully oblivious intentions of friends … “The truth is that I can’t bear the thought of being a temporary lover and Carden can’t bear the thought of being lovers forever.”

“And I don’t suppose,” he drawled, “that it occurred to either one of you to compromise and let love and time work things out between you?”

Her anger fled, humiliated in the face of the memory. Carden standing there, offering her all he dared to give, more than he’d undoubtedly ever offered any woman. “He tried,” she murmured, her heart tearing.

Aiden sighed long and hard, then shifted on the seat beside her, withdrawing his arm from her shoulder to take her hands in his. “Seraphina,” he said calmly but with great firmness, “there are no absolute certainties in life. If you don’t risk anything, you risk everything.”

His words burrowed slowly, inexorably, into her heart and soul. If she didn’t offer Carden her heart—and take the chance that he would break it—there would be no hope of his ever giving her his heart in return. Risk not, gain not. Risk greatly, gain the world.

It was a simple, fundamental truth. And she would have never realized it had Aiden not laid it right in front of her and demanded that she open her eyes. She met his gaze, searching for the words to express the depth of her appreciation.

“I know,” he said quietly, his smile assured. “I’m not nearly as naive as I let most people think I am.” His smile widened into a grin. “Which reminds me. Please don’t ever,
ever
tell Carden that I put my arm around your shoulders or that I held your hands. If he finds out, you’ll be able to bury what’s left of me in your reticule.”

Yes, some woman, someday, was going to be very lucky, indeed. “The secret is safe with me,” she promised. “It’s the least I can do to thank you for your friendship and your wisdom.”

“You’ll think on what I’ve said?”

“Yes, Aiden. I already have.”

“Good,” he declared happily, giving her hands a little squeeze before releasing them. “Now,” he added as their driver opened the carriage door, “let’s get this dinner done so you can go home and square things with Carden.”

Sera smiled as he stepped out and turned back to offer his hand. She took it, marveling at how smoothly he’d managed and timed their conversation. And to think that she’d once worried about what he might learn from Carden and Barrett. John Aiden Terrell was a masterful rogue in his own right. And while he’d used his skills to her incredible benefit this evening—for which she would be forever grateful—she couldn’t help but feel a little sympathy for all the women who didn’t see the danger he posed until it was far too late. God help the one who set out to settle him down.

*   *   *

He froze in the doorway, only then remembering what Sera had said to him in parting. Any chance of backing away and escaping unnoticed was dashed when Bea glanced up and saw him standing there.

“Hello, Uncle Carden!” she exclaimed. “Have you come to help us name the puppies?”

Recovering quickly enough to smile and lie, he replied, “I thought it sounded like a wonderful way to pass the evening.” He sucked in a deep breath and committed himself to getting through it. Sera had said Anne would be down shortly; the girls were already in their night rails and dressing gowns. Playing the good-natured uncle wouldn’t delay him all that long.

“How far have you gotten?” he asked, joining them on the floor beside the dog and her pups.

Camille picked up one of the puppies and held it, fat little tummy toward him, saying, “We’ve decided that this one is Tippy because of the little white tip on his tail.”

It was a “her,” but he didn’t see any reason to correct the mistake. Tippy was one of those names that went perfectly well either way. “Very logical. It’ll be easy to remember.”

Beatrice picked up another, and holding it the same way, announced, “And this one is Bootsie.”

“Because of the slightly darker feet,” he guessed as he noted another significant feature. “If I might make a small suggestion? It’s a boy dog. With a name like Bootsie the other boy dogs are likely to pummel him. Maybe you could call him Boots so his life would be a little easier?”