Newport Summer

by Nikki Poppen

  There was no good answer to that. Gannon couldn’t say it wasn’t his idea, couldn’t say that he’d warned Audrey. Such an argument would make her out to be the trollop in all this, which she wasn’t. Such a statement surely wouldn’t be tolerated by Wilson St. Clair. Neither could Gannon say that the fault was all his, making himself out to be a libertine, preying on the romantic sensibilities of an untried girl. That last made him want to laugh. Audrey was hardly naive. No one took advantage of Audrey without her permission.

  Gannon made the only response he could. “I am not above doing my duty, sir.” There. St. Clair could read as much or as little as he wanted to into that answer.

  St. Clair said nothing for a long while. Then he nodded. “Very nice, Camberly. Well said.” He fell silent again, occasionally studying Gannon’s face. He twirled the stem of his snifter. “Did my wife put you up to this? It can be no secret to you that she’s hanging out for a title for Audrey” Wilson St. Clair sighed. “It’s the one thing I can’t give her.”

  “No, sir.” Gannon’s eyes blazed angrily at the thought. “I cannot be bought or bribed into such a conspiracy. I am happy to offer for Audrey, and I would have done so in the near future if not for tonight.”

  That raised Wilson’s eyebrows, caught his attention. “Does Audrey know this?”

  More awkward honesty. “No, sir. She does not. The one time I broached the subject-most subtly, I assure you-she felt this was not the right time in her life for such a commitment.”

  Wilson’s face clouded over. “But apparently she felt it was the right time to sneak off and kiss a gentleman. Now she must pay for that misjudgment”

  Gannon’s eyes narrowed. It was time to assert himself, to remind Wilson St. Clair that he was not the only man in the room with leverage. “I will not have our engagement based on the idea that Audrey must be punished for such indiscretion. Nothing need come of tonight. Only your wife saw us. If Audrey does not wish to marry me, there is no need to create a scandal.”

  “I can’t decide, Camberly, if you say this to shirk your own responsibilities by laying the decision at Audrey’s doorstep, or if you speak out of genuine concern for my daughter. Audrey’s always been a little bit unconventional.”

  “I love her for it, sir,” Gannon said sternly, with all the sincerity he could summon. “I would not willingly see her caged by a moment’s indiscretion that amounts to nothing.”

  Wilson St. Clair spread his hands on his thighs and drew a deep breath. “Violet will have to be pacified. There’s no telling what kind of difficulty she’ll create”

  This was an interesting turn of events. Gannon suddenly had Wilson St. Clair on the ropes, caught between his desire to appease his socially voracious wife and his desire to protect Audrey from an unwanted marriage.

  Gannon knew his moment had come. He could dictate the terms. He stood up and started pacing, thinking out loud.

  “Tomorrow, I will come to the house in the morning. We’ll put the question to Audrey so you can hear what she has to say on the matter. In the meanwhile, you can put this proposal to Violet and to Audrey: I am happy to marry Audrey and make her the Countess of Camberly. I will marry her after her preference of an engagement, which shall be no longer than one year. We will live in England, of course, but she is free to visit New York at her leisure.” Gannon paced thoughtfully for a few steps and then added, “And I will insist that she keep up her piano playing. I will support her in that pursuit with the finest instructors London can provide.”

  “You’re very generous, Camberly,” Wilson St. Clair said. “You must know Audrey quite well to know what her music is to her.” Wilson gave him an appraising stare. “One wonders how one learns such things in the public nature of our social gatherings.”

  Gannon fixed Audrey’s father with hard look. “Do not dare to impugn your daughter’s virtue or my honor. I will not take kindly to further assumptions along those lines. I care deeply for Audrey, and because of that affection, I have endeavored to learn all I can about her.” Behind him, Gannon heard Lionel cough a warning.

  “I care for her as well. Certainly you’ve divined that she is my only child and the only heir to my fortune. I’ve heard what you can offer her. Now, I am sure you’re interested to hear what kind of settlement I’ll make on her once she’s wed to her mother’s and society’s satisfaction.” He said this in a pompous tone that had Gannon’s hackles raised.

  “I’ll confer a sum of one million dollars on the two of you the day you wed. Additionally, I’ll endow Au drey with her own accounts that she alone has access to in the sum of $200,000 a year. Any children you have together will be recipients of trust funds upon their coming of age. I trust you’ll find this is quite the acceptable going rate on titles these days”

  Gannon felt rage growing in him. Good God, the man was conferring a fortune on him. Camberly would be safe for well-managed generations. He should be leaping around the room in ecstasy. But he felt only distaste for the offer and for himself. Originally, this was the moment he’d come to Newport to achieve. He was doubly grateful to Audrey for saving him from this moment. The money they’d made on the railroad deal made it possible for him to look beyond a marriage settlement.

  Gannon shook his head. “I am not offering for her because she’s the richest girl in the room. I won’t take a cent. I am offering for her because I have genuine affection for her.”

  Lionel clapped. “Well done, Gannon”

  Wilson sneered at them both. “Don’t be a fool, Camberly. The railroad money won’t last forever, and your rotting estate will eventually have needs that extend beyond what your meager pocketbook can afford. If you won’t take the money on behalf of your overinflated sense of honor, then take it for Audrey. I won’t have my daughter whisked across the Atlantic to live in penury out in the countryside.”

  “Let Audrey decide,” Gannon said sternly. “I don’t want her to think you have motivated or forced my proposal in any way. I want her to know I have offered because I wanted to offer, nothing more.”

  Wilson St. Clair weighed Gannon’s statement. “All right. Until tomorrow. We’ll expect you at ten o’clock.”

  The tension in the St. Clair library was so thick, Audrey doubted it could even be cut with a butcher’s cleaver. She had spent a restless night wondering what Gannon and her father had talked about well into the early hours. Her father hadn’t come home until two o’clock in the morning, and she’d heard strident voices down the hall until four. Whatever had happened, it had caused her mother and father to argue.

  Over breakfast, she discovered why. Gannon had offered for her under the condition that she be willing to wed. He would not have her forced over the minor indiscretion. Her heart had thrilled to the news. Gannon had found the middle ground, a way through the tangle they found themselves in. But his proposal had put the real choice into her hands.

  “You will accept him, Audrey,” her mother said plainly over toast and tea. That had been Violet’s mantra throughout breakfast, and it continued in the library while she paced the length of the Eastlake bookshelves.

  Audrey turned a pleading gaze toward her father. He’d always been her one ally in matters like these. “Please, Father, I don’t wish to marry yet. The earl is right. Only Mother saw us. We’re making quite a mountain out of it all. All this can discreetly go away”

  “The Carringtons know,” Violet snapped. “Lionel Carrington sat in on the negotiations with your father last night.”

  “They would not say anything that injured the earl,” Audrey insisted. “The earl’s reputation is not helped by word of this getting out.”

  “Still, Audrey, you should not act rashly and reject him,” Wilson St. Clair counseled. “Camberly is an admirable fellow. Never once did he shirk his responsibility last night. He embraced it quite thoroughly. He professed great devotion to you. He turned down my offer of a marriage settlement. Of course, that won’t stop me from giving you one. I won’t have you going off to live in a
drafty, tumbledown English manor, even if it is a love match.”

  “It’s not a love match. I won’t marry him,” Audrey protested, her cheeks hot.

  But as much as she protested, Audrey could not slow the hammering of her heart when Gannon was announced and admitted to the library promptly at ten o’clock. He looked well rested in contrast to her sleepless family. He was bearing a bouquet of bright yellow flowers, which he stopped and presented to her with great aplomb, his eyes studying her face, trying to read her mind.

  “Miss St. Clair, I have requested this meeting with you and your family because I have something of the utmost importance to discuss with you personally.” Gannon speared her with his sharp eyes. “I have received your father’s permission to ask for your hand in marriage” Gannon elegantly dropped to one knee and claimed her free hand. “Audrey, I have enjoyed your company this summer immensely, and in doing so, I have also developed a sincere affection for you. Would you do me the honor of becoming my wife and the next Countess of Camberly?”

  Audrey vaguely heard her mother gasp in delight at the scene Gannon had arranged. But all her attention was riveted on Gannon’s face and the expectancy in his eyes. He’d left the choice up to her, but he wanted her to say yes.

  Panic was loosed within her. Father could have denied Gannon permission. He could have put a stop to this madness, but he hadn’t. Gannon had decided to propose in front of her family, when he must surely know how much pressure there would be from her mother to accept him. Both of the people she’d counted on as allies had superficially left the decision to her, while in truth they’d decided her fate between them last night without her being in the room. Venting that anger would get her nowhere. Audrey fought to stay calm.

  “Your offer is quite generous, my lord,” Audrey said, amazed that her voice sounded so controlled. “Might we have some privacy, to talk? I find I want to hear more about your estate and your life in England” Her request wasn’t as skillfully done as Gannon’s maneuverings, but it was the best she could come up with on such short notice. At least she’d carefully avoided saying yea or nay.

  “A few minutes only, Audrey,” her mother said. “You can talk in the conservatory while I ring for tea”

  The conservatory was not far from the library, and Audrey took the offer gladly. She firmly shut the double doors behind them, not caring what gossiping servants or her mother would think about her being alone in a closed room with a man.

  “Are you all right, Audrey?” Gannon held out his arms to her the moment the door was secure, and she raced into them, burying her head against his chest.

  “I can’t decide if I should hate you or kiss you. Everything has become so confusing,” she said. The only certainty she had right now was the solid strength of his arms.

  “Hate me? I don’t understand” Gannon was caught unprepared for such a statement. “I assure you, Audrey, I did everything I could to keep the situation open-ended until I could speak with you, until I knew your wishes.”

  Audrey looked up from Gannon’s shirtfront. “But it has been decided already. Father told me you expressed affection for me and turned down his marriage settlement. He was impressed. He’s been singing your praises all morning, and Mother’s wanted this since the moment you showed up at the Casino picnic. And you. You want me to say yes.”

  “Of course I want you to say yes, Audrey. I’ve fallen in love with you. I think I started falling that first day on the beach, before I even knew who you were” Gannon hugged her close. “I can’t imagine going back to England without you. I can’t imagine the rest of my life without you. When I do, it’s nothing more than a long, bleak set of scenes”

  Now he’d done it. She was going to cry. She could feel the hot tears forming in her eyes, and she was too tired to hold them back. She sniffed. “That’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me. I am not sure I deserve it. I’m sharp-tongued, blunt-spoken, and occasionally unconventional. I walk barefoot on beaches, and I dance in gardens with men I won’t marry.”

  “Do you feel nothing for me, Audrey? Don’t you enjoy our time together?” Gannon freed a hand and pulled out a white handkerchief.

  “You know I do. I just can’t marry you right now.” Audrey blew her nose. He loved her. Truth be told, she loved him. Only she wasn’t nearly as brave. She couldn’t admit it. She handed the handkerchief back to Gannon.

  He pushed it away, laughing. “No, you keep it.”

  Audrey laughed too. It seemed an age since she’d laughed. That was one of Gannon’s many gifts. He could always find the levity in a horrible situation. He’d kept her laughing all summer.

  “Just not right now? That sounds hopeful, although I must say it’s not what a lovesick swain hopes to hear after declaring his love” He poked a little fun at himself, and Audrey’s heart lurched. He was always so strong for her. She had to remember how difficult this must be for him. He truly did want to marry her, and she was refusing him, or at least trying to. He deserved a proper refusal with an explanation. She had to tell him. She owed him that much.

  “Wait here” Audrey strode to the piano and retrieved the letter from Vienna, hidden away in the one place her mother never looked-inside the piano bench with its lifting lid.

  Audrey silently handed him the envelope and watched him read.

  Gannon read the envelope carefully, noting the postmark from Austria. Did she have a suitor in Europe? But no, that didn’t explain the “just not right now” aspect of her near-refusal. Perhaps there was a trip she wanted to take? A girlfriend from school she wanted to visit? Audrey had mentioned that several of her girlfriends had gone abroad. He could certainly give her time for such a trip. They could visit all the girlfriends she liked on their wedding trip.

  Gannon pulled out the letter on stiff white paper. There was a seal at the top of the stationery: The Viennese Conservatory of Music. He shot Audrey a quick look over the edge of the paper. She was staring at him expectantly, waiting as patiently as possible-no mean feat, since patience wasn’t a virtue Audrey possessed. Fortunately, he did. He had enough patience for both of them, if he could only convince her of that.

  The letter was a short three paragraphs. Audrey had been accepted into a school to study piano, and a premier school at that. All the pieces of Audrey’s plans fell into place. “Your parents don’t know, do they?” he asked, carefully folding the letter and putting back into the envelope.

  Audrey shook her head. “No”

  “This is what you want your freedom for?” He’d already guessed it was. He’d heard her play.

  “Yes.”

  “Is this why you won’t marry me?” He already guessed that too, but he had to hear it from her own mouth.

  “Yes.”

  Gannon gave a mirthless laugh. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard such little conversation out of you before, Audrey”

  “Don’t be unkind, Gannon. I just shared my biggest secret with you,” Audrey snapped.

  “And I’ve shared my heart with you. I’d say that’s of equal value.” Gannon regretted the tone of his remark but not the reason for it. He was hurting. She’d known all along there was never a chance. He turned away and began pacing the floor.

  “Gannon, I don’t want to hurt you. Please don’t be angry,” Audrey pleaded.

  “I’ve been your fool all summer.” Gannon jammed his fists into his trouser pockets and sauntered to the bank of windows. He pulled back a gauzy curtain to look at the gloomy day outside. It mirrored his mood perfectly. It was galling to be a thirtythree-yearold man of experience and be taken in so thoroughly by a girl of twenty. She’d gulled him. How could he begin to compete with a lifelong dream?

  “What do you mean? You can’t mean our agreement” Audrey’s anger was up. He could hear it rising in her voice. “I asked you to play the ardent suitor, and in return I’d guide a few investments for you. You got your money, and I got my freedom. I’m not to blame if you decided to fall in love with me!”

  “Y
ou never told me what you needed your freedom for!” Gannon exploded.

  “There was no need to. It didn’t change the nature of our bargain,” she said coolly.

  “No, it didn’t, but the nature of our kisses did!” He wanted to shake the little minx. Couldn’t she see what was right in front of her? Anger warred with frustration. Gannon crossed the room to Audrey’s side in three long steps and seized her roughly by the shoulders, his mouth finding hers in a bruising kiss that would not be gainsaid. But it was not a punishing kiss, and her body recognized that. After the initial onslaught, she molded herself against him, her arms about his neck, pulling him to her, as hungry and desperate as he.

  Gannon pulled back. If this kiss went on much longer, he wouldn’t be able to stop. “Audrey, don’t deny us this.” His voice was hoarse with need. “You can study piano in England. You’ll have the best instructors. I won’t deny you your music. You can have both. I’ll buy you the finest piano available. We can have a long engagement or a short one, whatever you prefer. Just say yes” It was the best, last offer he could make. There was nothing else to give her, no other argument to make.

  Something changed in her eyes. She hesitated for a moment. “A short engagement would be best, I think,” Audrey said quietly. “The sooner the better.”

  Gannon should have heard the warning in that, but in his elation, he chose to overlook it. Audrey was his! He took her face in both his hands and offered a gentle kiss full of promise. “You’ve made me the happiest man alive.” He kissed her again and swung her about in his arms. She smiled at his excitement.

  “I suppose we should go and tell my parents,” Audrey said after he’d put her down.

  “Wait. Before we do that, I have something for you. I’d rather give it to you privately.” Gannon reached inside his coat pocket and took out a small velvet box. He flipped open the lid to reveal a ring set with a blue sapphire. “This sapphire is part of the Camberly jewels.” They were part of his entailment and could not be sold. At the time, Gannon had been disappointed. He’d gladly have sold the gems for another harvest. Now, watching Audrey’s face light up in awe of the ring, he was glad he hadn’t.