A Certain Magic (27 page)

She flushed. “I do not understand your meaning,” she said.

“I met Oscar years ago,” he said. “With Web. He would not have let you over the threshold, Allie. But to be doubly sure, I went there to see. Two months ago.”

She stared at him. He did not look like Piers. All the humor was gone from his face.

“Where were you?”

She did not answer for a while. “Somewhere else,” she said. “I do not have to explain myself to you, Piers.”

“Maybe you will have to soon,” he said. “You had better marry me, Allie.”

“Don’t be foolish,” she said. She wished she had sat down when she came into the room. Now she felt stranded in the middle of the floor.

He looked at her for a long moment in silence. “We both know it is not foolishness,” he said.

“What do you mean?” She felt horribly out of control of the conversation.

“You have seen yourself in the mirror every day,” he said. “You would not have noticed changes. I have not seen you for three months.”

She shook her head.

“You are not going to deny it, are you, Allie?”

“You are talking nonsense,” she said.

“Am I?” He pushed himself away from the mantel and came purposefully toward her. She resisted the urge to turn and run.

He took her by the shoulders when he came up to her and turned her away from him. He drew her back against him. She closed her eyes and bit down hard on her upper lip as he spread both hands beneath her breasts and moved them slowly down her body. She rested her head back against his shoulder.

“You must be very thankful for this modern fashion of gowns that fall loose from beneath the bosom,” he said. “They hide the loss of a waistline quite admirably.”

She said nothing. What was there to say?

“So, Allie.” He kept his hands spread on her. He spoke into her ear. “You had better marry me.”

“No,” she said. “Never.” She pushed herself away from him. “Go away, Piers. Please go away.”

“And let my child be born a bastard?” he said. “And let him have Web’s name? No, not that, Allie. Web always had everything I most wanted. And though I always envied him, I was never jealous, for he deserved everything he had a thousand times more than I would have done. But I will not allow him to have my child.
Our
child. Don’t expect that of me.” 

“You don’t have to take responsibility,” she cried, whirling on him. “And you don’t have to feel this terrible male need to protect. You don’t have to, Piers. Because to me there is no disaster, I want this child. I could not possibly want anything more. In three months I have not been able to feel any guilt or any panic. And it does not matter that he will have Web’s name. For he will always know that he is yours. And I will know that he is yours. I would not wish it otherwise if I could.”

“Allie.” He reached out to wipe a tear from her cheek that she had not even realized was there. “I wish it could be made otherwise. I wish for your sake it could be Web’s. I wish I could bring him back for you and change this whole situation.”

“Ohh!” she said. “Piers! Are you blind? Can’t you see? Have you been blind all these years? Haven’t you known that it has always been you? Always? From the time I was fourteen and in braids?”

She whisked herself over to a sofa and sat down on it. She rested her elbows on her knees and covered her face with her hands. And began to tremble. Had he left the room? Why the silence?

“So,” he said finally. His voice sounded quite unlike itself. “You can have no objection to marrying me, then, Allie.” 

“I will not marry you just because you have got me with child, Piers,” she said wearily into her hands.

“It seems we have been sharing a mutual blindness,” he said very quietly. It sounded as if he were much closer.

She looked up sharply. He was stooped down on his haunches in front of her.

He looked into her eyes and nodded his head. “Not quite so soon, though,” he said. “I had to wait for the braids to disappear and some shape to blossom. You were fifteen.” 

She lost sight of him after a few more silent moments. She was biting hard on her upper lip again.

“Allie,” he said, “A fifteen-year blindness. Suddenly ended. The light is dazzling, is it not?”

She nodded.

“I fell in love with you when I saw you that summer,” he said. “I adored you for years afterward. You were so lovely, so pure, so totally unattainable. I married Harriet to try to forget you. I finally convinced even myself that I had done so. I convinced myself that you were just the dearest friend a man has ever had. Until that night in London, Ailie. Blinding sight restored.”

“You seemed so far beyond me,” she said. “You were twenty-one, dashing, and handsome, and I just fourteen. I loved you passionately. I always dreamed of your loving me, far back where dreams are kept, though I loved Web with all the reality of everyday living. I have never stopped loving you, Piers, and I have never been able to regret what happened that night. Or its consequences. It was the most beautiful night of my life.”

“Well,” he said, running a knuckle lightly along her jawline. “Well.”

They smiled tentatively at each other in the silence that followed.

“Allie,” he said, “we must offer a prayer for Cassandra’s and Lansing’s happiness. And don’t smile, wicked woman. I am in deadly earnest. I might not be here now—I would not be here now—if they had not decided to elope.”

“No.” Her smile faded.

He reached out a hand to put a lock of hair behind her ear. “Is this what pregnancy does to you?” he asked. “I have never known you as untidy as you have been today, Allie.”

“Oh,” she said.

“Very eloquent,” he said. “Or so beautiful, I should add, just in case I have given the wrong impression. If pregnancy makes you beautiful, I shall have to keep you beautiful for the next ten years or so, shan’t I?”

“Oh, Piers,” she said shakily, “I feel dumb and stupid. I cannot think of any witty reply.”

“I shall allow you six months to recover your wits,” he said, framing her face with his hands and stroking his thumbs gently over her cheeks as he kissed her softly on the lips, parting his own. “And then give you a year or so before I set about making you beautiful and witless again.”

“Piers!” She laughed shakily. “You are supposed to tell me that I am always beautiful.”

“The devil! Am I?” he said. “I shall do so, then, Allie. On one condition.”

She looked at him inquiringly.

“That first you tell me both that you love me and that you will marry me,” he said.

“I love you.” She moved forward so that her forehead touched his. “And I will marry you, Piers.”

“In that case you are beautiful,” he said. “Always so beautiful. And will be when you are nine and a half months huge with our child and when you are eighty years old. And I love you, Alice Penhallow. Alice Westhaven. Since you have forced my hand, I will marry you, too, you see.”

She smiled. 

“Now,” he said, “two things to be done before I take myself off out of here and save your housekeeper from the vapors. A lengthy and lascivious and quite out-of-control kiss. And comfort from a mother-to-be to the terrified expectant father. Which should we put first?”

“Oh, Piers,” she said, putting her arms about his neck, “don’t be afraid. When I had Nicholas, the doctor told me I was one of those fortunate women who have babies so easily that it is almost not fair to the others. Don’t be afraid. I am not. I have been so excited for three months that I have scarce known how to contain my joy. Be excited with me for six more.” 

“Well, if it’s excitement you are asking for, Allie,” he said, getting to his feet and holding to her elbows so that she was forced up with him, “we might as well proceed to the second matter of business. Lengthy, I said, did I not?” He wrapped his arms about her and kissed her lingeringly, his tongue tracing slowly the line of her lips, before drawing back his head to smile at her.”

“And lascivious,” she said, threading her fingers through his hair and bringing herself full against him. “I like that part, Piers.”

“Do you?” he said. “Shameless woman. And out of control. That is the part I like best.”

“Me too,” she said against his mouth.

“We had better get started, then,” he said, “or that poor woman is going to be in a senseless heap on the floor outside before we reach the end.”

“Mm,” she said while she still could, “are we going to reach the end, Piers?”

“Never,” he said. “I lied. I sometimes do, Allie. Never the end, my love. Not now that I have you at last. Only beginnings. Like this, you see.”

He opened his mouth over hers.

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Mary Balogh
was born and educated in Wales and now lives with her husband in Saskatchewan, Canada. She has written more than one hundred historical novels and novellas, more than thirty of which have been
New York Times
bestsellers. They include the Bedwyn saga, the Simply quartet, the Huxtable quintet, and the seven-part Survivors’ Club series.

Also By Mary Balogh

The Survivors’ Club Septet

The Proposal

The Suitor

The Arrangement

The Escape

Only Enchanting

Only a Promise

Only a Kiss

Only Beloved

The Huxtable Quintet

First Comes Marriage

Then Comes Seduction

At Last Comes Love

Seducing An Angel

A Secret Affair

The Simply Quartet

Simply Unforgettable

Simply Love

Simply Magic

Simply Perfect

The Bedwyn Saga

Slightly Married

Slightly Wicked

Slightly Scandalous

Slightly Tempted

Slightly Sinful

Slightly Dangerous

The Bedwyn Prequels

One Night For Love

A Summer to Remember

The Mistress Trilogy

More Than A Mistress

No Man’s Mistress

The Secret Mistress

The Horsemen Trilogy

Indiscreet

Unforgiven

Irresistible

The Web Trilogy

The Gilded Web

Web of Love

The Devil’s Web

A Promise of Spring

Standalone Novels

A Certain Magic

An Unlikely Duchess

Lady with a Black Umbrella

Red Rose

Christmas Miracles

Christmas Gifts

Silent Melody

Heartless

Beyond the Sunrise

Longing

A Christmas Promise

The Trysting Place

A Counterfeit Betrothal

The Notorious Rake

A Christmas Bride

Christmas Beau

A Matter of Class

Dark Angel

Lord Carew’s Bride

The Famous Heroine

The Plumed Bonnet

The Temporary Wife

Thief of Dreams

The Last Waltz

Courting Julia

Dancing With Clara

Tempting Harriet

Truly

Tangled

Deceived

The Ideal Wife

A Precious Jewel

The First Snowdrop

Christmas Belle

The Incurable Matchmaker

Snow Angel

The Secret Pearl

The Obedient Bride

A Gift of Daisies

Daring Masquerade

The Ungrateful Governess

An Unacceptable Offer

Secrets of the Heart

Gentle Conquest

The Constant Heart

A Chance Encounter

The Wood Nymph

A Masked Deception

The Double Wager