Edith Layton (4 page)

Everything had started off well this morning. The earl had complimented her on her good looks when he’d come to call for her in his elegant carriage. He’d met Helena Masters and roundly approved of her, Daisy could see it in his eyes and hear it in his voice. Even the viscount had seemed impressed by her choice of companion.

Daisy had even found the viscount amusing, at first—until he’d turned dictatorial. She’d had enough of men ordering her around. In truth, she realized now, she’d been getting so angry at his increasingly domineering attitude that she’d have insisted on buying a dress made of paper if she’d seen one, if he’d disapproved.

She’d been lulled by all the luxury, but now worried, wondering if she could afford her new wardrobe, at least enough for her peace of mind.

“You know?” she said in a bright, tight, little voice. “I think I’ve bought enough for one day. So I won’t take the gold gown, after all. My goodness! I’ve never had so many new ones at once.”

“Oh?” the viscount purred. “So you don’t intend to go into Society?”

She stared at him.

“You’ve bought enough for one morning visit, one afternoon’s walk, one afternoon tea, and an evening soirée,” he explained. “That will do for one day. No one ever wears the same garment twice in a week.”

“Maybe you’re right,” she said, whispering in a fierce under voice, keeping one eye on the modiste to be sure the woman wouldn’t hear. “But do we have to get them all at the same place? I mean, we should shop around, see if there are some for sale at a better price…and perhaps,” she added, seeing his surprise and trying to make it sound like she meant something else all along, “we could find better styles at well.”

“Better than at Madame Bertrand’s?” he asked, amazed.

Mrs. Masters’s eyes widened. Daisy realized she’d made a mistake.

“I think,” the earl said, “what Daisy means is that she’s not used to buying so much, and certainly not at one place, without comparing prices. She’s just in the habit of being frugal.”

“Yes,” Daisy said in relief. “That’s it exactly.”

“Not a bad habit, either,” Leland said. “But not one we’re used to here in London.”

“Does that mean I have to squander my money to be accepted?” she asked angrily.

“It means you must never talk about money,” he said, holding up one long finger the way a teacher would if he called for silence. “But I will
talk about money now, if only to tell you that many of the ladies who buy here don’t pay their bills for years, if ever. No one in the
ton
does.”

“Except you, Lee,” the earl said, smiling, “and me. Me, because I never want to be in debt for any reason. I’ve seen too many poor souls in prison because of it. And you, because you love to be contrary.”

“Thank you for noticing,” the viscount said, as he got to his feet and slowly uncoiled his long body. “I do try. But I also know that too many merchants who cater to the rich have to run their businesses like gamblers, and too often lose because of it. They think serving the nobility is good advertising, but what good does it do them if they only attract more rich spongers? The upper classes can be debtors because of the ever-present promise of their money, at least as shown by their inherited properties. But I think they really can do it because of all their friends in high places. If you own the legal system, you’re not likely to be bitten by it.”

“Very republican talk for a nobleman,” the earl commented, suppressing a smile.

“Yes, good that I’m not from across the Channel, isn’t it?” Leland agreed. “I’d have taken my last ride in a tumbrel years ago.”

“Of course,” the earl commented to a wide-eyed Daisy, “you know he may say the opposite tomorrow if it amuses him.”

“So I may,” Leland agreed. “Now, I’ll just have
a word with madame, and then we’ll have luncheon, shall we?”

“Yes,” the earl said, “and tell her to have at least one gown made up and ready to go by tomorrow evening.”

Leland stopped and looked at his friend curiously.

“We want to take Daisy to the theater, don’t we?” the earl asked.

“Do we?” Leland answered, as though fascinated.

“Well, I do,” the earl said. “Sad stuff to sit around a hotel room while all London is amusing itself outside your window, but you don’t know the city enough to venture out on your own. In Daisy’s case, it’s even worse, because she can’t go anywhere at night by herself.”

“Indeed,” Leland said expressionlessly. “I’m to be included in all this merrymaking, am I?”

“If you’d be so kind,” the earl said. “You know London better than I do.”

“So I do,” Leland said, bowed, and strolled away.

Daisy watched as he sauntered over to talk with the dressmaker. He was so tall and thin, she’d have thought he’d be awkward, but he moved with the same lazy, effortless grace he spoke with. Today he was dressed in black and dark gray, except for a splash of crimson in his waistcoat. The gentlemen she’d seen in fashion plates were tidy men, neat and precise. He was
much too tall, thin, and careless for fashion, but he
was
Fashion. It still amazed her.

He spoke with the modiste, and Daisy’s eyes narrowed as she saw him amble over to the model wearing the gold gown she’d wanted. He stopped and smiled down at the woman. For one mad moment, Daisy thought he was going to arrange to buy the gown for her, as an apology for how disagreeable he’d been about it.

The model was tall and slender, but she still had to look up at the viscount. She was striking, with classical features. Her sleek black hair was pulled back tightly in a bun, as all the models’ were, so as not to interfere with the presentation of the gown, or so the viscount had said.

The earl rose to his feet, too, so Daisy did as well, but she kept her eyes on the viscount. As she watched, she saw him lift one long white hand and run the back of it lightly across the model’s cheek in a careless caress as he whispered to her. He’d been right. The material of the gold gown was thin. Daisy couldn’t help but notice that the nipples on the model’s small, pointed breasts rose in peaks when he touched her cheek. She’d bet they weren’t talking about his purchasing the gown.

She was confused. It wasn’t really an intimate gesture; it couldn’t be, especially coming from a man like Viscount Haye. But it suddenly seemed like one. She frowned.

“Don’t mind Lee,” the earl said, seeing her expression. “He means well.”

“I’m just surprised,” she murmured, without thinking.

The earl saw the direction of her gaze. “Surprised?”

“I didn’t think he was interested in…” She suddenly realized what she was saying and her face colored up.

“In what?” the earl asked with interest.

Well, in for a penny, she thought, in for a pound. There was no time like the present to find out about the earl.

“In…females.”

The earl’s eyebrows shot up. “
Lee?
You wondered that about
him
?”

“I didn’t mean to offend,” she said quickly. “It’s none of my business. But the way he talks…I mean,” she said, backing off the subject when she saw his obvious astonishment. “Forgive me! You must remember how it was back at the colony: What you think is what you say and devil take the hindmost. I’ve been gone from England too long, I need to retrain my tongue as well as my manners.”

The earl became thoughtful. He looked over at the viscount and the model who was now staring, as if mesmerized, up into his eyes, and a slow smile dawned on his own face. “Well,” he said slowly, “there’s a thought, indeed. How amusing,”
he murmured as if to himself, his eyes sparkling. “How ironic. I’d share it with him if it weren’t impossible.”

He looked back to Daisy, and then said sincerely, “All I’ll say is that you needn’t worry about Leland’s attentions, my dear.”

“Oh,” she said. So it was true. But then, what about Geoff himself?

“Whatever else he is, Leland is entertaining, good company, and a good man under all his affectation,” the earl went on, “which is why I like to spend time with him, as do my sons.”

“Doesn’t living with him become trying, though?”

“Living with him?” The earl laughed. “Daisy, the fellow runs tame at my house, but he doesn’t live there!”

“Oh,” she said, and beamed her vast relief at him.

“So, shall we?” he asked, smiling down at her in turn as he offered her his arm.

“Thank you, yes,” she said, taking his arm and looking up at him as though he’d presented her with a gift, and so not noticing that the viscount was now watching them, or the slight concerned frown he wore as he did.

“Y
ou haven’t come to see me in too long, my lord,” the woman said dramatically. “At last, in far too long a time for me. I must know, so I can try to go on. Have you found another?”

She lay back on the couch, her filmy gown in artful disarray, one knee bent, her skirts rucked up to show her long legs. Her long dark hair was the only thing covering her shapely naked breasts.

“I seem to recall you said those exact lines the night I met you,” Leland answered, eyeing her with a smile.

She looked puzzled.

“You were in
The Lady’s Surprise
that night. The
supporting role, too,” he added, “and you were very good.”

She was diverted. “Yes, I was. Fancy you remembering that! And not even at the Haymarket, but at that little theater in Brighton. You never said! Is that why you looked me up when I came to London?”

“No. In London, I looked up at the stage, saw you again, and knew Fate had been kind,” he said, his hand on his heart.

“Aye, well,” she said, sitting up. “It was a good line, and it applies now though, don’t it? You’re done with me, are you?”

He shrugged. “Not ‘done,’ surely. That sounds so fatal, so
culinary.
But yes, our time together is ended, I fear. Come, I haven’t hurt you in any way. It was a brief but lucrative fling for you, wasn’t it?”

She grinned. “Aye, that it was. But for all that, the truth is that I liked being with you. At first I didn’t know what to expect, because you act so fancy. But you’re funny, and fun to be with, and clean, too. And you know your way about a girl, in every way, don’t you? Some gents are a trial, and some are just rude pigs, but you made sure to give as much as you got, and I’m grateful for it. I know a likely lad or two willing to keep me company when I’m not working, so I like meeting a gent I can imagine might be one of them. Combines business with pleasure, so to speak, but it’s rare. So thanks.”

He smiled. She’d never said so much at one time before, and her new, less theatrical personality was charming. It was too bad she’d decided to be herself with him only when he’d decided to be rid of her. But her few weeks were up. He never kept a mistress longer. It became too hard to forget he was paying for her company. That was why he didn’t visit brothels, either.

But he did so enjoy sex with a warm, willing partner. There was nothing like the feeling of a female body pressed to his own, nothing to make him feel more connected to another being, and not just in body. Ecstasy was the goal, but so was the feeling, for a few minutes, that he was no longer alone, that he was part of something more.

He had few acceptable outlets for such intimacy. Though he loved the act, he was fastidious. A stupid woman with a magnificent body attracted him no more than a fine-looking filly might. He didn’t desire a healthy animal; his partner had to have brains as well as beauty. If a woman was educated, he was willing to settle for less beauty. But most educated women were of his own class, and they weren’t available to him. He wouldn’t conduct affairs with married women, as so many men of his rank did. Nor could he with his social inferiors, however smart or beautiful they might be. They needed marrying, it was only fair, and he always tried to be a fair man.

He didn’t want to marry, certainly not after
what he’d seen of the institution of marriage in his own life. Even so, he’d loved once or twice, and lost both times: once to a fellow with a higher title, and once to one with worse intentions. True, he’d never actually asked either lady to be his wife, but he’d been working up to it.

He had the reputation of a predator. He agreed with that, because he’d read that wolves spent more time looking for prey than actually devouring any. It was a wonder they survived. He often thought the same about himself.

“Want to stay for a cuppa, at least?” his soon-to-be ex-mistress asked perkily. “I’ve got a tea-kettle; I’m not the only thing here that’s hot, you know.” She laughed. It did wonderful things to her half-clad body.

His smile changed. He cocked his head and looked at her with interest.

She saw it. “Ah, why not?” she asked, reaching her arms out to him. “You’ve paid enough. This one’s my treat, my lord. Let’s see how different that makes it.”

It was late afternoon; he’d come to settle matters with her because he’d seen someone more interesting. But her smile was genuine, and her welcome was as well. That was a novelty, and therefore, irresistible.

“Yes,” he said as he sat. He ran a slow hand through her glossy hair and watched it slide through his fingers. He felt the peak of the silken breast beneath the silken mane rise to his hand.
“Yes, thank you very much,” he breathed as he bent to her.

“My lord,” his butler said as Leland came in the door “You’ve a guest waiting for you, in your study.”

Leland looked up with interest. His butler was trying to conceal a smile. Then his guest had to be someone he knew well. Geoff? He strode to his study and saw the young gentleman who was waiting for him: a lean fellow of middle height, with regular features except for his long, aristocratic nose. His hair was jet, his smile was a startling slash of white in his face because he was dark as a Gypsy, though his eyes were as cobalt blue as his host’s.

“Daffy!” Leland exclaimed.

“Lee!” the young man said, rising to his feet. “About time you came home! What have you been up to? Oh, the devil, who cares? Good to see you!”

The two men embraced, then thumped each other on the back.

“Sit, do sit down,” Lee said, stepping back and examining his guest, “Lord! Look at you!”

“Look at what?” the other asked, confused.

“You’re
happy,
Daffyd. My God! You
ooze
contentment from every pore. Marriage has been more than a tonic for you, it’s been a cure.” He walked a circle around the other man. “No question about it.”

“Yes,” Daffyd said with a lopsided grin, “for once, brother, I won’t argue. If I’d known what a wedding would do for me, I’d have done it years before, if I could have, but I only met my lady by luck, so I couldn’t…Good God! Listen to me, I’m babbling.”

“Good,” Leland said. “Now sit. Babble to me. Tell me everything, the how and why of being happy.”

Daffyd did, at length. He talked about how the renovations on the estate he’d bought were going, the way his lady was planning her garden, the problems with servants, from masons to housemaids. The only reason Leland’s eyes didn’t assume their familiar half-lidded bored expression was that he was genuinely happy for his half brother. Born of the same mother, Leland was an eldest son and heir to title and fortune. Daffyd was the illegitimate result of his mother’s fling with a wandering Gypsy, abandoned by her at birth and heir to nothing but hard work.

The two had met as adults and found they shared more than dislike for their mother’s coldness. They had the same quick wit, and for all the different upbringings, the same scruples. Both could also summon irresistible charm if needed: they’d had to in order to survive their equally difficult childhoods.

Finally Daffyd stopped talking and smiled sheepishly. “I’m a dead bore now, right? Serves you right for asking.”

“No, I let bores know when they fill me with ennui. It’s my specialty. I was actually listening. I’m pleased things are going well for you and Meg. Where is she, by the way?”

Daffyd’s smile was brilliant. “You’re the first to know. She’s home because she couldn’t stand traveling; she’s too busy being carriage sick on land that doesn’t move. Lee, she’s expecting our baby in the summer! That’s really what’s got me babbling. Me, a father! Can you believe it?”

“I can, and a damned fine one you’ll be. Congratulations!”

“Not yet!” Daffyd warned him. “Too soon. My Gypsy grandmother would have your head for saying that. When the babe cries out for the first time, telling us his name,
then
I’ll take your congratulations, and gladly.”

“I’ll be sure to be there to hear it, if I’m invited.”

“As if you wouldn’t be! I came to London to tell you and Geoff. I’ll ride out into the countryside to tell Amyas and Christian, when I’m done here. Letters are for you
gadjes
; I needed to see faces. I want all of you to come visit with us as soon as the house is finished. Why the frown? I thought you were happy for me.”

“When did you last hear from Geoff?” Leland asked quietly.

Daffyd’s eyes flew wide; he sprang from his chair. “What? He’s sick? I didn’t know!”

“No, no, sit down. He’s well. Gads, what a firework you are.”

Daffyd sat, but the viscount didn’t. He began to pace. That was so unusual that Daffyd frowned as he watched the tall figure range the room.

“No, Geoff’s healthy, wealthy, and wise, as always,” Leland said. “It’s just that…Damnation, the thing is that he’s lost his heart, if not his head. He’s met a female, Daffy, and he seems to be in love with her.”

“Well. Well, well,” Daffy said, sinking back into his chair. “What do you think of that?”

“Not much. Which is why I’m telling you before you see him and meet her. Although I think you may know her already. She’s from New South Wales.”

Now Daffyd scowled. “Not
Millie Owens
? Damnation. She’s the only one with enough gall to pursue him, unasked. She has the sensitivity of a brass monkey. Of course she’d follow him over the rainbow if she heard he came into money. But why would he choose her? It was only a brief affair, and I think he must have been drunk as a monkey at that, to start up with her in the first place…”

“It is not Millie Owens.”

Daffyd scowled. “Not Mrs. Parsons! No, it couldn’t be. She took up with Stanley Burns and was happy with him.”

“No,” Leland said. “He had no affair with this one; I believe she seeks to remedy that now. I didn’t know Geoff then, but I do know he’d never take up with another man’s wife—which this fe
male was when you were there. Her name is Daisy Tanner.”

“Daisy?”
Daffyd yelped. “Daisy Tanner? She’s here? Good for her. But wait—where’s Tanner?”

“Dead, and unmourned, I gather.”

“Of course not. What a thorough bastard that one was. But Daisy, she’s a darling, and just a girl! Her, and Geoff? Never. He was always kind to her because he felt sorry for her, but who didn’t? No, you’ve got windmills in your head and marriage on the noggin, brother, if you think anything would come of her and Geoff.” Daffyd chuckled.

“Whatever she
was,
she’s four-and-twenty now,” Leland said. “And extremely beautiful, charming, and, I understand, also now rich. Oh, she has a slight physical disability, too, which perhaps you don’t remember?”

“Daisy, disabled? Oh, too bad. I don’t remember anything like that.”

“Yes,” Leland drawled. “It seems she can’t stand without Geoff’s arm to support her, or see anyone else in the room if he’s there. At least, she seems unable to take her eyes off him. Her hearing is fine, though. Anything
remotely
amusing that he says makes her laugh. Geoff
has
noticed this debility. It appears to please him very well.”

Leland sat down opposite his guest and leaned forward, his eyes dark with concern. “Daffy, you and I are half brothers. Our fathers were different and neither of us was lucky enough to have
one like Geoff. He
is
wise. But men of his age are known to let youthful lovers fool them into thinking they themselves are young. Sometimes such liaisons work well. Too often, they don’t. If she’s merely looking for a father, that mightn’t be too bad. He’s good at that, and even though I think he could have more from a wife, if that’s what he wants, there’s no harm in it. But is she after something else? Why would a young, rich, beautiful woman travel across the world to London, arrive, leave the docks, and then immediately—and I do mean immediately—seek out and try to captivate a man twice her age?

“I wonder, and I worry,” Leland said, frowning. “Because if she traps him in marriage and then finds a more suitable mate, for her bed, it would be devastating for him. You know that. We both have had experience with an unfaithful wife, if only at second hand. Our mama showed us how much joy there was in it for the innocent, didn’t she? We know too well the havoc unfaithfulness can cause. I worry, and wonder if this chit plans the same for Geoff. So, you know her. What do you think?”

“She’s not married anymore, Lee.”

“No, but she was, and she’s not an innocent by any stretch of the imagination, being both a widow and a convict. Her smiles and guiles are all for Geoff. He seems to love it. So, I ask you: What can be done? Should anything be done?”

“How long has she been here? Looks and smiles
aren’t a contract.” Daffyd’s words were clipped. “Why do you think it’s serious?”

Leland shrugged. “She’s been here a week.”

His half brother interrupted him with a shout of laughter. “A week? She’s a daisy, in truth. But only God can achieve anything that serious in a week!”

“A week of luncheon together every day and dinner together every night; and the theater or the opera or the ballet every other night as well?” Leland said calmly.

Daffyd’s smile faded.

“She hasn’t gone out without him yet,” Leland continued, “because she says she doesn’t know anyone in Society, and he says he wants to make her comfortable until she does. She’s making herself very comfortable in his pocket, that’s certain. She’s delicious; I will say that for her. Her figure is nothing short of sensational. That golden red hair is spectacular, but somehow she manages to look more like an angel than a trollop. She has wit and charm. She’ll be your stepmama if this continues, I’d bet on it.”

“Not my stepmother,” Daffyd muttered. “He’s not my real father, though I wish he were.” He sat thinking. Then he studied his half brother for a moment. “And you? Have you been there each time, all this time?”

“Yes.”

“Oh. I see,” Daffyd said with a dawning tucked-in smile.

Leland waved a long hand. “You don’t. I’m there because Geoff begs me to be. He doesn’t want to ruin her reputation by seeing her alone, because even with her companion there it will look like they are à deux. He was the one to remind her that she needed a respectable companion, by the way, and I had to send her applicants for the position. Thank God I was visiting at the time she landed herself on Geoff, after stepping off the docks and into his life with only a maid in tow. I knew a good employment agency, or who knows what she may have accomplished by now?