Grasso, Patricia (14 page)

Stepping closer until her whole body touched it, Keely wrapped her arms around the oak's trunk—as far as they would go—and hugged it. "From the first moment I saw you, I knew we'd be friends."

As Keely was invoking the universe's unseen powers, Richard Devereux sat inside the Duke of Ludlow's study. He reached across the desk and accepted the offered goblet of Madeira malmsey, then leaned back in his chair and stretched his long legs out.

"Here's yours, my dear," Duke Robert said, handing Lady Dawn her goblet of wine. He looked at the earl and asked, "What's on your mind, Devereux?"

"With great reluctance, I must risk offending you, Your Grace."

Duke Robert stared without expression at the younger man and waited for him to continue.

"My interest in Morgana has permanently waned," Richard told him. "I do regret any hurt this causes."

"That's the best news I've heard this week," Lady Dawn remarked, earning a censorious glance from the duke.

" 'Until death do us part' can be a long, long time," Duke Robert said. "No man should marry a woman he doesn't want."

" 'Tis most understanding of you," Richard replied, setting his goblet of wine on the desk. He stood then and wandered across the study toward the window. "I am requesting Lady Keely's hand in marriage."

"I knew it!" Lady Dawn exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "What a striking couple Richard and Keely will make. Don't you think so, Tally?"

"I have no objections to the match," Duke Robert admitted.

Richard glanced over his shoulder and smiled at the sight outside the window. The object of his desire was playing an unfamiliar game with her cousins. That two gigantic warriors would attend Keely, gamboling in a circle like a young girl, touched his heart. Their loyalty to his intended wife was admirable. Richard could almost sympathize with their reason for robbing him.

"Are you listening?" the duke's voice penetrated his thoughts.

Richard turned around and smiled sheepishly. "I was admiring the view, Your Grace."

"True love does make people behave strangely," Lady Dawn said.

Duke Robert rolled his eyes but refrained from commenting on his beloved's observation. "I approve of the match," he said, "but the final decision is my daughter's. I would never force any of my children to the altar."

"I foresee no problem," Richard replied. "When she visited me yesterday, Keely seemed quite attracted to me."

"Keely visited you?" Duke Robert echoed, surprised.

"We dined together," Richard explained. "Despite my somewhat tarnished reputation, I assure you 'twas an innocent meal."

"Chessy, be a love," Duke Robert said. "Tell Meade to fetch Keely."

Richard glanced over his shoulder, saying, "You'll find Lady Keely in the garden...
hugging a, tree."

The duke bolted out of his chair and hurried across the room. He reached the window in time to see his daughter give the oak tree a quick kiss.

Richard turned a stunned expression on the duke.

" 'Tis a Welsh custom," Duke Robert lied. "Kissing an oak insures good luck to the household. Kindhearted of her to think of my welfare."

Richard relaxed and smiled with amusement. "Very loving, indeed, Your Grace."

Keely stopped short when she walked into the study. What was the earl doing here? she wondered, beginning to panic. Had he decided to tell her father that Odo and Hew were guilty of highway robbery? How could she have believed an Englishman's word? The whole damned race had no honor.

Smiling, Richard crossed the chamber and kissed her hand, then gazed deeply into her violet eyes—
her angry violet eyes.
What had upset her? He hadn't even spoken yet.

Giving her hand an intimate squeeze, Richard asked, "What game were you playing in the garden?"

Keely froze. "P-playing in the garden?"

"You were twirling in a circle while your cousins watched."

"Cousins?"

"Odo and Hew, remember?"

"Yes, I remember," Keely said, evading his question. So much for invisibility shields.

"Sit over here, dearest." Richard escorted her to one of the chairs. "Your father has something important to tell you."

"Is Madoc dead?" Keely asked, her expression hopeful. If that happened, she could return posthaste to Wales.

Duke Robert's lips quirked. "I've had no news from Wales, my dear."

"Your father consents to our marriage," Richard told her. "If you'll have me, sweetheart."

Keely snapped her head around to gape at the earl. "Marriage?" she squeaked, shocked.

"Oh, what fun we'll have planning the wedding," Lady Dawn gushed with glee. " 'Twill be the marriage of the decade."

"What do you say to the earl's proposal, child?" Duke Robert asked.

Keely looked from the earl to the duke. Was her father trying to get rid of her? She had no desire to wed, let alone with an an Englishman. She knew that a woman's problems sprang from that ruthless creature called man. Megan's miserable life proved that beyond a reasonable doubt. The daughter had learned hard lessons from the mother's mistakes. Keely would not be forced into a marriage, but for Odo's and Hew's sake she needed to extricate herself from this coil very, very carefully. The earl could still have a change of heart regarding her cousins' secret.

" 'Tis exceedingly flattering to be considered for such an exalted position," Keely said politely. "However, I cannot possibly accept."

Unused to having his desires thwarted, Richard refused to believe what he'd heard. Rejection was unthinkable. "What did you say?" he asked.

"Any woman would feel proud to call you her husband," Keely went on, "but I traveled to England to find my—His Grace. I couldn't possibly marry at this time and leave him."

"You'd be living next door, child," Duke Robert said with a smile. "Devereux is England's most sought-after bachelor, and a woman without a man is incomplete. Besides, younger girls than you are happy mothers made. Isn't that true, Chessy?"

Keely remained determined. "If—if you'd like me to leave, I can return to W—"

"What the bloody hell is wrong with me?" Richard snapped, losing control for the first time in his well-ordered adult life. How dare this little nobody refuse the renowned Earl of Basildon!

"You're English," Keely said as if that explained everything, her anger rising to meet his.

"You're almost as English as I am."

"I'm Welsh!"

"A woman in your position should be grateful for any offer, much less dare to refuse England's premier earl."

Keely paled at his insult. She knew what he meant. She'd heard that same epithet hurled at her before. The earl merely phrased himself more politely than most. For some strange reason, she'd expected better from him.

"Watch your words, Basildon," the duke growled in his daughter's defense.

Keely rose from her chair and faced the earl. "Of what position do you speak?" she challenged, her voice and her expression filled with contempt.

Richard glared at her. "Your position as a noble bastard."

"Enough!"
Duke Robert shouted, banging his fists on the desk.

"All dragons do breathe fire," Keely said, finding her voice through her pain. Without another word, she walked in graceful dignity to the door.

In an instant Richard was after her. "I'm sorry," he apologized, grasping her forearm to prevent her escape. "I—I didn't mean what I said."

It was then that Keely gifted the earl with his second humiliating shock of the day. She raised her violet-eyed gaze to his and said coldly, "Remove your odious paw from my person."

"You aren't accepting my apology?" Richard asked in surprise.

"No."

Being rebuffed twice within the span of several minutes didn't sit well with Richard. "Do you realize any woman in England can be mine for the asking?"

"All but one." With her head held high, Keely quit the chamber.

Duke Robert cursed soundly, rose from his chair, and crossed the chamber. "I'll speak to her," he said, then disappeared out the door.

Uncertain where he'd gone wrong, Richard stared at the door blankly. The chit had rejected his proposal of marriage and refused to accept the first apology he'd ever given anyone!

"So that's the fabled Devereux charm," the countess purred behind him.

"Very funny" Richard turned around. "Tell me, Cheshire. When one offers an apology, isn't the other person required to accept it?"

"I don't actually know," Lady Dawn answered. "I've never apologized to anyone. Do you really want her?"

"Does it matter?" he asked.

"Poor Richard, bedding England's myriad eager has retarded your powers of seductive persuasion," Lady Dawn commiserated with his unusual predicament. "Trapping a vixen into marriage is easier than falling out of a tree. I could help you."

Richard cocked a copper brow at her. "How?"

"Trust me, darling," she replied, looping her arm through his. "The simpler the plan, the better 'twill work. Here's what we'll do...."

Upstairs, Duke Robert knocked on his daughter's bedchamber door and then entered. She lay curled on the bed, weeping with her face turned into the pillow. The duke crossed the chamber and sat on the edge of the bed, then gently gathered her into his arms.

"Weeping is no cure for calamity," he said. " 'Twill only make you sick, my dear."

"I—I w-want to g-go home," Keely sobbed, resting her head against the comforting solidness of his chest. "I don't b-belong here."

"Basildon overreacted to your rejection," Duke Robert said, stroking her back. "You cannot believe how distraught with remorse he is."

"No, I cannot believe that," Keely replied, then added in a small voice, "I don't usually weep when people call me a bastard."

Guilt coiled itself around the duke's heart. His daughter was no more a bastard than he, but the world would never know the truth of her birth. Her pain was his pain. How could he have ruined so many lives?

"Who called you that?" he asked.

"Madoc, my stepfather." Keely hiccoughed. "I've always felt as though I belonged nowhere. 'Tis what Madoc called me—Princess of Nowhere."

Duke Robert suffered the strongest urge to murder the despicable Welshman. Because of him, his firstborn, the child of his heart, had endured a childhood of indignities. If he ever chanced to meet the black-hearted villain—

Keely worried her lower lip and then gazed at him through violet eyes limpid with her tears. She had to confide in him. Because of her rejection, the earl would probably break his word concerning her cousins.

"I have a confession, Your Grace," she began.

Duke Robert kissed the crown of her head and joked, "What terrible crime have you committed, child?"

"Highway robbery, I'm afraid."

"What?"

"Odo and Hew, worried for my survival, robbed the earl in Shropshire, and—"

"Your cousins robbed Basildon?"

Keely nodded. "I'm afraid so. Richard promised that their secret was safe with him, but now—can you guarantee they'll remain free of the hangman's noose?"

"Yes." At her expression of doubt, Duke Robert explained, "Your father, dear child, is a powerful and influential peer of this realm."

"More powerful than the earl?"

"Considerably more powerful than that sour-faced pup," he assured her.

"Sour-faced?" she echoed, puzzled.

"Devereux walks through life like he has a pike stuck up his—" The duke cleared his throat. "At times, he wears a pained expression. 'Tis a nasty habit borrowed from Burghley."

"Richard is forever smiling and finding humor in the most unlikely places," Keely disagreed. "At least, he did until today."

Duke Robert smiled. "Perhaps you bring out the best in him. And the worst." He gave her a hug. "Rest awhile. I'll send supper up later."

Keely smiled wanly. "Thank you, Your Grace."

"Remember, child. Whenever you're ready, I'll be your Papa."

Morning had almost aged into afternoon by the time Keely awakened. Opening her eyes, she stared out the window at a mostly cloudy day. Though his radiant face wasn't visible to human eyes, she knew that Father Sun was out there hiding behind those forbidding clouds.

Heavy-hearted, Keely was unable to prevent her thoughts from wandering to the earl. Richard appeared as glorious as Father Sun, a pagan god sprung to life, but what dwelt inside a man's heart was what mattered most. Though he'd sworn to keep her cousins' crime a secret, the earl had shown his English callousness by calling her a bastard. Unfortunately, even a bastard had hopes and dreams and feelings.

Keely sighed in dejection. She wished they'd met under different circumstances—another time, another place. The earl's world could never be hers. If she'd agreed to the marriage, he would regret making her his wife. She couldn't live without love. Besides, the English earl would never accept that she was a Druid.

Rolling over, Keely saw her breakfast tray and a bouquet of love-in-a-mist flowers on the bedside table. She sat up and noticed a second love-in-a-mist bouquet on the floor beside the table. A third perched on the stool, while a fourth sat on the floor in front of the hearth.

As Keely looked around the room, a soft smile touched her lips. Her bedchamber was a garden of love-in-a-mist bouquets.

"Time to awaken," Lady Dawn called, walking into the chamber. On the bed, she placed a violet wool skirt with a matching cashmere shawl and a white scoop-neck linen blouse. "As usual, I've chosen something lovely for you to wear."

"From where did these come?" Keely asked, gesturing at the flowers.

"The earl sent them this morning," Lady Dawn answered, "and I carried them in here myself so the servants wouldn't awaken you. See you in a bit, darling." The countess breezed out of the bedchamber.

Keely stared at the love-in-a-mist bouquets. Apparently, the earl's apology had been sincere. Had he changed his mind about wanting to marry her? He didn't seem to be the type of man who'd accept a simple no for an answer.

Intending to complete her morning routine, Keely stood up and stretched, then crossed the chamber to the privacy screen. What she saw behind it made her dissolve into giggles. Sprouting from the chamber pot was another bouquet of love-in-a-mist flowers.