Seducing The Perfectly Enchanting Marquess (Steamy Historical Regency Romance)

by Scarlett Osborne

  Perhaps it isn’t needed. I could be happy with Kelly. Perhaps never perfectly satisfied with him, but then, who in life can expect perfect satisfaction?

  If she married Kelly, she would become the Dowager Marchioness’ daughter-in-law. She would be welcomed into a vibrant family. He would take her on adventures, and their children would grow up wanting for nothing.

  It is a good match, and one I know I should be grateful for.

  When he smiled at her, Amanda wondered if he was thinking the same thing. There was none of the illicit heat in his gaze that had so thrilled her with Joseph. She knew instinctively that she did not stir his blood the way she had Joseph’s. Could a marriage founded on chaste friendship truly be happy?

  On the night of the ball, she sat alone in her room and stared out the window through a crack in the curtains. Her bedroom window overlooked the street, and she watched people pass by. Soon the house would be full of strangers and people she had met once for a moment and would be expected to remember. The dress she wore was uncomfortable in the shoulders, even though the gathering was somewhat less formal than a typical ball. She wished she didn’t have to go down.

  The last time she had been reluctant to attend a ball, Joseph had been with her, sharing her discomfort. His camaraderie had been just what she had needed to face all those people. Knowing that she could find his face in the crowd and his expression would soften into that almost-smile of understanding.

  She wasn’t even sure that he would come out of his room for the party. Of course, he would have to, to keep an eye on Lady Heather, who was beside herself with excitement. The child had none of her father’s shyness, and she was full of eagerness to meet other children.

  Amanda assumed that she would end up dancing with Kelly. His amiable nature would comfort her awkwardness, as long as he didn’t try to kiss her.

  With a deep sigh, she let the curtain fall down and soon she was coming into the dining room, which had been emptied of furniture and re-purposed into a ballroom. Just as she entered, Lady Heather scampered past with another child who looked slightly older than her. They were acting as though they’d been friends for years.

  “I remember being a kid at my mom’s parties,” a male voice said behind her. She whirled around and smiled to see Kelly, standing with his hands behind his back and smiling at the kids as they weaved through the small crowd of adults. “It’s kind of funny, isn’t it? How, when you’re a kid, you can’t wait to grow up, but once you do, you wish you could be a kid again.”

  Amanda nodded her agreement. Things would be simpler if she were a child again.

  “You look nervous,” Kelly continued.

  Amanda scrunched her nose slightly. “I’m not very good at these sorts of events. Your mother has trained me, but it takes all my effort to be charming.”

  Kelly laughed. “I doubt that. At any rate, I take it that your being in a fight with your friend doesn’t help.”

  She followed his gaze and saw that he was looking across the room at Joseph, who was standing alone and keeping his eyes studiously on his daughter.

  “What happened?” Kelly asked.

  “It’s silly,” she answered.

  “Well, you should make up then. I liked it better when you were happy.”

  Amanda looked up into Kelly’s eyes, trying to make out his meaning. Was he simply trying to mend a friendship between herself and Joseph, or was he trying to say that he didn’t want to marry her, and she should focus her efforts elsewhere?

  She sighed again, setting her jaw. She was finished with trying to understand people who wouldn’t just come out and say what they meant.

  “Edan! Are you going to stand there gossiping all night or are you going to ask Miss O’Neil to dance?” the Dowager Marchioness asked, suddenly appearing behind them.

  Kelly grinned at Amanda in a way that was almost apologetic, offering his arm. She tried with all her might not to think about Joseph as she danced with Kelly, but it was impossible. She feared that she would offend Kelly with her distractedness, but he didn’t seem to mind even when she stepped on his toes. By the end of the song, he was laughing gently. Touching his hand to the small of her back, he leaned into her ear. This gentle touch and the heat of his breath on her ear would have driven her mad had it been Joseph, but with Kelly, she felt nothing.

  “Go talk to him.”

  She shook her head. “He hates me.”

  He laughed. Amanda wondered if he ever inadvertently offended people with how often he laughed at them. It was only his apparent blindness to the idea that his mirth might be seen as rude which spared him.

  “He most certainly does not. I would bet my last shilling that what he feels for you is about as far from hatred as possible. As a man myself, allow me to impress you with my expertise. Go talk to him and you will see that I’m right.”

  “If he doesn’t hate me, he should talk to me first.”

  Kelly shrugged. “Maybe. But he won’t. It’s up to you. Go on. At least just to ruffle Mother’s feathers.”

  He winked at her, and even in her agitated state, Amanda couldn’t help but chuckle along with him. It seemed that he was as aware as she was of the Dowager Marchioness’s plans for the two of them. It came as a relief that he seemed as eager to thwart those plans as she was. With a last word of encouragement, Kelly put his hand on her shoulder and slipped away.

  Still, she couldn’t bring herself to approach Joseph. Not after the way he had humiliated her. What would she say?

  As she wondered this, he glanced up at her. Their eyes locked from across the room. She frowned. He looked away for a moment, but only for a moment, and when he looked at her again, she looked at the double doors that led to the garden and started walking toward them.

  If he followed her, she would talk to him. If he didn’t, she wouldn’t. It was as simple as that.

  Chapter 26

  The night was mild with air that was slightly cool, but with a breeze that seemed to gently lift the leaves of the foliage in the garden without seeming to make any noise at all. Amanda breathed deeply, trying to let go of the hope that he would follow her. Even if she stood out here alone until the end of the party, that would be all right. The garden made up for its small size in lushness, and as she walked down the pathway, she delicately brushed against soft flowering hedges.

  The sky above was clear, and the stars twinkled beautifully. She tilted her head back and looked for constellations. She didn’t know many of them, but those she did recognize greeted her like old friends.

  “Amanda.”

  She hadn’t heard him approach. Though her heart skipped a beat at his voice, she did not turn to look at him. She lowered her chin from her stargazing.

  A moment passed. The musicians inside began to play the next song, the jaunty melody seeping through the windowpanes and getting slightly distorted on the breeze.

  “I’ve hurt you. I didn’t mean to,” he continued. She heard his footsteps on the paving stone behind her as he moved closer.

  “How could it be an accident?” she asked. Her voice was, thankfully, firm. She tried to grasp at the peacefulness that had surrounded her just moments before, but the stars seemed so much farther away now, and she felt as though, with Joseph so near to her again, she was trapped in a whirlpool. Her emotions raged inside of her.

  “It was you who…I was only responding. If you hadn’t…I wouldn’t have. You have no right to be angry. It’s me who should be angry,” she sucked in a breath, growing frustrated at her lack of eloquence. So many thoughts were swirling in her head that they all got jumbled up on the way to her lips.

  “Angry? I’m not angry. I thought it for the best to give you space. I thought some distance might make things easier for you. Will you look at me, please?”

  His hands came to her arms and he twisted her around to face him. But then he let go as quickly as he had reached for her. Amanda cringed. He couldn’t even stand to touch her, now. She kept her eyes lowered, staring bi
tterly at his shoes.

  “Make things easier? You’re not being fair,” she said. She knew she sounded like a child, and she hated it. “You think that because I was engaged before, that I knew what I was doing. But I didn’t. I was counting on you to lead me. I didn’t know that I was supposed to act differently and now you’re disgusted by me, but it was you who started it.”

  The door to the house opened as someone stepped out. The sound of voices spilled into the garden for a moment but then were shushed again as the door closed once more. Joseph looked over his shoulder, then took Amanda’s hand and pulled her deeper into the garden to a hidden corner.

  “What do you mean? Disgusted?” he asked once he seemed certain that they would not be overheard.

  Amanda nodded, still looking at the ground. “Don’t deny it. Ever since that night, you will hardly look at me. I know that a lady is supposed to be coy, but with you, I thought it would be all right. I thought you wanted—” her voice died away as shame overtook her. “It’s not right that a man may act on a whim and suffer no consequences, but for a woman to let her guard down for even one moment, even with someone she trusts, it’s a capital offense.”

  “Oh, Amanda—” he whispered, so quietly it was as if he were speaking to himself.

  She dashed at hot tears on her cheeks with the backs of her hands. “Don’t patronize me, My Lord. I’m not crying because I’m weak. I’m angry. Yes, I’m furious. But that’s just yet another emotion that women are not given any proper means to express.”

  “You’ve misunderstood completely,” he said.

  Fury rose up in her chest, and finally, she looked up at him, her eyes flashing. “I’m not an idiot.”

  The beauty of his face in the moonlight struck her like a physical blow. She exhaled, her chest heaving. Every fiber of her being wanted to flee from this moment.

  “You’re not an idiot,” he agreed, with infuriating gentleness. “I should have made myself clear. I assumed it would be obvious. I never—Amanda,” he reached up as she was lowering her gaze again, his fingers coming under her chin to raise her eyes back up to his. “I never thought for a moment that you would believe that I didn’t want you. That I don’t still want you. You could never disgust anyone, least of all me.”

  “I feel now the same way I have felt all along. Since the day we met. It pains me to think that these past two days you’ve been thinking that I have rejected you,” he continued.

  “But you have. You have.”

  He shook his head. “I just want you to be happy. Truly happy. Not locked away in a lonesome countryside estate, tasked with raising another woman’s child, trapped with a man who hasn’t half enough charm or wit to deserve you. You ought to trust the Dowager Marchioness. You ought to marry Lord Brubrun. Dear Kelly, remember?”

  Amanda gazed into his eyes, seeing the moon reflected in both of them. Her mind struggled to keep up with what he was explaining. Part of her couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

  “But I don’t want to marry Kelly,” she said simply.

  His lip quirked up in one corner. “That’s because you are a careful, modest woman. After all, you’ve only just met him. But it is obvious to absolutely everyone else that the two of you are made for each other. Think of the fun you will have together here in London, with the world at your fingertips. I can’t offer you what he can. That’s why I thought it best to step away. To make the right choice easier for you to make.”

  “And he doesn’t want to marry me either,” she answered almost as though she hadn’t been listening.

  “Nonsense. Only a fool wouldn’t want to marry you.”

  This gave Amanda pause. “He doesn’t. The whole time he danced with me he talked about you. About us. He worked hard to convince me to forgive you. Why would he do that if he wanted to marry me? Shouldn’t he have been spending that time wooing me? At any rate, I am not so innocent that I don’t know what a gentleman looks like when he wants a woman. He hasn’t once looked at me like that. Not the way you do. The way you are even now.”

  “He can give you everything, Amanda. Children of your own. Travel. Society. Culture. He’s young and vibrant. Unlike me, who has only the broken pieces of a life already lived to offer you. Stay here. Live, and forget me.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t want to stay here. Can’t you see that I want to go home?” She reached for him now, unable to stop herself from stepping into the warmth that radiated from his body. She placed her hands on his chest and gazed up at him. “I love Ethelred Manor. I love the lake and the woods. I love Heather. I love her dearly, Joseph. So dearly. I love it all. I love you.”

  She nuzzled her nose against his cravat. She had almost forgotten how wonderful he smelled. That clean, faintly spicy scent of his skin. “Please promise you won’t leave here without me.”

  She felt his arms come around her, wrapping around her shoulders. She felt him rest his cheek on top of her head as he held her close.

  “All right, Amanda. If that’s what you want.” There was a note of sadness in his voice.

  “Promise,” she insisted.

  “I won’t leave you. I promise.”

  When she tilted her head up to look at him, he gazed down at her with such tenderness that it made her heart ache. When he kissed her, it felt like the first time. He kissed her as though she were as delicate as glass, his lips hardly brushing against hers. She leaned against him, wanting to show him that she was sure, perfectly sure, of her choice.

  She could feel the love he had for her in his kiss, and the careful, warm way that he held her against his body. But still, she needed to hear him say it.

  “Do you love me, too?” she whispered.

  He raised one hand to lay it against her cheek. His thumb dragged softly across her bottom lip and a cloud seemed to go over his eyes. She knew that look now. That faraway expression he wore when he remembered his late wife.

  “I’m afraid,” he confessed quietly. “It hurt so much to lose her. I wouldn’t survive it again.”

  She took his hand from her face, clasping it in hers and bringing her lips to his fingers. “You must be brave now. For my sake, and for yours.” She kissed each knuckle in turn. “Go on,” she whispered.

  “Amanda. Will you marry me?”

  “Miss O’Neil, there you are.” The Dowager Marchioness’s voice rang out and Amanda’s heart stopped. She stepped away from Joseph, but it was too late, of course. The shrill tone in the Dowager Marchioness’s tone left no doubt that she had seen them locked in an embrace in that darkened corner of the garden.

  Amanda’s face flushed. Behind the Dowager Marchioness, Kelly appeared, looking slightly out of breath as if he had been running to catch up with his mother.

  “Mother, come back inside, she’d probably just—oh.” He stopped short when he saw her and Joseph. “Too slow.”

  “Come with me, Miss O’Neil,” the Dowager Marchioness ordered, her tone short. Amanda’s heart sank, and she followed the lady back inside.

  * * *

  Lord Brubrun hung behind as the Dowager Marchioness marched Amanda off like a naughty school girl. Joseph’s blood was pounding, the anticipation of what was about to happen still hanging around him even as the scene dissolved so abruptly.

  “I knew she was looking for Amanda and when I saw her head for the gardens I thought I could rush out here and head her off,” Lord Brubrun said, approaching Joseph airily. “Hope she didn’t catch you in too compromising of a condition.”

  “You know about me and Miss O’Neil?” Joseph asked.

  Lord Brubrun chuckled. “Of course. Anyone with eyes could see what was going on. What were you fighting about? The last couple of days have been—” he gave a low whistle, “tense.”

  The two gentlemen ambled slowly back toward the house. Joseph still felt as though he were catching his breath after having been holding it.

  “We weren’t fighting.”

  Lord Brubrun laughed again. “All right. If you say so. W
ere you not fighting about me, by chance?”

  Joseph was silent.

  “Ach. I feared that was the case. I did try my best not to seem too flirtatious with her. I hope you don’t harbor any hard feelings. My mother wants a lot of things, Lord Ethelred. But she doesn’t always have as much control as she thinks she has. I have no interest in Amanda beyond that of a friend.”

  “Forgive me for finding that hard to believe,” Joseph said.

  “She’s a charming woman, there’s no doubt about it. But try to put yourself in my place. Could you take a woman to bed after hearing your mother talk about her for years as if she were her daughter? It all feels rather concerningly incestuous now. If mother had begun this matchmaking endeavor two years ago,” he shrugged. “All I mean to say is, there’s nothing at all the matter with her. I can understand her attraction. But I just can’t see her like that.”