More Than Willing (22 page)

He
studied her with an evaluating gaze. Oh, Gray was so much like him the reminder hurt.

Maggie’s heart thundered a warning in her breast. If ever there was a person not to be underestimated, it was the Earl of Camden. She thought that had been Gray’s first mistake, and the reason he had to rely on her brewery to earn his living. Now, she wondered what mistake she should be watchful for so she didn’t underestimate the earl’s objective.

“Grayson has the brewery as a means to make his way in the world. What does that leave you with?” The answer was in this question he asked.

The blood rushed through Maggie’s head while her heart pounded against her ears. “I have more than enough, Lord Camden. My mother made sure each one of her daughters had the knowledge to make their own way in the world.”

“And your father? I’ve been very concerned for your father since the last time I saw him. How is he?”

Maggie’s cheeks burned hot. “I haven’t
spoken to him for some time now. He’s been traveling, you know.”

“No, I didn’t know. In fact, I’ve tried to find some trace of him and can’t. No one remembers seeing him since the night he lost his brewery to me, and there is no record of him leaving the country.”

“You’ve hired someone to find him?” she asked, unable to keep the incredulity from her voice.

“My intent is only to make sure he has not come to any harm.”

Maggie swallowed. “Let me assure you, Lord Camden, my father is at peace. He holds no ill feelings toward you. And neither do I.”

“And toward my son?”

Maggie turned her gaze to the small group of young men and women that included her sisters and their beaux. “I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean.”

“Don’t you?”

Maggie slowly forced herself to look into eyes that reminded her so much of Gray’s. “Your son and I both made some serious errors in judgment. Fortunately, that is in the past.”

“Tell me, what do you see in the future?”

“I’m not sure that’s any of your—”

Camden held up his hand to stop her words, but there was a smile on his face. “You’re right. It is none of my concern. Unfortunately, I can’t help but be curious. It’s a flaw in my character. One I’m sure my son shares with me.”

Maggie didn’t have an answer to that. Her goal every day was to think about Gray as little as possible and the earl wasn’t making it any easier by bringing up the qualities Gray possessed.

“I think that you cared for my son a great deal more than you’re letting on. I hope he came to care for you in the same way. He could not have chosen better.”

Maggie turned her head so she wouldn’t have to see the concern in the earl’s eyes. Or let him see the hurt in hers.

“I’m not sure what your plans are, but I want you to know if you are ever in need, please don’t hesitate to come to me. I would never turn away someone Gray cares for if they needed my help.”

“I will remember your offer, but I can’t imagine ever needing anything.”

The earl smiled. “I’m sure you won’t but if you—”

The Earl of Camden stopped his sentence and glanced to a spot just over her shoulder. The look in his eyes turned warm. Her blood turned cold as ice.

She knew who was behind her. Without being told, she knew that her worst fear had come to haunt her.

The earl rose to his feet and a warmhearted smile lifted the corners of his lips.

She
rose too, but didn’t turn around. She silently prayed that the floor would open up and swallow her before she had to face him.

“Hello, Father.”

“Son.”

She knew it was too much to hope that he would ignore her. She clasped her hands tighter in
front of her and waited for his satin-rich voice to wash over her, then sink through every pore of her body as soft butter on fresh-baked bread still warm from the oven.

“Hello, Maggie,
my love.”

Her heart plummeted to the pit of her stomach.

Maggie slowly turned. Her breath caught and there was a hitch in the rapid beating of her heart.

For a long time, she’d hadn’t seen him in anything other than the work clothes he’d worn at the brewery or the gentleman’s attire he’d put on when they went to talk to Orin Wattich. Tonight he wore dress blacks and she doubted any man in the ballroom was half as handsome.

She filled her lungs with a deep breath that raised her shoulders, then lifted her chin as an indication of her defiance.

She would not be intimidated by him. She wasn’t the one who’d come to the brewery under false pretenses. Or the one who’d deceived him by trying to get him to marry. She hadn’t taken everything away from him and left him with a broken heart.

An angry wave of fury rushed to every part of her body and her heart suddenly hardened cold as ice.

She made a point of giving him the cut by turning to his father. “If you’ll excuse me, Lord Camden. I think my sisters need me.”

“Don’t you dare walk away from me again, Maggie. I won’t allow it.” Gray’s voice stopped her after one step.

His voice was a low, angry growl unlike any tone she’d ever heard come from his mouth before. A shiver of dread made the flesh stand on her arms but she couldn’t let him have the upper hand. She wouldn’t survive if she did.

She turned to face him with a glare in her eyes. “You won’t allow it?”

She took a step toward him but it wasn’t a ladylike step. It was an angry stride that put her face to face with his simmering fury. “How dare you!”

Somewhere in the back of her mind she heard the Earl of Camden make his excuses. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him walk away wearing a smile she couldn’t interpret. Because of a niggling sense of propriety that she’d been taught to observe from her youth she also realized that Gray and she were drawing unwanted attention. But she didn’t care. She’d been hurt far too badly to let him escape unscathed.

She thought he wouldn’t care either. The old Gray wouldn’t have been concerned about what anyone in Society thought of his actions. But this new Gray obviously cared a great deal what people thought of him.

Maggie saw him look around and the moment he realized every curious eye was focused on them his breath caught and he pasted the most unnaturally-endearing smile she’d ever seen on his face. Then, with stilted ease, he held his arm out as if he expected her to take it.

“Perhaps we should continue this conversation on the
terrace.”

“Perhaps you should go to the devil.”

“Mag…gie.”

The warning she heard in the way he’d said her name was blatant, but to give heed would seem as if she’d backed down from him. And that she refused to do. “If you think I’m going a
nywhere with you, you’re sadly—”

“If you
don’t go outside with me,” he said, leaning down to whisper in her ear, “I’m going to make an announcement that will put you and your sisters into a year of mourning.”

Maggie felt a stab of alarm. Where was the easygoing rogue she’d thought him to be? Where had his devil-may-care attitude and easy smile gone?

She looked into Gray’s face and knew the lighthearted man with a shallow personality had never existed. That façade was a mask he wore to fool everyone into believing he was an irresponsible ne’er-do-well. The man daring her to ignore the hand he held out to her was the real Gray.

The man threatening her to get what he wanted was the real Gray. This Gray had a sharp intelligence and a shrewd business sense that could outwit even the most cunning adversary.

This Gray’s dogged determination had gone on a campaign to double Bradford’s tied properties. Not because of a flippant desire to spend money, but because he realized the importance of providing outlets for the brewery’s ale.

She looked deep into his eyes, hoping to see some sign that he wasn’t as serious as he seemed. Or as angry.

“Do you doubt I’ll carry through on my threat?”

“Oh, no,” she said with a malicious smile. “I am more than aware of the lengths
to which you will go to get what you want.”

She placed her hand on his outstretched arm and clamped her fingers around his flesh, praying her nails dug hard enough to hurt him. She knew it was a silly gesture. She doubted he even felt her attempt to hurt him through the muscles that working in a brewery had honed to steel. When he threw back his head and laughed, she knew how futile her attempt had been.

He patted her hand that dug into his arm the same as a father pats his child as if saying, “good try,” then led her across the room and out the open doors. The second they were out of sight of their captivated audience, she pulled her hand away and stepped to the other side of the cement terrace.

“What do you want?” she demanded, unable to keep her voice steady.

He crossed his arms over his chest as if he had the right to be angry with her. “For starters, I want to know why you left me without even a word.”

She had to try twice before she was in control enough to speak. “What
word would you have had me say? ‘Congratulations’ for your ability to deceive me for as long as you did. Or, ‘bravo’ because your performance was expert enough to dupe me into believing the story that you owned a brewery someplace else and were working in my brewery to learn all you could from the ‘best’? Or, ‘thank you’ for taking away—”

“Enough! I didn’t want to
take anything away from you. I offered to marry you so you would never lose the brewery!”

She staggered back, but caught herself against the balustrade. “How magnanimous of you. Remind me to kiss the ground
upon which you walk.”

“Bloody hell, woman. I didn’t offer to marry you to do you a favor.”

“Didn’t you? Then why did you offer to marry me? Was it pity because you’d taken everything away from me and left me with nothing? Or did guilt eat away at the small bit of conscience you have left because you knew how much the brewery meant to me? Or was it simply selfishness on your part? Did you simply want someone knowledgeable to run the brewery for you whenever you decided to run to London for the Season and I fit the bill as well as anyone else?”

Only a few paper lanterns lit the edges of the
terrace, but they gave off enough light that she could see Gray’s expression turn even more furious.

“What about love, Maggie?
”

“Love? I don’t remember love being mentioned.”

She wanted to laugh. He actually looked shocked.

“Surely you know I love you?”

“How convenient to mention that small word now.”

“If I remember correctly, I mentioned that small word the last time we saw each other – at the top of my lungs!
”

“Yes, in desperation
because I was leaving you.”

She actually thought he lost his balance for a second before he recovered. He stared at her as if he finally understood what she was saying.

“You don’t believe I love you, do you?”

The weight against her chest pressed harder. “Words come too easily to you, Gray. I watched the heartache my parents endured and they truly loved each other. I can’t imagine the hell we would put each other through if we don’t even have love to count on.”

“You mean if you don’t have my love to count on.”

“Yes.”

Gray turned away from her and stared out into the Marchioness of Cavanaugh’s garden. She doubted he could see anything. The light from the lanterns wasn’t bright enough to illuminate anything beyond a few feet. But he clasped his hands behind his back and kept his eyes focused into the darkness as if he could. Just when she thought his silence meant he’d dismissed her, she heard him take a deep breath.

“Very well,” he said as he turned
toward her.

He kept his hands locked behind him and rocked back and forth on his feet as if he were working out the final details of a plan.

“Very well, what?”

Maggie asked her question with a great deal of caution and even more dread. There was no way she’d believe he intended to give up so easily. The last thing he wanted was to be tied down to a brewery. She knew he’d undoubtedly do everything in his power to prevent it.

“If you won’t take my word that I love you, then I’ll simply have to convince you.”

“You can’t convince me, Gray.”

“Can’t I?”

She hated it when he answered her with a question. It always meant she had cause for concern.

“No.” She turned away from him.

“We’ll go back in together, Maggie,” he said, stopping her from going farther.
“And we’ll dance the next dance together.”

She turned to face him.

“And every dance after that.”

Her mouth dropped open. “You can’t mean that.”

“Why can’t I?”

“Because no one who doesn’t want to invite gossip dances more than two dances with the same man.”

“Who made up that silly rule?”

“I don’t know!” She stomped her foot. “And stop asking me stupid questions. You know the rules as well as I.”

“But I’m the one who always breaks them. You know that.”

“Well, you’re not going to break this one.”

“Aren’t I?”

“No! Because I refuse to dance even one dance with you.”

He paused and the look in his eyes turned amazingly serious. “Then I suggest you go inside and get your sisters and rush them home because I intend to make the sad announcement that your father has met with an unfortunate accident.”

“You wouldn’t.”

The corners of his lips turned upward but it wasn’t a smile she saw on his face.

“Wouldn’t I?”

“Why?”

“Because the workers refuse to celebrate the end of a successful brewing season until you return.”
He took one step closer to her. “Because no one is capable of running the brewery as well as you.”

He took another step, then another, until he was toe to toe with her. “Because being successful doesn’t mean anything if you’re not by my side to share in my failures as well as my successes.”

He didn’t mean what he said. He couldn’t. Those were probably words he’d practiced to lure her back to his bed as well as his brewery. But she wouldn’t fall victim to his sweet talk ever again.

“I don’t want you, Gray.”

“Don’t you?”

Her eyes filled with wetness until his handsome figure swam in front of her. She couldn’t move. Yet, she couldn’t turn away from him either. Even when he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him, she was unable to stop him.

He was going to kiss her. A whole chorus of voices chanted the warning to escape before it was too late but she didn’t heed their advice. How could she when she craved his touch more than a drowning man craves air?

He lowered his head and his lips met hers.

For a few futile seconds she fought the urge to give in to him. She made an effort to remain indifferent to his nearness. And for half that long she remained unaffected by his kisses.

Then, as if a tidal wave of emotion washed over her, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close. She wanted to be a part of him, wanted to cherish and share with him as much of herself as she had to give.

Their kiss lasted several heated minutes and when they separated, neither of them could breathe.

Gray pulled her to him and she pressed her cheek against his chest. His heart thundered like the racing of a thousand teams of horses; his chest rose and fell as he gasped for air; his breath came out ragged and harsh as if he’d truly been moved by her kiss.

But all of that was nothing compared to the aching desire that consumed every part of her.

No
, the chorus of voices shouted even louder than before. You don’t want him. You can’t.

She pushed her open palms against his chest and stepped out of his arms.

“Ah, Maggie, my love. You just don’t want to want me,” he whispered as if he’d read her thoughts.

Her weakness where he was concerned terrified her. How was she ever going to protect herself against him?

He took a step toward her and held out his arm for her. She placed her trembling hand atop the hard muscles of his arm and walked with him back into the ballroom to finish the waltz that was already in progress.