The Earl's Inconvenient Wife (Regency Collection Book 1) (3 page)

Her cheeks warmed.  “I assure you I’m not.”

“I can see that.”

“Then can’t someone else see it if they find me out here?”

His eyebrows rose in surprise.  “Not all
gentlemen who come out here would warn you to go back inside.”

“I don’t
understand what you’re implying.”

“This is not the best place for an unaccompanied lady to be,” he said. 
“Some gentlemen wouldn’t mind enticing you to the gardens.”

She glanced at the gardens
which was a good distance from them.  “I see no reason to go there when it’s dark.  I wouldn’t be able to see anything of interest.”

A slight grin crossed his lips before he grew solemn again.  “P
erhaps not, but I’m sure the gentleman would.”

She rolled her eyes a
nd rested her head on the column.  The gentleman spoke in riddles, and she had yet to clear her head.  “I can’t go back inside just yet.”

He stepped toward her.  “I’m not trying to be rude.  I’m trying to protect you from scandal.  You are aware of what a scandal is
, aren’t you?”

She gasped and snapped her head back in his direction, the sudden action causing her surroundings to spin aro
und her.  She gripped the column for support.  “I’m not an imbecile.  Of course, I know what a scandal is, but all I’m doing is resting against a column on the veranda.  I’m not far from the ballroom.  If someone tries to haul me off to the gardens, I’ll dart for the doors.”

“You underestimate how quick a
gentleman can be.”

She narrowed her eyes at him.  “Are you such a
gentleman?  Should I be worried about you?”

He balked.
  “Good heavens, no.  I wouldn’t dream of doing anything to tarnish a lady’s reputation.  Let me escort you back inside, and I’ll talk to your chaperone about coming out here with you.”

He reached for her but she
dodged him.  She wavered a bit but held onto the column.  “I’ll take myself back in when I’m ready.” Really!  The nerve of him to think she couldn’t do such a simple thing herself.  All she’d wanted was a few minutes of quiet and fresh air to regroup, and she ended up being harassed.

“You don’t look good,” he said, concern finding its way into h
is voice.  “You need to go inside.”

His insistence that she couldn’t take care of herself was irritating her to no end.  Just who did he think he was to boss her around?  When he reached for her again, she stepped away from him and went
to the other side of the column.

“I don’t believe this,” he muttered and took another step toward her.  “You look like you’re going to faint.  I’m not leaving you out here unsupervised.”

She managed to dodge him once more, but in doing so, the world tilted around her and she lost her hold on the column.  She let out a scream of surprise as she lost her footing on the edge of the veranda and fell onto the grass.  For a moment, she didn’t understand what just happened, but then he was kneeling next to her and trying to pull her up.

“I can get up without your help,” she insisted, swatting at his hands.

“What is the matter with you?” he asked, partly frustrated and partly baffled.

“Nothing.  I just don’t want strange
gentlemen touching me.”

“Strange
gentlemen touching you?”

Ignoring the indignant tone in his voice,
she rolled on the grass and pulled away from him.  As she tried to stand up, the bottom of her dress got tangled around her legs.  He placed his hands on her shoulders in an attempt to pull her up.  Startled, she tried to push him away and fell back down.

“Stop this i
ndecent behavior at once!” her father shouted.

They stopped
and turned their attention to the veranda where a group of people rushed outside to see what caused the commotion.  It took Claire a moment to realize how bad the situation looked.  Her dress was up to her knees and the gentleman’s hands were on her arms.  Neither one of them moved for a whole five seconds, and then something snapped and she managed to shove him away.  At what was less than a graceful movement, she managed to get to her feet and brushed the lower half of her dress down so she was decent.

“This isn’t what it looks like,” the
gentleman told the crowd.  “I was trying to escort her back inside when she tripped and fell onto the grass.”

Her sister walked up
to their father, a knowing smile on her face.  “A likely story.”

“It’s true,” Claire spoke up despite the heat rising up in her cheeks.  Truly, she couldn’t recall a time when she’d
been more humiliated in her life.  “I was dizzy.”

“D
izzy from lust, no doubt,” Lord Edon mumbled, triggering a few giggles from the crowd.

A
n older lady gave him a sharp look.  “I won’t tolerate that kind of talk here, Lord Edon.”

“My apologi
es, Lady Cadwalader,” Lord Edon replied, sounding appropriately contrite.

Claire’s father turned his
attention back to Claire and the gentleman standing next to her.  “I trust your little tryst will lead to a wedding?”

Claire’s eyes grew wide. 
A wedding?  She glanced at the gentleman.  It gave her slight comfort to know he was as stunned as she was.  Clearing her throat, she ventured, “It was an accident.  We weren’t…” She struggled to find the right words, but they evaded her.

Lady Cadwalader shoo
k her head.  “Don’t let Lord Roderick get away with it, Miss.”

Get away with it?  But there
was nothing to get away with!

Lord Roderick
sighed, his shoulders slouched.

Lady Cadwalader motioned to everyone to go back inside.  “I didn’t plan this evening’s ball t
o spend all of my time outside.  Lord Roderick, I assume you’ll bring her in for a dance?”

Her father nodded to Lady Cadwalader.  “I’ll make sure he does right by my daughter.”

Lord Roderick stiffened for a moment but then offered Claire his arm.

She couldn’t believe this was happening. 
She watched in dread as the onlookers shuffled back inside, either shaking their heads in disapproval or snickering.  She mentally cursed herself for taking that last dance with Lord Edon instead of asking her mother to go outside with her so the world would stop closing in around her.

Reluctant, she accepted Lord Roderick’s
extended arm and walked with him to the veranda.  Her father intercepted them and broadly smiled.  “Lord Roderick, I’d be negligent if I didn’t introduce myself.”

“There’s no need, Mister
Lowell.  I know who you are,” Lord Roderick muttered as her mother and sister joined them.

“Did my daughter tell you who I was?” her father asked him.

Claire felt the tension in Lord Roderick’s arm.  “Not exactly,” Lord Roderick replied, neither smiling nor frowning.  “Someone mentioned you by name.”

“
Oh.  Good.  At a convenient time, I’d like to discuss your marriage to my daughter.”

“Indeed.”
He shot her a sharp look.  “I suppose you’ll want an elaborate wedding.”

Her jaw dropped.  An elaborate wedding?  Up to five minutes ago, she wasn’t even engaged!

Before she could respond, a cunning smile crossed Lord Roderick’s face.  “As luck would have it, I need to return to Weston soon.  I’m afraid there will be no time for such a wedding.  We’ll have to make do with a private affair.”

She narrowed her eyes at him
and removed her hand from his arm.  “I don’t care.  I don’t even want to marry you.”

“Claire, let’s not be rash,” her father argued.

“Yes, such a thing would foul up your plans, would it not?” Lord Roderick added.

“I have no idea what you mean by that,” she
told him, not liking whatever it was he was implying.

“A private affair will be fine,
my lord,” her father said, shooting her a pleading look to be amiable.

She glanced at her mothe
r and sister who were as happy as her father.

“When do you want
the wedding to take place?” her father asked.

Lord
Roderick’s cold gaze returned to her.  “I see no reason to wait.  The whole purpose of this marriage is to avoid scandal, is it not?”

She gritted her t
eeth as her stomach tensed up into a terrible knot.  “Is there really no other choice but marriage?”

“Judging by the way you
and Lord Roderick were rolling around on the grass together, you must go through with it,” her sister said, shooting Claire a congratulatory wink.

Claire gasped.  “We weren’t rolling around on the grass together.  I was dizzy and fell.”

Her sister shrugged and offered an innocent smile.  “From what I saw, you two were intimately entwined.”

“That’s enough,
Lilly,” her father admonished.  “We don’t need to go into details.  The important thing is that we’ll get the matter resolved and there’s no harm done.”

“Yes, that seems to be of most importance,”
Lord Roderick added.  “I suppose I should get a special license so we can get the wedding underway.  I see no reason to delay the event.”

Her father laughed, probably
not noticing Lord Roderick’s slight grimace.  “We’ll do everything we can to accommodate you, my lord.”

Lord
Roderick glanced at her with a clenched jaw.  “Splendid.”

Claire blinked and then studied
her family.  Didn’t they see how opposed he was to this marriage?

“There’s no need
to stay out here when we can discuss the details for the wedding inside,” Lord Roderick told her father.

Her father nodded
and hurried to lead the group back inside, and Claire swore he was half-skipping in his enthusiasm to see her married so well.  Without another look in her direction, Lord Roderick followed her father inside with her mother trailing close behind him.

Her steps considerably slower than theirs, Claire
trudged after them.  Beside her, Lilly whispered, “I never realized you were so clever.”

“Clever
how?” Claire whispered, clenching her hands together in nervous dread.  Good heavens but she was about to be married to a gentleman who detested her because her father made it look like there was a scandal going on when there wasn’t!

Lilly giggled
but kept her voice low so no one would overhear.  “Clever how?  The way you plotted to get a gentleman with a title alone with you was genius.  I wish I’d thought to go outside by myself so I could snag someone suitable.”

She groaned and resisted the urge to rub her forehead as the
y passed by a group of ladies who giggled from behind their fans.  She didn’t know what was worse: being stupid enough to go outside without a chaperone or not bolting to go inside as soon as Lord Roderick found her.

“I wonder if something similar might work for me,” Lilly whispered.

“Don’t be absurd!” Claire quietly hissed.  “Do you think he’s happy to marry me?” She stopped and motioned to Lord Roderick whose face remained stoic while her father and mother adamantly talked to him.

Lilly shrugged and inspected her gloves.  “What does that
matter?  You’ll be wealthy for the rest of your life.”

She shouldn’t be surprised.  Her sister’s goal w
as to marry someone with a title.  To her, this was the best thing that could happen to a lady.

“Stop being so glum,” Lilly playfully admonished.  “Think of all the nice clothes and jewelry you can have.  Think of all the servants who’ll do your bidding.  Think of all the places you
can go for entertainment.”

She shook her head.  Lilly had no idea what she’d just got
ten herself into.  “He’s going to resent me.”

Lilly slipped her arm around Claire’s and helped her move forward.  “Give him an heir and all will be forgiven,” she whispered.

She rolled her eyes and ignored her sister’s last statement.  It was going to take more than an heir to make him understand that she didn’t trick him into marriage.  What that something was, she didn’t know, and truth be told, she didn’t even know how to find out.

Chapter Three

C
laire gripped the brush in her hands.  The previous night had been a disaster.  In a week, she was going to be Roderick’s wife, and God help her but she couldn’t think of a worse fate.

Marion, her maid, entered her small bedroom and offered her a smile.  “Would you like me to brush your hair this morn
ing?”

Claire shook her head and absentmindedly ran the brush through it.  What did it matter how her hair looked?  She’d already found a husband, even if it was due to the manipulations of her family.  She never should have left the ballroom without her mother.  This was her fault.  What she didn’t understand was
the enthusiasm her father and Lilly had for making it seem as if she’d been in a scandalous situation.  Didn’t they worry about the family’s reputation?

“I think I should brush your hair,” Marion told her in a soft voice.

Claire blinked in surprise, not realizing she’d stopped brushing her hair.  With a sigh, she handed the brush to Marion and stared off into the distance, not seeing anything in particular.  Marion brushed her hair in gentle strokes, something that had a calming effect on her swirling emotions.  Claire didn’t know how Marion knew what she needed to feel better, but somehow, she did.

Someone gave a tap on her open door.  Turning her gaze in the direction of the sound, Claire wasn’t sure if she was happy or not to see her sister. 
For the moment, she greeted her, and Lilly returned the greeting before sitting on her bed to wait in silence while Marion finished fixing her hair.  After Marion left the room, Claire faced her sister.

Lilly grinned.  “I can’t believe your fortune.  Imagine snatching
an earl so soon!”

Claire groaned.  “It won’t be a happy marriage.”

“Sure, it will.  You shouldn’t be so glum.  I didn’t come in to rehash our talk last night.  Father wishes to speak to you in the drawing room.”

“I’m not sure I want to talk to him right now.”

“Oh, do it.  Father’s not upset.”

“
He’s
not upset?” Claire snapped but bit her tongue before she said anything else.  She stood up and put on her slippers.  “Very well.  I’ll see him.”

To her surprise, Lilly followed her out of the room and whispered, “Just think of how big your new house will be.  This townhouse is cramped.  You’d think Father would rent something better.”

“I don’t think he could afford to with your new wardrobe.”

Lilly shot her a hurt look.  “Your wardrobe was expensive, too.  Besides, he has money.”

“And he’s lavished a lot of it on us.  To rent a more expensive place would be his undoing.” Claire didn’t know why she was defending him when he was willing to make her seem like a loose woman to the Ton.

“You’re right, of course.  You’ve always been the sensible one of the two of us
.” She stopped before they reached the stairs and grabbed Claire’s arm so Claire paused.  She hugged Claire.  “I’m happy for you because you’re marrying an earl, but I’m going to miss you.”

Claire returned her hug.  “I’m going to miss you, too.”

Pulling away from her, Lilly brushed a tear from her eye.  “Please write.”

“You know I will, though I suspect you’ll soon be married as well.”

“I hope so.”

“To Mister Morris,” Claire clarified.

Though Lilly shook her head, she didn’t vocalize her opposition.

Not surprised, Claire went down the staircase and to the drawing room.  The door was open, and her father was staring out the window.  She was about to ask him what he was watching with such interest, but he turned in her direction and offered her a tentative smile.

“You’re not upset with me, are you?” he asked.

“I wish you hadn’t done it.” There was no sense in pretending she didn’t know what he was talking about.

He sighed and motioned for her to sit.  When she did, he sat across from her in a chair.  “Claire, your mother and I want to see you well off.  I’ve been talking to others to find out which titled gentlemen have good reputations, and Lord Roderick’s is ideal.  He keeps his financial affairs in order and doesn’t engage in frivolous pursuits.  When I saw you outside with him, I knew it was the perfect way to secure your future.”

“But I wasn’t with him the way…the way you made it seem.”

“I know.  I feel bad about that part.  I saw you fall and knew he was trying to help you up.” He shrugged.  “Your sister went through an entire Season and didn’t get married.  I didn’t want the same thing to happen to you, especially when I could arrange for you to marry someone like Lord Roderick.”

“He’s not happy
about the marriage.”

“No.  I didn’t
expect him to be, but he’ll have a week to calm down. By the time the wedding takes place, his mood will improve and he’ll see you for the wonderful girl you are.  Mark my word, he’ll be glad he married you.”

She didn’t agree, but even if she succeeded in convincing her father he was wrong, the
Ton was talking about the previous night and would hold it against her.  Her only reasonable recourse was to follow through and marry Roderick.

“It w
ill be all right, my dear,” her father said in a tender voice.  “I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t believe that.”

She nodded.  Even if she didn’t agree with what he did,
she couldn’t fault his motives.  He patted her hand and stood up.  As he left the room, she closed her eyes and prayed he was right and that in time, Roderick would be glad he had to marry her.

***

Nate knew the exact moment his life came to an end.  It was a week later in a small church where he muttered his vows in front of a vicar and the manipulative family who were more than happy about this monstrosity they called a wedding.  It was disgusting.  Absolutely disgusting.  How could he have so easily fallen into their trap?

T
he wedding was brief, and as he exchanged the vows that sealed his doom, he couldn’t help but recall the peaceful life he had envisioned with Lord Rumsey’s daughter.  So much for that.  In one idiotic decision to try to help a naïve lady avoid scandal, he’d plopped himself right in the middle of it and was now paying the price, something that most assuredly pleased Mister Lowell and his daughter to no end.

The weddin
g was done and over within a matter of minutes, and he waited as patiently as he could for the family to be done hugging each other.  At one point, he overheard his deceitful new wife, Blair or something—he didn’t pay that much attention when they told him her name—tell her parents that she didn’t want to go home with him.  He rolled his eyes.  If nothing else, he had to admire her ability to play the victim.  If he wasn’t aware of her father’s desire to see his daughters married to titled gentlemen, he would have believed she was innocent.

“You must go home with him,” her father softly told her from where they stood several feet from him.  “He’s your husband now.”

She looked over at him, and though he knew he should probably do the decent thing and turn his attention elsewhere, he crossed his arms and stared straight at her, refusing to blink.  Did she honestly think it’d please him to be duped?

She
turned back to her father and vehemently shook her head and muttered something he couldn’t make out, nor did he really care to.  If she experienced half the pain he did at being trapped into this horrible marriage, then all the better.  If he was going to be miserable, the least she could do was be miserable with him.

After what seemed like eternity, her father and mother managed to push her over to him.  “You’ll ha
ve to forgive our daughter, my lord,” her father began.  “She’s terribly shy.”

“Oh?” He glanced at her. 
“She wasn’t terribly shy at the ball when we were outside.”

She gasped at his implication, and while something in the back of his mind warned him it was wrong to say that, at the moment, he didn’t particularly care to listen to his conscience
.

“Come on,” he told her, deciding he’d h
ad enough of this stupid game.  “Let’s go home.”

She slapped his hand, but he tightened his grip. 
She clenched her teeth and stomped her foot on the floor.  “No!  I demand an annulment.”

He laughed.
“That’s the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard.  You just stood there and promised yourself to me for better or worse.” He pointed to the spot where they’d been standing by the vicar whose eyebrows rose.  “I’m sorry, my lady, but there’s no undoing what God has joined together.”

“But-”

“Don’t make a scene,” her mother warned her daughter in a gentle tone.  “You’re married now.  It’s time to act the part.”

“Exactly,” Nate
agreed.  “Now come along.  I’ve grown tired of this whole thing.”

When she continued to dig her heels into the rug as he attempted to escort her out
the door, he picked her up in his arms and carried her out of the church.  By the time they were in his carriage, she was crying.

“Your family is no longer around, so you can stop pretending,” he muttered under his breath, irritated she continued on in this charade.

“I’m not pretending,” she sobbed.  “I really don’t want to be married to you.”

He groaned and
handed her his handkerchief.  “Do you think you can be done crying by the time we reach my townhouse?  I’d rather not have people think the worst, even if I was tricked into this marriage.” And how the Ton was already talking about that one!  He didn’t need them adding, “And Lady Roderick cried all the way home from the wedding,” to the gossip.  It was bad enough that they agreed to skip the wedding breakfast.

She nodded and wiped her eyes with the clean cloth.  “I’ll try.”

He sighed but kept his thoughts to himself.  Anything he’d say would probably make things worse, and as it was, things were bad enough.  When she stopped crying, she held the handkerchief out to him, but he grimaced.  “Keep it.  I have plenty more at home.”

Since she didn’t say anything, he
turned his attention to the horses and carriages as the coachman led them back into the heart of London.  Truth be told, he hadn’t been opposed to a formal wedding.  Indeed, he’d envisioned it when he thought he’d be marrying Rumsey’s daughter.  But no.  Instead, he ended up with a special license, a rushed wedding and a quick departure for home as if he was doing something wrong.

Too bad his friend Perry
was back at his estate handling things with his ward.  Otherwise, Nate would invite him along and have a couple of drinks to curse money-hungry families.

He let out a long s
igh, determined to put all of the horrid events leading up to this marriage behind him.  The only thing he could hope for was that she’d give him an heir and then they could spend the rest of their lives ignoring each other.  Yes, that would be the new focus.  Get the heir and be done with it.

***

Her husband hated her.  Claire knew this with all of her heart, and nothing her parents had said would convince her otherwise.

“Give it time.  This was sudden.  You and Lord Roderic
k are in shock,” her father said.

“He’s willing to do the right thing and marry you.  He can’t be as bad a
s you say,” her mother added.

“But look at the way he’s glaring at me,” she told them.

None of her protests did any good.  They ignored all of her protests, thinking once she got settled into her new life, she’d be laughing about how she imagined Roderick’s anger.  Except she wasn’t imagining it, and no amount of rationalizing it was going to work.  Her husband hated her.  She had no idea how he felt she’d deceived him into marrying her.  She tried to argue for him that he was innocent of any wrongdoing in front of the crowd who didn’t believe her.  She pleaded for an annulment.  She’d done everything she could to let him off the hook, but nothing worked.

Perhaps if he’d taken the time to protest the marriage instead of silently grumbling about it, they could have avoided this whole travesty.  But no.  He went along with it, and to make matters worse, he implied they were outside doing something they shouldn’t
be!  Why would anyone let her out of the marriage in a situation like that?

The more she thought through everything, the angrier she got.  She was outside, not far from the ballroom, and he wouldn’t leave her alone.  All she needed was a few minutes for the world to stop tilting around her, and then she could return to the ballroom to dance with more
gentlemen her father thought suitable for her.  A few minutes.  Was that really too much for her to ask?  It wasn’t like she ventured out to the gardens alone.  If Roderick had been a true gentleman, he wouldn’t have bothered her.

By
the time they reached his townhouse, she was no longer trying to hold back her tears.  In fact, there were no more tears to shed.  At the moment, she was trying to control her simmering rage.  As soon as the carriage stopped, she bolted out of it and stormed up the steps to the front door.