One for the Rogue (Studies in Scandal)
Page 26
He stared at her. “Are you serious?”
She stared back. For so long that his heart began to beat with alarm.
* * *
Gemma watched as his eyes shone with real alarm, and she couldn’t punish him any longer.
“Of course not, you madman,” she said as she threw her arms around his neck. “I am in love with you. I don’t want to wait, and I wouldn’t wait even if it meant full ownership of Beauchamp House.”
He breathed out a sigh and she realized she’d held out a little too long for his comfort.
“Just for that,” he said pettishly, “I won’t give you the present I brought you.”
She pulled back to see his face, to determine whether he was jesting.
His response was raised brows. “Yes, I have a present for you, but I’m not sure I wish to give it to someone who would toy with my feelings like that,” he said in mock-pique.
Deciding she’d have to win him back no matter the cost, Gemma began peppering his face with kisses, until, that is, he caught her face between his large hands and stilled her so that he could kiss her properly.
When they were both breathless, he pulled away and lifted her off him.
She watched with great appreciation as he strode naked across the room to where his greatcoat lay draped over a chair.
“I wondered why you brought that up with you,” she said, sitting up and fluffing the pillow behind her.
He kept his back to her as he removed something from the inner pocket of the coat. To her great disappointment, he hid whatever it was behind his back as he came back and slid beneath the bedclothes and sat beside her against the headboard.
She turned to look at him, and to her wonderment, he actually looked a bit nervous.
“Before I give this to you,” he said solemnly, “if you think it’s foolish you need only tell me and we’ll forget it ever happened.”
Gemma blinked. She never thought she’d see Lord Cameron Lisle so shy. It was a side of him she’d never thought to see. And her heart seemed to flip over at the knowledge he’d trusted her enough to show it to her.
As she watched, he proffered his closed fist and, in one fluid motion, opened it.
There, nestled atop his palm was one of the brightest blue banded agate stones she’d ever seen. With a shaking hand she took it from him and traced the bands of different hues of blue that surrounded the asymmetrical triangle of lighter blue in the center.
“It’s beautiful,” she breathed, too moved to say more. She knew without him telling her that this was important to him.
“I found it on the shore near Lisle Hall when I was a small boy,” he said softly. “It was my first find. My father helped me polish it, and he found a man to shave off the side so that the striations would be revealed. It was the beginning of a lifelong love.”
“It’s lovely,” she said, leaning forward to kiss him. “But I can’t take it from you.”
But Cam shook his head. “I need to give it to you. To show you how much you mean to me, Gemma.”
He cupped her face in his hands.
“You mean more to me,” he said fiercely. “More than this stone. More than geology. If it takes me giving it up to make you happy, I will do it. I love you that much.”
Gemma felt tears fill her eyes. All this time, she’d been afraid that somehow marrying Cam would mean she’d have to give up some part of herself. The scholar, the fossil-hunter, the bluestocking.
Aunt Dahlia was wrong. Marrying this generous, loving, wonderful man wouldn’t diminish her. It would make her stronger.
They would make a formidable team.
“Thank you,” she said, kissing him again. “But I could no more ask you to give up fossils than you’d ask me. I love you, you see. I’m not quite sure how we will manage it, but I do know that I can imagine no one else I’d rather comb beaches and quarries for specimens with.”
As she spoke, she watched as his smile transformed his entire face. There was joy there, and relief, but also love. “Are you sure?” he asked, though it was clear from his expression that he believed her.
Still, she couldn’t help but say, “I think I’ve loved you since that day that we fought over your silly geology magazine. I simply didn’t know it yet.”
* * *
He pulled her against him. “But why didn’t you say? I poured my heart out in the carriage yesterday and you never said a thing. I could have kept my prize agate.”
* * *
She gave him a playful punch in the shoulder.
“I wasn’t sure of it,” she told him honestly. “I’ve never felt this way before and I didn’t want to tell you I loved you when I might discover later it was … I don’t know, indigestion.”
“So now you know it’s not indigestion?” he asked, his mouth curved into a smile.
Her heart clenched. “I knew it when I saw Lord Paley holding that pistol.”
She clasped him to her and held on tight.
“I love you so much, Cam. More than I can ever show you.”
He whispered a suggestion of how she might do so in her ear.
“You, sir, are a tease,” she said before kissing him.
“But you love me anyway?” he asked, pulling back a little.
“Of course I do,” she said with a serene smile. “How could I possibly resist such a rogue?”
Epilogue
ONE MONTH LATER
“I can hardly believe almost a full year has passed since we arrived here,” said Ivy staring out at darkened parkland beyond the window. “I didn’t know any of you, and now I can’t remember life without you.”
“I feel the same way,” said Sophia, slipping an arm round her friend’s waist.
Gemma, who had married Cam only a few days after the incident with Lord Paley on the cliffs, sat with Daphne at the library table where they’d spent many happy hours in quiet study punctuated by the occasional laughter and sometimes tears.
“I can,” Daphne said dryly, “and it was much less pleasant.”
“And we hadn’t met Serena either,” Gemma said. “I hope she’ll be amenable to our scheme. Without her, it will be difficult. Not impossible, of course, but I’m not sure I could trust anyone as I do her.”
It was hard for Gemma to believe that it was nearly time for them to go their separate ways.
They could come and go as they pleased, of course. The house belonged to all of them equally. But marriage meant that their comings and goings couldn’t always be dictated by their wishes. And once children came, even with the best intentions, they would not be able to live in one another’s pockets. Not as they had here at Beauchamp.
In the month since Gemma and Cam had discovered that it had been Lord Paley who murdered Sir Everard and stole the Beauchamp Lizard, the four Beauchamp House heiresses had been hard at work on a scheme that would see to it that even once they were all departed to live with their husbands, the house itself would remain a haven for lady scholars.
“You did ask Serena to meet us here, didn’t you?” asked Sophia with a frown. “I haven’t seen her since luncheon.”
The four heiresses and their husbands had spent the holidays in the house together, along with their chaperone, Lady Serena, and her son, Jeremy.
“Of course,” Gemma said. “I think she’s tucking Jeremy in. She said she’d come up to see us as soon as she was finished.”
“I still can’t believe you managed to find the Beauchamp Lizard,” said Ivy with a shake of her head as she stepped over to one of the other chairs at the table. “With only an unfinished letter from Lady Celeste and those odious men trying to steal it from you.”
Gemma had been sad, at first, that she alone of the four heiresses hadn’t had a full letter and quest from their late mentor. But the truth of the matter was that she felt as connected to the bluestocking leader as she would have if she’d left her a whole trunkful of personal letters. Because she alone knew the same excitement Lady Celeste had when she saw the fossil
ized skull emerge from the chalk cliffs only a few hundreds of yards from where she sat now. And she’d been able to restore it to its rightful place in Lady Celeste’s collection.
“It wasn’t easy,” she said aloud. “But I had help from Cam, and I feel a certain degree of satisfaction knowing that Lord Paley wasn’t able to enjoy the fruits of his evil deeds.”
Once he’d recovered from his gunshot wound, Lord Paley had been taken to London to await his trial by the House of Lords, which wouldn’t happen for another month or so. But Gemma had little doubt that even if they didn’t sentence the man to hang, he would, at the very least, spend the rest of his life in gaol.
“I was a little surprised we were able to tear you away from polishing the Lizard,” said Sophia wryly. “I don’t believe any of the other pieces in the collection is afforded that kind of treatment.”
“It’s a very important find,” Gemma protested. “Once I hear from Cuvier in Paris I’ll know more, of course. But I am fairly certain this fossil will shed some light on how life developed in this part of England. In fact—”
She broke off when she realized her sister had been teasing her. “Well, it’s important,” she ended lamely. Then spoiled her vehemence by sticking out her tongue at Sophia.
“Ladies,” said Serena as she came into the room. “Must I remind you what constitutes good behavior? One does not stick out one’s tongue, no matter what the provocation.”
Her wide smile took any sting from her words, and the four heiresses welcomed their chaperone for the past year into the room by offering her a chair at the mahogany table and putting a glass of brandy in her hand.
“You were all so secretive about this little gathering,” she said after she’d taken a sip. “I couldn’t even persuade Maitland to tell me, and you all know my poor brother is hopeless at keeping secrets.”
“It’s one of his most admirable qualities,” said Daphne with a grin. “I was able to winkle every last one of my Christmas gifts from him.”
“But in this case, he held firm,” Serena said with a shake of her head.
“You don’t have the same sorts of persuasive tactics at your disposal,” Gemma said dryly.
“There is that,” Serena said with raised brows.
“Now,” she continued her blue eyes sparkling, “you’d better tell me what you’re plotting before I die of curiosity.”
Ivy looked round at the other three and with their nods of agreement, she said, “First of all, we would like to know if you’ve decided where you’ll go once you’ve decided to leave Beauchamp House. Or, rather, if you truly wish to go at all.”
Serena looked from one to the other of them. “I had thought to return to the Maitland estate,” she said carefully. “Though if that is no longer agreeable to you, Daphne—”
“If you wish it,” Daphne said carefully, “then I am agreeable. But we have another offer.”
“We, the Beauchamp heiresses,” said Gemma with a smile.
“For you, and Jeremy if you wish it,” Sophia added.
“We-would-like-to-turn-Beauchamp-House-into-a-school-for-bluestockings-and-we-would-like-for-you-to-run-it,” said Ivy in one long breath.
When the other three heiresses stared at her, the classical linguist shrugged. “I made up my own compound word.”
Serena blinked. “What did you say?”
“In a slower fashion,” said Gemma wryly, “we would like to turn Beauchamp House into a sort of haven for lady scholars like ourselves, and we would like you to serve as chaperone to them. And perhaps oversee a few scholars we employ to live here and instruct them. Like a school, but without all of the strictures and silliness that are emphasized at ladies’ schools. More like university learning for ladies.”
“You wouldn’t need to interact with them on a daily basis if you didn’t wish it,” said Sophia hastily. “Since I’ll be only a few miles away at the vicarage, I can come and manage things for you from time to time if you become overwhelmed.”
“Or we could hire someone to be the headmistress,” said Ivy quickly. “You needn’t do it at all if you don’t wish it. I know being forced to stay here for the past year must have been tiresome at times, when you wished to visit friends, or see family. We simply thought that since you’d done such a good job of it with us. And there’s no one we’d trust to protect Beauchamp Hall than you.”
At that Serena began to laugh. And laugh. Until tears were streaming down her face.
“You needn’t make fun of us,” said Daphne stiffly. “If you don’t want to do it, you need only say so.”
“Oh my dears,” said Serena, wiping her eyes, and reaching across the table to take Daphne’s hand with her free one. “I’m not making fun. Truly, I’m not. It’s just that, I think I can say unequivocally that I have been the most inept chaperone ever to hold the title.”
“Of course you haven’t,” Ivy protested. “You were quite cross when I had to marry Quill after only a few days’ acquaintance.”
“And you were most firm when you overheard Maitland and me in the wine cellar,” Daphne added with a nod.
“You looked properly upset when you caught Benedick coming into the breakfast parlor that time,” said Sophia solemnly.
Gemma shrugged. “I think by the time I disappeared overnight with Cam you were used to misbehavior. But you did call the magistrate when Lord Paley tried to shoot me, which cannot be overlooked.”
“My dear girls,” said Serena beaming at all of them. “You cannot think I am the right person to head up this endeavor. I cannot believe it.”
“But you’re the perfect person,” Ivy protested. “You are kind, you are a paragon of good behavior yourself and therefore a good role model.”
“And you never fail to say and do the right thing,” said Daphne. “I know, because I’ve watched hoping you would fail, but you never do. It’s most frustrating.”
“But I know nothing about running a school,” Lady Serena protested.
“That’s the perfect part,” Gemma said with a smile, “it wouldn’t be a school as we all understand schools to be. It would be more of a house of learning where the female scholars we choose—we’ve decided they needn’t come from the gentry or the aristocracy, because why should education be only for those with money—would be afforded the tutelage they need to become proficient in their fields of study. They could go on to become teachers or governesses themselves, or time in Beauchamp House would give them the propriety and manners they need to rise in society.”
“But that sounds like a finishing school,” Serena argued.
“A finishing school with scholarly learning too,” Sophia said. “And the arts, of course. I would be happy to come once a week and teach painting, for instance.”
“And what is the mission of this endeavor to be?” Serena asked. “To turn out intelligent wives?”
“To turn out educated women,” Gemma corrected her. “Who can mix in whatever society they like, and pursue their scholarly endeavors with the confidence needed to hold their own in a world of men.”
“I’m not a scholar, though,” Serena insisted. “I’ve only ever been a wife and mother. I haven’t one ounce of the scholarly learning the four of you have.”
“You’re a scholar of society,” said Daphne. “You know more than I ever will about the rules of precedence. Or how to properly address the wife of a baronet’s younger son.”
“You know what month it’s best to air out the linen closet, and what dishes might be made from a goose,” said Ivy.
“Your needlework puts all of ours to shame,” Gemma said wryly.
Serena couldn’t argue with any of that. Because she’d found almost as soon as the four heiresses arrived at Beauchamp House that what they knew about household management paled in comparison with what they knew about their fields of study.
“Even if one knows all there is to know about maths,” Daphne said, “it is still necessary to speak to the housekeeper about the dashed menus.”
“I have been wondering if it might be possible to remain here,” Serena said slowly, and knowing they’d won, the heiresses cheered.
“You won’t be sorry!” cried Ivy as she clapped her hands.
“I knew you would agree,” said Gemma as she pulled Serena into a hug. “You’ve enjoyed this year, admit it.”
Tears shone in Lady Serena’s eyes as she welcomed the hugs of her former charges. “It’s been the happiest year of my life, you scapegraces, and well you know it.”
“I say this calls for a toast,” said Gemma, suddenly needing to pay tribute to the woman whose brilliance and generosity had brought them all together.
Raising her brandy glass, she waited until the others had done the same.
“To Lady Celeste Beauchamp,” Gemma cried with a glance toward the portrait of their benefactress, which hung above the fireplace. “May we never forget her generosity of spirit.”
And almost at the exact moment they touched glasses the candles in the chandelier flickered.
The quintet were silent for a moment, exchanging wide-eyed glances.
“You saw that too, did you not?” Daphne asked, her blue eyes wide.
“I believe my aunt approves of your toast,” Lady Serena said with a nod toward the portrait.
Gemma lifted her glass again. “Thank you, Lady Celeste. Thank you for everything.”
The candles didn’t flicker that time, but Gemma was quite sure she saw the portrait wink.
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Ready Set Rogue
Good Dukes Wear Black
Good Earl Gone Bad
A Good Rake Is Hard to Find
Why Lords Lose Their Hearts
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Why Dukes Say I Do
How to Entice an Earl
How to Romance a Rake
How to Dance with a Duke
Praise for Manda Collins’ Studies in Scandal series