His Courtesan Bride (Brides of Mayfair 3) (25 page)

As the group sat in the garden, munching their sandwiches and drinking tart lemonade, Evan scooted closer to Serena on the bench they shared. Then he addressed his mother quite seriously and said, “When I’m grown up, I’m going to marry Miss Ransom.”

Caro almost choked on her lemonade, and replied, “You can’t marry Miss Ransom, Evan.”

“Why?” He took a bite of his sandwich and gazed up at Serena, calmly. “Are you already married?”

“No, I am not,” Serena replied, trying to hide a smile.

“Why aren’t you married?” Annabelle asked.

“Bella!” Caro admonished. “That is not a polite question to ask a lady.”

“Why not?” her daughter asked.

Caro rolled her eyes. “You see? She’s picked up that dreadful habit from her brother. Will the two of you stop asking so many questions!”

“Why?” they said in unison.

Caro looked at Serena, a defeated expression on her face. “I do hope Christopher returns home soon. I cannot last much longer without him.”

Serena opened her arms as little Evan climbed onto her lap. “It is alright, I do not mind questions. And I am very flattered that Evan would consider me as a potential bride. Though your mother is quite right, you know. I would not make a suitable wife for you at all.”

“Why not?” came the expected response.

“First off, I am much too old for you,” Serena explained, “at least sixteen years your senior. It would be quite a scandal for you to marry a woman of such an advanced age.”

“What’s a scandal?” Evan asked.

Caro gave her friend a warning look, but she needn’t have. It was not like Serena was going to use her own life as an example when explaining such a thing to innocent children, though certainly, it would have been a perfect illustration.

“A scandal is a dishonorable or shameful circumstance that everyone talks about,” Serena answered.

“Why would it be a scandal?” Evan asked. “You’re not so very old.”

Serena laughed and hugged him close. “Not now, perhaps. But I would be once you got ’round to asking me.”

Annabelle came to sit on the bench next to Serena. “She can’t marry you, Evan. She’s going to marry Uncle Darius and be our auntie.”

Serena’s heart plummeted. She exchanged a look with Caro before answering, “Though I would dearly love to be your auntie, children, I don’t think your Uncle Darius plans to ask me any such thing.”

“Why not?” Annabelle wanted to know. “He loves you very much.”

Shock coursed through Serena’s veins.
Out of the mouths of babes
…

“I think you have gotten the wrong idea, Bella,” Serena said, finally. “Your Uncle Darius does not love me.”

“Yes, he does,” Annabelle said, confidently. “I can tell.”

Serena made to answer, but found herself unable to say anything. Little Bella seemed so sure of herself. Serena didn’t have the heart to darken this sweet five-year-old’s view of the world by telling her the truth.

Instead, Serena put her arm around Bella’s little shoulders and gave a gentle squeeze. “Oh? And how can you tell?”

“When he sees you, Uncle Dare looks very happy. He makes a silly smile, like this, see?” Annabelle tried to demonstrate, which made Serena and Caro both stifle a laugh.

“I’m afraid love is a bit more complicated than a few silly smiles, Bella,” Serena replied.

“Why?” Evan asked. It seemed to be his favorite word.

“Alright, those are enough questions for the moment,” Caro said, quickly. “Children, finish your refreshments outside, then play together in the yard. Miss Ransom and I will be in the cottage for a time.”

Serena and Caro stepped into the relative peace of the little cottage, where the only sound was the ticking of a clock.

“I don’t know how you do it, Serena,” Caroline said, plunking herself down on the sofa and shaking her head in wonder.

“Do what?” Serena took a seat in a nearby wing chair.

“Play with the children with such boundless energy. I confess I do not possess it, though I wish I did.”

Serena smiled. “In truth, I cannot help myself but join in the fun. Evan and Annabelle are wonderful children, Caro. You and Christopher should be proud.”

Her friend smiled back. “That is very kind. You’re right, of course. They are wonderful and I adore them, though they often try my patience. Most mothers feel that way sometimes, I daresay.” Her expression changed slightly, and she asked, “Have you truly abandoned any hope of marrying and having children of your own, Serena? It seems such a shame. You would make a wonderful mother.”

Serena lowered her gaze, working hard to control her emotions. “As you know, it was not my first choice. My early association with your brother all but closed the book on that possibility. I am a courtesan now. My marriage prospects, therefor, are nil.”

“Perhaps where other gentlemen are concerned,” Caro replied, “but surely you have considered marrying Darius, now that you have been together these past months.”

Serena couldn’t believe her ears. “Certainly not.”

“But why?” Caro asked, sounding very much like her children.

Serena rose from her seat. “Because the idea is preposterous.”

“Why?” her friend asked again.

“Hmph. Are you sure Evan hasn’t picked that habit up from you?” Serena demanded.

“I’ve picked it up from him,” Caro said. “Now, stop avoiding the subject.
Why
, I asked?”

Serena’s chest felt as if it were being squeezed in a vice. She did not wish to discuss this subject with her friend, but it seemed she was not going to get out of it. “Even if I wanted to marry someone—your brother not included—I couldn’t. You know as well as I do that it simply isn’t done.”

“I do not know any such thing,” Caro replied. “The King has lived openly with his mistresses for years. His current amour, Lady Conyngham, is married to another man, and no one seems to mind that, least of all her husband. The Queen herself is on trial for adultery with that Italian, Pergami. Compared to the King and his court, my dear, you are quite dull.”

“
Dull
, am I?” Serena said, shocked. “Well, I apologize for boring everyone with the tediousness of my existence.”

“That is not what I mean, and you know it,” Caro admonished.

“Perhaps you could get to the point then,” Serena replied.

“The point is,” Caro continued, “it is quite obvious that you and my brother are in love. There, I’ve said it.”

Now Serena truly was speechless. She paced about the room, looking for answers in the wallpaper. “Darius and I…
in love
? How can you even think such a thing, after all that’s transpired between us?”

Caro looked unimpressed. “Because it’s true. And what’s more, I think you have been in love with each other ever since you first met. Do not forget, I was there, Serena. I introduced him to you. I saw the spark in my brother’s eyes when he first beheld you, and I see it there still. And though you are trying valiantly to hide it, I see it in your eyes when you look at him.”

Serena sucked in a breath. It could not be so between them. Could it? And if it
was
so, what was she going to do?

She and Darius in love? How could she possibly love a man who had once treated her so appallingly? In the past five months, they had shared a searing physical passion that was unforgettable, to say the least. But that was all it had been, all it could ever be. And even though they had grown closer during their time together at Manning Park, it would never make up for the past wounds that still lay bleeding between them.

“I am sorry to disappoint you,” Serena replied, coolly. “But that is clearly impossible. Your brother cannot be in love with me. One needs a heart in order to love. If indeed Darius has one, which I doubt, I would wager it is made of stone. As for me, my heart was broken two years ago. It hasn’t worked properly, since.”

Caro gazed at her, sadly. “I know he hurt you, darling—he shouldn’t have lied to you. And he hurt you terribly when he married Henrietta. But did you ever stop to think of what that choice cost him?”

“
Cost him
?” Serena said, giving a bitter laugh. “It cost him nothing, and me, everything. Are you forgetting the fortune he gained when he took Miss Barton as his wife? He seduced me, Caro, knowing full well he would never offer marriage to me. My reputation was destroyed, and my mother made so ill by the scandal that she died. If that does not constitute the actions of a heartless man, I do not know what would.”

Caroline rose and joined her, an expression of disapproval on her face. “Now, this must stop, Serena. I cannot abide you continuing on with these mistaken beliefs about my brother.”

Serena looked her friend in the eye, refusing to back down. “I assure you, I have no illusions where Lord Kane is concerned. I know, perhaps better than anyone, exactly who and what he is.”

But Caro would not back down, either. “You may think so, but you are wrong. Most dreadfully so. You are not the only one who has been hurt, Serena. I see now that I have no choice. I must tell you something…even though Darius would not want me to.”

“What is it?” Serena asked. “Some sad story to soften my feelings toward him?”

“Perhaps so. You see, I can assure you that my brother did indeed pay a price for his marriage to Henrietta. One even greater than you did.”

“You will pardon me if I find that difficult to believe,” Serena said, flatly.

Caroline took a deep breath, and said, “Henrietta was a violent and hateful person, Serena, and she tortured Darius terribly with cruel words and vicious acts. And when she died, she was with child. Darius’s heir died with her that night. He believes that she took her own life on purpose, largely to spite him. I believe it too, that it was a final dagger she enjoyed plunging into his heart.”

An icy wave of shock seeped through Serena’s veins. She swallowed painfully, for suddenly her mouth had become dry as dust. “Are you certain?”

Caro’s sapphire eyes grew dark with sadness. “I wish I wasn’t. But Henrietta had confided in me regarding her condition, the week before. I had guessed the news already, having exhibited the same telltale signs when I was expecting. But oh, Serena, I was very frightened for the child, for I believe Henrietta was a monster.”

Serena finally let out the breath she had been holding. The world seemed to have inexorably changed, somehow.

Caro continued, “Of course, none of knew what she was like until months after the wedding, when she finally let her true colors show. So you see, Darius has paid his own terrible price for marrying her. One even steeper than yours. You lost your reputation. Your mother, in her frail health, could not survive the shock of it. Both outcomes were very unfortunate indeed, and I am sorry for them. But Darius lost a child, Serena. An innocent child that he will never come to know, and who will never know him. And that, my dear, is the real tragedy.”

Serena looked out the window at Caro’s children as they played in the yard. Evan was pretending to be some sort of fearsome creature, and a delighted Annabelle ran shrieking about while her brother chased her.

Darius’s child would never have the chance to play and run with such freedom. It now lay with its mother, buried in the Manning family plot.

“How did he take the news of such a loss?” Serena asked, finally.

Caro looked down at the floor, and said, “He took it very hard, indeed. I was the one who had to tell him about the baby, for I was the only one who knew, besides Henrietta, of course. I had never seen my brother weep. But he did that day—in anger, and in sorrow.”

Serena tried to imagine Darius being so overcome by grief, but it seemed impossible. Her dashing protector was always in control, always the epitome of masculine power. The pain of such a loss must have been excruciating to make him react so. “Why are you telling me this, now?” she asked.

Caro touched Serena’s arm, gently. “To let you know that my brother is not the unfeeling rake you make him out to be. I have known him my whole life. He is not a heartless man. In fact, far from it. I see him with you, and I see that he has finally found happiness. I think you both have.”

Serena gulped, painfully. She didn’t want to hear such things from Caro, not now, less than a week before she would leave Darius and return to London. Her voice shook ever so slightly as she replied, “If your brother seems happy, it is because he pays me to make him so.”

Caro frowned. “You cannot honestly tell me that you are with Darius simply because he is funding your expenses. I see how you are together. And though you both play at animosity, I garner to say it is an elaborate facade, constructed to hide your true feelings for each other.”

Serena felt an uncontrollable wave of dizziness overtake her, and she reached out a steadying hand toward the back of the sofa. “Stop this,” she whispered. “I beg you, Caro. I cannot hear these things from you, now. Not when I must return to London at the end of the week.”

“That’s just it, my dear,” Caro said. “I don’t believe you
must
return to London, at all.”

With each word, it seemed as if Caro were twisting a pointed little knife in Serena’s heart.

“Of course, I must,” she argued. “I have accepted another engagement. And after that contract is at an end, I shall accept another, and another. I am a courtesan, now. Nothing can change that. I am sorry to disappoint you.”