In The Prince's Bed (15 page)

“I showed how earnest I was when I kissed you. Several times, I might add.”

“Yes, but that’s just… well…”

“Physical desire?” He advanced on her. “That’s more than many married couples have.”

“But less than I want,” she whispered.

“It’s more than you’ll get fromSydney.”

She pressed her fingertips to her temples, rubbing circles on them. “I can’t marry you, Alec.”

By God, she would turn him down before he even asked. He couldn’t let her. “I haven’t asked you to marry me.”

She tipped up her chin. “You asked permission to court me, which is practically the same thing. And there’s no point. I won’t marry you.”

Think, man. Give her a reason for continuing this that she’ll accept. “You don’t have to. I only spoke of courtship to your mother because I saw you weakening in your determination to continue this scheme withSydney. So I took steps to make sure we continue.”

A strange mix of emotions crossed her face. “If that’s your plan, I can relieve you on that score. The truth is, I suspectSydneyand I are done anyway.”

“Really?”

“I told him it was over betweenus. Unless he makes an offer, I want nothing to do with him, and since he seems in no hurry to do that…” She gave him a shaky smile. “So you see, there’s no reason for you to take such a high-handed measure. I’ve given up on making him jealous.”

When her bitter tone showed she meant it, triumph surged through Alec. Until he realized she was trying to tell him his “services” were no longer needed.

Like hell they weren’t. “Ah, but you still want to marry him, don’t you?”

“I… I… it’s hopeless. He’ll never marry me.”

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“Last night you would have said he’d never kiss you, but he did. Who knows how he’ll react if he learns I’m courting you? I’m sure your mother will spread that news quickly, so he’s bound to hear. And then…” He shrugged.

She stared at him with suspicion. “I don’t understand why you care.”

Dragging her into his arms, he nuzzled her hair. “I’m not ready to give up the chase, sweetheart. Why, we’ve hardly even become acquainted.” Something he fully intended to remedy, now that he’d made his intentions clear.

“We’re far too acquainted, if you ask me,” she hissed, and cast a furtive glance at the door. “Let go of me, Alec. Mama might see.”

He hoped she did; then Katherine would have to marry him. “Do you think she’d care? She’s so eager for a marriage betweenusthat she’d dance for joy.”

Katherine stiffened. “She’d insist that you marry me right away.” Her voice was a breathy whisper that fired his blood. “Doesn’t that worry you?”

“I enjoy taking risks,” he murmured, then pressed his lips to her heated cheek. She drew her head back to glare at him. “But I don’t.”

“Don’t you? You like riding headlong throughLondon— that’s a risk.” He traced her mouth with his thumb. “You like kissing me—that’s a risk. So why not take the ultimate risk? Let me court you. It will drive yourSydneyinsane.” He smiled, devilishly.

Her breath quickened. “But will it make him offer for me?”

“If not, at least you will have done everything you could to win him.” He heard her mother’s step in the hall. “Think of it this way, sweetheart—it will keep your mother from plaguing you for a while. Whereas if you tell her thatSydneyis no longer interested, she’ll expect you to entertain offers from men you don’t know. At least with me, you know what you’re getting.”

She lifted one eyebrow.

“You know I won’t hurt you. And if it doesn’t work, what have you lost?”

Katherine sighed. “All right. I suppose it’s worth a try.” Then she slipped from his arms. “But no more of this… reckless behavior, do you hear? Or you’ll find yourself married to me whether you want it or not.”

He bit back a grin. He damned well hoped so.

For the next hour, Katherine smiled and endured her mother’s unsubtle probing into the earl’s affairs, but her mind was awhirl.

And if it doesn’t work, what have you lost?

Her heart? No, she wouldn’t lose her heart to such a rogue—she wouldn’t allow it. But she might lose
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her freedom to choose her own husband.

He’d already proved she wasn’t immune to his advances. Every time he kissed her… Well, she’d simply have to hold firm on her no-kissing rule.

If only he didn’t make it so difficult. Especially when he showed his charming side. Look at how kindly he’d treated Molly earlier, too. From the tenets in
The Rake’s Rhetorick
, she’d assumed all rakes were selfish boors. Papa had always ranked his own needs above anyone else’s. But Alec had endured a poetry reading to be with her. All right, so he’d poked fun at the poets and demanded a kiss for his trouble…

She scowled. Yes, he had, hadn’t he? A kiss and much more. That was the trouble with men like him—they would do anything to seduce a woman. Idly, she rubbed the hand he’d caressed earlier. Given how easily he could breach her defenses, she must be out of her mind to go along with his scheme. And yet… she
did
enjoy his company. He made her laugh, something she sorely needed these days. And if he did hope to seduce her in the end—which was clearly his aim—she could withstand that. She knew Alec for what he was, and as he had said, knowledge was the best defense. Or was that one more tactic to seduce her?

“You are very quiet, my angel,” Mama said from her seat on the sofa beside Alec. “You haven’t asked Lord Iversley one question about his estate inSuffolk.”

“That’s because you were handling it quite nicely, Mama.”

Besides, she would never get to see his estate. But she wished she could. From his fervent descriptions, Edenmore sounded as idyllic as its name, and for a man pleasure-bent, he seemed inordinately proud of it.

“Surely you’re curious,” Mama persisted. “I know how interested you are in household management—always questioning Cook about this or that.”

Katherine gave her mother a tight smile. “Somebody has to.”

“Nonsense. These things take care of themselves if you have a good housekeeper.” She turned to Alec.

“I’m always telling her she doesn’t have enough fun. She’s so serious all the time, worrying about the price of our coal and such.”

Alec’s gaze fell warmly on her. “Not a frivolous woman, I take it?”

“No, indeed. That one could use some frivolity. She’s too dull by half.”

Katherine stuck out her chin. “That’s not true. I ride and I read.”

Mama shook her head. “I don’t call that exciting, going off for hours on your gelding so you can brood over our little troubles… or in bad weather sitting in the window seat to brood over poems.”

“I don’t brood; I think.” More important, she escaped the mad whirlwind that was life with Mama—and Papa, the few times he’d been home. “There’s nothing wrong with thinking.”

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Her mother waved her hand dismissively. “It’s not healthy, I tell you. Young ladies should be dancing and going on picnics with young gentlemen and what all, not ‘thinking.’”

Alec shot Katherine a sympathetic glance. “A little thinking never hurt anyone.”

“But she broods for
hours
. Why, she hardly ever attends the assemblies in Heath’s End, as I always urge her to do.”

These days, they couldn’t afford more than one frivolous person in the family. “I simply enjoy different activities than you, Mama.”

“Poetry, hmmph. Too depressing by half, if you ask me.”

“Now there I must agree with you,” Alec put in.

“You didn’t seem to find it depressing today,” Katherine snapped. “Indeed, you found it quite entertaining.”

“It wasn’t the poetry I found entertaining.” He grinned rakishly. “It was the company.”

She smiled in spite of herself.

“All the same, you mustn’t let her drag you to any more poetry readings, my lord,” Mama went on, “or she’ll turn you into a dull and serious creature.”

“There’s little chance of that,” Katherine said dryly. “Lord Iversley couldn’t be dull if his life depended on it. And goodness knows he’s never serious.”

“Not true. Certain matters I’m
very
serious about.” He raked his gaze down her body, lowering his voice to a rumble. “Very serious indeed.”

He might as well have touched her, and she had to dig her fingernails into her palms to keep from blushing.

Eyes twinkling, he went on in that lazy drawl of his, “But I’d hoped you might join me for less serious entertainment this week.”

“Oh?” Mama asked.

“If you haven’t seen the mechanical museum yet, we should go there. And Madame Tussaud’s exhibit is in theStrand—we might even look in on the infamous Separate Room. Then there’sVauxhallGardens—”

“Or Astley’s Amphitheatre?” Katherine blurted out.

He smiled. “Why not?”

Mama slanted Katherine a knowing glance. “You see how obliging
some
gentlemen can be compared to
other
gentlemen?”

“Mama, please…” Katherine protested.

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Alec cast Katherine a teasing smile. “Don’t tell me somebody was fool enough to disoblige Miss Merivale.”

“Oh, yes,” Mama said, to Katherine’s chagrin. “She tried to convince Sir Sydney to accompanyusto the Royal Amphitheatre when we first came toLondon, but he refused, and most sourly, too. He said it was much too rough a place for young ladies.”

Which had roused Katherine’s interest even more, though she’d never admit it to Alec. “You can’t fault him for that.Sydneythinks women should be—”

“Coddled and cosseted,” Alec finished.

“Protected,” Katherine corrected him.

“From excitement and adventure and anything remotely interesting in life.”

She could hardly disagree, since Alec had hit it exactly.

“Fortunately,” Alec went on, “I think ladies with a taste for adventure should be obliged.”

“Of course you do,” she teased. “It keeps you from having to take them to poetry readings and the like.”

“Trust me, Miss Merivale,” Alec said, “you’ll enjoy Astley’s much better.”

That’s precisely what she was afraid of.

Nor did it help that Alec stayed at the town house longer that evening than she’d expected. He accepted Mama’s invitation to dinner and had her laughing so hard that she forgot to keep interrogating him about his financial affairs. By the time Alec left, he had Mama completely in his thrall. As she dressed for bed, Katherine realized how strange that was. Not that Mama was captivated; Alec could certainly captivate any woman if he set his mind to it. But why do so if seduction were his aim? Why humor Mama’s rude prying or laugh at her silly jokes? He acted almost as if he were really…

Courting her.

No, how could that be? She had nothing to commend her but her fortune, and nobody knew of that. Did they?

Her door swung open, and Mama came in. Before she could launch into one of her rambling discussions, Katherine asked, “Mama, you haven’t told anyone about the money left to me by Grandfather, have you?”

“No, indeed. You asked me to wait until Sir Sydney offered for you.”

“Yes, but might you have mentioned it to someone anyway? You know, to impress them? Someone like Lady Jenner or—”

“I think I have sense enough to know when to keep my mouth closed,” her mother said with a sniff.

“With two gentlemen interested in you, there’s no reason to attract fortune hunters, is there?”

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Of course not. In this, Mama’s wishes matched Katherine’s perfectly. Even if the money was technically going to Katherine, Mama looked on it as hers, to be wheedled out of her daughter after she married a wealthy man likeSydney.

Or Alec. Although come to think of it, Katherine had no idea if he was wealthy. “You didn’t mention it to Alec today, did you?”

“No. But now that his lordship is courting you, I suppose we should have your father’s solicitor speak to him.”

“Not yet. Not until we know more about him.”

Her mother snorted. “Surely you aren’t worried that Lord Iversley wants your fortune. If you’d listened to the man at all this evening, you would have heard about his grand estate inSuffolk. Twelve thousand acres, he has! That’s ten times the size of our little place. Only think of how much the land must bring him.”

“If it’s well managed. He might have no funds to maintain it.”

“That’s highly unlikely. Look at the fine clothing he wears.”

“Anyone can get fine clothing on credit.”

“Yes, but I asked Lady Jenner about him last night— she said his mother had been a huge heiress, some merchant’s daughter or another.” Mama sighed. “I suppose there will be talk about his mother’s family being in trade and such—”

“I don’t care about that. What else did Lady Jenner say about his estate?”

“I confess I didn’t pay much attention. I never dreamed that his lordship—” She smiled apologetically.

“You’re a perfectly lovely girl, of course, but… well… it’s not as if you’re a raving beauty, with that unfortunate hair of yours and those freckles. You do dress well, I’ll grant you, but you don’t even play the pianoforte or sing! And all young ladies do that.”

Impatiently, Katherine waved off her mother’s usual criticisms. “You know I have the singing voice of a frog. That’s exactly my point—why should the earl want me, when he could have any accomplished woman of rank he might choose?”

Her mother rolled her eyes. “Who knows what attracts a man, dear? You do have nice features, and you dance prettily. And he seems to like your pert comments, though Lord only knows why. In my day, a woman wanting to snag a husband didn’t speak so impertinently—”

“Mama! Just tell me this—are you sure he’s not interested in my fortune?”

“Yes, my angel. Absolutely sure. Before we even met the man, Lady Jenner said he was worth fifteen thousand a year.”

Katherine would believe it, if the woman hadn’t seemed so friendly with Alec. What if he’d asked her to lie to Mama about his fortune?