And he’d never, ever, desired a woman with the intensity that he wanted her.
After interminable days of waiting, ready to explode with the urgency to discover the truth—and find out whether or not he’d be radically altering his future—Dom hadn’t been about to let some starched shirt of a butler deny him entry. He was reasonably sure Miss Branwell, never one to fuss about dress, would join him immediately, even if not properly attired for receiving calls. Though if she didn’t appear in the next few minutes, he’d quit the room and go looking for her.
Then he heard the whisper of moving hinges and looked towards the doorway. Miss Branwell entered, stopping him in mid-stride.
She looked radiant in a dark-blue gown with military trim, and she’d done something new to her hair. The glossy brown locks twisted and curled and framed her face in little ringlets that made those luminous brown eyes seem enormous. His mouth dried and for a long moment he could not take his gaze from her face.
She stared back just as fixedly, seeming to drink him in. That ever-present, instantaneous something sizzled in the air between them.
‘Mr Ransleigh, how nice to see you again.’ Lady Coghlane, whom in his total absorption with Miss Branwell, he’d not even noticed, walked over to extend her hand. ‘I’m so pleased you decided to take me up on my offer of hospitality, though I didn’t expect to see you in London this soon!’
He pulled himself together and retrieved his manners from wherever they’d gone missing. ‘I came to town unexpectedly. Thank you for letting me in—even though your butler said you weren’t receiving today.’
‘We’re always available to friends and neighbours, aren’t we, my dear? As it happens, though, you’ve caught me at some correspondence I must finish. Theo, might I impose on you to entertain our guest? Perhaps a walk in the garden? It’s such a fair afternoon.’
Throwing Lady Coghlane a look of gratitude, Dom said, ‘A walk in the garden would be delightful. If you would indulge me, Miss Branwell?’
‘Of c-course,’ she stuttered, still looking unsettled.
As soon as he’d bowed Lady Coghlane out, she turned to him. ‘What is it? Is something wrong at the school? Are any of the children hurt?’
‘No, nothing like that,’ he assured her, forgetting until that moment how concerned he’d been about her welfare when Jemmie turned up unannounced. ‘Shall we walk?’
She exhaled a long breath. ‘Now that my heart has commenced beating again, I think I can manage it. I’ll even be able to contain my curiosity over what brought you to London until we get outside, out of earshot.’
He offered his arm and she took it. Ah, he thought, closing his eyes to savour the delicious thrill that tingled through him at the touch of her hand. She must have felt it, too, for she inhaled sharply and looked up at him, her dark eyes wide.
Realising she was staring, she blushed a little and said, ‘It’s good to see you again, Mr Ransleigh. Even better, now that I know none of the children are in danger.’
He was the one in danger, Dom thought as he led her to the town-house garden. Thank goodness servants lurked behind every overlooking window, else the minute he got her out the door, he might have succumbed to the ever-present urge to kiss her.
‘How was your journey?’ she was asking him. ‘You didn’t ride, did you?’
‘Can’t quite manage that yet,’ he replied. ‘I came post.’
‘You appear refreshed. Your arm didn’t pain you overmuch?’
‘No more than always. I have to admit, I made rather liberal use of the laudanum last night.’
‘Now, since you’re well accustomed to my directness, may I skip further pleasantries and ask why you’ve come to London? You mentioned nothing before you left Bildenstone beyond a trip to Newmarket and a visit to Holkham.’
‘I hadn’t planned on coming. Until I was told the rather astonishing news that you’d suddenly conceived an urgent desire to marry. So urgent, you abandoned the school and headed for your aunt’s house with hardly a word to anyone. Jemmie was most upset.’
‘You’ve visited the school,’ she guessed, colouring.
‘Why the sudden wish to marry? I’ve no claim upon you that would make such a personal matter my business, but you are my tenant, a condition which would certainly be altered by your marriage. Besides, I seem to recall when we discussed wedlock, you declared yourself firmly against it, saying something like “only desperation would drive you to it”? Have you just lost your fortune on the ’Change? Do you need me to spot you a loan to secure the school?’
She smiled a little, but her eyes had gone bleak.
‘No, my fortune is intact.’ She dropped his arm and took a step away, then halted, looking back at him. ‘I was going to try to fob you off with some plausible excuse, but I’m a terrible liar. You already know some of the worst about me, so I might as well tell you the rest.’
‘I would very much like to know why you’ve had such a radical change of heart. There’s always been honesty between us, which I prize, just as I admire your frankness and ability to face facts as they are, free of wishful imagining. And I think it goes without saying that whatever you tell me will be held in strictest confidence.’
‘Only one thing I must insist on before I tell you,’ she said, her expression almost...defensive. ‘I believe you’ve developed a fondness for the school and the children. Despite what you may think of me, will you pledge to help safeguard them?’
‘Nothing you reveal could alter my regard and admiration—but if you insist, yes, you have my promise.’
‘Very well,’ she said, and took a deep breath. ‘You remember Audley Tremaine, who visited me at the school?’
Distaste and irritation stirred. ‘The man you wouldn’t let me pummel. How could I forget?’
‘After I refused his...disreputable offer, he threatened to reveal something he’d just discovered. I tried to mask my concern by asserting no one ever believed what he said. Well, I was wrong.’
She looked suddenly weary and heartsick. Dom had the strongest urge to wrap his arm around her and enfold her against his chest. Resisting it, he said, ‘What had he discovered?’
‘Tremaine was acquainted with Lord Everly and his wife, Alicia, and knew them both to be dark-haired and dark-eyed. That day at the school, he got a close look at Charles, who is, obviously, blond and green-eyed. As was my fiancé, Marshall. Putting two and two together, Tremaine concluded that Charles wasn’t Lord Everly’s son, he was Marshall’s. And mine. He must have gone straight from Suffolk to Viscount Hazlett’s estate, for the day you left for Newmarket, I had an unexpected visitor. Lady Hazlett arrived, wanting to meet Charles. And telling me she intended to take him away with her.’
Dom felt like he’d just been dealt a roundhouse blow to the chest. ‘Charles is...your son?’
Miss Branwell lifted her chin and turned back to face him squarely. ‘Yes. I had made it known that Alicia became too ill to finish the journey to Lisbon, so we had to stay at the convent until the birth of her child. But I was ill, too, having only just discovered I was increasing when I got the news that Marshall had been killed. We both gave birth there. Her child died; mine survived. When I brought Charles back with me, intending to confess my shame, Everly’s commander assumed the infant was Everly’s. Seeing a way to keep Charles from being branded a bastard, I didn’t correct him.’
Dom shook his head, still trying to wrap his mind around the astounding fact. ‘No one else knew, or suspected? Not even your father?’
‘Constancia knew, of course. Widowed by the war, she’d taken shelter at the convent with an ailing child who later died. She agreed to accompany me as Charles’s nurse. But no one else knew.’
She paced away from the house, away from him, down the small allée of trees. As he followed, the full horror of the situation she’d found herself in s
lowly registered: her fiancé dying...finding herself unwed...increasing...the prospect of the shame, scandal, and the inevitable banishment from polite society she would endure once the truth became known. The child of the man she loved branded a bastard for ever—and nothing she could do to prevent it.
Heaven have mercy, how alone and frightened and desperate she must have been!
Reaching the back garden wall, unable to go further, Miss Branwell halted. Turning to him, anguish in her eyes, she said, ‘I wish now that I had followed the dictates of conscience and revealed Charles’s true parentage from the first. Papa would have been shamed and embarrassed, but he was a soldier, and had faced worse. Forfeiting his respect and good opinion would have been terribly painful, but my conduct deserved his disdain. Now, unless I take some immediate remedy to prevent it, my irresponsible behaviour threatens me not just with the loss of my son, but the possibility of incurring such censure I might have to close the school, or risk making it impossible for my orphans to find respectable positions when they leave it. Ruining a number of lives, instead of just two. Only one remedy can prevent all that. Marriage.’
Dom tried to quell the thousand questions running through his head and concentrate only on the important one. ‘Why is marriage the remedy?’
‘I induced Lady Hazlett to agree that, if I wed a man of substance who can provide the same social advantages for Charles the viscount would—a man of discernment to model himself after, one with the proper connections to introduce Charles at university, in his clubs, and those masculine domains necessary to a gentleman’s life—she would allow me keep Charles and uphold the lie that he is Everly’s. If the Hazletts support the story of Charles’s parentage I have always put forth, Tremaine’s version won’t be given any credence.’
‘What of Lord Everly’s father, the Marquess? What if he should change his mind and decide to recognise the boy?’
‘Lady Hazlett thinks it unlikely. As do I, at this late date. The Marquess has an heir, several other sons and a number of grandchildren. Lady Hazlett’s are the only conditions that matter. And so I must marry. I cannot lose Charles. ‘
Dom stood silent for a long moment, mulling over what she’d told him. Though Jemmie’s alarm had been sincere, he’d discounted the boy’s account as over-dramatic, thinking there was probably some more rational explanation for Theo’s sudden departure.
But analysing the dilemma after knowing the truth, he had to admit he could not come up with any better remedy than an immediate marriage. ‘With the grandparents insisting the boy must be raised as a gentleman by a gentleman, there doesn’t appear to be any alternative.’
Then he girded himself to ask the only other question that had bedevilled him on the long journey to London. ‘Had you someone in mind to marry when you left for London?’
‘No. I’m trusting Aunt Amelia to help me find someone suitable. I’ll take any gentleman who will accept Charles, serve as his mentor and keep our secret. Most likely some widower needing a new mother for his brood, or an older man wanting a nursemaid.’
Huge relief filled Dom. So there was no secret admirer waiting in the wings; he could take centre stage himself. ‘Someone who seeks only a governess or a nurse? You’d be bored and miserable within six months.’
‘What I feel doesn’t matter, as long as I can have Charles and keep the school safe. Which brings me to that favour I mentioned. Even if Aunt Amelia works her miracle and finds a gentleman who’ll accept me, it’s quite possible he will not allow me to continue running the school. If that happens, would you watch over it for me until I can make other arrangements?’
She gazed imploringly up at him, looking taut as an overstrung bow ready to snap. Incorrectly interpreting his continued silence as disapproval, she continued. ‘Think what it would mean if you were threatened with losing one of your cousins—like Will, who nursed you for months after you were wounded. Wouldn’t you do whatever you had to, in order to prevent that? What is boredom and dissatisfaction compared to losing someone so dear to you?’
She was trembling, tears hovering in corners of her eyes. ‘Please?’ she added in a whisper.
No longer able to restrain himself, Dom took her hand and kissed it, the decision already made somewhere on the road to London. ‘I can do that, and more. Why not marry me? My family and connections pass muster, you can keep Charles and manage the school. You won’t be bored, and—’ he ran a finger over her lips ‘—I can guarantee you won’t be miserable. In fact, I think I can quite confidently promise...delight.’
‘Oh, Dom,’ she whispered, a few tears spilling over to slip down her cheek. To his joy and relief, she closed her eyes and leaned into him. He pulled her against him, wrapping her in his warmth and strength, cradling her as he breathed in her delicate violet scent.
Just as he was about to tell her not to worry, he would always be there to take care of her, she gave a little gasp and pushed him away.
‘Oh, no, I couldn’t marry you!’
Taken aback, he said, ‘Why not? I haven’t a title, but I have a large and well-connected family. My uncle’s an earl; in fact, I seem to recall that Viscount Hazlett is part of my uncle’s coalition in the Lords. I can guarantee to raise Charles as befits a gentleman and assure him entry into whatever career he wants.’
‘No, no, it isn’t that! Your background is perfect, and I know you care for the children.’ She looked up at him, a few more tears dripping down, distress on her face. ‘You’re—you’re too nice, and I like you too much!’
He stared back at her. ‘I’ve heard of unions between parties who cordially detest each other, but I’d never heard of liking being a barrier to marriage.’
‘It’s not that. Oh, I’m making a muddle of this.’ She took a deep breath, obviously trying to recover her composure. ‘When you like someone, you want the best for them. So I couldn’t allow you to be dragged into a marriage, just because I’m caught in a predicament of my own making.’
Relieved, he smiled at her. Dear Theo, trying to ‘protect’ him as she did her orphans. ‘Don’t you think I have presence of mind enough to make that decision myself?’
‘I think you are brave, and compassionate, and wonderfully generous! But you’ve only recently ended an engagement—too recently to be pressed into making another. And you yourself admit you haven’t yet figured out what you mean to do with your life. How could I let you tie yourself to something and someone who will be of no help to you in whatever endeavour you finally decide to pursue?’
‘Just because you will be running the school doesn’t mean I can’t pursue other options,’ he argued. ‘In fact, if the breeding operation I’m envisioning comes to fruition, the focus of my business will be in Suffolk, headquartered at Bildenstone Hall. Besides, don’t you always quote your father, something about nothing being certain and having to make the best choice as the battle rages? Adapt to conquer?’
She looked at him reprovingly. ‘It’s not fair to use my father against me.’
He’d not been anticipating resistance—swift and grateful acceptance, really. At the shock of realising she might actually refuse him, feelings of protest and dismay welled up, along with a desire to make her his wife that was much stronger than he’d expected.
‘Besides,’ she was continuing, ‘what if you fall in love? I have loved someone completely, utterly, madly. It’s wonderful and magical and I wouldn’t want you to miss that.’ She grimaced. ‘Nor would I want to be your wife when you fell in love with someone else.’
‘How long did it take you to recover from losing your fiancé?’
A shadow crossed her eyes. ‘One never completely gets over it.’
‘Just so.’ He nodded. ‘My cousin Alastair was completely, utterly, madly in love with a woman who jilted him practically at the altar. Devastated, he joined the army, determined to die gloriously in battle, or some such rot.
He survived the war, but he’s never truly got over her. So if that’s what being madly in love is, I’d just as soon not experience it. Why can we not be sanely in love? Isn’t friendship and shared interests and compatibility of mind a much sounder basis for a union meant to be happy over a lifetime? And what of this?’
Stepping forward, he drew her to him and feathered kisses from her ear down her throat to the neckline of her gown. ‘This,’ he murmured as she sagged against him, ‘is also unique, this connection between us.’
‘C-can’t base a marriage on that,’ she whispered disjointedly.
‘I think it an excellent basis,’ he said, gratified that he had to steady her on her feet. ‘We’ve tried to ignore the attraction—but it burns between us whenever we’re together. You feel it, too, don’t you?’
‘Yes,’ she admitted.
‘I’ve never experienced anything stronger. I think it will last a long, long time, binding us together. Making us one.’
He kissed her then, a soft, glancing brush of his lips against hers. Then exulted, desire coursing through him, when she immediately opened her mouth, sought his tongue, and wrapped her arms around his neck. Kissing him back with passion and also, he thought, anxiety and fear and relief.
After a few moments, breathing hard, he broke the kiss. ‘So marry me, Theo.’
She shook her head dazedly. ‘I can’t think when you kiss me like that.’
‘Thinking is highly overrated.’
‘But marriage would be for ever! There’d be no trial period, like I proposed for the school, during which you could reconsider and toss me and the children out. You shouldn’t make such an important decision so hastily.’
The Rake to Reveal Her Page 19