She returned to her own needlework, staring towards the window instead of at Belle. ‘Did you enjoy your ride with Mr Lovell this morning?’
Belle nodded. ‘The carriage was very high, but he said not to worry about it.’
‘I am sure you were very safe,’ Amy said. ‘What did you talk about, as you drove?’
‘He said he liked me,’ Belle said, smoothing Mellie’s hair.
‘And what did you say to that?’
‘I said I liked him, too.’ Belle looked up with a confused frown. ‘You said before that I should not like Mr Lovell because his pants had holes and he did not like dogs. But I did not see any holes and he let Mellie ride in the carriage with us.’
‘I was wrong,’ Amy said. ‘What I should have said was...’ And just what was it she should have said? ‘You should be sure that the man you like has your best interests at heart.’ It was a good lesson and one that she should learn for herself before lecturing her sister.
‘Mr Lovell was nice to me. But I like Mr Templeton better,’ Belle said with a definitive nod.
And where was he, now that he was needed? ‘Perhaps Mr Templeton was not as nice as he seemed.’ If he had lured Belle into the dark walks as she suspected, he had taken advantage of her trusting nature. If he’d meant to do anything more, he should have spoken up when he’d had the chance. Silently, Amy damned the man for his leisurely wooing.
‘He was very nice when we were in the Gardens.’ Perhaps Father had been right, after all. The secretive smile on her sister’s face hinted that it was none too soon to accept an offer, if only to keep her safe from the predatory nature of supposed gentlemen.
‘In the end, it does not matter who you like best. Mr Templeton did not offer for you,’ Amy snapped. ‘Mr Lovell did.’ Almost immediately, she regretted her harsh tone. Even if the marriage had been arranged without consulting her, Belle deserved to know that her feelings were important. She asked the next question more gently. ‘But I assume he proposed on your ride this morning. What answer did you give him?’
Belle stared down at Mellie, nervously petting his head. ‘He said Papa wanted me to marry him. And Papa said I must always obey, because he knows what is best for me.’
And not all syllogisms were true. It was unlikely that she would ever get Belle to understand the finer points of reasoning. It was best not to confuse her with them now. ‘So you said yes,’ Amy finished for her.
Belle nodded and gave her the same hopeful look she used after crooked stitching. ‘Did I do all right?’
Amy nodded. ‘I think, this time, you did as well as any of us could have.’
‘Good,’ Belle said and relaxed a little. Then she held her dog up, its short legs dangling, and offered him her cheek for a kiss. ‘It is all very confusing. But you will help me to understand when I get married and we go to live with Mr Lovell.’
This was even worse than before. ‘I know that it was our plan, that I should come to live with you when you married. But now I do not know if that will be possible.’
Belle dropped Mellie on the cushion beside her and stared at her sister in shock. ‘But you promised.’
And she had. In all her life, she had never broken a promise to Belle. Why did she have to begin with the one that would most affect her future? ‘That was before I realised you would be marrying Mr Lovell.’
‘But you said I did the right thing.’ Belle’s lip trembled with confusion as she tried to reconcile the two ideas.
‘You did,’ Amy assured her. ‘He is a nice man. He will make a good husband.’ At least, he would be no worse than the man who had lured her sister towards ruin without honourable intent. ‘I just think Mr Lovell will want some time alone with you, after you have married.’
‘Why?’
She was nowhere near ready to give the explanation that question deserved. Especially not while she was still blushing from the demonstration of what Ben Lovell did when he got a woman alone. ‘I will explain it all to you at another time.’ She reached out to pat her sister’s hand. ‘For now, do not worry your head about the future. You will talk to Mr Lovell many more times before you are married. In no time at all, you will come to like him so well that you will not even need me.’
And perhaps, some day, Amy would not need him, either.
* * *
It had been less than twenty-four hours and Ben was back in the same room that had been the location of his emotional undoing. To stand there, even alone, and pretend that he was not thinking of what he had nearly done with Amy was the greatest challenge to composure that he had faced all Season.
In the hours between dusk and dawn, he had replayed their meeting, over and over, under the pretence of discovering the moment when things had gone wrong. Once he understood it, he could be sure it would not be repeated. Eventually, he’d been forced to admit to himself that the obsession was nothing to do with remorse. It was only an excuse to imagine more and more lurid scenarios where she was willing and he was free to do as he liked with her.
When he tried transferring the fantasy to its correct object, the woman he was going to marry, he could manage nothing more than brotherly affection. She was beautiful, of course. And so quiet and simple that he never need worry about a domineering woman sucking the marrow from his bones, even as he took pleasure in her body. That was what he had wanted, wasn’t it?
He’d wanted it before he’d found Amy. Each meeting between them had been a battle of wits. Even when she’d bested him, he’d left eager for the next contest. Her intelligence was as desirable as her body.
Thank God, she was not here to distract him from what he must do. He had seen both Summoner girls turning their horses into Hyde Park as he had driven by it that morning. He’d offered a polite greeting to the pair of them. Amy had ignored him and Belle had smiled and waved, but he saw no evidence that she favoured him over any of the other people she acknowledged, nor remembered that they were to be married in less than a month.
It was just as well. He meant to put a stop to the engagement immediately. The announcement had not yet reached The Times. If he cried off now, the whole thing might end with very little embarrassment on either side. Then he had but to explain it to Amy.
She would most likely be angry. She would not want her sister to be jilted, even by a man she wanted for herself. And she did want him. After the incident on the divan, she could not deny there was a mutual attraction. But did she love him?
It did not matter. It would not be the first time he’d developed feelings for a woman who had no heart. Perhaps, this time, passion would be enough. It made no sense at all to fight against something that they could happily succumb to once he had ended his engagement to Belle and offered for Amy instead. It was unorthodox, but it was the only course of action that made sense.
‘Lord Summoner will see you now.’ The same footman who had led him to the office two days ago was back again to take him on the same short journey down the hall. The great man had the same stack of diversionary papers in front of him to put guests in their place. But Ben had no intention of being put off so easily.
Summoner glanced up with a polite smile. ‘Lovell, I did not expect to see you again so soon.’ He made a vague gesture to the chair by the desk.
‘My lord.’ Ben gave him a shallow bow and took the offered seat.
‘You have not come to pester me about your future, I trust. The election is not for some time, you know. We can settle the details after the wedding.’ His smile, which had seemed wise before, now seemed merely sly.
‘It is the wedding that I have come to talk to you about,’ Ben replied, his tone and smile free of hesitation or apology.
‘You wish a special licence? It can be easily arranged, you know. I have friends at the Inns of Court. We can have the whole matter settled by evening.’ To prove its importance, Lord Summon
er put down his papers, as if ready to handle the matter immediately.
Why had he not wondered at the man’s haste, when last he’d been here? It had been stupid of him to be flattered by the man’s attention and sure of his own merit. The boy he had once been would have known that there was nothing more dangerous to a common man than a smiling and helpful lord.
‘I am not here to seek a special licence,’ he said. ‘I saw no need to rush a matter as important as marriage and do not wish to do so now.’ He took a deep breath and said what he had come to say. ‘In fact, I wish to call a halt to the engagement.’
The smile on Summoner’s face disappeared. ‘And I assume I can guess the reason for it.’
‘I do not think...’
‘You have met my daughter and realise that she is simple minded.’
Ben held his hands up in protest. ‘That is not my reason.’
Summoner’s eyes narrowed. ‘What other reason can there possibly be?’
‘The best reason that there is. I do not love her.’
At this, Summoner laughed. ‘You are telling me you cannot marry because you do not love? It did not bother you when last we spoke, nor should it have. Do me the credit of finding a better lie than your sudden need for a love match.’
A week ago, Ben would have agreed with the man that love was the last thing to consider when choosing a mate. He had been in love before, or so he’d thought. It had been a disaster from start to finish and an emotion he had hoped he would never feel again.
Then he’d met Amy. And now he was not sure what he felt. He only knew it could not be ignored.
‘It is not a lie,’ he said, embarrassed by his own earnestness. ‘It is the truth. My heart belongs to another. I thought it was still my own when I agreed to offer for Arabella. But...things changed.’ It would gain him nothing to explain his confusion on the day he’d sworn, or where he’d been when he had made his decision. ‘It would be unfair of me to give myself in marriage if I cannot commit my whole person to the woman I wed. And as a gentleman...’
‘If you were truly a gentleman,’ Summoner interrupted, ‘you would know that marriage in the upper classes rarely has anything to do with love.’
‘If I were a gentleman?’ If he was a gentleman, he’d have been angry at the slight and not feeling the tangle of emotions that rose at those words.
‘We both know who your father is,’ Summoner said.
So it was just the matter of his supposed illegitimacy. He opened his mouth to give the usual equivocations that stopped just short of an outright lie.
‘We know who he is not, as well,’ Summoner finished before he could answer, his smile becoming a sneer. ‘I give you credit for being sensible enough not to claim aloud that it is Cottsmoor. You allow people to assume it, but I find no evidence that the story can be traced back to you.’
In the face of such potentially damning evidence, Ben offered a guarded nod.
Summoner continued. ‘However, if one bothers to send a man to the village on the Cottsmoor property, one finds Andrew Lovell. From there, it is not all that difficult to discover the truth.’
It was finally over. Though people claimed that hope was necessary to live, the destruction of hope was better than living in dread that it would happen. His future might be in tatters, but Ben felt a tranquillity he had not known in years. ‘So you know my past. What do you mean to do with the information?’
Summoner pushed his papers aside to give his full attention to Ben. ‘What I do depends on what you do.’
‘Knowing what you know, you cannot seriously want me to marry your daughter,’ he said. Now that Summoner had the truth, it was unlikely that he could marry either of them.
Summoner smiled again. ‘On the contrary. I chose you for Arabella specifically because of what I knew. Men with no secrets are much more difficult to control.’
‘Blackmail?’ Ben said in surprise.
‘Hardly,’ Summoner said, with an expression of distaste. ‘It is not unusual that I should want to know the particulars of my prospective son-in-law. And as I said before, I had no problems with them when we agreed on the marriage. But I also told you there would be no turning back from an offer, once it was made. You must have known that I had the power to enforce the agreement.’
‘I assumed that would not be necessary. My word of honour...’
‘Is worthless,’ he finished. ‘You demonstrate the fact by coming here today.’
‘As is yours, sir, if you think you need to use lies and blackmail to catch a husband for Belle. Had I known the whole truth, I never would have agreed to the engagement.’
‘Nor should you have considered another, when you were already affianced,’ Summoner countered, making no effort to deny his duplicity. ‘The previous commitment outweighs the latter.’
‘Normally, that would be true. But the heart is not so easily managed as the head. If I cannot treat your daughter with the respect she deserves...’
‘You can and you will,’ Summoner said in a tone that brooked no further argument. ‘You will go ahead with the marriage as planned. What happens after is between you and your wife. If you insist on following your heart?’ He gave a cynical shake of his head. ‘There is nothing stopping you. If you have not already realised it, Belle will hardly notice should you stray.’
Now it was Ben’s turn to be incredulous. ‘You are suggesting I be unfaithful?’
‘I am suggesting nothing. I am telling you that what happens between a husband and wife is no one else’s affair.’ His manner gentled. ‘All I wish is what I requested from the first. When she leaves this house, she must be secure and happy. You have money enough to keep her safe and she is surprisingly easy to please. Let her keep the damned dog. Buy her dresses. Take her to places where she can dance and eat cake. That is all that matters to her. In exchange, you will have a seat in Parliament and all the advantages I can offer.’
‘And if I tear up the licence and end this before it begins?’
Summoner was smiling again. ‘Then I will ruin you. Like a Biblical judgement, no stone of your life shall rest on stone. Hurt my daughter and I will make you, your lover and anyone else I can find pay for your perfidy.’
If he took Summoner’s advice, he could have them both. But eventually, someone would realise the truth and the scandal would be even worse. Nor could he live with himself if all he had to offer Amy was a clandestine affair with her sister’s husband. A woman with such wit and beauty deserved more than just a pitifully secret slice of his life.
It did not really matter if Summoner destroyed him. In fact, the thought was liberating. He would still have the Duke’s bequest. It was more than enough to start again. But without Summoner’s support, there would still be a scandal. He might be destroying one sister in an attempt to have the other. In the end, he would lose them both and gain nothing.
‘Very well, then,’ he said, bowing his head and recognising his defeat. ‘I will say no more about it. I will abide by my promise to your daughter. She shall want for nothing.’
Summoner’s smile returned to the good-natured beam it had been when he entered the room. ‘I am glad you have come to your senses. And, of course, I will keep my half of the bargain as well.’
‘On the contrary,’ Ben said, raising his head to stare, unsmiling, into the eyes of his future father-in-law. ‘I will take nothing from you, no matter how willingly it is given. It will not be said that the decisions I’ve made are based on the bribes of a powerful man. I might lose my heart over this. But I mean to keep my honour as my own.’
With that, he turned and left before Summoner could say another word.
Chapter Fifteen
Ben had visited her father. When she and Belle had returned from their morning ride, he had been at the door, collecting his hat and stick from the footman i
n preparation of leaving. He had greeted them with perfunctory courtesy, a hollow smile and the standard lament that he could not stay longer to have tea with them.
But there was something in the stiffness of his bow that announced he would rather be anywhere than where he was. Though he probably considered himself trapped in a marriage he no longer wanted, there was no sign that he held the bait responsible for his predicament. The smile he gave to Belle in their brief conversation was as near to genuine as he could make it.
In Amy’s opinion, it spoke well of him. No matter what he thought about his future, he would take good care of her sister. But his feelings for her father were clear enough, if one bothered to look. Before he’d left, he’d cast a brief look of undisguised loathing down the hall towards the office. Whatever had been said between them, it had not gone as Ben Lovell had hoped.
Amy was not surprised by the fact. She had warned him on the day before that if the deal had been done, there would be no escape from it. Like all men, everywhere, he had not been willing to take the word of a mere woman on something that would have been painfully obvious had he known Lord Geoffrey Summoner as well as she did.
Now he understood. He hated her father. And though he did not love her, he harboured no ill will towards Belle. But for Amy he seemed to have no feelings at all. He had hardly looked at her, though they’d been standing scant feet apart. Words and his smiles had been tossed in her direction as if he wanted her to think nothing had changed between them. But when she’d tried to catch his eye, he had looked past her, through her, or at anything else but her.
Perhaps yesterday’s torrid interlude had meant nothing to him. Maybe he was embarrassed that it had happened at all. But if she’d been expecting some acknowledgement that it had been more than a moment’s diversion, she was to be disappointed. It was over and they would never speak of it again.
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