A lump swelled in her throat. She could hardly believe any man would do this, especially for her. He truly had to be the most wonderful male on earth. “Oh, Tristan, I’m touched—amazed, even.”
“It’s more important for you to be satisfied. I expect you to review each clause carefully and let me know if you have doubts whatsoever.”
“I will, though I can tell you already that I have no doubts.” She could no longer hold back her feelings. Her tears welled up and spilled down her cheeks.
He grinned. “Does that mean you’ll accept my proposal?”
“Oh, yes—but wait.” Suddenly she remembered the baby. Her pregnancy would ruin everything! Once it became apparent that she was with child, someone in London would be bound to calculate the months and start rumors. Tristan’s career would be put in jeopardy after all. She should have realized his plan was too good to work. “Blast it! You don’t know everything.”
“If you’re willing to marry me, nothing else matters.” He gazed at her with such passion in his eyes that she wanted to melt under the warmth.
“I only wish that were true.” She looked down at the bedspread, unable to face the disappointment that would wipe away his smile when he heard the news. Her chest tightened, and she could barely bring herself to speak. “Good Lord, I don’t even know how to tell you.”
“Lila.” He cleared his throat. “I think I may already have an inkling of the matter you’re reluctant to broach. Is it true, then, that you’re...that you’re with child?”
She shot a look at him, astonished. “You know? But how could you? I myself didn’t come to realize what was happening until last night.”
“Hester figured it out. I have no idea how.”
“Oh, dear. I know how.” The heat of embarrassment flooded her body. “She and I were together when the truth dawned on me. I must have been quite transparent. Goodness, what must she think of me?”
“Actually, I believe it’s me she blames.” He gave her a half-smile. “She likely presumes that I took advantage of a woman in a vulnerable situation.”
“Oh, no. Oh, no.” She put her hand to her forehead, then forced herself to look him squarely in the eyes. “Well, you must see that your plan is of no use. If I stayed here, when the baby came early, all of London would know that we conceived the child out of wedlock. Your reputation would be ruined. I’ll have to go away and have the babe in secret. Surely Hester will agree to keep quiet about the affair. Your sister can be counted on to protect your name, can she not?”
His eyes had widened during her speech, and he shook his head as she finished. “Dear Lila, in some ways you are so naive. Once you and I are married, the London ton will consider an early baby a mere peccadillo. It will be a nine days wonder, and then everyone will forget it...forever.”
She frowned. “I don’t travel much in society...perhaps you’re right that many people—younger ones, at least—would shrug this off. But what about someone such as your father? Did you not once tell me that he is the one who has the most say about your political career?”
To her amazement, a crooked grin tugged at his lips. “This was my father’s idea.”
“What was?”
“The marriage contract.”
She gaped. “You told your father about us...about the baby—everything?”
His smile faded. “No. Hester did, which is something I’ll take up with her later. Not that I can say much to her in the end, I suppose. When I wouldn’t discuss the matter with her, she insisted I needed counsel from someone. As it turns out, she was right.”
“But your father knows that you and I have been...that we’re expecting a child?” Warmth crept up her neck and into her face. “Oh, God, how mortifying. And, more to the point, don’t you believe he’ll react by banishing you to some remote corner of the kingdom? Certainly after this he won’t be likely to further your political career. Oh, Tristan, I am so sorry.”
“Don’t be.” He set down the marriage contract on the floor and took both of her hands in his. “The fact is that the esteemed viscount himself brought up the matter of my career. He suggested it was time to look into a seat in the House of Commons, now that I’m to be a ‘family man.’“
“Honestly?” The burning in her face began to subside. His smile encouraged her. A hint of hope lightened the weight hanging around her heart. “He’s willing to accept that we began this relationship out of wedlock?”
He nodded, his grin widening. “Indeed. In fact, once he’d found out I was willing to do right by you, he seemed rather impressed that I’d contrived to lure a well-bred young woman into my bed without benefit of marriage.”
She felt herself begin to blush again, then she dismissed his comment as a joke. Waving a hand at him, she said, “Oh, you’re jesting. Surely you must be jesting.”
He only lifted an eyebrow.
Well, maybe he had been serious, but as the realization sunk in that their troubles had ended, she laughed out loud with sheer giddiness. “My God, Tristan, this means we can be together. We really can spend every day with each other, sleep with each other every night—without ever having to hide our love from the rest of the world.”
He nodded and gave her a serious look. “But only if you’re truly satisfied with the marriage contract and the plan as a whole. I would never want you to feel that I’ve enslaved you by coercing you into marriage.”
“Oh, Tristan. Don’t be daft. You haven’t enslaved me. On the contrary, you’ve set me free...free to do exactly what I want to do—to love you, openly and proudly.”
He smiled at her more broadly than ever. Leaning forward, he kissed her soundly on the mouth.
The next instant a knock at the door startled them both. They jumped apart and straightened their backs, staring at each other with wide eyes.
“Yes?” Lila rasped to the unseen visitor.
A throat cleared from the other side of the door. Hester’s voice seeped through the crack in a stage whisper. “You’re going to have to come downstairs—the both of you. Er...I saw Tristan enter ten minutes ago.”
Tristan sprang up and went to the door, unlocking it and flinging it open. He gave his sister a brilliant smile. “Lila and I are going to be married.”
“Oh, thank heaven!” She clapped her hand over her bosom. Her eyes immediately glistened with tears. “I knew you would work matters out. That’s why I didn’t stop you from meeting in here. Congratulations.” She turned to Lila and smiled. “My best wishes, dear. He will be a good husband. He has always been a darling.”
“You didn’t think so this morning,” he muttered, but his eyes twinkled with indisputable happiness.
Lila rose from the bed and walked up to her future sister-in-law. “I’m sorry to have put you through such a strain, especially when you’re...” She paused, glanced at Tristan, and then looked back at her hostess. Perhaps Hester wasn’t ready to discuss her pregnancy. “What I mean is that we never intended to be such a burden. We had a few wrinkles to smooth out between us, and we didn’t know how to do it. Fortunately, your father is wiser than we are.”
“That reminds me why I interrupted,” Hester said, looking to her brother. “Our parents will be here within the hour. Poinsett and I just received a message from Mother. I don’t know what Father told her, but she writes that she can’t wait any longer to meet your bride.”
“Oh, dear,” Lila said. At first she felt abashed about what might have been said about her; the next moment she decided she was too happy to worry. She had Tristan. That was what mattered most. And the match had his father’s approval. Though she didn’t know what the viscountess might think of the affair, she vowed she would do her best to prove herself to the woman who would become the only mother she had.
“Well, let me get out of your way,” Hester said. “Just try to be downstairs in a quarter of an hour or so. Again, my congratulations.”
She ducked out of the door and closed it behind her before Lila could reply.
Whe
n she looked to Tristan he was watching her, his brow furrowed. “Is it too much for you to meet my parents today? If so, I can tell them as much. You’ve had a lot to bear in the last twenty-four hours, and in your condition you should be resting.”
She smiled and took his hand. “No, I will be fine. Now that I know you and I can be together, I’m prepared to take on the world.”
“Very well.” He turned to face her and folded his arms around her. “But perhaps we could start with England and move slowly from here. I think I’ve had enough of traveling for the time being.”
“Oh, I quite agree.” She snuggled up to his chest, feeling warm and content. “I won’t be seeking much of a wedding journey, maybe just some picnicking in the Cotswolds. After all, we needn’t go all the way to France when we can concoct our own torte d’amour. ...Perhaps someday in the future we’ll visit Felicity in Italy.”
“In the distant future, I hope,” he said, “when we’re all too old to be scandalized. I suppose, in a way, we have your cousin to thank for the role she played in the quandary that eventually landed us here. But, frankly, her lifestyle frightens me. She’s so wild. I’d be afraid that next time we’re with her, she might somehow endanger us.”
“She frightened me, too, in the end,” Lila admitted. She thought of Felicity flying off to a foreign country—even further from her homeland than she’d already been—to be with another woman’s husband. “Well, perhaps we’ll just say hello in passing the next time we’re in Venice. I’m certain you and I can do plenty of ‘free-thinking’ here, without my cousin’s help. If we ever feel the need to consult our relations, your father clearly has more practical ideas than she.”
“Yes—and who would have thought so? Who would have ever imagined my father would be the one to sort out our problems?”
She shrugged. “I suppose the saying is right that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. You’ve been resolving problems for me since the moment we met—just as you do for other people every day in your profession. It may surprise me to have found the degree of liberation I’m feeling now, but having found it, I’m not the least surprised that you’re the one to bring it about.”
He pulled her closer, resting his chin on the top of her head. “I’m happy to be of service. Feel free to come to me anytime—even without a solicitor.”
Copyright © 2002 by Jennifer Zorger
Originally published by Leisure Books (084394997X)
Electronically published in 2006 by Belgrave House/Regency Reads
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No portion of this book may be reprinted in whole or in part, by printing, faxing, E-mail, copying electronically or by any other means without permission of the publisher. For more information, contact Belgrave House, 190 Belgrave Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94117-4228
http://www.RegencyReads.com
Electronic sales: [email protected]
This is a work of fiction. All names in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to any person living or dead is coincidental.
For the Love of Lila Page 24