Say You Love Me

by Angel

  Percy started chuckling at that. Derek wasn’t a bit amused, was actually frowning. And his “No” was said in a tone that shouldn’t have been brooked. But Jeremy, that scamp, wasn’t easily daunted. “Come on, Derek,” he cajoled. “You can cover a loan that big easily. I’ve heard about the large settlement Uncle Jason gave You when you finished your schooling. It included several income-producing estates. And what with Uncle Edward

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  investing the bulk of it for you, hell’s bells, it’s likely three times as much by now-” “More like six times as much, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to throw it away on lustful impulses, particularly when they aren’t even my lustful impulses. I’m not about to lend you that much blunt. Besides, a woman like that, lovely as

  she is, would have to be kept in high style. You, cousin, can’t afford that either.”

  Jeremy grinned, unabashed. “Ah, but I’d keep her happy.” “A mistress cares more about what’s in your pockets than what’s between them,” Percy put in helpfully, then immediately blushed again for having said it. “They ain’t that mercenary,” Jeremy protested. “Beg to differ-” “How would you know? You’ve never had one.”

  Derek rolled his eyes, cutting in, “There’s no need to argue here. The answer is and is going to remain no, so give over, Jeremy. Your father would have my head if I put you that deep in debt.” “My father, better than yours, would understand.”

  Jeremy had a point there. To hear the stories, James Malory had done things just as outlandish in his youth, whereas Derek’s father, being the Marquis of Haverston and the oldest of the four Malory brothers, had had to assume a responsible role at an early age. But that didn’t mean the roof wouldn’t still fall on their collective heads if Derek gave in to his cousin’s request.

  So he said, “Perhaps he’d understand, though you’ll have to admit, Uncle James is much more conservative now that he’s married. And besides, it’s my father I’d be answering to. Furthermore, where the deuce would you keep a mistress, when you’re still in school and still living with your father when you’re home?”

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  Jeremy finally gave a look of disgust, self-directed. “Damn rne, didn’t think of that.” demanding as “Besides, a mistress can bloody well be as

  a wife,” Derek pointed out. “Tried one myself once, and didn’t care for the arrangement a’tall. You want to be tied down like that at your age?”

  Jeremy now looked appalled. “Hell no!” “Then be glad I’m not going to let you waste my money on a silly whim.” “Oh, I am, indeed. Can’t thank you enough, cousin. Can’t

  imagine what I was thinking.” “Twenty-three thousand” was called out, drawing their attention back to the gaming hall. “Now there’s another reason to be glad you came to your senses, Jeremy,” Percy said with a chuckle. “Sounds like the bidding ain’t going to end.”

  Derek wasn’t amused, had, in fact, stiffened upon hearing that bid, and not because the ridiculous price was still escalating. Bloody hell, he really wished he hadn’t recognized the voice behind that last bid.

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  NTY-THREE THOUSAND.” Never would Kelsey have believed the bid could have gone that high. But knowing she could fetch such a price did nothing for her vanity. In fact, she couldn’t even be pleased that it would solve her aunt’s and uncle’s problems for a very long time. No, she was too horrified to be pleased.

  He looked … cruel. That was the single word that kept coming to mind. She wasn’t sure why. The slant of his thin lips perhaps? The narrowed, cold gleam in his light blue eyes as he watched her squirm beneath his gaze? The chill that had run down her spine when she first caught his eyes on her?

  He was in his early thirties, she would guess, with coalblack hair and the patrician features common to many lords. He wasn’t ugly. Far from it. But the cruelty in his looks detracted from the handsomeness that might have been found there. And Kelsey was hoping that the old man who had started the bidding, even with his disgusting leers, would continue to outbid that one.

  And Heaven help her, it had come down to just the two

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  of them. The few others who had offered a bid or two at the beginning had dropped out when they’d noticed the frigid looks coming their way from that other lord, looks ominous enough to chill the most hardy soul. The old man was still bidding because he simply hadn’t noticed, possibly due to poor eyesight or because he was barely cognizant; he appeared foxed.

  And then she heard a new voice upping the bid to twentyfive thousand, followed by a yelled-out question from another man nearby, “What do you need with a mistress, Malory? I hear you’ve got the ladies standing in a line waiting to get into your bed.”

  That remark produced a lot of laughter, and even more when the new bidder replied, “Ah, but those are ladies, rn’lord. Perhaps I’m in the mood for something-different.”

  Which was an insult to Kelsey, but perhaps wasn’t meant to be. He didn’t know, after all, that she’d been every bit the lady until she walked into this house. In fact, there was nothing about her at the moment to indicate that she was other than what they all thought her to be, which was no lady at all.

  She had been unable to see who the new bid had come from. The voice had sounded from the general direction of the doorway, but the exact position of the speaker was hard to distinguish with so much noise going on in the room. And there were more than a dozen men in that area, sitting as well as standing. It was impossible to tell. Yet the man she didn’t want to buy her apparently knew who the new offer had come from, because he was now glaring in that general direction. But again, Kelsey couldn’t tell exactly who had drawn his murderous look.

  She held her breath, waiting to see what he would do. A glance at the old man showed that he likely wouldn’t be bidding anymore. He’d actually nodded off, and no one

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  seemed inclined to wake him. Well, he’d sounded pretty foxed when he had been bidding. Apparently the drink had done him in. But her savior, whoever he was, would he continue to bid against that other lord? Or would he be intimidated like those others? “Do I hear twentyfive five?” Lonny called out.

  Silence. And Kelsey suddenly realized that all of the other bids had jumped by five-hundred-pound increments-except the last one. The man called Malory was the first to raise the amount by two thousand. An indication that he was very serious? Or too rich to care? Or perhaps he was too deep in his cups to have been paying much attention. “Do I hear twentyfive five?” Lonny repeated, a bit louder so as to reach the back of the room.

  She kept her gaze on that blue-eyed lord, waiting, praying he’d sit down and bid no more. Veins were standing out on his neck, he was so furious. And then, amazingly, he stalked out of the room, knocking one empty chair over in the process, shoving men aside if they didn’t step out of his way in time.

  Kelsey looked to the owner of the house, to see his reaction, and Lonny’s disappointment confirmed it. The departed lord was bidding no more.

  “Twentyfive thousand then, going once…” There was only a brief pause before Lonny added, “Going twice…” Another pause, just a tad longer. “Very well, sold to Lord Malory. And if you will step into my office just down the hall, m’lord, we can conclude this business.”

  Again, Kelsey tried to see who Lonny was talking to. But he was lifting her down from the table, and short as she was at only five feet, three inches, she couldn’t see beyond the men just in front of her.

  She was thankful that the ordeal was finally over. But the relief she ought to be feeling wouldn’t come, because she still

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  didn’t know who had bought her. And keeping her trepidation high was the thought that, good God, he could be ju
st as ghastly as those other two. After all, the remark made to him, insinuating that women desired his company because they were lined up to get into his bed, could have been said in sarcasm, meaning just the opposite. Sarcasm of that sort would have drawn just as much laughter from this crowd. “You did good, dearie,” Lonny whispered to her as he escorted her out into the foyer. “Surprised me, it did, the price going that high.” He chuckled then, more to himself. “But these nabobs, they can afford it. Now, run along and fetch your things, and don’t dally. Come to my office, just over there”-he nodded to an open door at the end of the hall-“when you’re ready.” And he patted her backside to push her toward the stairs.

  Dally? When her paramount concern was finding out who had bought her? She practically flew up the stairs. And she had nothing really to gather, not having unpacked much from her small valise the day before. So she was back downstairs in less than ten minutes, closer to five.

  But one step from that open doorway she stopped short. Her desire to see who had paid such an exorbitant sum for her was abruptly superceded by her fear. It was a done deal. She had to honor it or deal with Lonny’s subtle threat, which she didn’t doubt for a minute had been life-threatening. But the unknown was paralyzing her. What if this man who had bought her wasn’t even fit to be called decent but was a cruel, vicious man just like that other lord had seemed to be? Or what if he was a grotesquely ugly man who couldn’t get women any other way than to purchase them like this?

  What would she do? Horribly, there was nothing she could do. She’d either hate him or like him-or feel nothing at all. Actually, she hoped to feel nothing. She certainly didn’t want to become attached to a man she could never marry, even if

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  she was going to have to be intimate with him. “I’m sure you will find you’ve made an excellent purchase, m’lord,” Lonny was saying as he backed out the door of his office, then noticing Kelsey there, he pulled her into the room, adding, “Ah, and here she is now, so I’ll bid you a

  good evening.”

  Kelsey almost closed her eyes, still not ready to face her future. But the contrary, brave side of her, small portion that it was, refused to put it off another second. She looked at the people in the room. And because of that, she got to experience her relief immediately. Immense relief. She still didn’t know who had bought her, because there was not one man

  waiting in Lonny’s office, but three. Yet of those three, one was handsome, one was very handsome, and one was incredibly handsome.

  How could she have gotten this lucky? She couldn’t credit it. Something must be wrong. Yet for the life of her, she couldn’t tell what that might be. Even the least handsome of the three, who seemed to be the oldest, she felt she could deal well with. He was tall and lanky, with gentle brown eyes and an admiring smile. The word harmless came to mind when she gazed at him.

  The tallest of the three also appeared to be the youngest, no more than Kelsey’s age, though he had such broad shoulders and an expression that was clearly on the mature side, that he seemed much older. He was also too handsome by half, with raven-black hair and eyes the most beautiful shade of cobalt blue, just slightly tilted for an exotic slant. She had a feeling she could deal exceptionally well with him, and she was hoping, praying, that he was the one who’d bought her. Heavens, she could hardly take her eyes off him, he was so

  appealing to every one of her senses.

  But she did force herself to look away to examine the third man standing in front of her. If she hadn’t glanced at that

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  L,Iue-eyed young man first, she could have honestly said she’d never seen a man as handsome as this one. He had thick blond hair in an unruly, flyaway style. His eyes were

  hazel-no, green, definitely green-and the look in them was a bit disturbing, though she couldn’t say why exactly. He

  was shorter than the other two, though not by much, and certainly still taller than her by half a foot or more.

  And then he smiled, and Kelsey’s stomach fluttered-for the first time in her life. What a strange feeling. And the room

  had suddenly become too warm. She wished she had a fan, but she hadn’t thought to pack one, hadn’t thought to need one in the heart of winter. “Might as well set that down … T’ he said to her, glancing at her valise. “And do hurry up, Jeremy, and do whatever fetching you intend to do.” “Gad, forgot all about the chit he came here for,” the older of the three said. “Yes, do hurry it up, Malory. Interesting as

  this evening has been thus far, it still ain’t over.” “Damn me, forgot about Flo m’self,” Jeremy admitted with a sheepish grin. “Won’t take me long to fetch her, thoughif I can find her.”

  Kelsey watched the youngest of the threesome saunter out of the room. So she’d got her wish after all. He’d just been called Malory, and the man who’d paid such an exorbitant price for the privilege of having her for his mistress had been a Lord Malory. So where was the relief she’d been positive she would feel? “Kelsey Langton,” she said, having finally realized, long after the fact, that the blond man had been asking her name when he’d suggested she set her valise down.

  Now she blushed, however, to have blurted it out like that. And she still hadn’t set down the valise, hadn’t even realized she was still holding it, until that same blond man stepped forward and took it out of her hand.

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  “My name’s Derek, and the pleasure is mine, Kelsey, you may be sure,” he said to her. “But we’ll have a bit of a wait while the youngun attends to the business that brought us here. So perhaps you’d like to sit down?” And he indicated one of the chairs next to Lonny’s desk.

  Not only handsome but kind. Imagine that. Yet still disturbing in some way. Her heart had fair tripped over when he’d come so close and his fingers had touched hers as he took the valise from her to set it aside. She had no idea what it was about him that was causing these strange reactions in her, but she was suddenly very glad he wasn’t the one she’d be going home with.

  She’d have enough to deal with just in becoming a mistress at the end of the day, the thought of which she had put in the far back of her mind or she never would have survived up to now. She didn’t need any extra worries. And at least with young Jeremy, she imagined the worst problem she’d have would be to keep from staring at him like a ninny. But that, undoubtedly, was something that particular young man with his mesmerizing looks was very used to. “Knew an earl over Kettering way by the name of Langton,” the other man said suddenly. “Nice enough chap, though ended bad, I hear. ‘Course, you wouldn’t be any relation.”

  Thankfully, he hadn’t put it as a question, had stated his own opinion, so she didn’t have to lie. But that had been a horrible moment, when he’d mentioned her father. What could she have been thinking, to give her real name? Obviously, she hadn’t been thinking, and it was too late now.

  De “Since she isn’t any relation Percy, why mention it?” Derek said a bit dryly.

  Percy shrugged. “Was an interesting tale, is all, and her name reminded me of it. By the by, did you see the look on Ashford’s face when he passed us?”

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  -could hardly miss it, old boy.” -You don’t think there’ll be trouble from that quarter, d /your “The man’s a rotter and a coward. I wish he’d cause trouble, damn me if I don’t. Give me a reason to wipe the floor with him again. But chaps like him only bedevil those who can’t fight back.”

  Kelsey shivered at the anger she felt from the one called Derek. She wasn’t sure, but she had a feeling they were speaking about the blue-eyed lord who had been bidding on

  her but had left in such a fury. And if that was so, then apparently these gentlemen had crossed paths with him before.

  She wasn’t going to a
sk, however. In fact, she moved over by the desk to sit down in the chair that had been offered, hoping to stay out of their notice. But that was a mistake, drawing both of their eyes back to her. She started to squirm, but was really sick and tired of the nervous, fearful state she’d been in all day.

  A spark of anger formed, countering it, allowing her to say, “Don’t mind me, gentlemen. Do go on with your conversation as it pleases you.”

  Percy blinked at her. Derek’s eyes narrowed. And she realized immediately what she’d done wrong-again. She might not look like a lady in the garish red gown she was wearing, but she’d certainly just sounded like one. Yet this was something she couldn’t help. Pretension was not her forte. Even if she’d tried to sound less cultured, and managed it for a time, she would have slipped at some point and then had even more explaining to do.

  So she decided to brave through and lie. The truth, of course, was out of the question.

  With an innocent look that she bestowed on both of them, she asked, “Did I say something untoward?,”

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  “It’s not what you said, m’dear, but how you said it,” Derek replied. “How I said it? Oh, you refer to my speech? Yes, it does surprise people occasionally. But you see, my mother was a

  governess, and I was able to benefit from the same tutor assigned to her charges. A very uplifting experience, if I do say so myself.”

  She had to smile at the pun, whether they caught it or not. Percy relaxed, taking her word for it. Derek was still frowning, however.

  And he didn’t take long to say why. “I find it hard to imagine that being allowed, when most lords are from the old school and believe the lower classes should be kept the lower classes, as to say, ignorant of higher learning.” “Ah, but there was no lord to say yea or nay, just a lord’s widow my mum worked for who really couldn’t have cared less what the children of her live-in servants were up to. She did, in fact, give her permission. My mum wasn’t one to take such liberties on her own, after all. And I will be forever grateful to the lady-for not caring one way or another.”