The Convenient Bride (3 page)

“Good m
orning,” he said.

“
Maxwell.” His mother looked reproachful as she nodded to him, but she would never dare chastise him.

Lucy just looked at him, as though she were sizing him up.

Last night, marrying her had seemed like the only thing to do but this morning, he was certain that his father wasn’t serious about this whole marriage business.

“Your father wants to see you,”
Lucy informed him. “And good afternoon.” She raised a pointed eyebrow, then turned back to her books.

“I suppose I’ll go and see him then,” Max said, backing towards the door. His mother looked sympathetic
to his plight but Lucy ignored his departure.

He knocked on his father’s door and went in before being told to enter.

“Good afternoon, Father.”

Charles put his pen down and looked a
t his son, who sat opposite him as if he hadn’t a care in the world.

“I just wanted to let you know that I'm serious, Maxwell. Either you are married
in four weeks’ time, or I will cut you off without a penny.”

“It will all come to me when you die anyway,” Max taunted.

“True, but between now and then, how long do you think it will take before your friends are tired of giving you charity? And you must ask yourself, who else is going to pay off your debt?”

Max scowled.

“Lucy told me that you had asked her to marry you.”

“What of it?”
Max snapped.

“Nothing
but if she agrees, I will wholeheartedly support such a union.”

“I thought you wanted me to marry Georgette?”

“No, but unless you can find your own bride, I will force such a union.”

“You can’t do this,” Max said, getting to his feet and pacing the room like a caged lion. “I am an adult, you cannot dictate to me whom I should marry.”

“You are indeed an adult, but you do not behave like one. My conditions stand but you are of course free to leave at any time, if you find my terms unacceptable.”

Max stormed from the room, slamming the door behind him. He wished they were at their country estate instead of in London for the Season. The only thing that would calm him right now would be riding but Arthur was in Kent, being exercised by a groom rather than Max.
They did have other horses stabled in London and Max could ride them in Hyde Park but he needed more than a polite ride, he needed to gallop across the countryside, to feel the wind in his hair, away from civilisation; it was the closest he could come to ever feeling free.

He had to get out though, to clear
his head and think, so he headed straight for the front door, not even bothering to say goodbye to anyone.

***

Max’s mother, Eleanor, wanted to call on Georgette that afternoon and dragged Lucy with her, as she usually did. It wasn’t that Lucy disliked calling on ladies, simply that given Max had asked Lucy to marry him, she felt awkward going to meet Georgette, especially since the young woman was so smitten with Max.

Eleanor was a slight lady, standing bar
ely five feet and the only attribute she shared with her son, was his dark colouring and blue eyes. Her features however, were small and dainty, with a fine bone structure and a button nose.

Lucy
kept mostly silent during the visit, as Georgette’s mother and Eleanor talked, preferring to observe the young woman before her. Georgette was a plain looking girl but not unattractive, and she made the best of what she had, with the latest fashions and hair ornaments.

Her temperament however
, was all wrong for Max. He needed someone who could stand up to him but Georgette was far too timid to offer any real opposition. He needed someone who he could converse with but Georgette hardly seemed to be able to venture an opinion. And he needed someone that he could make passionate love to, while poor Georgina looked more likely to be frightened by his advances than to welcome them.

S
he supposed that to most people, Georgette would be considered her competition but the truth was, neither of them were even in the race. It would take an extraordinary woman to win Max’s love and clearly, neither lady was in the running.

Lucy wondered what would happen if she did marry
Max and he later met a woman that he truly loved. Could she stand it if he left her to live with the other woman or perhaps worse, for him to keep the true love of his life as his mistress?

Then again, she
felt that it would be wrong to let Georgette marry him. Lucy would be hurt by his antics but she knew that she could survive heartbreak. Could Georgette?

And then she had to consider Charles’ plea, knowing that if Max never did live up to his responsibilities, she could.

But at what cost to herself? She had always assumed that when she met the right man, her love for him would eclipse her feelings for Max. Didn’t she have a right to marry for love rather than duty? Didn’t she deserve someone who loved her as much as she loved him?

She didn’t really know how she felt but
what she did know was that she had to decide, and soon.

***

Max didn’t return home for dinner that evening and the meal was a rather stifled affair. Lucy excused herself afterwards and changed for bed, then she got out her journal and began to write down more of her thoughts. Hopefully after a good night’s sleep, she would know what to do.

***

Max awoke in the arms of a beautiful prostitute, one
Madam Marie Poisson. She could do things to the body that would make a man’s toes curl and his hair stand on end but more importantly, she could make him forget his woes for a while.

He hadn’t meant to fall asleep and spend the night but
he had slept so poorly the night before and, his father could hardly get any angrier with him than he already was. Marie seemed to enjoy it when he spent the night with her, even although it was a rare occurrence.

He
did his best not to wake her as he dressed but she began to stir as he tied his shoes.

“You are leaving?” she asked in
French accented English. “I thought that we could have some fun this morning.”

Max
turned to her and smiled. She really was very pretty, and physically, with dark, almost black hair and an olive complexion, almost the exact opposite of Lucy.

He
came and sat beside her on the bed. “I’m sorry, my sweet, but I have to get home.”

“What for? You spend
all your time with me complaining about your family. Stay with me a little longer, I can help you forget all about them for a while.”

He leaned down to kiss her goodbye and she wound her arms around his neck, deepening the kiss. The passion of her embrace almost made him change his mind; almost but not quite. He couldn’t run from his problems forever.

“I’m sorry,” he said when he pulled away, “but I really do have to go.”

She pouted, stretching languorously, the swell of her breasts peeking out from the covers, tempting him. Marie was a skilled lover, knowing exactly how to tempt a man. The very artifice of her actions however, made them easier to resist; or at least it did once you recognised her for the skilled manipulator that she was.

“I’ll be by in a few days,” he said, placing a quick kiss on her forehead before heading home.

He was
pleased to see that it was still early and luck was on his side when he got home, with only the servants being about. He washed and dressed for the day, smiling as he noticed Lucy’s surprised expression when she entered the breakfast room, to find him sitting at the table.

“I am capable of being up at a decent hour,” he said, clearly enjoying her shock.

“Are you certain that you actually went to bed?” she asked. “Because it wasn’t slept in last night.”

“Making a midnight run to my bedroom again?” he teased. “I thought you said we were too old for that?”

Lucy couldn’t help but smile at the memories of their childhood antics. They didn’t creep into each other’s rooms very often but when he had just returned from school, or was about to leave once again and time felt short, they would often risk it. She had put a stop to that after they had made love, too afraid of giving into her desires once more.

“I just wondered if you came home last night, that’s all, so I looked in on my way down.”

“Jealous?” he teased but as the breakfast room door opened and drew his attention, he missed the look of pain that crossed her face because yes, she was jealous.

Charles paused on the threshold as he saw Max.

“I won’t change my mind,” Charles said by way of greeting.

“I know,” Max agreed,
getting up to help himself to the hot plates on the sideboard, while Lucy served tea and coffee to everyone at the table. When he returned to the table and handed her a plate, she looked surprised again and he realised that it had been an awfully long time since he had been up early enough to eat breakfast with her. As children, he had always got her breakfast for her, it was just one of their ways.

When his mother entered
and also looked bewildered by his appearance at the breakfast table, he began to feel a little bad. It didn’t feel like that long ago since he had shared breakfast with his family, although he couldn’t quite recall when that might have been.

Conversation flowed as they discussed various topics, from the news in a letter Eleanor had received yesterday from her sister,
to local politics and the next Ball.

Max
just listened, feeling a little uncomfortable.

When the meal and
conversation was over, his father excused himself to open his correspondence in the study and his mother headed to the rear parlour, where she usually spent the mornings. Lucy picked up her post and went to follow Eleanor.

“Can we talk?” Max asked her.

Lucy nodded and followed him through into the library, where they would have some privacy.

“Have you had a chance to consider
my request?” Max asked.

“I have,” Lucy said, taking a
seat in the armchair that was among the cluster of green leather seats near the fireplace.

“And?” Max looked hopeful.

“I will marry you,” she told him.

Max
grinned and stepped forward, his arms outstretched to embrace her. Lucy held her hand up to stop him.

“I
do I have some conditions that you might want to hear first.”

His smile faltered at her words but he
supposed that it was a reasonable request. He nodded for her to continue and took the seat at the end of the small sofa, next to her.

“Number one, I am putting my inheritance in trust for our children. If I should die before you, you will have the use of my property for the remainder of your life
, but they will belong to our children.”

“Why?” he asked.

“Because you gamble, Max, and while I don’t believe you to be a degenerate gambler, I won’t take this risk with our childrens’ future. If you should happen to gamble your estate away, our children will still have something. My lawyer is taking care of the details and the trust document should be ready to sign by Monday.”

Max nodded. Were his
inheritance about to become the property of someone who enjoyed a flutter, he supposed that it would be prudent to take steps to protect his interest.

“Very well.”

“Second, I realise that you have no intention of changing your womanising ways but I would prefer it if you no longer discussed them with me.”

“But we
tell each other everything!” He sounded shocked.

“Yes but right now, we’re only friends. When
we’re man and wife, it won’t be appropriate. Not that it’s appropriate for you to talk about the things you do with a woman anyway but… well.”

“
You’re not a woman, Lucy, you’re my friend.”

Lucy took the blow well. “Be that as it
may, my condition stands.”

“Luce? I don’t understand why you’re saying this.”
Didn’t she know that he would be faithful to her? That she was probably the
only
woman he could be faithful to?

“As someone who will share your bed on occasion, I would really
rather not be reminded on a regular basis, of all the possible diseases that you could give me!”

“But you
know that I'm always safe.”

Yes she
did know that, but her real fear was the pain she would feel when he talked of his conquests.

“I don’t believe that
my request is asking too much of my
husband
!”

Lucy rarely raised her voice so he knew she was serious. “All right, fine, no talk of other women.”

“And no flirting with them in public. I have no wish to become a laughing stock. I know discretion isn’t something that you are very familiar with, but I ask that you learn to exercise it.”