by Meara Platt
Lord, could she hide nothing of her feelings? She looked so downcast and disappointed at the notion he might marry for practical reasons. What concern was it of hers? “Sit down, Goose. I’ve made no decisions.”
He shot her a look that conveyed he certainly would not be confiding his decision in her. Perhaps he should not have been so irritated with her. But he did not want her believing love was the answer to his problems or hers. Certainly not hers. The Book of Love was giving her ideas, none of them good.
He slapped his hands on his thighs. “I’m starved. Is there any food left over? Or has Thad devoured it all?”
“There may be a few crumbs left,” Nathaniel chortled. “I’m sure we can find something in the kitchen for you.”
Rather than disturb his staff, Nathaniel motioned for Beast and Thad to follow him into the kitchen. “Cook will be angry, but there’s no point in summoning her when we can manage on our own.”
They excused themselves and left the women to their discussion. Matilda cast him a disapproving glower as he rose. He ignored her, for he was not going to sit there and spew his guts about love or marriage when he had no idea what he was going to do beyond filling his empty belly.
He felt Goose’s disappointed gaze on him as he strode out with his friends. He could have dealt with her anger, but that look of hurt on her face simply tore at his insides.
He shrugged off any concerns about her with a silent oath. He did not answer to Goose. He answered to no one other than the royal family, and grudgingly to them.
What did he owe the girl? In truth, he hardly knew her. That she held a soft spot in his heart signified nothing. She was young and defenseless and deserved better than to be under the thumb of an unfeeling guardian.
It was flattering to be considered as a prospect for high position in government. He wasn’t certain this was meant to be his path in life, but it certainly merited consideration. He knew he was a leader. He’d led men in battle, issuing orders and knowing they would promptly be obeyed, for their lives depended on their trusting him.
But Parliament was a very different field of battle, each man thinking of his own political needs, some of which would be opposite his. Soldiers were a band of brothers, as Shakespeare had so aptly and eloquently written in his play. However, those in politics were little more than warring factions out for their own cutthroat interests.
Another consideration was the sort of woman who would make a good wife for a prominent political figure. He would require someone cunning who understood the true nature of men and the lengths to which a man would go in order to have his way. A good political wife would use her feminine wiles to exert pressure on important family connections and anyone else needed to achieve her husband’s desired ends.
A good political wife would be ruthless when necessary.
Goose was the opposite of ruthless. She and her romantic notions of love and honor, of sacrifice and compassion, would be a liability to him.
He silently chided himself.
Why was he thinking of her?
Especially now that she’d irked him with her talk of love. He wanted to shake the girl and warn her of the perils of trusting in that dangerous feeling. Giving your heart to someone and having it stomped on because they did not return your affection was not a pleasant experience. He certainly did not want Goose to go through that heartbreak.
Not his Goose.
While he, Thad, and Nathaniel tore into the leftover mutton, he resolved to take the girl under his supervision and teach her some caution. For someone who’d experienced neglect and no love since the death of her parents, she was incredibly naive. Impossibly hopeful. He did not want her getting into trouble because she was too willing to open her heart.
“Beast, have you heard a word I’ve said?” Nathaniel asked, passing him another slice of mutton since he’d devoured the first serving in two bites.
He set down his knife and fork. “What? No. Did you say something?”
His friend sighed. “Since you dismissed the Austrian princess as a candidate for wife, I merely asked if there was anyone else you might consider?”
Beast shook his head. “I haven’t given it a thought. I’ve been home less than a week. Why is everyone pushing me to marry?”
Thad raised his hands in mock surrender. “Not me. I haven’t said a word. Och, I think ye ought to enjoy yourself now that you’re home. The lassies can wait until next Season. We all need to have a little fun before we settle down.”
Nathaniel frowned. “But the opportunity to be backed as prime minister may never present itself again. Will you simply pass it up?”
“No, but neither will I be rushed into a decision. That’s why I’m glad to be here and not caught up in the London whirl. I need time to think.”
Nathaniel shook his head and groaned lightly. “Oh, I doubt the girls will allow you time for that. While you were away, they were busily questioning us about your past loves and whether you had ever proposed to a woman.”
Beast arched an eyebrow in surprise. “Why would they ask that of you?”
Thad grabbed another slice of mutton and shrugged. “I’m sure it has to do with that book they’ve been carrying around all day. They’re up to something and it involves you.”
Beast drank down the last of his ale. “What did you tell them?”
“Everything but the truth.” Thad laughed. “We made up tales about the women you’ve loved.”
“More than one?” Beast groaned. “But I’ve never been in love. Closest I’ve ever gotten was Millicent Westwood, and that was a boyhood infatuation I grew out of within two weeks of meeting her.”
“We know that,” Nathaniel said, “but the girls don’t. My sister thinks she was your first love and that you proposed to her. So Thad embellished a bit. A lot, actually.” He shook his head and grinned. “When Poppy started asking me the same questions, I told her about the second girl you loved, a tall, large-breasted brunette with emerald-green eyes. Your third love was a tall blonde with big breasts, by the way.”
Beast set down his knife and fork and pushed his plate away. “No wonder they believe that’s all we have on the brain. What else did you tell them?”
Thad winced. “We may have mentioned you enjoy the scent of gardenias.”
“Bollocks, I detest that odor. Makes my eyes water. Makes me sneeze.” Beast groaned again. “What did you tell them that for? I’ll kick your arses to the meadow and back if they come downstairs tomorrow doused in that perfume.”
Thad and Nathaniel burst out laughing.
“Och, Beast. It’s harmless enough, and where are they going to find that scent, anyway? They’d have to go to London, to one of those fancy lady shops. Dinna concern yerself about that. They’ll be headed up to Loopy’s room by now to plot their next strategy. That’s what you ought to be worrying about.”
He shook his head and sighed.
If Goose walked down to the breakfast table tomorrow morning with her chest stuffed with cotton to enhance the size of her breasts and reeking of gardenias, he was going to shred that book to pieces.
Chapter Seven
“Beast can’t abide gardenias,” Olivia said, settling on Penelope’s bed and furrowing her brow as her frustration mounted. She and her friends had come upstairs shortly after the men had excused themselves to raid the kitchen. “Don’t you remember our last summer here before the three of them went off to war?”
“Vividly.” Penelope shook her head. “But I don’t recall any gardenia incident.”
“Perhaps it happened before your family arrived.” Olivia pursed her lips in thought. “Do you recall my parents had hosted an afternoon tea at Gosling Hall? Or that Lady Plimpton was wearing gardenia-scented perfume? She’d doused herself with it. As she approached Beast, his eyes began to water and he coughed. Then he sneezed. And he wouldn’t stop sneezing. He had to run out of our salon and stand outside on our terrace taking in great gulps of air.”
Poppy settled beside her,
tucking her bare feet under herself and smoothing out her nightrail. They’d all taken a moment to change out of their gowns and into their bedclothes before meeting back in Penelope’s bedchamber. “Oh, dear. Obviously, Nathaniel and Thad have lied to us. The information they gave us is useless. I hope Matilda’s information is more reliable. What did she tell you, Olivia?”
“Not much, unfortunately. She claims Beast has never been in love.”
“Never?” Poppy sighed. “Then how are we to know what sort of woman tempts him?”
Olivia opened The Book of Love and began to idly scan through it. “Perhaps it doesn’t matter. The point of this book is any female with an understanding of the male mind and its obsession with procreation can make the male of her choice fall in love with her.”
Poppy stared at the book a moment before returning her gaze to Olivia. “But we don’t understand the workings of Beast’s mind. Wasn’t that the point of questioning his friends and family?”
“Yes, but we know his friends, despite being well into their twenties and expected to behave like responsible adults, have the maturity and wit of ten-year-old boys.”
Poppy arched an eyebrow. “And?”
“Can Beast be any different? They are his best friends, after all.” Olivia snapped the book shut. “We are going to treat them like the nitwit boys they are.”
“How?”
“It is obvious they are still thinking with their low functioning brains, so that is what we must continue to target.”
Poppy nodded. “So, we must aim low.”
“And not move on to assaulting their five senses yet?” Penelope pursed her lips. “Too bad. My brother hates liver. I would have had Cook serve him a plate of raw, bloody liver for breakfast tomorrow morning. We could have planned something for Thad, too. However, Thad will be more difficult. The dolt will eat anything that doesn’t eat him first. As for scents, he’s a Highlander and probably sleeps with his sheep. His nose must be made of cast iron.”
Poppy sighed. “Why are you always so mean to Thad? He detests jellied eels, Olivia. We all know that.”
“Perfect.” Penelope smiled. “I hope the Sherbourne kitchen is well stocked because that’s what will be staring back at him on his breakfast plate.”
“Those tricks will never do,” Olivia said. “No liver. No eels. And no wet, stinky sheep. Beast cannot associate me with foul scents or unpleasant foods. I must arouse his sense receptacles in a good way. We go back to step one and appeal to his lowest and most primal brain function.”
Poppy sighed. “Are we going to talk about our bosoms again?”
“It’s the only thing they think about,” Penelope muttered. “What choice do we have?”
“As we know from reading the book, men look at a woman’s body when their brains are in that mindless state of finding the perfect vessel into which to spill their seed. Thad and Nathaniel’s comments about large-breasted women only confirms this book accurately depicts the one constant on a male’s brain.”
Poppy leaned closer. “And?”
“Beast is going to get an eyeful of my breasts.”
Penelope and Poppy hopped off the bed. “What? You’re going to show him…”
“No! Of course not. I would never be so obvious as to bare myself! All I am saying is we’ve obviously jumped prematurely into the next phase and must retrench. I assure you, he is going to walk out of that breakfast room aching for a look at my endowments.”
“How are you going to manage that?” Penelope’s eyes were wide in curiosity.
“With a little jostling and jiggling.”
“I haven’t a clue what you mean by that,” Poppy said, “but I’m in. What can I do to help?”
“Count me in, too. My brother and Thad need to be brought to their knees. How dare they lie to us!”
Poppy pursed her lips. “But aren’t we being deceitful with them, too?”
“Of course. What has that to do with anything?” No one ever looked finer when indignant than Penelope, and she did not disappoint. She tossed back her long, dark braid and her eyes were magnificently blazing. “My brother and his loutish Scottish friend are about to be roasted. The battle is on. Beast is going to fall madly in love with Olivia. All of her. Not just her jiggled and jostled breasts.”
*
Beast’s two friends were already downstairs and lingering over their cups of coffee when Beast strode into the dining room the following morning. It was early, barely after sunrise, and they were all going for a ride. Since no butler or footmen were around to serve them, and the silver urn stood on the buffet along with the usual eggs, kippers, and assortment of jellied meats, he grabbed his cup and poured himself some coffee before sinking into a chair across the table from them.
“Why are you both looking so morose? Thad, what’s wrong with you? You’ve hardly touched your food.”
“Och, I’m wondering if we weren’t too hard on the lassies yesterday. After all, Goose needs to find someone to love in order to get herself out of her guardian’s house before the end of the Season. Perhaps we ought to have helped her instead of lying through our teeth.”
“We weren’t subtle about it,” Nathaniel said, staring down at his untouched plate. “I’m sure she caught on to our teasing. What do you think she’ll do?”
Thad shrugged. “Goose is a sweet girl. She isn’t who I’m worried about. It’s Loopy who will swoop down on us like the Angel of Vengeance. Your sister can be scary at times, Nathaniel.”
Beast laughed, but his battle instincts were on alert. He knew it was ridiculous to fear what Goose might do. As Thad said, she was sweet and innocent. But lately, his thoughts about her had been neither sweet nor innocent.
She was doing something to him. Rousing his lust and his protective instincts. He wasn’t used to responding this way toward anyone. He’d felt lustful urges before. He’d felt protective toward those he loved before. Never had he felt both urges at the same time.
Never.
And it worried him.
He glanced at Nathaniel and then at Thad. Both men looked disgruntled. Thad muttered an oath in Gaelic as he set down his almost empty cup. “We have to help Goose.”
“I agree,” Nathaniel said.
Beast frowned. “What we have to do is get that book out of their sticky, little hands.” As he pushed back his chair and was about to rise, the girls walked in. “Bollocks,” he muttered as he and his friends rose to politely assist them into their seats.
Penelope and Poppy looked quite fetching in their day gowns. Goose looked… his heart slammed into his chest. “What in blazes?”
“Good morning, Your Grace,” she said and gracefully glided into the chair beside his as though nothing was amiss.
He tried to respond with an equally casual ‘good morning’, but his jaw seemed to be locked in the open position and he could not move his mouth to shut it. She’d stuffed something into her bosom, a subtle enhancement that might have gone unnoticed to the casual eye. But he was too familiar with the shape of her body to be fooled. She’d done something to enlarge her heavenly endowments, for they were bigger and uplifted, and… he was making an ass out of himself by staring at her chest.
Thad and Nathaniel began to laugh hysterically. “Goose, watch where you point those things! You might poke out Beast’s one good eye.”
Perhaps not so subtle if his friends had noticed, too.
He curled his hands into fists, not liking that both of them were leering at the girl. This was Goose. His Goose. It mattered not that she was purposely provoking their responses. “You’ve had your jest at our expense. Now go upstairs and change out of that… whatever you stuffed yourself with before Lavinia and Matilda come downstairs.”
Lord, he did not want to be explaining this to either of those dowagers.
Goose cast him a dimpled smile that he found quite irritating. “What are you talking about? This is all me. Perhaps with a little bit of a lift here and a boost there. But that’s all.”
He swallowed hard, his traitorous mind and body recalling the softness of her. “Goose, I get it. I know what Thad and Nathaniel told you when you questioned them. And now you’re getting back at them.”
Her eyes rounded in innocence and she still wore that annoying smile. “Oh, no, Beast. I don’t care about them. It’s you I’m purposely manipulating.”
“Me?” It took him a moment to get over his initial surprise, for his brain was working very slowly just now. He managed to shake his head and laugh. “Why? And why warn me of your intentions if that is your plan?”
“Because I won’t ever lie to you again. I did the one time in your carriage a few days ago and it tore me apart. I hope you know that.”
He should not have found her admission endearing. Had she been in his class on ancient Roman military battles, he would have flunked her. What fool would ever signal his tactics to the enemy?
But he liked she would always be honest with him.
Damn it.
He was the fool. She was openly declaring her intention to best him. In effect, showing absolutely no respect for his battle prowess and already treating him like a vanquished foe. Was she that confident?
“Oh, and I ordered something special for you for breakfast.” She reached for the bell and summoned a footman who must have been waiting just outside the door, for the man walked in carrying a silver tray. Its contents were hidden under a gleaming silver lid.
Beast eyed her warily. “What is it?”
Her smile was once again dimpled and syrupy sweet. “Lift the lid and see for yourself.”
“Och, Beast. Dinna do it. The thing might blow up in your face.” But Thad was grinning inanely and so was Nathaniel, each casting him a look that confirmed his Goose was winning this round.
Goose touched her hand lightly to his as though consoling him. “Don’t listen to them. You know I’d never do anything to hurt you.”
Of course he knew it. She was the little girl who’d neatly folded his clothes instead of running away with them. She was the dewy-eyed young woman who believed love could be found in a book.