Surrender (65 page)

did tell him once that one is seldom bored

around you."

 
Well, as far as I am concerned, it is not

Lucas and I who contrived to escape the

potential scandal, Aunt Cleo. You are the

one who accomplished that. With a little

help from Jessica Atherton, of course," she

added in regretful honesty as she studied

the half-finished painting of a cactus on the

easel before her. Cacti were a nuisance to

paint. All the little spines were something

of a bother.

Cleo moved on to the next pot but she

searched Victoria's face with concerned

eyes.
 
I worried a great deal at first after

Lucas took you away to Yorkshire. I

could have strangled Jessica Atherton for

showing up the morning of your marriage

and causing such a stir."

 
I had a few thoughts along that line

myself. Lucas did, too."

 
Not surprising. I am certain he could

have done without her interference. The

whole situation bordered on disaster, but

I told myself that there was only one man

of your acquaintance who could deal with

such an imbroglio and you were with him.

When I got your first letter requesting

plants for his gardens, I knew the worst

was over," Cleo explained.

 
Tis true we have arrived at an

understanding of sorts, Lucas and I."

Cleo's head came up sharply. Her eyes

sparkled with laughter.
 
An understanding?

Is that what you call it? You should see

yourself when you are anywhere near him,

my dear. You practically glow. I trust you

are no longer worrying about following in

your mother's sad footsteps?"

Victoria carefully mixed yellow with a

touch of blue to create just the right

shade of green she was seeking.
 
Lucas

is no Samuel Whitlock."

 
Good heavens, I should say not. Just

as you are nothing like your mother,

dear Caroline, rest her soul. She truly

loved your father, you know. If he had

lived, everything would have been much

different. She would never have become

an easy target for Whitlock's charms. But

she was so hungry for love after your

father died that she fell immediately for

the illusion Whitlock was quick to offer."

 
Love is a dangerous thing, rather like

electricity, I believe. I think it is better to

form a solid, working partnership with a

man. That is what I am doing with Lucas,

you know. We are making progress."

Cleo gave a start.
 
I beg your pardon?

You are forming a business alliance with

stone vale?"

 
It is the logical thing to do, given

the circumstances under which we were

married. There is no denying that stone vale

itself is an excellent investment. It is good

land."

 
I see." Cleo looked dazed.
 
How very

fascinating."

 
The arrangement works well, for the

most part, although Lucas does have the

lamentable habit of giving orders when he

cannot get his way through reason and

logic."

 
Vicky, dear, this is quite interesting.

stone vale is going along with this partner

ship notion?"

 
On the whole. I am meeting with some

resistance in certain areas."

Cleo's eyes widened.
 
I can imagine.

What areas?"

 
He would still very much like to believe

that I am in love with him and he never

loses an opportunity to try to coax me into

admitting it."

Cleo put down the watering pot with a

small thud and stared at her niece.
 
Are

you not in love with him? Vicky, I assumed

from the start that your heart was charting

your course in all this. Otherwise, I would

never have insisted"

 
Of course I am in love with him. I

would never have gone to the inn that

first night with him if I hadn't been. But

I am not about to give him the satisfaction

of admitting it to him," Victoria declared.

 
Why ever not?"

Victoria looked up from the painting.

 
Because, to be blunt, he is not in love

with me."

 
Good heavens, Vicky, are you certain?

He seems inordinately fond of you."

 
He is fond of me. That is one of

the reasons the marriage is working. But

he feels he cannot allow himself to love

me because if he does, I will use the

knowledge to run roughshod over him.

He thinks I am something of a shrew,

you see. Too independent and headstrong

by half. Give me an inch and I will surely

take a mile."

 
Perhaps he is merely uncertain of you

and cannot admit his love until he knows

you love him," Cleo suggested.

 
Why should he be uncertain of me? The

man is married to me."

 
What does that signify? How many

married women of our acquaintance are

head over heels in love with their husbands?

More than one has resorted to a discreet

affair, as you well know. And women such

as Jessica Atherton, who would almost

certainly never indulge in an affair, are

testimonials to womanly duty, not womanly

love. The thought of being married out of

a sense of duty must give a man a few

chills."

 
Why should it? Lucas certainly had no

qualms about marrying me out of a sense

of duty. His goal from the start was to

save stone vale, not find a deep and abiding

love for himself." Victoria dashed the brush

fiercely across the paper and immediately

had to blot up a long smear of green.

 
Just because a man is forced to marry

for the sake of his responsibilities does not

mean he is not human enough to want to

be loved. Lucas told me the morning of

your marriage that he truly wished things

had progressed in a far different fashion.

He knows that because of that debacle at

the inn, he never had a chance to finish

the courtship properly."

 
He finished it, all right. He concluded

the matter with a special license, if you will

recall." Another smear of green appeared

on the paper.

 
My point is that he is only too well

aware of the fact that he did not have

a chance to win your love. You did

not marry him entirely of your own free

will and he knows that. Later, when you

found out he had begun his pursuit of

you because you were an heiress, his

position was further weakened. How can

he possibly be all that certain of you unless

you have assured him of your love?"

Victoria looked up, feeling pressed.
 
Just

whose side are you on, Aunt Cleo?"

Cleo sighed.
 
I am not on anyone's side.

I just want to see you happy, Vicky."

 
You think I would be happy if I simply

surrender completely to my husband?"

 
Surrender? What an odd term."

 
Tis the one he uses," Victoria muttered.

 
Except when he's trying to find euphem

isms such as
 
negotiated truce."

 
Does he really? I expect
 
tis because he

spent so much time in the military and then

devoted himself to gaming. Military men

and game sters have a somewhat similar

vocabulary, you know. They are always

thinking in terms of strategy and winning

and losing. There is very little middle

ground for them."

 
Yes, I have discovered that for myself."

 
Women, on the other hand, are capable

of more flexibility in their thinking," Cleo

continued.

 
That is undoubtedly a weakness when it

comes to dealing with men. It gives them

a license to indulge their own inflexibility.

No, I am married to a man who thinks

like a soldier, and I must either break him

of the habit or teach him to be content

with the partnership we have managed to

establish. The one thing I will not do is

risk everything by giving him the surrender

he wants."

Cleo considered her thoughtfully for a

long moment.
 
What is it, precisely, that

you would be risking?"

 
My pride, for one thing."

 
Is that so very important?"

 
Of course it is."

 
Well, he is your husband, my dear. You

must do as you think best."

Relieved to be through with that topic

of conversation, Victoria hurriedly switched

to another.
 
Perhaps you would care to go

shopping today? I mean to purchase some

books on gardening and horticulture to

take back to Yorkshire."

 
I would be delighted. Are these for your

library at stone vale?"

 
Some of them will go into the library

but the rest are to serve as a gift to our

local vicar and his wife. They have been

most helpful. The vicar is writing a book

on gardening." Victoria hesitated and then

added in a rush,
 
And I am to do the

plates."

Cleo beamed.
 
Vicky, how marvelous.

You are going to get your lovely botanical

work published. I am so pleased. How did

that arrangement come about?"

 
Lucas arranged it," Victoria admitted

softly.

Cleo's gaze sharpened.
 
How did he

do that?"

Victoria flushed.
 
He showed one of my

paintings to the vicar, who instantly asked

to meet the artist to see if she would

be interested in doing the plates for his

book. Lucas swears he did not influence

the vicar by telling him who the artist

was until after Reverend Worth admired

the picture. The vicar seems genuinely

delighted to have me do the plates. I

must confess, I am very excited about

it."