The Arrangement
Page 32
“Are you serious?” I asked after a minute.
“I’m afraid that I am.” The look he gave me was definitely sheepish, “I’m not proud of it, Gail, but there it is. I’m not proud that I was jealous of a dead man, but I was.” He gave me the crooked smile again. “In a way, I still am.”
Could this be Raoul? I wondered. There was a strained look over his cheekbones and the eyes that looked at me were troubled.
I said very carefully, “I was a girl when I married Tommy, Raoul. He was a wonderful boy, and we were happy together, but I loved him the way a girl loves a boy. I’m a woman now, though, with a woman’s heart and a woman’s strength. My feelings are deeper and more profound than they were ten years ago. I love you the way a woman loves a man.” I shook my head in astonishment. “I can’t believe that you didn’t see that.”
“It was too important to me to believe it,” he said. “I loved you too much.”
“Oh, Raoul,” I said. “Oh, darling. There is nothing I want more in this life than to marry you.”
I raised my face for his kiss. We leaned in to each other, his tall frame hard against mine, my arms around his waist holding him tight.
“We’ll do it in a month,” he said against my mouth. “I’ll have the banns called at Savile and then we’ll do it.”
“All right,” I said.
We kissed some more.
“Raoul,” I said, “is this going to present a problem for you socially? I’m a nobody, after all. Will people look down on you for marrying me?”
“Don’t be an idiot,” he returned. He kissed my hair, my forehead, my cheeks, my nose. “I’m the Earl of Savile. I can marry whomever I choose to marry.”
For some reason, this arrogant statement did not outrage me at all.
We kissed some more.
Finally I said, “We have to get back to the house, Raoul. Nicky will be looking for me.”
With great reluctance he let me go.
“All right.”
We began to walk slowly toward his phaeton.
“What will we do with Nicky?” I asked. “He cannot live here at Devane by himself, Raoul.”
“Of course he can’t. He will live with us at Savile until he comes of age. I shall appoint a steward to look after Devane, and we shall come on periodic visits to make certain that all is well here and that the people in the village know who Nicky is.” He lifted me into the phaeton and I could feel the heat of his hands penetrate right through the fabric of my dress.
He got in next to me and said mildly, “I really feel that it is in Nicky’s best interest to go to school.”
I sighed. “I know, Raoul, but he doesn’t want to go.”
“We’ll give him time,” Raoul said. “We’ll have Ginny’s boys come to Savile for the holidays, and I have a feeling that a year from now, Nicky will have changed his mind and will want to go back to school with Charlie and Theo.”
I rather thought that Raoul was right.
I thought that it was going to be very comforting to have a man to advise me as Nicky grew up.
I thought that it would be wonderful to have a baby.
I thought that I had never been happier in my entire life.
I smiled up at him and I felt the radiance glowing in my face. “I love you so much,” I said.
“If you look at me like that, Gail, I cannot answer for the consequences,” came the stern reply. Then: “Do you think we have to wait four more weeks?”
“I don’t see why,” I replied, “as long as you are discreet.”
He grinned. “Discretion is my middle name, sweetheart,” he said. “Discretion is my middle name.”
For Aaron Priest, agent extraordinaire, with gratitude and appreciation.
Copyright © 1997 by Joan Wolf
Originally published by Warner [ISBN 0446604798]
Electronically published in 2012 by Belgrave House
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No portion of this book may be reprinted in whole or in part, by printing, faxing, E-mail, copying electronically or by any other means without permission of the publisher. For more information, contact Belgrave House, 190 Belgrave Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94117-4228
http://www.BelgraveHouse.com
Electronic sales: ebooks@belgravehouse.com
This is a work of fiction. All names in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to any person living or dead is coincidental.
Table of Contents
THE ARRANGEMENT
Joan Wolf
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
For Aaron Priest, agent extraordinaire, with gratitude and appreciation.