The Temptation of a Gentleman

by Jenna Petersen

  All Marion’s hopes dropped to the pit of her stomach. There seemed to be no way out of this mess. “I-I worry about losing control. Noah is making my choices just as my father did.”

  At that, Tabitha set her teacup back on its saucer with a clatter. “Noah is nothing like your father.”

  Marion shook her head. Noah had been just as angry when she’d said something similar, but neither of them seemed to understand her true meaning. Noah had none of the coldness, the cruelty her father possessed. It was more the situations she was comparing, not the men.

  “Of course he isn’t. I couldn’t bear to be near him if he was, let alone marry him. I only meant that I looked forward to controlling my own destiny and now that dream looks out of reach once again.” She sighed.

  Tabitha’s demeanor softened. “Control is a tricky thing, Marion. We never have it, even when we think we do. And constantly striving for it only seems to put it further from reach.”

  Marion frowned. She hadn’t ever thought of it in those terms before. Her father had made sure she never had any control, so she’d never contemplated that it might not be a good thing.

  “Still, I had so many hopes. I fear they’re lost forever now.” She stared at her tea, picturing the little life she’d planned with her estranged aunts. But now that picture seemed cloudier, less perfect. Instead, an image of Noah kept intruding.

  Tabitha sighed before she reached out to touch Marion’s hand. She looked up to find Lady Woodbury’s eyes filled with compassion. “I know my son. He’ll give you new hopes if you meet him halfway.” She paused, but her gaze kept Marion hostage. “It should be easy when you love him as much as you do.”

  Marion yanked her hand away as if Tabitha’s touch burned her. She rose to her feet in shock, overturning the empty plate on her lap and depositing crumbs all over Lady Woodbury’s oriental carpet. She hardly noticed the mess as she stumbled back a few steps.

  “That-that’s ridiculous, my lady. I barely know Noah, Lord Woodbury.” Her cheeks flamed with heat. Her denial sounded lame even to her own ears.

  Tabitha looked up at her with a bemused smile. “If it helps you to deny it to me, by all means, continue to do so. But don’t make the mistake of denying it to yourself.”

  The hot sting of tears pricked Marion’s eyes as she crossed to the window. A faint breeze stirred the leaves on the trees and made the well-tended lawn wave. Marion wished she were outside, away from the pointed accusation of a woman who knew what she spoke of all too well. Marion didn’t have the strength to deny her statements.

  “He doesn’t love me.”

  She didn’t dare face Tabitha. She didn’t want to see the agreement in her eyes. She didn’t want to see that Tabitha thought she was a silly girl for loving her son, a self-proclaimed rake and a man so far above her station that he might as well have fallen from heaven.

  Tabitha rose to her feet and cocked her head as she contemplated that statement. “Hmmm. Noah has never been easy to read when it came to the feelings in his heart. Even when his father died, I could see his grief, but no other emotions. But he certainly cares for you more than he did for Charlotte.”

  That was cold comfort. Marion turned to look at her future mother-in-law. “He told me he felt nothing for Charlotte.”

  “No.” Tabitha’s face softened and a sadness came into her eyes. “And in a way, I’m glad he won’t enter a loveless, if ‘suitable’ marriage. One of my children already took that course at my urging and it cost her, and our family, dearly.”

  Marion frowned. “But won’t our marriage be just as loveless? And it won’t be suitable, or at least as suitable as the other match would have been.”

  Snapping herself from her reverie, Tabitha gazed at her. “You love him. He cares for you. Already you have more than half the marriages in the ton.” In two steps she was standing in front of Marion. She took both her hands and smiled. “My dear, since you have no choice, I suggest you make the best of what you have.”

  Marion turned back to the window with a sigh, wondering what she did have exactly, and if Noah would ever look at her with the same love in his eyes that she felt for him.

  ***

  Marion had already taken down half her hair when she remembered Tabitha’s order to her. The older woman had told her since she was to be a Marchioness she’d have to get used to having servants hovering around her, dressing and undressing her. This night, especially, Marion would have much rather been alone, but she’d vowed to do as her hostess had asked and try to make the best of the situation she now found herself in.

  She rang the bell by her door with a sigh, then returned to her dressing table to wait. As she gazed at her reflection, her mind wandered, taking her to a predictable place.

  Noah.

  She hadn’t seen him since he’d left her in the garden. He hadn’t come home even for supper. Was he angry? Or was he simply avoiding her while he prepared to go to London? Back to the place where he wanted to be. To the people he wanted to see. His friends, his family, perhaps even a mistress.

  She lurched at that thought. Of course a man like him probably had a mistress, maybe even several. Especially since he’d already told her he didn’t love his fiancée.

  The door opened behind her, mercifully pulling her from any more thoughts of Noah tangled with another woman.

  “I was hoping you’d help me with my hair and to undress,” she said as she turned to face the maid who’d come in. She stopped, her mouth gaping open when she saw who had come at her call. “Sally!”

  The maid grinned. “Oh miss, I’m so glad you’re all right. I was worried when you showed up missing and the master went into such a rage.”

  Marion raced over to her friend’s side and hugged her, glad to see a familiar face after the past few days of turmoil and confusion. “How on earth did you come to be here?”

  “It was all Lord Woodbury’s doing, Miss Marion.” Sally motioned to the dressing table for Marion to sit. “He appeared this afternoon. He and your father and Mr. Lucas had a huge row. There was screaming and breaking of glass, especially after Mr. Hawthorne realized Lord Woodbury hadn’t come to bargain for your return.”

  Marion felt bile rise in her throat at the mere thought. “Papa thought he’d come to sell me back?”

  Sally nodded as she picked up the brush on the table and began to work Marion’s locks down from their twists and curls. She shut her eyes as Sally continued her work. Marion had never had much pampering, but she could see how easy it would be to grow accustomed to it.

  “Yes, your father said something about Lord Woodbury coming to his senses. But his lordship refused to even speak to your father and demanded that I be allowed to come with him. I had to stop listening after that because that nasty butler of Mr. Lucas’s caught me peeping, but they had an argument that went on for hours.”

  Marion looked at her friend’s reflection in the mirror. Noah had gone to Lucas’s and endured a nasty encounter with her father just because she’d asked for Sally, a woman Noah didn’t even trust.

  He’d done it for her.

  “Did he say anything to you once he got you out of the house?”

  Sally shrugged. “He sat with me in the carriage on the way home and said I’d be responsible for taking care of you now. That I was to treat you right and be a good girl or I’d answer to him. Then he took me here, and I spent rest of the afternoon and evening with one of them chambermaids learning the ways of the house and what would be expected of me. It’s been a long while since I took care of a lady’s needs. Not since Mrs. Lucas died.”

  Marion’s eyes darted to her new maid. “You never told me you were Georgina’s lady’s maid.”

  She thought she caught a twinkle of fear in Sally’s eyes for a moment before she ducked her head to concentrate on her brushstrokes. “Didn’t I? Well, at any rate, that man surely thinks much of you. He says he’s going to marry you.”

  Whatever doubts Marion had in her head washed away with that reminder
. “Yes. That seems to be his plan.”

  “Lucky girl.” Sally sighed as if lost in thought as she continued to work at Marion’s hair.

  Marion shivered at Sally’s observation. Noah had done so much to try to make her happy.

  “And where is his lordship?” she asked, suddenly overcome with a need to talk to him. “You said he brought you back this afternoon, but he wasn’t at supper this evening.”

  “He seemed a mite distracted,” Sally admitted. “And said something about needing air to clear his head. I don’t think he’s come back yet. I heard his valet muttering about it in the hallway when I was coming up to you.”

  Disappointment rushed through Marion at that revelation. Tomorrow they would be on the road with Lady Woodbury as a chaperone. She wouldn’t have much chance to sit with Noah privately, only share moments with him in the carriage with his mother watching the whole time.

  As Sally began unfastening her gown, Marion looked once more at the reflection in the mirror. Whatever it took, she and Noah would meet in private before they were married. She would thank him for all he’d done for her, and apologize for anything she’d done to him.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Marion inched the curtain back a fraction to peer out of the carriage. The estates and rolling hills of the countryside had begun to give way to the heavy buildings and cobbled streets of the city. Through the dusty window she could also see Noah, sitting high on Phantom, his eyes firmly on the road. He was just as distant as he had been throughout the majority of their three-day trip to London.

  Leaning back in her seat with a sigh, she allowed the curtain to swish closed. Though he’d had shared meals with them and been nothing less than cordial, the rift that had formed between them during their confrontation in the garden so many days ago still existed. And the distance seemed to grow with each day.

  Most frustrating was that she could do nothing to close it. Lady Woodbury always accompanied the couple when they were together. It didn’t exactly allow Marion to say anything of an intimate nature. Worse, Noah didn’t seem to mind their lack of privacy.

  Tabitha looked up from her needlework with a bemused half smile. “He’s still there, is he?”

  The color flooded to Marion’s cheeks. “I don’t know what you mean, my lady. I was simply taking in the view. I’ve been to London only a few times.”

  “We’ll arrive at Griffin and Audrey’s soon and then you’ll have your fill of the city, I’m sure.” Lady Woodbury set aside her work as she discreetly stretched her neck. “There’s so much for us to do. Not the least of which, is to have gowns made for you.”

  Marion shook her head. “No, I don’t want you to go to that kind of expense and trouble.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous.” Tabitha’s voice was sharp with the argument she’d been having with Marion for days. “We can’t have the future Marchioness of Woodbury running around London in two out-of-date hand-me-downs. It isn’t proper. You’ll need a few ball gowns, morning gowns, several pelisses…”

  Marion shut her eyes as Tabitha continued to list what she considered the bare necessities of life. It was only a reminder to Marion of how little she knew of the ton and their ways. In Northumberland she’d only owned six or seven gowns in total. They were always in fashion, at least for the country, and no one had ever seemed to ponder them overlong. Now the slightest mistake in the turn of her ankle and it seemed she would bring shame upon Noah’s family and herself.

  “Then we’ll immediately have to arrange for vouchers to Almacks and for tea with several of the most important women in our social circle.” Tabitha seemed to have entered her own world where she cared very little if Marion agreed or disagreed with her assessment of their needs. “That should quiet the gossip, especially when they see what a lovely young woman you are.”

  Marion winced. “I still find it hard to believe a harmless piece of country gossip started by a doctor could be all that important to the members of the ton.”

  Tabitha’s laugh was immediate. “It wouldn’t be if that harmless gossip weren’t about one of the most eligible and sought after members of the ton. I’m sure everyone knows the circumstances of this marriage by now.”

  Dropping her eyes to the floorboards of the carriage, Marion contemplated that. “Even Charlotte?”

  Lady Woodbury’s eyes flashed up to her. Her answer came slowly. “Yes, I suppose even Charlotte.”

  Another stab of guilt worked its way through Marion. She could only imagine what Charlotte Ives felt about the entire situation. Though Noah claimed not to love the young woman he’d planned to wed, Marion couldn’t imagine any woman not loving Noah as she did. The humiliation would be secondary only to the pain of losing him.

  “Poor Charlotte,” she whispered.

  When she dared to look at Tabitha again, the other woman’s face had softened. “Many people would consider her a rival, not one to be pitied. But then, that isn’t you, is it?”

  Marion shook her head. It hadn’t really occurred to her to think of Charlotte as someone to compete with, though thoughts of her with Noah didn’t please Marion in the least.

  “Ah, the carriage is stopping. We’ve arrived at Audrey and Griffin’s.”

  Tabitha’s face lit up in anticipation as she drew the curtains back and looked outside. Over her shoulder, Marion could see a lovely city estate rising above the high gate that protected it from the street. Already the front door was opening and a man and woman stepped from the house together, their arms locked.

  The footman opened the carriage door, but Noah was the one standing outside to help his mother and Marion out. Tabitha went first. When her feet hit the ground, she immediately rushed forward and took the couple on the steps into her arms.

  Noah smiled as he offered Marion his hand. She took it and the shock of awareness flashed through her like lightening.

  “Look at them,” he murmured as his grin widened. “Who would guess that just a few short years ago my mother and Audrey didn’t interact at all? And now they’re closer than ever.”

  Marion stepped to the ground as she examined the three people on the step. She could see the similarity between Noah, Tabitha and Audrey in their bright blue eyes, but aside from that, Audrey looked very little like her family. Unlike Tabitha and Noah, who had thick, dark hair, Audrey’s was an auburn that complimented her fair skin.

  Her husband, Griffin Berenger, had hair the color of dark gold and warm brown eyes that swept first over Noah with a grin and then over her with a questioning glance. She blushed as she dropped her stare away from the handsome man.

  “Oh, Noah!” Audrey hurried down the stairs to give him a fierce hug. When she stepped back, Noah felt her eyes boring into his, searching them for any sign of what was going on in his heart. Yet, the unspoken communication they’d once shared so easily as spies had faded away now.

  “Audrey, Griffin.” Noah grinned up at his best friend who was just now extracting himself from Tabitha’s chatter and coming down to stand beside his wife. “May I present Miss Marion Hawthorne.”

  His sister slid a bit closer and held out a hand in welcome. “Miss Marion, I’m so pleased you could join us here at Bentley Square. We’ve heard so much about you in Noah and mother’s letters.”

  Although Noah knew his sister only meant her greeting in the kindest way possible, Marion stiffened with a blush that darkened her cheeks to a cherry red.

  “Thank you, my lady,” she mumbled with a short curtsey more befitting a maid than a future Marchioness.

  Audrey frowned at her reaction, but took her hand with a genuine friendliness that even Marion seemed to recognize as her eyes slowly lifted.

  “Marion, we’re very pleased you’ll be joining our family.” Audrey stepped back to wrap a slender arm around her husband’s waist.

  “Both of us are,” Griffin added with a smile for Marion though his gaze shot over to Noah.

  “Thank you,” Marion replied, this time with more sparkle and less fear. “
I appreciate you taking me into your home under such unusual circumstances.”

  Tabitha shook her head as she came back down the steps with a frown. “No, no, no. From now on there are no unusual circumstances. You are an old friend of the family who we’ve reacquainted ourselves with. If anyone has the gall to say otherwise, that is the story you will tell and then you will immediately inform me and I’ll make certain any other version vanishes.”

  She linked her arm with Marion’s. Audrey joined her on the opposite side and the three of them began to walk into the house together.

  With a grin, Noah embraced Griffin. “My sister looks radiant as always. I’m glad to see you’re continuing to keep her happy.”

  Griffin laughed. “And she me. But I’m more concerned about you in the midst of all of this mess.”

  Noah looked away. After being friends with Griffin for over thirty years, the two were like brothers, and not just because of the marriage to Audrey. Still, he wasn’t sure he could explain the entire situation he found himself in, even to his best friend.

  “I’m fine. It’s a change of plans, that’s all.” He motioned his head toward the house. Griffin took his lead with an unreadable glance.

  “I think it’s more than that, but perhaps now isn’t the time to get into it after all.” Griffin tilted his head. “From the spark in your eyes when you look at Marion, it appears to be a conversation best shared over good port and a roaring fire.”

  As they entered the parlor where the three women were chatting, Noah took a long look at Marion. Though he could still see the remnants of embarrassment by the blush on her cheeks, he could also see how much she liked both his mother and his sister. And the feeling was mutual. Though he’d never looked to his family for approval, having it made his heart lighter.