The Inheritance (28 page)

“I’m not going to kiss you, you’re going to kiss me,” Nicholas replied in a silky voice.

“Or else?”

“Exactly.”

“Let go of me first.”

Nicholas released her wrist. She resisted the urge to rub it with her other hand to ease the pain. “Stand still,” she said. “And bend down so I can reach you.”

He leaned down, and Daisy gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

“I’ve been gone for two weeks,” he said. “Is that the best you can do?”

He shouldn’t have taunted her, Daisy thought. She never could resist a dare.

“Welcome home, Nicholas,” she purred as her mouth closed with his. Her hands tunneled up into his hair, and she pressed her body against his, rubbing
her hips back and forth across the crass evidence of his arousal. She would show him! Her tongue slid along the edge of his mouth without ever going inside. Until he groaned. Then she stroked his mouth with her tongue, probing the roof and the sides and dueling with his tongue until his arms tightened around her, cutting her air off completely.

“Nicholas,” she gasped. “Enough. I can’t breathe.” In another moment she was going to expire.

Daisy felt herself being swept up in Nicholas’s arms. She tried to tell him to put her down, but her corset was too tight, and she just didn’t have the breath to do it.

“What’s wrong with Her Grace?” the gardener asked, stepping in front of Nicholas on the gravel path, hoe in hand.

Nicholas saw the challenge in the man’s eyes. Hell, Daisy had tried to warn him. But he wasn’t about to answer to anyone for his behavior toward his wife. “She fainted. From excitement,” Nicholas growled. “Now get out of my way so I can get her up to bed.”

Whether in response to the duke’s explanation or the threat of murder in his eyes, the gardener moved out of his way.

A glare kept Mrs. Motherwell at bay. Nicholas used his bared teeth on Thompson and Higgenbotham. But Jane refused to be cowed.

“She’ll be more comfortable in her own room, Your Grace,” Jane said.

“I want her in mine,” Nicholas said.

“Very well, Your Grace. I’ll bring some hartshorn and a bowl of cool water to bathe her face.”

Nicholas realized that even if he got Daisy to his room, he wasn’t going to be allowed any privacy with her there. Perhaps it would be better to wait until after the party tonight to have it out with her. “All right,” he conceded. “I’ll take Her Grace to her own room.”

Jane didn’t thank him, merely gave him a look from the side of her eye that warned him to be careful with his precious cargo. Nicholas nearly smiled. He had to respect a woman who didn’t allow a man to intimidate her. Which was probably why he had put up with Daisy this long.

He lay Daisy on her bed and leaned down with his arms braced on either side of her head to whisper in her ear. “I know you’re awake, so listen to me and listen good. Tonight, after the party, I’ll expect you to come to my room. If you don’t come, I’ll come after you.”

He didn’t expect an answer, but watching her face blanch was answer enough. He wasn’t going to hurt her, but she didn’t know that. She deserved a few anxious moments after what she had put him through. He was never going to forget waking up the morning after their lovemaking to find his wife gone.

“Take good care of her,” he said to Jane. “She’s going to have a very busy night.”

Nicholas turned and left the room without another word. He was aware of the eyes that stared at him with various levels of hostility and curiosity. He didn’t care. Let one of them say one word, and he would be out on his ear. He’d had a difficult two weeks, and he hadn’t the patience to handle any
more aggravation. He had endured enough of that in London.

Where he had gotten an offer to purchase Severn Manor.

On his last day in London, Phipps had sent him an urgent message requesting an interview. Nicholas was totally flummoxed when Phipps sat down across from him in the library at the house on Grosvenor Square and said, “I’ve been approached by a gentleman who wishes to purchase Severn Manor at a price I believe to be somewhat in excess of its actual worth.”

Nicholas’s brows had shot up. “Why would someone make an offer like that? What does he intend to do with the land that he thinks it’s worth so much?”

“Ah.” Phipps’s estimation of the duke went up a notch. His Grace had immediately seen the fly in the ointment. “I believe, Your Grace, that he intends to divide the land into parcels.”

“For what purpose?”

“As you know, Your Grace, because it is in Surrey, Severn Manor enjoys an enviable proximity to London. The gentleman in question intends to sell the land in parcels to provide modest country estates for members of the merchant class who are rich enough to afford such a home, but can’t find land close enough to London to make it practical to get back and forth on Sundays and holidays.”

“Good God,” Nicholas said. “I never imagined Severn broken up like that.”

“I thought it my duty to bring the offer to your attention, Your Grace. Financially, it is a sterling opportunity. You need to decide whether you want to take this offer or wait for something from a buyer
who intends to keep the entire estate intact. I should point out, Your Grace, that there are no guarantees, whoever buys the land. No one will have the emotional attachment to it that a Windermere would have.”

Nicholas didn’t bother telling Phipps he wasn’t a Windermere. He felt possessive enough of Severn to be one.

“The gentleman doesn’t need a decision now,” Phipps said. “Unless you reject his proposal entirely.”

“I do.”

“What?” Phipps was surprised by the duke’s quick, harsh response.

“I reject the offer. I’ll take my chances on finding a buyer who’ll keep Severn in one piece. Tell the gentleman my answer is no, Phipps.”

“Very well, Your Grace.”

All the way from London, Nicholas hadn’t stopped thinking of what he had done. There was no reason for him to refuse a perfectly good offer for Severn. Why should he care what happened to the people there? He was heading back to Texas.

Yet, when Phipps had spoken, when it had been borne in on him that Severn Manor would be no more, he had felt such a wrenching in his guts that he was nauseous. Nothing should mean that much to him. Severn did.

Nicholas was torn apart, because now he was going to suffer no matter what decision he made. If he stayed at Severn, his son would be lost to him. If he went back to Texas, he took a chance that Daisy would insist on staying in England. And if he convinced
Daisy to come to America with him, it would mean giving up Severn.

Nicholas didn’t like his choices. But at least he had bought some time. Until spring. Or until he got another offer.

At the foot of the stairs Nicholas remembered that Colin was waiting for him in the library. He headed that way and nodded to Higgenbotham, who opened the door for him. He let out a sigh of relief as he heard the heavy door close with the familiar
thunk
behind him.

“Alone at last,” he said, draping himself in the chair behind the Sheraton desk.

“I’m here, Pa,” Colin said, turning from his stand at the window.

“You don’t count, Colin. You don’t want to rip out my throat for manhandling Daisy.”

“I wouldn’t say that, Pa. I’ve gotten to like her a lot in the two weeks you’ve been gone. I’d have to object along with everyone else if you did anything to hurt her.”

Nicholas groaned and covered his eyes with his hands. “Believe me, son. That woman doesn’t need any help. She does a damned good job of taking care of herself.”

“Where were you, Pa? Why didn’t you come back sooner?”

Nicholas dragged himself upright in the chair so he could reach the brandy decanter and glasses on a tea cart nearby. He poured himself a drink and swallowed it before answering. The brandy was warm going down, but it was a poor substitute for the two fingers of rye whiskey he needed.

“I went to London,” Nicholas said. “I didn’t come
back because I was looking for someone. It took me two weeks to find out that he wasn’t there.”

“Who were you looking for, Pa?” Colin took the few steps that brought him to the mantel and toyed with the miniature portrait of a pretty woman that rested there. It took him a moment to recognize the woman as Daisy. A younger, smiling Daisy. His father’s voice drew his attention from the painting.

“During the trip here, I told you the story of how I was banished from England when I was a boy.”

“Sure, Pa.”

Nicholas forked a hand through his hair in agitation. “I thought, so long as I was here in England, I’d try to find out who my real father is.”

“Jehoshaphat, Pa! Why didn’t you tell me sooner? Was that who you were looking for in London?”

“There’s a man called Estleman, who seems to have spent some time here at Severn Manor about the time … And it seems he looks a good deal like me. Or I look like him. Anyway, there’s a chance he could be my father.” Nicholas sighed. “I heard he lived in London, so I went looking for him there.”

“If he lives there, why didn’t you find him, Pa?”

Nicholas grimaced. “He lives there, all right. He just happens to be away at the moment. In India.”

“India? I don’t remember exactly where that is, Pa.”

“A long way from England.”

“When’s he coming back?”

“In the spring.”

Colin crossed and dropped onto the settee. “Jehoshaphat! No wonder you were mad as a hornet when you got home. You must have been thinking you’d finally be getting an answer and then got nothing.
You shouldn’t have taken it out on Daisy, though.”

Nicholas was struck by Colin’s words. Was that what he had done? Taken out his frustration with finding Estleman gone to India on Daisy? No. She had deserved everything he had said to her. She had reneged on their bargain.

When he had woken to find her gone from The Wolf and the Lamb, he had thought she might merely have been too shy to face him, and had gone down to breakfast in their private parlor. It wasn’t until he dressed and headed downstairs that he realized she had flown the coop, like a chicken that suspects why it’s been invited for Sunday dinner. When he found, to his amazement and chagrin, that she had commandeered his carriage, he suspected she had gone home.

His first instinct had been to go after her. But it was humiliating to have to chase after your wife. He wasn’t about to face all the servants at Severn with egg on his face. He didn’t like lies, and he wasn’t sure what the truth was. He had been angry enough that he figured it wouldn’t hurt either of them to have some time and distance between them.

But why the hell had she left him in the first place? He hadn’t managed to scare the answer out of her this morning, but he intended to find out what had made her flee. Had he been too rough with her? He didn’t think so. He would have said she was as satisfied as he had been with their lovemaking. Not that he could recall much except sensations.

He had never lost control with a woman as he had with Daisy. Nicholas frowned thoughtfully. Maybe he had hurt her. But he hadn’t meant to. And he
intended to prove to her that he could be gentle. Tonight.

It never occurred to him not to hold her to their bargain. He needed her like a desert needed water. He’d had a taste of her now, and he was a man starving for more. He hadn’t been able to get her out of his mind in London.

Not that there hadn’t been temptations.

He had called on the solicitor, Phipps, and had him track down Estleman. That had left him with little to keep him occupied. So he took in the sights he would have shown to Daisy, wondering how she would have liked the Thames, with its tide like an ocean, the Tower of London, the famous tombs at Westminster Abbey, and the Elgin Marbles at the British Museum.

Nicholas missed her too much. He caught himself wanting to turn to her and explain something, or share some wonder that he found fascinating. He lost his appetite. He couldn’t sleep soundly at night. He was glad Daisy wasn’t with him when he awoke one night in a sweat, his heart pounding.

The nightmare had come back.

He managed to stay in London only because he knew he was very close to the end of his sojourn. That he might very well have an answer to the questions that had remained unanswered for so many years. And he had realized it was probably a good thing Daisy wasn’t with him. Because he had no idea how he was going to react when he came face to face with Estleman at last.

Phipps had very nearly ended up being flattened when he announced that Estleman was in India until sometime in the spring.

“Pa, there are a few things I think maybe I should mention to you.”

“What did you say?”

“Don’t get upset until you hear me out.”

Nicholas leaned forward across the desk. “Why am I going to be upset?”

“It was my idea.”

Nicholas’s eyes narrowed. “What was your idea? Spit it out, Colin.”

“While you were gone, Daisy went to visit the tenants, to talk about the change in crops, you know. Only, when we were riding over the land, it struck me again how much it’s like the hill country in Texas. Except for the stone fences, of course. And really, it’s more grass here than brush.”

“Get on with it, Colin.”

“Anyhow, I had this idea and Daisy liked it, so we did it.”

“Did what?”

Colin took a deep breath and said, “Bought some cattle. Herefords, actually. Prettiest white-faced cows you ever saw, Pa.”

Nicholas sat back and crossed his legs, a pose that should have given Colin warning that his father wasn’t hearing this news for the first time. “Didn’t that seem a rather radical step to you? These people are farmers, Colin.”

“Not anymore,” he replied with a grin. “At least, some of them aren’t. Daisy and I figured five of the nine tenants ought to run cattle on their land. The rest can grow oats and hay to feed the stock. What do you think, Pa?”

Nicholas pursed his lips. “It’s not a bad idea, Colin. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it myself.”

Colin jumped to his feet. “Then you don’t mind, Pa? Daisy thought you’d be upset.”

“She did, did she?” Nicholas said, hiding his grin behind his hand. “And she went ahead and did it anyway?”