Love's Patient Fury (The Deverell Series Book 3) (11 page)

“You are starting to round. It pleases me to feel my child growing within you. It is hope you carry in your flesh. Hope and me.”

Hot tears burn behind her lids. Merry stared at his dark head beneath her and fought the urge to caress his hair.

He lifted his face. “I will not remain intact if things continue as they are, Merry. I said much I regret and nothing I meant. Can we not be as we were.”

The way he looked at her; it was a look Merry had seen often and no longer trusted. In a voice that sounded far away and not her own, she heard herself say, “There is nothing in our past that matters to me. Why would I wish to be as we were?”

Looking into her doe-eyes heated with distress, that night aboard the
Corinthian
slashed through Varian’s memory merciless in its trek. He had been brutal that night, regrettably thorough, and Merry’s heart was a fragile thing. Her hurt. Her struggles. They were not insignificant for Merry. Everything she felt ran so deeply within her. He must be patient with her in this. Forgiveness was not a simple path with her.

Varian carefully lifted her onto the bed, curling her into to him to only hold her.  Her body was hard and restless, and her head was carefully tucked so he could not see her face. A long, uncontrollable shiver passed through her dainty limbs. Another damning stab landed in his center.

He kissed her softly on her curls. Finding the underside of her chin with one finger, he tilted her face up toward his. “All will be well, Merry. If you will but let me soften the sting of the hurt I gave you, we will be well.”

She eased out of the tangle of his arms. She would not permit her heart to melt, she would not let it soften, not from a caress and not from those cunnings words Varian spoke so effectively. She had believed all things from him once. She would not believe him now, no matter the clever emotion he could conjure into his gaze to move her at his will.

“I should go back to my bed,” she said quietly.

“You are in the bed you belong in, Little One,” he said in a husky whisper, lifting her face to meet his eyes again. There was a subtle darkening to the gaze holding hers and his expression unsealed as emotion rose on his face with false evidence of the man she knew him not to be in true. It tugged at her heart cruelly and the tug was agony.

“What do you want from me, Varian?” she choked out. “Would it not serve us better if you were simply honest and told me directly the point of this farce of our marriage so we can end this charade quickly, and you can go? Whatever you want me to do, I will do it. Protecting you protects me. You don’t need to play another game with my heart to get what you want from me.”

She watched Varian move slowly into her. His hand came to her shoulder, lightly gliding upward at the bare skin of her neck. His thumb paused at the line of her chin, caressing her with knowing ease. “What I want,” he said softly, “is to go to bed each night with my wife in my arms and each morning to do nothing but watch you wake.”

Nonsense. He had answered her with nonsense. It was a nearly flawless performance and there was not a single element of it that did not hurt Merry. It was not fair Varian could look at her
so
merely because he wanted to bend her to his will for whatever unfathomable need he had, beyond their marriage, for his own protection. It was not fair that the way he looked at her meant too much to her, and for him it meant nothing.

She should leave the room. She should have known better than to come here. Truth could not be found in Varian’s bed.

Merry started to rise. He stopped her with a hand. She felt his fingers run slowly up her spine, then flutter at the sensitive flesh of her neck just beneath her ear. A gentle kiss replaced his touch. She closed her eyes, hating how easily he could make her flesh desperate for him and that she could not drive from her body the want to lay with him.

Varian’s words were the undoing of her injured resolve. “You cannot hold yourself from me forever, Merry. Let us make love as we used to until the morning brightens. Let me feel you take my flesh back into your heart. Let us love again so this pain we share will pass quickly.”

His fingers were moving on her back in the same unhurried rhythm as his lips moved, sending waves of shivers through her, reminding her of hours when they had laid and loved and no part of herself had been her own. She did not want to touch him. She could not stop herself. This was a road that went nowhere, except perhaps, for this night, a brief respite from her pain.

Merry lifted herself into him, the full press of her against his hard length, and whatever either of them intended this night was lost to the desire that quickly consumed them. In between fiery kisses, he undressed them and then tugged her at her ankles until she was flat beneath him on the bed. His hands were everywhere. His mouth a searing flame, doing those shameful pleasures her body reveled in. His throaty words spiced the movements of his fingers and lips. The shimmering climax of her flesh came rapidly in percussion waves. She was breathless and trembling when he entered her, and her body wildly matched the searching thrust of his flesh, disobedient to her mind’s will yet again.

He bore into her as if wanting to join them as deeply as he could. Her nails dug into the firm muscles of his back. He stopped. He slowed. A teasing glide into her body. Burningly fierce. Achingly gentle. The demand of his flesh a rapid altering of currents and sensation, until she could do nothing but let him take from her body what he demanded.

Through her battered senses his roughened voice whispered between thrusts and pants. “We are one. You cannot change that with the stubbornness of your will. We are one.”

Later she lay in his arms and fought against the rising emotion in her throat.  Careful not to wake him, Merry slipped from the bed and pulled on her nightgown.  In the hall she eased closed Varian’s door and then ran to her bedroom.

~~~

Lucien Merrick stared at his table. “Why are we breakfasting alone?”

“Philip and Kate took off riding early this morning. Merry is breakfasting in her room. Varian is no doubt still abed after being kept awake half the night listening to your nonsense. Really, Lucien, your lectures are becoming quite absurd. His Grace is a grown man.” She gave her husband an amused look. “And I asked Andrew not to join us this day.”

His stern expression melted with concern. “Why did Merry not join us? Her presence at our table gives me great joy.”

“I’m sure I don’t know, my dear. Who can say why Merry does anything?”

After a thoughtful pause, Lucien asked, “Why did you ask Andrew not to join us? There are times I cannot make reason of you.”

Rhea smiled and reached out to gently squeeze her husband’s hand. “I wanted to discuss privately with you the issue of settlement contracts for Merry.”

Red faced, he turned his astonished gaze upon his wife. “Have you gone mad, Rhea? I will not settle a sum upon that man after his disreputable behavior with my daughter. Especially since I am not all certain yet to let this marriage stand.”

“This marriage will stand, your will or not, Lucien. It would benefit none of us for you to annul it. And to delay in settling what’s proper on Merry will only add to the scandal brewing. It is expected and it will be done today.”

Lucien’s eyes glittered. “You will not order me, Rhea.”

Rhea motioned for a footman to ease back her chair. “I am not ordering, my love. I am merely reminding you of your duty as Merry’s father.”

 “Don’t try to manage me. Not on this issue.”

She pressed a parting kiss onto her husband’s check. “Never, Lucien.”

~~~

A week later Lucien Merrick sent for his brother. Before Andrew could take his seat, Lucien announced, “Rhea has informed me it is time I discuss with Varian settlement contracts.”

Andrew Merrick’s eyes rounded. “You’ve got to be joking. We’ve almost secured enough support to petition for an annulment of the marriage.”

“I wish I were joking Andrew. But you know Rhea. There will be no peace until she has her way.”

Andrew studied his brother. Lucien was the most stubborn man he’d ever known. He’d bent in his will. What was truly happening here? “Are you telling me you’re agreeable to this match?”

“Of course not. It occurred to me that in pleasing Rhea, we have an opportunity to question Varian without him knowing why. Negotiations of settlement take time and require disclosure by both parties. Perhaps it is her fortune. Perhaps that’s why he absconded with my daughter and married her. As I recall his finances were a shambles when he fled England.”

“So you think he married Merry for her money?”

“What I think is it is prudent we learn quickly all we can about this man. My instinct tells me much is not right here. I will not bend in my will and give my blessing to this ungodly union, Rhea or not, until I can make reason of Windmere and know for certain my daughter is safe.”

He handed to Andrew the document he had labored over with his solicitor.

“It is quite a rich purse,” Lucien announced as his brother made a careful study of the neatly penned document.

“She is after all a Merrick and your daughter.”

Lucien took the contracts back, laying them on his desk and sighed. “If I must swallow my pride, may it at least be a useful endeavor, Andrew.”

Andrew nodded as Lucien ordered Moffat to
retrieve His Grace
. A few minutes passed before Varian joined them. When the door closed behind Moffat, Lucien gestured toward a chair and arched a brow.

Varian forced an amiable smile and said, “You wished to see me, Lucien?”

Lucien’s sharp gaze fixed on him sternly. “You were abed rather late today. It is my hope you are in good health.”

Varian laughed. “Excellent health. You need have no worry there.”

Lucien’s icy blue eyes sat in a face of straining tolerance. “Rhea has made me aware I have been remiss in settling Merry’s dowry.” He picked up the contracts with a reluctance you could almost taste. “It is considerable, as you will see.”

Varian knew better than to take this discussion as an indication Lucien’s opinion of the marriage had changed. He was using it as a ploy to question him. Nothing more. Varian ignored the documents in Lucien’s hand. It confused both the Merricks, so he followed it by saying nothing.

“It is a sizeable fortune,” Andrew said. “As I recall, your finances were not…”

An arched brow. A low voice. “…Oh my, you do dive straight into the heart of things, don’t you, Andrew,” Varian interrupted abruptly. “I have always admired your directness. So allow me to be direct as well. I will accept no payment for taking Merry as my wife. There will be no jointure. No negotiations. No contracts. Any fortune settled upon her should be settled in trust for my wife’s benefit. I want no part of it.” He took the contract, scanned it in a single dismissing glance and tossed it back on the desk. He stood up. Uncertainty was providence in certain circumstances. He could almost hear the wheels turning in Lucien’s head. Hopefully it sent Lucien in the right direction. “I will consider this matter resolved and my wishes adhered to, Lucien.”

“You may consider whatever you wish, Varian,” Lucien replied coldly.

Without ceremony, Windmere left the study.

Once alone with his brother, Lucien sat back in his chair and stared at the empty space where Varian had been. “His reaction was odd and I know not what to make of it. It is a considerable fortune. It is expected. I would have thought he’d pounce on it if his intentions were for the marriage to stand. It would have been a victory for him, if we had reached settlement.”

Andrew shrugged. “He is a proud man, Lucien. I imagine it would be as hard for him to accept settlement from you as it is for you to give it.”

“There is pride and then there is foolishness.” Lucien stared at the tally on the contract. Not many men would readily dismiss so grand of fortune. “Varian Deverell is many things, but he is not a foolish man. Go to London, Andrew. Find out what you can. Find out why he has no concern for money.”

~~~

The Earl of Camden made ready his departure the next day. Varian walked with him to the carriage. It was the first moment they’d had alone to speak since their arrival at Bramble Hill.

Camden shook his graying head. “If you had any sense at all, you’d take your wife and leave at once.”

“Lucien is not ready to permit me to leave with Merry. Insulting, but a rather good turn of events. I could not have planned this better if I planned it myself.”

Camden was worried and not bothering to hide it. “It is madness for you to stay here with the Merricks.  The hen does not choose to live with the fox. You are the hen, Varian, in case you are unaware.”

“I want Merry safe within the shelter of her family. Lucien would not permit harm to come to her if things do not work out well for me.”

Camden climbed into his waiting coach, grateful that at long last Lucien Merrick had permitted him to leave Bramble Hill.

“It is madness for you to refuse Merry’s dowry. If Lucien’s hand is being forced by Rhea to make settlement with you, it would have locked your marriage in place. Refusing the bride’s fortune will only stir greater his suspicion over you.”

Varian smiled. “That is why I refused it and did so in a manner insulting to Lucien. Hopefully it will send them in the direction I want them to go. Make sure Andrew Merrick discovers every detail of my finances.”

Camden’s eye flashed. “Lucien is a cunning man. He is not a man to toy with and he is not a man to miss one nuance of the web you are weaving.  There is much we cannot explain about your fortune and much in how we’ve used it that will not bare scrutiny. Have you considered that?”

“It is my hope they take notice of each and every oddity,” Varian announced enigmatically.

Camden shook his head, not certain what to make of that.

“I have planned this long, Brian,” Varian said. “All things considered, our endeavor is progressing better than I anticipated. You know what to do in London. See that Andrew Merrick finds all he hopes for, and deliver the first installment of the documents as I have instructed. Do it quickly and do it well.”