‘We can take the phaeton if you prefer, Miss Verey, but I wondered if you would like to ride,’ he said. ‘You seemed to enjoy your country rides so much at Malladon that I took the liberty of bringing what I hope is a suitable mount for you!’
He had chosen a horse that was sufficiently spirited to keep Jane occupied through the busy streets and they did not speak much until they reached the quieter environs of the Park. It was still very early and there were few people about. Jane noticed that Alex had instructed the groom to ride a long way back, where there was no danger of them being overheard.
The cool, green expanse was very welcoming and Jane had to curb a sudden urge to gallop away.
‘Thank you for thinking of this, sir!’ she said spontaneously. ‘It was a delightful idea!’
Alex smiled. ‘I thought that you might enjoy it, Miss Verey. It is not quite the same as being in the country, but nevertheless…’
‘Nevertheless, it brings a sense of freedom that one seldom finds in Town,’ Jane allowed, her eyes sparkling. ‘It is very pleasant to escape sometimes!’
‘The country has, perhaps, fewer diversions?’
‘Just different ones, I think,’ Jane said, smiling a little.
‘Some might argue that Town is more exciting.’
‘That,’ Jane said serenely, ‘depends on one’s interests. If excitement is derived from creeping through the streets cloaked in black and carrying a pistol-’
Alex burst out laughing. ‘You will not let me forget that, will you, Miss Verey?’
Jane looked at him. Today he was in black again, but with a very different appearance from the disreputable and sinister figure of that strange night. His jacket was cut by a master and fitted without a wrinkle. His linen was a pristine white and his boots had a high polish.
Jane privately thought that he looked devastatingly handsome.
‘How is Simon?’ Alex was asking. ‘Did his suit prosper whilst we were away?’
Jane shook her head. ‘No, indeed, it goes very ill for him. Mademoiselle de Beaurain has told him to take his attentions elsewhere!’
‘I am sorry to hear that. I imagine it must have made him very unhappy.’
Jane looked resigned. ‘Oh, he pretends that he does not care and, indeed, to see him at Lady Sefton’s ball last night one would have believed it! However I think that he feels it very keenly…It is too bad! Everyone is in love with the wrong person!’
Alex cast her a sideways glance. ‘Everyone, Miss Verey?’
‘Oh, Simon with Thérèse and Philip with Sophia!’ Jane said, greatly daring. ‘Matters so seldom progress in the way one would wish!’
‘Very true. And what of yourself, Miss Verey?’
Jane, who had steeled herself to answer this question suddenly found it more difficult than she had imagined.
‘I?’
‘Who are you in love with?’
Jane blushed and hated herself for it. ‘I am in love with no one, sir. I told you when we-I told you that night at the inn…’
‘Of course,’ Alex said smoothly. ‘I remember! This touches on the matter I wished to discuss with you, Miss Verey. Would you care to dismount? I will ask Dick to walk the horses.’
Jane looked dubious. ‘I am not at all sure that we should. We have been away some time. Mama will be worrying-’
‘I will square matters with her later. I must crave your indulgence, Miss Verey. This is important.’ There was an imperative note in Alex’s voice. He had already dismounted, summoning the laggardly groom with a wave of the hand. As the man took the horse’s bridle, Alex helped Jane down.
‘Walk the horses for a while, would you, Dick? Thank you…’
He offered Jane his arm and they walked slowly along one of the winding paths. There was no sound but for the clop of the horses’ hooves, growing more distant as the groom led them away.
‘I no longer wish to promote the match between Philip and yourself, Miss Verey,’ Alex said abruptly. ‘You mentioned Philip’s affection for Miss Marchment and indeed, I have seen you promoting that romance most zealously! So…’ He shrugged. ‘I am not entirely heartless! I realise that you and my scapegrace brother are very amicable, but scarcely romantically inclined! Whereas Philip behaves as though Miss Marchment is the very pattern of perfection! So I will give the match my blessing!’
Jane felt as though her breath had been taken away. To have connived and schemed for just such an outcome and then to have it put so suddenly into her hands…It was scarcely to be believed.
‘Sophia is indeed the sweetest girl,’ Jane said warmly, ‘and if you are to allow them to wed then I must give you credit for greater sensibility than I had previously thought, your Grace! I am quite overwhelmed!’
‘Thank you,’ Alex said gravely. He was smiling a little. ‘You have not, however, heard the second part of my proposal.’
‘There is more?’
‘Indeed. In permitting Philip to wed Miss Marchment I am no longer able to honour the commitment I made to my grandfather. Would you permit me to explain a little of the background, explain why I wished for the match at all?’
‘Of course,’ Jane said, feeling a little at sea. If Alex was no longer interested in the Verey-Delahaye alliance, why should he need to explain? She was suddenly uncertain where this was leading.
Alex squared his shoulders. ‘I believe that it was our paternal grandfathers who formed the idea that an union between the two families would be beneficial. They were both in the diplomatic service and met in Vienna. Did you know that they had formed a friendship?’
Jane shook her head. ‘My father’s father died when I was but young, sir. I had no idea he planned a grand family alliance!’
‘Unfortunately there was no one appropriate in our parents’ generation,’ Alex said drily. ‘My own mother and father were already married and I believe the other children were either promised or unsuitable in some way! Nevertheless, the grandfathers were not deterred!’
‘They planned to skip a generation?’
Alex smiled. ‘Precisely, Miss Verey! My grandfather summoned me before he died and acquainted me with his plan. I was already married but Philip was still a bachelor and already giving cause for concern with his wild antics. My grandfather knew that your parents had married late and that you were still in the schoolroom. Nevertheless, he suggested that it might be a good match. So I went to Ambergate to find out whether your father liked the idea.’
‘I know.’ Jane said. ‘I saw you.’
Alex looked startled. ‘You saw me? At Ambergate?’
‘Four years ago,’ Jane said. ‘I saw you one night going along the corridor past my room.’
For a moment the memory of the night came back to her: the dancing candle flame, the dark stranger, the legend…Jane felt suddenly resentful, all her bitterness over the arrangement with her father flooding back, reminding her that Alex had sought to use her as a pawn to further his own ends.
‘I suppose you had come to look me over and negotiate with my father as though I were some commodity!’ she said sharply.
Alex winced. He drove his hands into his jacket pockets. ‘I concede that the plan was ill conceived. I was trying to honour my grandfather’s wishes and find a solution to Philip’s wildness. I did not think-’ He broke off, to resume:
‘I must be honest and admit that I thought nothing of your hopes and wishes! Oh, it was old-fashioned of me to wish to arrange a match, but I had the best of intentions. I really thought that it would be the making of Philip!’
‘And so it will be,’ Jane said stoutly, ‘immeasurably more so now that he has been allowed to choose his own bride!’
‘Yes.’ Alex slanted a look down at her. ‘I suppose my reasoning was at fault in thinking that marriage was the means to compel Philip to settle down. He would no more accept a forced match than he would reform of his own accord! Yet now that he has attached himself sincerely to a young lady, he is a changed character!’ Alex shook his head ruefully
. ‘I admit that I have made some bad mistakes in this business.’
Jane was prey to mixed feelings. It seemed from Alex’s words that matters were now settled. Philip and Sophia would be permitted to marry and Jane would no longer be obliged to scheme and plan to avoid her fate. She could return to Ambergate, perhaps, and then she would never need to see the Duke of Delahaye again…
‘Of course,’ Alex was continuing, ‘that leaves me with the difficulty of resolving my pledge to my grandfather. Then I thought that if one plan could not suffice, another might.’
Jane realised that they had stopped walking. They were in the shadow of a huge clump of cedars and the figure of the groom seemed suddenly far away. There was no one else in sight. Her throat had gone dry. She could read his intentions in his face…
‘Oh, no…’
Alex gave her a whimsical smile. ‘Is it so horrifying a prospect, Miss Verey? You must be quite honest, as I know you can be! You do not wish to marry me? It is such a neat solution!’
The breeze caressed Jane’s hot cheeks. Her mind was racing.
‘Oh, I could not! I am…you are so-’ She stopped before she could say anything she regretted. She was not entirely sure what she had meant to say. For all her feelings and half-formed wishes, the whole idea was so shocking, so sudden, that she could not comprehend it. Yet Alex was looking quite composed, almost lazily amused, as though her confusion pleased him.
‘Oh!’ Jane burst out. ‘This is so like you! To replace one outrageous suggestion with one even more monstrous! After all the trouble I went to-’
‘To thwart me?’ Alex was laughing openly now and it only added to Jane’s distraction. ‘But surely you did not wish to marry Philip?’
‘No, but-’ Jane almost stamped her foot with frustration. ‘Nor did I plan to have to reject you, your Grace!’
‘Then do not…’ Alex had taken her gloved hand in his and his touch was almost too much for Jane to bear. She realised that something strange was happening to her. The combined shock and the heady influence of Alex’s presence threatened to sweep away her good sense. It would be thrilling to give in to her instincts and accept him. For a moment she revelled in the idea, before sanity intervened.
There were so many reasons to refuse him. He had admitted that he had proposed in order to fulfil the pledge to his grandfather. Then there had been his bitterness when he had spoken of his dead wife. Alex must have loved her very much, and who could compete with a ghost? Surely not a naïve girl of nineteen! And then there was Francine Dennery…
‘What of Lady Dennery?’ she said, suddenly forlorn, remembering the Beauty’s flagrant charms.
Alex raised his black brows. ‘You need not concern yourself over her,’ he said cryptically. ‘Lady Dennery will not be surprised at our betrothal.’
He was moving much too fast for Jane. Betrothal…She frowned a little at his presumption.
‘I do not find that particularly reassuring, sir,’ she said candidly. ‘Do you imply that Lady Dennery would accept the situation and carry on as before, or that your association with her would be at an end?’
Alex gave her a wicked grin. ‘Straight to the point, Miss Verey! Do you imply that Lady Dennery is my mistress?’
‘I have no wish to discuss your precise relationship!’ Jane snapped, fast losing her temper. ‘My point was that I would not marry a man who would be unfaithful to me!’
Alex inclined his head. ‘I respect your views and you need have no concern on that score. I do not intend to be unfaithful to my wife!’
His wife…Jane realised that her question had given the false impression that she would accept. Drawing away a little, she turned to look at him. She had to put a stop to this now, before she became further entangled. Alex had viewed the marriage as a neat solution, and on that basis she had to decline. The balance would be too unequal otherwise-she loved him, but he saw her as a way out of a problem…
‘I am sorry,’ she said formally. ‘I cannot accept you, your Grace.’
Alex’s face was very still. Jane found herself studying him closely, committing to memory the strong lines of his face, the dark eyes that could lighten so easily to unexpected laughter…Her throat ached with tears as an intense love swept over her. Oh, if only he had said that he loved her!
‘May I ask why you have refused?’ he said at length, very quietly.
‘Because…’ Jane cleared her throat ‘…I understand that it would only be a match of convenience-’
‘A match of convenience! What extraordinary ideas you do have, Miss Verey!’ Alex stepped closer. ‘Surely you must realise that I find you prodigiously attractive?’
Jane gave a despairing squeak. That was not what she had meant at all and now matters were taking a decidedly difficult turn. ‘Oh, no, your Grace, that cannot be so! You are funning me! Please do not say any more!’
‘Pray do not distress yourself, Miss Verey,’ Alex murmured. ‘Let me convince you of my good faith!’
Jane was aware that the situation was slipping from her grasp. She had witnessed Alex’s potent charm on many an occasion but never imagined that there would be a serious need to defend herself against it. She put out her left hand to ward him off-he appeared to already have possession of her right-but he simply captured it in his and pulled her closer.
She knew that he would release her at once if she appeared truly distressed and yet she discovered that she had not real inclination to pull away from him.
He freed her hands only to draw her more closely into his arms and Jane found that, instead of pushing him away, she was leaning confidingly against his chest. His cheek grazed hers, rough against the softness of her skin and Jane gave a pleasurable shiver, breathing the delicious male scent. She had a sudden urge to turn her face against his neck and inhale deeply until she was intoxicated with the essence of him, but Alex was kissing her already and this time it was very different from at Malladon. Gone was the gentleness, to be replaced with a real urgency that was both exciting and a little bit frightening at the same time.
The stretch of parkland, the tall trees and the cool breeze all receded from Jane’s consciousness. She was aware of nothing beyond the powerful circle of Alex’s arms and the melting warmth that was invading her body.
Her lips parted instinctively beneath the skilful pressure of his own and Jane felt herself tremble in response. Nor did Alex seem unaffected by the embrace as she had thought him at Malladon, for she could feel the racing of his heart where her hand still rested against his chest. She slid her arms up around his neck and felt him draw her all the closer until she was resting against the whole length of his hard, muscular body. The kiss deepened into a dizzying spiral of desire, easing after an immeasurable time only as Alex let her go a little to catch his breath.
Jane swayed a little within his arms, aware that she would have fallen without his support. She was still trembling and her blood was alight with a strange mixture of heat and ice-cold excitement.
Jane struggled to free herself, suddenly overcome with emotions she could not understand.
‘Oh, please-’
Alex let her go at once. He was pale and breathing hard, and for a moment Jane saw the reflection of an emotion in his eyes that she found deeply disturbing.
‘I am sorry,’ he said expressionlessly. ‘I forgot that-’ He broke off. ‘I did not intend to frighten you, Jane.’
‘I was not frightened precisely,’ Jane said, incurably truthful, ‘only a little shocked to know how it felt. I am told that young ladies should not be subject to violent emotions…’ She looked away, too shy to admit that she had found the encounter as enjoyable as it was disturbing.
Alex tucked her hand through his arm and steered them back towards the path. ‘I have heard that said too, and thought it so much nonsense!’ he said cheerfully. ‘I should feel flattered and more encouraged were you to admit to taking pleasure in the experience!’
‘Oh!’ Jane cast a dubious look at him. ‘More encourage
d?’
There was a wicked glint in Alex’s eyes. ‘My dear Jane, I wish to repeat my actions on plenty of future occasions, but will not do so if you hold them in strong dislike! However, I cherish a hope that my advances were not entirely unwelcome, and as your fiancé-’
Jane felt her spirits sink a little. The delicious pleasure of Alex’s embrace had helped her to forget temporarily that he had other motives for the marriage, motives that had little to do with love. She frowned a little. For a moment she hesitated on the edge of confiding her concerns in him, then there was a spattering of gravel and she realised that the groom had returned with the horses. A carriage crossed her line of vision, then two ladies on horseback. The Park was beginning to wake up.
‘Have you changed your mind?’ Alex asked quietly, as they turned the horses towards the gate. ‘Will you marry me?’
Jane’s troubled green gaze searched his face. ‘I do not know…I am not sure…there are reasons…’
She saw the shadow that touched his eyes, before he said with constraint, ‘Is that a definite refusal, Miss Verey?’
‘No, I-’ Jane knew instinctively that she had hurt him, although Alex’s dark face was carefully expressionless.
‘I am sorry,’ she said wretchedly. ‘I need to think. If you could allow me a little time…’
‘Of course,’ Alex said with a scrupulous courtesy that was somehow chilling.
They rode back to Portman Square in silence.
‘I have business to attend to,’ Alex said, still with the same cool civility, after he had helped Jane down and the groom had set off back to the stables, ‘but I shall hope to see you tomorrow night, Miss Verey. Perhaps you will be able to give me an indication of how long you need to consider my offer.’
Jane’s face crumpled as she tried to hold back the tears that threatened to ambush her. Somehow this had all gone wrong and she felt dreadful, as though she had casually inflicted some great hurt on Alex and had damaged for ever the relationship between them. She could not understand how it had happened.
She put an instinctive hand on his sleeve. ‘Wait!’
‘Yes, Miss Verey?’ Alex said, with the same distant politeness.
Miss Verey’s Proposal Page 18