Surely, he could not know what she was thinking, Alyssa told herself as she went to Ellen’s side, where she was heartened to see how much normal colour had returned to the girl’s cheeks.
“How are you feeling?” Alyssa asked gently as she felt the invalid’s forehead and soothed back her tangled brown curls.
“Much better,” Ellen said, staring up at her visitor with frank curiosity. “Papa says you are going to become my mama. I think I shall like that.”
“Would you?” Alyssa asked as she squeezed the girl’s thin hand.
“Yes, I think so. Jeremy does not like it very much, though. He says you are very bossy and shrewish, but Papa says that I am not to worry. You will not be like that.” The girl’s brown eyes, suddenly worried, searched Alyssa’s. “Will you mind that I am an invalid, or do you think you can love me?”
“I would love you very much,” Alyssa cried, her voice catching. She bent down and kissed Ellen’s cool forehead. “Good night, little one.”
When Alyssa emerged into the hall, Carlyle was waiting there for her. “To answer your silent question,” he said coldly, “Ellen is my daughter in every respect, save perhaps biologically.”
He was a mind-reader! Alyssa thought, mortified that he had guessed what she was thinking.
“Even biologically, it is possible, indeed probable, that I am her father.”
Alyssa remembered what Hester had said about the month that he had spent closeted with his wife in London before they went their separate ways.
“But it matters not,” he continued. “Make no mistake: to me, Ellen is my child. I would never want her to have the tiniest doubt of it.”
Alyssa looked at him with glowing eyes. “How good you are!”
As he looked into her expressive face, his breath caught, and he held it for an instant before saying briskly, “Nonsense! Innocent children should not be made to pay for their parents’ failings.”
He took Alyssa’s arm and pulled her hastily into his private sitting-room lined with informal portraits of his family. She started to protest, but he silenced her saying, “I only want to talk. Your honour is safe with me.”
“Too safe,” she answered tartly.
“What do you mean by that?”
“We would both be happier if you forgot both it and marrying me.”
His penetrating eyes were studying her face. “How red your eyes are.” His thick brows knit together in a scowl. “You said to me earlier that you would not lie to me. Tell me the truth, now. Is the thought of marrying me so utterly reprehensible to you?”
“No,” she admitted miserably, staring at the wall beyond his head.
“Then why are you being so damned stubborn?” he exploded.
Tears glistened in her eyes. “I am trying to save you from a marriage of convenience that you do not want.”
His thick brows raised like twin question marks. “Trying to save me, my dear Alyssa?” He stared at her for a long, startled moment before continuing cheerfully, “Well, and so you have. I withdraw my offer of such a marriage.” He grinned so happily at her that her heart seemed to split in two. “I warned you not to push your luck too far.”
“Thank God,” she murmured, trying to sound delighted, but it was exceedingly difficult to do so because the giant lump that had formed in her throat at his words was choking her. Now that she had achieved her goal, all she wanted was to throw herself on her bed and sob her heart out. Struggling to retain her composure, she bowed her head and said quietly, “I will leave in the morning.”
“Much as it pains me to deny you anything, my dear Alyssa, that is not possible,” he replied firmly. “I shall require your company at Beauchamp for a considerable time yet.”
“But—But you just said that you were withdrawing your offer of marriage.”
“Yes, I am rescinding my offer of a marriage of convenience. Now I intend to have the kind of union with you that I want.”
“A carte blanche?” she gasped, whitening.
“Good God, no! I want that no more than I want a pallid charade. I wish ours to be a real marriage in every sense of the word.”
“But you neither love nor want me.”
His gold-flecked eyes regarded her in astonishment. “Peagoose! But of course I love you! Why the devil else would I want you to be my life’s companion?”
Her eyes widened in startled disbelief. He laughed and drew her into his arms. Slowly, lovingly, his sensual mouth descended on hers, and he kissed her with a fierce passion that demanded and received a like response from her. When at last he lifted his head, her heart was beating in triple time, her arms remained tightly around him, and she radiated a happiness that was reflected back at her from his gold-flecked eyes.
She stared at him wonderingly. “But if you love me, why did you offer me a marriage of convenience?”
He stroked her hair tenderly. “I was certain that after all that I had done and said to you, you would reject anything more. I hoped that after we were married I could in time make you care for me—although I was far from certain of that. I was so afraid that I would be condemned to a sham of a marriage with you, when I wanted so much more.” He hugged her as though he feared that she might somehow still escape him. “Why did you refuse my proposal? I was trying to be understanding.”
“What was so understanding about telling me that I was free to take other lovers, when I want none ever but you?” she demanded indignantly.
He laughed, a deep, happy, possessive laugh. “You might have enlightened me.”
“I did not think that you wanted either me or my love.”
“Not want you, you divine creature? My God, I was jealous of my own son. And furious at your grandfather, too. If I had met him before I learned the truth about your relationship, I doubt that he would have survived the encounter! I have been fascinated by you since that day we met in the park.”
“So fascinated that you did not even ask my name!”
He chuckled, and his finger traced her lips lightly. “I knew that would pique you. When I did find out who you were, I was utterly baffled by the contradiction between what you seemed and what you were.” He sighed unhappily. “If only I had listened to my instincts.”
“Instead, you were determined to think the worst of me.”
“With a good deal of assistance from you and that vulgar mama of yours,” he retorted with a grin.
The glow faded from Alyssa’s face at the mention of her mother, and she felt it her unhappy duty to try once again to bring Carlyle to his senses. “Only think what a dreadful mésalliance you will be making if you marry me.”
“Not a mésalliance, my darling, a grand alliance!”
She could not help giggling, but still she persisted. “Recollect that you swore you would move heaven and earth to keep me from being the next Duchess of Carlyle.”
“Now I would happily move both to assure that you are. Moving them, however, is not half so formidable a task as winning your consent, my stubborn lady of the laburnum.”
Her eyes glowed mischievously. “But remember how easily you are bored.”
He sighed. “I see that you mean to throw every foolish thing that I said to you back in my teeth. Boredom is the least of my fears with you. I may come to yearn for it occasionally.” His mouth poised above hers, so close that his warm breath caressed her lips. “Are you going to marry me tomorrow?”
She smiled, eyes brimming with her love for him. “If you insist.”
His lips brushed hers lightly, tantalisingly. “I most emphatically insist.”
“But you never again wanted anything to do with matrimony, Your Grace.”
He grinned. “And you proved me wrong, as you have so often since we met. Now stop calling me Your Grace; my name is Richard.”
Her face glowed impishly. “Much as it pains me to deny you anything,” she said, deliberately echoing his earlier words to her, “I prefer ‘my love’.”
sp; Marlene Suson, The Duke's Revenge
The Duke's Revenge Page 20