Intentions of the Earl (39 page)

“I object. I think you're in need of my
favors,” a female voice whispered.

“I assure you, I do not.” Andrew said,
stepping closer to the shadows to determine who this woman was. It
was hard to recognize voices when they were whispering but he knew
when she first spoke that she wasn’t Brooke.

“Do not come any closer or I will not help
you,” the voice hissed.

Andrew thought he heard a hint of panic in
her voice and he stopped walking.

“Step back, please,” she whispered again.

With an irritated sigh, Andrew stepped back
and sat in his chair.

“I have some information about your wife,
Lady Townson,” she whispered at last. “She is leaving for America
tomorrow.”

Andrew’s throat convulsed. Was she telling
him this to torture him or spur him into action? His throat was too
thick to push words out and he made some sort of grunt that the
woman must have taken as a response.

“I may have heard she and her sister are
going on an outing tomorrow morning if you’d like to catch
her.”

“Catch her?” he choked. Had people taken
notice of him sitting on the bench across the street from her
house? “Where are they going?” he asked when she didn’t
elaborate.

“Covent Garden, I believe. Lady Townson and
Miss Madison were heard speaking of it to Mr. and Mrs. Banks. I do
not know the time.”

“Will the whole Banks family be present?” he
asked, hoping she’d say no.

“No.”

“Just Brooke and Madison, no maids or anyone
else?” he asked skeptically.

“Correct.”

Andrew felt the pressure lift off his heart.
Madison wasn’t a bad sort at all. In fact, she probably wouldn’t
try to stop him from speaking to Brooke. Rising from his seat, he
kept his gaze fixed on the dark corner he knew she was in. “Thank
you for the information, miss. Is there anything I can do for you
in return?”

“Yes, there is one thing.”

“What?”

“Dismiss your mistress.”

Andrew’s jaw dropped. Where had that come
from? “Excuse me. If I had realized that would be your price for
this information, I might have taken my chances sitting on the
bench,” he said irritably.

“I’m not vying for the job, I am quite
satisfied with my position,” she whispered, sounding annoyed. “I
just think Lady Townson deserves to have you, all of you. That is
if she decides to take you back.”

Andrew nodded. This was obviously a woman who
cared a great deal for Brooke, and she was only looking out for her
happiness, realizing this, he said, “I do not make a habit of
talking about my personal life; but, I do not now, nor do I plan
to, have a mistress. Ever.”

“Excellent choice,” she whispered.

Andrew took that as a dismissal and started
to go. But when he reached the doorframe, he turned back around.
He’d reached the conclusion this was a servant from the Watson
townhouse. Servants always knew everything. He didn’t know why she
would want to help him and he wasn’t going to question it. She'd
offered him invaluable information and he felt he needed repay her
in some way. “Your information has been invaluable to me, I thank
you very much. If you ever need anything in the future, please do
not hesitate to come to me.”

“Thank you,” she whispered softly.

He walked back up to his room and went to the
window. He watched the cloaked woman climb into a hired hack and
drive away before going back to his study where he stayed until
morning.

Andrew decided his best tactic would be to
accost Brooke at the main entrance. He knew there was still a
chance of missing her, but he had a better chance of being allowed
to speak to her if he waited for her there rather than outside her
residence.

He waited at the entrance all morning. He
sat. He stood. He paced. He leaned on a post. All the while
tramping down his nerves and thinking of what he would say to her
when she finally came.

He started to fear he’d missed her and would
have to go in search of her. He took out his pocket watch once
again and frowned. With a snap, he closed his watch, pushed off the
post he was leaning against and looked up. That’s when he saw her
and his heart started racing like a horse at Ascot.

Chapter 30

Brooke tried to put on a happy face, but her
smile just wouldn’t stick. She knew Madison only to spend time with
her before she set sail for New York. Unfortunately, her tangled
mess of emotions regarding Andrew got in the way of her enjoying
their day together.

Madison had convinced her to go to Andrew’s
townhouse, demand an explanation, and see if they could work it
out. But when they arrived, the snobbish man who answered the door
informed them stiffly that ladies do not call on gentlemen under
any circumstances, besides which, his lordship was not in.

Willing herself not to lose her composure,
Brooke smiled and walked away. She decided to continue with their
original plan and go to the garden to be harassed by vendors and
watch men on stilts juggle dangerous objects.

They were just about to the entrance when
Madison stopped walking and looked straight ahead. Brooke followed
her gaze. Next to the entrance, leaning on a post and looking at
his pocket watch, stood Andrew.

Now that the moment had arrived, she briefly
entertained the idea of running away. However, that idea was soon
dismissed when Madison softly touched her elbow. “You wanted to
know, now is your chance.”

Brooke nodded. “What’s he doing here?” she
asked numbly.

“I don’t know,” Madison replied. “But since
he’s here, you can get your answers. Let’s go,” she prodded, “he’s
looking in our direction. If he hasn’t noticed you already, he soon
will.”

Brooke attached a bright smile on her face
and started walking in his direction. Andrew had also started
walking, or running if one wanted to be precise, toward her.

He closed the distance between them within
seconds. “Brooke,” he said unevenly.

“Andrew,” she said in a stilted tone.

Andrew turned to look at Madison. “Good
morning, Madison,” he said with a bow.

“How did you know we were coming here?”
Brooke demanded.

Andrew gave her a little smile. “That's my
little secret.”

“You seem to have a lot of those, don’t you?”
Brooke shot back, her anger with him was quickly returning.

Andrew sobered.

“Well, I can see my presence here isn't
needed,” Madison said airily, then pointed to an empty bench. “I’ll
be right over there.”

“Thank you,” Andrew said with a surprisingly
grateful look on his face. He waited for her to leave before he met
Brooke’s eyes again. “I don’t know what to say,” he admitted.

“Starting from the beginning would be my
strategy,” she replied tartly.

Andrew’s jaw clenched. Then with a nod, he
released a pent up breath and words started tumbling out of his
mouth. “I borrowed money from Gateway. I couldn’t pay and he
repossessed my estate. In order to get it back I was asked to bring
shame on your family. I refused at first, but then he twisted the
words around and I got defensive. Then, before I knew what I was
saying, I agreed to do it. That was the night before we met.”

“Wait,” she interrupted, putting up a hand to
stop his rambling. “You just said you were to bring shame on my
family. Why?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I asked, but he
wouldn’t say. All I know is he wanted your family on the next ship
bound for America.”

“So you’re saying it wasn’t me specifically?”
she asked skeptically, her brow furrowing in confusion. What would
anyone, especially Gateway, have to gain from her family returning
home?

“No.”

“All right,” she said cautiously. “I don’t
quite understand, but pray continue.” Maybe she’d understand better
if she just let him keep talking.

“Gateway just wanted enough shame to fall on
the family that you would all go home. He didn’t care who it fell
on, just that it happened and your family left. I don’t know about
in America, but here, a lady’s reputation is everything, so I
assumed it would be the easiest avenue to pursue; Gateway knew
that, too, and when he first approached me, he even suggested
it.”

“From the day we met you’d set out to ruin
me?” she asked quietly.

“Yes. No. Not exactly. At first, I wanted to
try to find out some sort of family secret, expose that and be done
with it; but there wasn’t one. Once I figured that out, I had to
rely on ruining your reputation.”

“Why me?” she cried. “Is it so well known
that I’ve been in the garden with a few gentlemen that you thought
I’d be the easiest target? Is that it?” Tears were beginning to
form in her eyes and her throat felt clogged.

“No,” he said fiercely. “I didn’t even know
your penchant for kissing in the shrubs until later. I picked you
because I liked you. From the moment you entered the room I liked
you. Nobody had ever had the brass to just stare at me that way.
Nobody had played such a prank on me before. I truly believed for
the better part of a day you had indeed decorated that atrocious
room. It wasn’t until I saw the initials on that mind-numbing
painting that I realized you were having me on. I liked it. I liked
you. That’s why I chose you.”

Andrew ran a hand through his hair. “Then we
went on our ride in the park, I enjoyed teasing you then. I also
enjoyed taking you to the museum. I had never enjoyed a kiss as
much as I did that day. Before I knew what was happening, I was
looking forward to our next meeting and being with you.”

“If that’s true, then why didn’t you just
tell Gateway you could not go through with it?” she
interrupted.

“Because he would have just found someone
else to do it. I knew that if I just carried it out I could keep
you protected. Someone else would have been completely heartless
about the whole thing and would have caused you, or possibly one of
your sisters, more pain and embarrassment than necessary.”

“Whereas you were just doing enough to send
us away, is that it?” she asked flatly, belying the rage that was
coursing through her.

“Yes,” he said solemnly, then he grabbed her
hand and pulled her over to a bench in a somewhat secluded area.
“This all sounds really bad, believe me, I know. But the truth is,
the more I got to know you, the more I didn’t want to hurt you. I
honestly thought once we married this would be taken care of
without you ever finding out. I knew Gateway would confront me. I
just didn’t know he would do it so soon, or in such a way. You were
never supposed to know about this. I didn’t know how I was going to
handle Gateway, but when I saw you walk out of that library that
night at Alex’s, I realized you were more important to me than
anything else.”

“Even the estate he held?” she asked
shyly.

“Even the estate.” Andrew confirmed,
interlacing their fingers. “When I saw you walk away from Alex’s
library I realized what I knew all along: I couldn’t live without
you. I didn’t want you to go back to America, nor could I stand it
if you came back to London and I wasn’t allowed to see you. The
only way to keep you in my life was to make you my wife. I wanted
to marry you enough that I didn’t give a second thought to enduring
whatever Gateway might do to destroy me. Having you is worth more
than anything else.”

“If I understand correctly, you’re telling me
that you realized that night that you enjoyed my company?” she
asked uncertainly.

Andrew gave a harsh laugh. “Yes, I do enjoy
your company. But what I mean to say is that I love you. I realized
that night that I loved you enough not to care about my deal with
Gateway to make an enemy of him or lose the estate. I rode through
the rain for six hours getting my hands on that special license. I
couldn’t wait another day to have you, all of you.”

“You love me,” she whispered, wondering if
she had heard him correctly.

“Yes. I may not have been very good about
showing it so far, but I will get better, I promise. How could I
possibly get any worse?” he teased, coming to his knees in front of
her. He leaned over and reached into a bag she hadn’t noticed he
had with him and removed what looked like a yellow object
resembling a rose. Handing it to her, he said sheepishly, “Because
I’m sorry for what I’ve done.” He reached in again and withdrew a
pink one. “Because I adore you,” he said, replacing the yellow one
he had just given her with the pink. He reached down again and this
time he pulled out a red one. “Because you’re my true love,” he
said, handing her the paper rose. Then he moved his hands up to
frame her face. Cupping her chin and tipping it down toward him, he
said solemnly, “Brooke, you know I’m not a man of great means, so
please know if I could afford to shower you with dozens of the real
things, I would have bought every stem in every hothouse between my
house and the Garden this morning rather than staying up all night
trying to fold colored squares of paper to resemble roses.”

“Surely you’re not so poor you couldn’t have
afforded three,” she teased, remembering their pitiful dinner at
Rockhurst. But in her mind it was better this way. She was glad he
hadn’t bought them. Money could be earned and spent, but time could
only be spent. Him spending time folding silly little scraps of
paper meant far more to her than one hundred bouquets of the real
thing would have.

Andrew cracked a small smile. “I said I’d
shower you with dozens if I could.” He tipped the bag so she could
see inside where dozens of paper roses were resting. “I didn’t
think you’d really appreciate it if I poured these out on you right
here, but if you want…” he trailed off, his eyes dancing with
amusement, letting her know just how much he’d enjoy dumping the
bag over her head. “If you must know I had to fold all of these,”
he looked down at the bag, “just to remember how to do it,” he said
with a self-depreciating smile.