An Earl of her Own

by Heather Boyd

  There seemed to be no undertone of seduction to his welcome, merely a polite courtesy exchanged between acquaintances. Rebecca took the remaining steps towards him and then dipped a curtsy. “And you.”

  His smile grew. “What are you doing wandering alone on such a glorious day?”

  She allowed her eyes to roam over his big frame for a few moments before speaking. Again, Rafferty was wearing one of his terrible waistcoats. It was too much to expect him to change but Rebecca had to admit that after last night, she might prefer him without any clothes on at all. She swallowed down her scandalous thought quickly. “I was getting some fresh air and exercise.”

  “Yes, the drawing room seemed quite stuffy this morning. You missed nothing of any note. Just a bunch of windbags gossiping about people they think they know.”

  Fanny had been holding court in the drawing room. “A good reason to be outside. Where is Ava today?”

  He smiled. “Ava has been invited to the Hawthornes to visit, and I have graciously allowed her to go without me. I trust she will behave herself.”

  Rebecca had seen the two girls together and was pleased with their similarities. “I think we will avoid disaster. What are you doing out here alone?”

  “Pondering improvements. Would you care to join me on my stroll about the estate?”

  She liked that they were not awkward with each other and nodded. “I’d enjoy that.”

  Lord Rafferty held out his arm for her to take, but she declined.

  “I am quite capable of walking on uneven ground unaided.”

  “Just trying to be a gentleman,” he promised with a laugh. “I did not actually expect you to take my arm, but I offered it just the same for the sake of good manners.”

  She frowned at him. “You’re making fun of me.”

  “Did you think I would not seek ways to provoke you just because we spent the night together?” He leaned a little closer. “If anything, I think you can be assured of an increase of teasing after such an exciting night.”

  She blushed. “Is there really a need to speak of last night?”

  “Yes, but only when we are alone,” he promised. “If the inclination strikes you, I would be most happy to have your company in my bed again.”

  Rebecca tried to hide her smile. She might visit him again but she would not give him advance notice. “I would not assume any such visit is guaranteed.”

  “You cannot blame me for attempting to coax you back into my bed. I much prefer kissing that pretty mouth of yours instead of being lashed by it. Not that I dislike our arguments exactly,” he promised. “A little verbal sparring can be quite stimulating in the right setting.”

  “Is that right?”

  But then Rafferty cursed softly. “I’m afraid we will have to continue this at another time. Your sisters are coming our way.”

  “Damn,” Rebecca muttered under her breath, too. She’d been avoiding Fanny for years, and she’d done enough for Jessica to last a lifetime. She hoped not to speak about the wedding again until the day arrived.

  Rebecca smiled when her sisters drew close but she’d rather they went away. She’d been feeling very good since she’d woken this morning. She didn’t want her family to spoil her pleasure in the day or her time alone with Rafferty. “Good morning, Lady Rivers. Lady Jessica.”

  “Mrs. Warner. Lord Rafferty.” Fanny offered Lord Rafferty a smile as Jessica linked her arm through Rebecca’s. “What a surprise to find you here together.”

  “Simply out stretching my legs.” Rafferty pointed ahead, where another couple walked together. “Everyone seems to have had the same idea this morning, too.”

  “We must join them,” Fanny insisted. She held out her hand to Rafferty, and he offered his arm.

  The pair walked on ahead.

  Jessica drew Rebecca along behind but at a slower pace. “We thought to save you,” Jessica whispered.

  “Save me? From what?”

  “Everyone knows you and Rafferty do not see eye to eye.”

  Rebecca pressed her lips together. She disliked Rafferty when he was drunk and disorderly, which had not been the case today or for the past week. He seemed to have mellowed despite his suggestion that he could not change for any reason.

  Lord and Lady Morgan greeted them with great excitement, Rafferty particularly. The Morgans were not her particular friends, but she noted the pair seemed keen to monopolize the conversation. They talked of parties they’d all attended recently, and made plans to meet at amusements Rebecca would not usually be invited to.

  Feeling out of sorts about that, she wet her lips and pasted on a smile.

  But then Lord Rafferty caught her eye and offered a small smile of his own.

  A short, small burst of pleasure washed over her skin, causing a blush. “I think it’s time for me to head back to the manor,” she murmured quickly before anyone noticed her reaction to the earl. “Enjoy your walk.”

  “Yes, until later,” Lord Rafferty agreed.

  But then Rafferty was suddenly at her side, falling into step with her.

  She gulped. “What are you doing following me?”

  “I’m not following you,” he argued. “I’m continuing my walk. We just happen to be going in the same direction for once.” He laughed and then pointed ahead. “But first, there’s something over there I need to ask you about. Hurry. I promise it will only take a moment of your time.”

  “Very well,” she agreed reluctantly. Rafferty had said he was considering improvements he could make to his estate. She followed him into a vine-covered walkway. “What is it? This?”

  “No, this.” He turned suddenly, looked around them, and quickly captured her face in his large hand. “I’m kissing you.”

  He bent his head and brushed a sweet kiss on her lips.

  Rafferty drew back and waggled his eyebrows the way Ava had just yesterday. “Just a taste of what could be yours again tonight.”

  Despite her annoyance with him for the trickery in getting her alone, she laughed. “You, my lord, have a one-track mind.”

  He nodded and drew closer. “You’ll get used to me. I’m an acquired taste”

  He stole another kiss that had Rebecca swaying on her feet. “Stop that,” she chided. “Or I’ll go.”

  His answer was a cheeky grin. “That reminds me, I’ve been meaning to ask what brings you to the country so early this year?”

  She looked at him in surprise. “I always stay at my father’s house during the summer.”

  “But you never arrive in May,” he said. “Usually you stay in London or attend a house party until June at least. You always bring that blonde woman with you, too.”

  She did not want to discuss her falling out with Charlotte. “Not this year.”

  “So when and where is the first amusement you will attend after your sister’s wedding?”

  Rebecca frowned. “I haven’t accepted any. Why do you ask?”

  “I think the next one will not see me kicked out of your bedchamber.”

  Rebecca turned away. The earl was making it very plain that he wanted more than she’d ever considered to give him, but an affair or series of discreet meetings with a gentleman had never been what she’d anticipated for her life. She wanted more than that. Respectability. A place in society.

  None of which Rafferty seemed ready to offer her.

  “You were drunk,” she reminded him, turning back. “Let us not talk about the future today.”

  He stroked her arms briskly. “As you wish, but don’t think I will stop trying to lure you back into my arms.”

  She spotted guests coming in their direction and took a step back. She pointed at the structure above them. “So, the garden arch is about fifteen years old,” she told Rafferty in a voice sure to carry well across the garden. “The vines were planted the spring after its construction.”

  “It’s lovely,” he agreed, half-laughing. “I have one just like it at home, but it’s not as old as this. You’ll see what I mean
when you visit.”

  Visit? Rebecca forced a smile but her happiness in being with Lord Rafferty diminished. Lovers were temporary, and they were never, ever to be confused with having honorable intentions. Until that moment, she hadn’t really thought their affair could be more, but she suddenly wanted a new life. One with a husband and children of her own.

  She bid Rafferty goodbye and returned indoors.

  Chapter 11

  “Are you not drinking again, Rafferty?” Lord Samuel Westfall asked as he appeared at Adam’s elbow.

  Adam considered the dregs of his whiskey he’d been holding for the last hour and decided he wanted no more of it. He was not in the mood for alcohol. Not when there were much more exciting things to do in the evenings—namely, finding a way to get near his lover of last night again.

  “Not in the mood,” Adam murmured, offering up a smile but keeping a sharp eye on Rebecca’s movements about the drawing room. Right now, she seemed intent on organizing her family yet again.

  Adam had become fascinated by watching Rebecca flitter about the drawing room, coaxing everyone to enjoy themselves. She was good at getting other people to do what she wanted without them ever realizing that she had. Rebecca had a talent for organization; for bringing people together, too.

  “I’ll have to drink the best Stapleton has to offer all by myself at this rate,” Samuel complained. “Father may have mellowed because of his marriage but has outdone himself with this house party.”

  Adam looked at Lord Samuel in surprise. “You should have directed that compliment toward your own sister. Mrs. Warner’s to thank for the success of the house party. She’s been working tirelessly for a week and more.”

  Samuel’s glance was assessing. “Is that so? She never said.”

  “It’s her way, isn’t it?”

  Samuel chuckled softly. “We started calling her the general after Mother died.”

  Adam nodded. So her managing skills dated back to that point in her life. Adam raised his glass to his lips and contemplated his unexpected lover. With the youngest sister, Lady Jessica, Rebecca was openly affectionate. But with her other sister, Lady Fanny Rivers, Rebecca seemed to hold herself apart. There was little warmth or approval when they looked at each other. Even with the Duke of Stapleton, Rebecca was far more reserved than the others. She seemed closest to Samuel and his twin sons.

  Adam hadn’t had a good reason to contemplate the Westfalls in any detail before now, but after the last days in Rebecca’s company, he was keen to know her better. Who better to question than her favorite sibling?

  “How long are you staying at Stapleton?” he asked the man.

  “Not too long. Never do. The boys are restless souls,” Lord Samuel advised with a nod.

  Samuel’s twins were a pair of rascals with everyone, except their aunt Rebecca, who seemed to turn them into absolute angels with just one glance. They did what they were told for her. They were quiet for her. They looked to her for approval. The love she bore them was touching and also sad in a way. Rebecca doted on them in a way that had Adam imagining her with her own child.

  “Your boys seem quite fond of their aunt.”

  “Oh, yes. Can barely keep them apart when we’re in the same house. Just this morning they escaped the nursery early to wake her and say good morning. She’s so good with them.”

  “She should have her own family to chase about,” Adam mused.

  “Agreed.” Samuel nodded sagely. “But I dread the day she marries again.”

  “Why is that?”

  Samuel’s jaw firmed. “It’s so easy for the boys to wear out our welcome. Warner never wanted any of us around really.”

  “Oh, I see,” he said. Family was important to Rebecca. She would want her brother and the twins to visit her in any home she lived in. Adam liked Lord Samuel already and the boys—well he’d grow accustomed to them over time. “I’m sure you’ve nothing to fear.”

  “Your girl has impressed my sisters with her pretty manners. They’d steal her away from you if they could,” Samuel told him with a laugh.

  “I’m glad, but I assure you, my daughter is wanted at home. They cannot keep her.” However, he was not opposed to sharing his daughter’s affections. Rebecca had given him good advice already, and he hoped to hear more soon.

  When he looked around, Adam spotted Rebecca standing at the hall doorway with his daughter beside her. Ava seemed unusually agitated, and Rebecca was trying to placate her. Ava should have been in bed at this hour. “Do excuse me.”

  He made his way to meet them. “What are you doing downstairs, young lady?”

  “I have a letter,” Ava exclaimed, waving a bit of parchment about. “My very first from a friend! See, it is addressed to Lady Ava Croft from Miss Olivia Hawthorne.”

  “She’s very excited,” Rebecca explained. “The footman should have given it to you first. I’ve already spoken to him.”

  “Let me see that.” He made a show of inspecting the letter, read the prettily worded thank you for visiting from the Hawthorne girl, and smiled. “I see you made a good impression.”

  Ava beamed. “Can I invite her to visit us straight after the wedding?”

  Adam glanced toward Rebecca and caught her tiny nod encouraging the idea. Going home was not in Adam’s immediate plans, though. “I’ll think about it,” he answered evasively.

  “But Papa,” Ava complained, “I already promised to let her ride my pony. She doesn’t have one.”

  Adam held up his hand to stop the flow of words. “It is late, Ava, and I will need to consult my appointment book before you can reply. I’m sure the girl can wait for an answer for one night. Her mother will understand.”

  Ava’s face pinched with worry. “How long are we staying at Stapleton?”

  He glanced at Rebecca and felt his heartbeat quicken. He would stay as long as he could manage it. He was not done with Rebecca Warner.

  “Your father has given you a reasonable answer, my lady,” Rebecca told Ava in a soothing tone, taking over. “Your father is a great man, with many responsibilities.”

  Adam couldn’t help but puff out his chest a bit at her praise. “We’ll talk about it soon,” he promised. “Now, shouldn’t you already be in bed?”

  “Yes, Papa.”

  Ava may have agreed, but she sounded so disappointed, Adam softened. “Would you like me to walk you up?”

  “Mrs. Warner has promised to tuck me into bed tonight,” Ava told him, but then a worried frown appeared on her face as she looked between him and Rebecca. “Is that all right?”

  “It is. Please don’t let me delay you,” he murmured. The quicker Ava was safely tucked into bed, the sooner Adam was free to be alone with Rebecca. He’d kept a distance since their kiss in the garden, determined not to give them away. Rebecca was quite particular about keeping up the appearance of propriety at all times.

  Adam’s heart lightened as the pair bid him good night and moved upstairs together, holding hands. Rebecca seemed a good influence on his daughter, and Ava appeared to like her, too. Ava had had little to do with women beyond his own household and his own family, comprised of old aunts who pinched Ava’s cheek and gave terrible advice.

  He returned to the drawing room, mingling with the duke’s family and guests. But the one face he really wanted most to see, the one person he felt most drawn to, was Rebecca Warner. The woman who was currently mothering his daughter upstairs.

  Adam sighed, accepting that he would have to wait his turn for a little of Rebecca’s attention.

  Whitfield strolled up and pulled him aside. “I’m off to bed.”

  Adam grinned. “The last peaceful sleep of a single man.”

  Whitfield shook his head. “What are you going to do when I’m married, Rafferty? You’ll have to find someone new to torment.”

  Adam had already found someone. He was well ahead of Whitfield’s suggestion. He might even want to keep her.

  He had singled out a suitable candidate to marry
without even realizing what he was doing. He saw nothing to hinder the match. She was a duke’s daughter without a husband, and he was a rich earl in need of an heir.

  Finding the right time to broach the subject might be tricky, though. Ask for her hand too soon, and Rebecca would say no immediately. Too late, and she might think him an irredeemable scoundrel.

  Adam nodded slowly. Yes, Rebecca Warner might just do for him as a wife and for Ava as a mother, if she wanted the job.

  He smiled quickly at Whitfield. “I’ll wake you at dawn, so you’re not late to the ceremony.”

  Whitfield chewed on his lip a moment, and then his skin colored pink. “Perhaps it would be best if I come to find you, instead,” Whitfield suggested. “To avoid any awkwardness.”

  Adam almost laughed out loud. He’d already suspected the wedding was mere formality between Whitfield and Lady Jessica. It was the way they looked at each other that gave them away. He’d wager they were already spending every night together. “Understood.”

  Whitfield moved away, made a show of wishing his future wife good night, before appearing to depart the manor for his neighboring estate.

  Adam watched closely and in less than five minutes, Lady Jessica was declaring herself exhausted, too.

  He kept his amusement to himself as she left the room, no doubt intent on a pre-wedding assignation with her betrothed, and found an out-of-the-way spot to observe his acquaintances.

  Most were married, half happily.

  Yes, Adam would like to be married again. To have Rebecca host a gathering of their mutual friends like this at Gable Park, and when it was all over, they could slip away together.

  Yet, he hadn’t the faintest idea if Rebecca might consider him a potential spouse or even want to marry again. She seemed to have a full life chasing her own family about. She spent most of her time living in their homes.

  He would have to pick the moment he broached the subject very carefully if he wanted the best outcome.

  Shivers tickled the back of his neck, and he glanced around suddenly, catching Mrs. Warner observing him from across the room. Although she tried to hide what she’d been doing, Adam was utterly charmed by her blushes.