Secret Pleasures (7 page)

“Then by all means, purchase land as far away from your family home as possible
.
But don’t drag a man from his people on a whim.
”
His father downed another cognac but put his hand over the glass when the servant went to fill it once again
.
“Perhaps I could use some food
.
They will be making the announcement soon.”

The servant nodded and went to do his father’s bidding
.
Interesting
.
The buffet table was usually his father’s only incentive to leave the all male card room to make the proper appearances at formal balls
. 
Especially one where he was the guest of honor
. 

“Hiding?
”
Darien asked
.
“Are you not to be circulating, dancing with your soon-to-be child
bride?
”

His father hated dancing and glared at Darien.

“Did you travel all the way to London to harass me
?
Is your life that lonely?”

Darien shrugged off the taunt about his being lonely
,
though his father, predator that he was, no doubt noticed his downcast gaze
.
Most likely, they both were, but Darien refused to let that soften his ire.

“I came here to stop this atrocity of a wedding
.
Have not enough people been sacrificed to your need for a dynasty?
”
Darien did not dare mention Robert
.
Robert’s education and current position were dependent on the earl’s good favor
.

“You want to stop this wedding, Darien, then you marry Arianna Maddox
.
Though I don’t think the chit’s going to be any happier with a drunk who smells of sheep shit than an old man.”

“Let it go
.
Philip died
.
Surely Maddox cannot continue to enforce a betrothal contract under the circumstances.
”
Darien paused to gauge his father’s reaction
.
As always, a shadow of pain crossed his father’s face
.
He bent his head to hide the guilty
telltale
gesture that time had not corrected in the least
.

“Why are you so determined to let our name die with your brother?
”
His father lifted his gaze to Darien’s but the fierce bravado he obviously tried to muster never materialized
.
“Arianna’s a lovely girl
.
Have you met her?”

“I was engaged once
.
That’s enough.”

“And you brought her here
.
Are you finally getting your turn with the infamous beauty
?
She’s a bit long in the tooth now, isn’t she?”

Darien jerked from his relaxed position, his shoulders squared and his body tensed for a fight.

“If you weren’t a doddering old fool, I’d drag you out back and deliver a blow for every year you stole from us
.
I would be doing the world a favor by putting you out of your misery.”

“And what good would that do, Darien?
”
His father’s quiet question was more unnerving than the violent response he would have given in his prime.

“Perhaps I’d finally find out what happened to Philip.”

“It was a hunting accident.”

“It was murder.
”

His father reached for the whiskey bottle left by the servant and filled Darien’s glass to the rim
.

“I don’t want to discuss this further
.
Not now
.
Not ever again.
”
He handed Darien the crystal glass, freshly topped with his favorite form of self-sabotage
.
In the past, it had made his father’s edicts easier to swallow.

“
Until
you tell me exactly what happened to my brother, you will never hear the end of this.
”

Darien set his full drink on the counter and walked from the room, determined to find justice, not only for his brother, but for Ivy.

***

Ivy scanned the crowd, searching for Darien while avoiding accidental eye-contact with Faith
.
She did appear wan, and Ivy feared her condition reflected something other than having her soiled laundry sashaying about with a peacock feather waving in her hair
.
Though Ivy longed to go to her, she did not want to cause her sister any more strain tonight.

Ivy wandered through the opened rooms of the first floor, finally nudging herself into the crowd gathered around the line of dancers in the ballroom
.
A country jig that sounded distinctly Irish caused the dancers to let down their guards and kick up their heels to the infectious music
.
Ivy tapped her toe, longing for the days when she could stroll onto the floor without comment and lose herself in the communal gaiety.

Despite knowing she shouldn’t, Ivy scanned the dancers for Faith
.
She loved to dance even more than Ivy
.
But no grey drab blotted the bursts of color that flashed by as the couples joined arms and skipped in a circle
.
Faith’s Puritanical, do-gooder husband no doubt whisked her away before anyone recalled his wife was once Ivy’s sister and confidant
.
At least
Faith had
married for love
.
If Ivy
had known
her sister
would pick someone who thought being poor was a virtue, she might have done a few things differently
.
Just as well
.
The money she had procured for Faith’s dowry had
instead
provided the down payment for Ivy’s house in Cornwall.

The grim-faced Henry Maddox lurched in front of the musicians and stopped them from starting up their next song
.
Ivy stood on her toes to see if that girl of his had gained a whit of sense and snuck out the door and into the arms of Robert Fitzgerald.

Before she completed her scan of the crowd gathered around Maddox, a strong arm snuck beneath her breasts and hauled her against a large, sweaty male body
.
Though the crowd around him disguised his actions, his audacity once again spoke to his youth
.
Apparently he’d just gotten off the dance floor and
damp heat
seeped from beneath his suit.

“I missed you at the masquerade,” he whispered in her ear.

Ivy leaned her head back to look at the grinning young man whom she had intended to meet before
she’d run
into Darien
.
“But were you not dressed as a sultan
?
I was disguised as a boy
.
Does a blue
silk
suit refresh your memory?”

He released her immediately.

“I was not dressed as a sultan
.
I was a swashbuckler.”

Ivy shrugged
.
“That’s a shame.”

Heads turned in their direction
.
Ivy grinned as seductively as she possibly could and wished she held an apple
.
One man let his gaze linger, meeting Ivy’s smirk in kind until his wife smacked him on the shoulder with her fan.

“Everyone, everyone, can we quiet down for a moment,” shouted Henry Maddox over the curious buzz.

“Here we go
.
It’s Judgment Day,” Ivy said to no one in particular.

And right on cue, Darien came sprinting through the crowd, causing murmurs and grunts in his wake
.
“Thank you, Henry
.
I’ll take it from here.”

Henry stared gape-mouthed, obviously not sure what to do with Darien charging at him
.
Finally he came to his senses and signaled to someone
.
Ivy spotted a burly footmen coming to attention
.
She hoped he was bringing assistance because whatever Darien had decided to do, it would surely take more than
one
muscular gent and Henry Maddox to stop him.

“Do we have an arrangement or not?” growled the younger man into her ear.

Ivy scanned the crowd again for Faith and prayed she had gone.

“I know you all came here out of respect for my father, and believe it or not, that’s why I came as well.
”
Darien rested his right hand on his heart in a testament to his sincerity.

The large crowd fell immediately silent and Henry let his hand drop from Darien’s sleeve
.
He signaled for his footman to heel for the time being.

“I know our family differences have been almost public record, but it’s time to let bygones be bygones and start fresh with a new future.”

Ivy stared at Darien and remembered him
from years
before, when he was so incredibly charming, so damned irresistible
.
Everyone had loved him then
.
Could Darien’s
earlier
disappearance with his father actually have resulted in some sort of reconciliation
?
After all the pain she had personally endured in the battle between father and son, she prayed that such a miracle could still occur.

“Ivy, can you come up here and join me?” Darien yelled, apparently searching the crowd for her.

She made a move for the door, but some smiling guests gathered to block her exit
.

“Here she is,” someone yelled and pointed.

She glared at the gape-toothed sod and
barely
resisted smashing her heel on his toe because, despite her current situation, her mother had raised her to be a lady.

“Come, Ivy
.
Father knows of our news and is thrilled
.
Join me, sweetheart.”

A mischievous grin tugged at Darien’s mouth
.
Oh, he always enjoyed to
playact
, didn’t he?

She shook her head so violently that her peacock feather almost came loose.

In her urgent need to escape she had not noticed, but did now, that Maddox’s guard had reached Darien and tried to escort him from the stage
.
Darien did a wonderful job of shrugging off the man’s attempts without losing his smile
.

“Ivy Templeton and I have renewed our engagement
.
Henry, thank you for letting us share our news at your marvelous ball.”

Ivy did not stay to discover what happened next
.
She used her elbow to create a path to the door despite grunts and squeaks from the fools who did not have the sense to get out of her way
.
She raced down the marble front steps without looking into a single stunned face
.
Though she was publicly deserting Darien a second time, she had no intention of seeking his forgiveness ever again.

In time, I hope you will come to appreciate that the burden I am laying upon your shoulders
…

Melody’s wail greeted Ivy the moment Samuel yanked open the front door
.
The shrieks reverberating through the ball after Darien’s announcement had already numbed her abused hearing
.
Were those actually cheers she had heard when Darien made his announcement?

“Miss Templeton, you are a welcome sight
.
I was debating on whether I should send someone to retrieve you
.
Our
most recent nurse has quit.”

“The little coward did not last a single night.” Ivy stumbled through the door and ripped the wilted peacock feather from her hair
.
She had dashed down several blocks and cut through an alley to find an available hack to transport her home.

“I fear so, madam
.
I begged her to stay, even offered to raise her wages, but she refused
.
Little Miss Melody has been crying since the moment you walked out the door.”

“Ivy!  Why the hell did you run out like that?”

She turned to find Darien pushing past the front door. He must have found his carriage immediately and raced through the streets like a mad man to be so close behind her.