The Hazards Of Hunting A Duke (39 page)

But Jared walked on, opening one door and the n the next, stumbling across Downey in a small study. “I

do beg your pardon,” he said to the stunned Downey, and shut the door.

“My Lord Middleton!” Mr. Morris cried frantically. “Allow me to at least introduce you properly!”

The door to the small study banged open and Downey rushed out, his eyes wide with consternation. “I

told her she had to go, my lord!” he said frantically. “I’ve not sanctioned her stay here!

This won’t affect your agreement to hear my proposal, will it?”

“Lord Downey,” Jared said, frowning darkly. “Yes, sir?”

“Shut your gob,” he said, and looked at the butler. “If you’re to announce, be quick about it.”

Morris hastily opened the door and stepped inside. A few moments later, the door opened again, and

Jared noticed the dew of perspiration on the poor man’s brow. “Very well, sir,” he said with a low bow, and opened the door wider, stepping out of his way.

Jared strode past him into the room, his eyes immediately locking on Ava. Then her sister. And Miss

Downey. And the ever-present Sally. Frankly, he could not recall a more vigilant lady’s maid than Sally.

He ignored them all, looked directly at Ava. “Good afternoon.”

“Good afternoon, my lord. Thank you for calling, but I am not receiving today.” “Oh, but I think you are,” he said evenly.

“Oh,” Sally said, her brows reaching her hairline.

“Oh but I’m not,” Ava said. “My sister and I were just reviewing our accounts.”

“Perhaps the accounts can wait, as I shall be paying them. And besides, madam, your husband needs a word.”

“Husband,” she said with a bit of a smirk.

“Oh my,” Miss Downey said, exchanging a stunned look with Sally.

He didn’t care how angry or hurt she was, he would not tolerate her insolence. “A word, Lady

Middleton,” he said sharply. “Alone.”

“I beg your pardon,” she said with a flick of her wrist, “but I —”

“We were just leaving,” Phoebe interrupted, frowning darkly at her sister as she gestured for Sally and

Miss Downey to stand.

Ava exclaimed at the betrayal and gaped at her sister hurtfully.

“Come on, then, Lucy,” Phoebe said sternly. “His lordship would like a word with his wife,” she said with a firm nod for Ava. “Come on, then —you, too,” she said to Sally, and extended her hand, took Sally’s firmly in hers, and with her free hand on Miss Downey’s back, pushed them all to the door, forcing the butler out, too, as well as Lord Downey, by their exodus at three abreast.

When the door shut, Jared turned to look at Ava, who was staring back at him defian tly.

So defiantly, in fact, that he noticed her skin had a certain glow about it. “You’re beautiful,” he said helplessly.

She put up a hand and shook her head. “Just…what do you want?” “To see my wife. To hold her again.”

She rolled her eyes, turned away from him, and stalked to the sideboard, where she poured a glass of water for herself. “Now that you’ve seen me, you can leave.”

“Ava!” he said commandingly. “You will cease acting so missishly. I’ve come to tell you that my father is hosting the annual A utumn Ball and we are expected to attend.”

“Oh how grand!” she exclaimed to the ceiling. “I suppose I should pretend that all is perfectly all right between us and smile happily when you steal a kiss from your mistress in some dark corner? Or better

yet, on a private terrace. You seem to know where all the private terraces are,” she said, setting the glass down with a thwack against the sideboard.

“Good God,” he said, his exasperation mounting. “I told you —there is no mistress! There has never been

a mistress!”

“Please spare the lies, sir. I will not attend.”

He struggled to maintain his composure. “You may not decline, Ava.”

“How can you insist on anything from me?” she cried. “Haven’t you taken enough? And now you would take me into your father’s house and make a laughingstock of me?”

“A laughingstock? I would take you into my father’s house as my wife!”

But Ava wasn’t listening. “You think I am a girl, a mere child whom you may make a fool!” she said, waving her hand at him as she turned in a frantic circle. “I don’t care what sort of bargain you think we struck, sir, but I will not be your wife in name only!”

“You can’t say that you have been my wife in name only,” he said angrily. “Frankly, you can hardly claim

to have been my wife at all these last two weeks.”

“Why should I pretend? The moment you are alone, you rush into someone else’s arms,”

she said,

picking up a newspaper and flinging it at him. “Your friends have made certain it is printed in the morning newspapers!”

“That’s a lie. I—”

“I will not be held hostage to this marriage by vows we took in vain!”

“You wanted those vows!” he angrily reminded her. “You pre tend as if your motives were pure!”

“I hardly know what my motives were,” she said adamantly.

“But God knows how I have regretted my lack of deliberation many times over!”

He bristled, put his hand on his hips, and glared at her. “Ava, listen to me. W e may have taken vows in vain, but everything has changed —”

“Yes, everything has changed! I don’t want to be married to you. Will you please accept it? I don’t want

to be married to you!”

The tremor of anger in him was turning to white fury. This was not how he had envisioned this meeting—

he had imagined telling her everything, that he could see only her, think of only her, feel only her in his heart. Yet the vile way in which she spoke to him now made a part of him wish he’d never met her.

Unfortunately, he was married to her, and she to him. But that did not mean he had to remain in her company. He crossed the room in two strides, took her arm, and held her close so there would be no mis take. “You may not want to be married to me, but madam, you are, and you will attend my father’s ball. If you think to defy me, I will carry you bodily. Do you quite understand me?”

“Ha!” she cried to the ceiling. “Now you will dictate to me where I mu st go and when?

Very well, sir, I

shall attend. But I will not be timid when your mistress presents herself.”

His rage bubbling over, he clenched his jaw against the curses that were rising up in his gullet, and let her

go. Silly woman. Stupid, silly chil d. She would one day regret her harsh words, but at the moment, he was too angry to care if she did or not. He let go, turned on his heel, and strode for the door.

“There is one more thing I would say before you rush off to meet your lover,” she said acidly. He closed his eyes and tried to summon his composure.

“You have your wish,” she said behind him, her voice breaking a little. “I am carrying your child.”

He felt that thing in him burst. That impossibly large thing in him that had made him so uncomfortable

these many weeks suddenly burst. He gripped the door handle, his mind trying to absorb that wonderful

—and wretched—news. A moment or two passed before he was able to speak, and he slowly turned to face her, his heart wrenching at the sight of the te ars in her eyes.

Lord God, how he’d hurt her. “You are certain?” he asked quietly.

“Yes, yes!” she cried heavenward. “I am certain! You shall have your heir! You may toss poor Edmond aside like so much rubbish, but you will have your legitimate heir.”

His heart was breaking. He could feel it breaking. “You have your wish as well,” he said quietly, and reached in his pocket and withdrew the diamond bracelet he had intended to give her as a gift. “I did

encounter Lady Waterstone at the zoo shortly after we arrived in London, but quite by accident…at least

on my part. I suppose she followed me there. But therein I told her, unequivocally, that there is no one

for me but you. And there hasn’t been anyone but you in months. I told her that I love you. Desperately so.”

“W-what?” Ava tearfully stammered.

“I can’t say why I feared it or why it has been so hard to admit…,” he said, and glanced up, into her lovely pale green eyes. “And there is so…much about Edmond you do not know. But I love him, Ava.

And I love you. I love you so much that I am astounded by the depth and breadth of it. I think of nothing but you. I dream of you. I yearn for you.”

It felt as if his knees were buckling, and he braced himself on the back of a chair. “I ache for you, Ava. There is a hole in my day, a hole in my heart when you are away from me. I am nothing without you. It’s what I’ve been trying to tell you,” he said, and tossed the bracelet onto the chair and walked out, completely spent.

A va felt quite ill the next morning, but couldn’t be entirely certain if it was her pregnancy or the turmoil she felt about Jared.

Her illness tipped Phoebe to her condition, however, for s he found Ava crouched over the basin and handed her a cool clean cloth. “Are you carrying a child?” she asked bluntly.

“Yes,” Ava said, and sagged into a chair and closed her eyes. “That’s marvelous!”

Phoebe squealed.

“No, it’s not,” Ava said.

“Ava! You will not sully this with your anger! It’s marvelous!”

Ava laughed wryly. “It’s not my anger that sullies it, Phoebe. It is my stupidity,” she said, and opened her eyes. “He came here to tell me that he loved me. But I railed at him, Phoebe. I made quite an ass of

myself.”

Phoebe laughed.

“It’s not the least bit funny,” Ava complained as Phoebe helped her to sit.

“Yes it is. You can be rather dramatic when you are of a mind. You’ve had a lover’s tiff, nothing more.” “And you are the expert,” Ava said with a snort.

“I would do at least as well as you,” Phoebe said with a sniff.

Ava couldn’t argue. “What am I to do, Phoebe? He was so angry when he left! I’ve never seen him so angry!”

“I don’t know, exactly,” Phoebe admitted. “But I should think three heads are wiser than one.” “What do you mean?”

“I mean, darling, that there is more than one rule for hunting a man w ho will be a duke, and I rather suspect if we put our minds to it with Sally, we shall discover it.”

“Oh dear, no,” Ava said. “I’m far too humiliated!”

“That is precisely the reason we must confer,” Phoebe said, and pulled her up. “My only regret is that

Greer is not here to help us. She always has such a wise head,” Phoebe said. “Me too,”

Ava sighed, and together they went off to seek counsel.

Jared spent a miserable two days before his father’s ball second -guessing himself, wondering when he’d become so damnably soft.

He’d been such a fool, such a bloody fool. The entire business of love had never been his forte, and why

in God’s name he’d ever thought he could manage it…Well. He’d not make that mistake again. The next time a woman captured his heart —if ever—he’d head to Broderick Abbey and bury himself in work.

Unless, of course, she was there. In which case, perhaps he would walk into the Thames until the water covered his head and he could see no more, hear no more. Feel no more.

But she was carrying his child.

He thought about that a lot. He marveled at the miracle of it, wondered how he grew inside her, how his arms and legs developed. Or perhaps it was a girl, like Ava. Blond and pretty and far too irreverent for

her own good. He’d missed the miracle of it with Edmond. He’d not miss it again.

Frankly, now that he’d unleashed the beast of love, he feared he’d never be able to rein it back in. He could only hope that he and the beast and Ava would find a comfortable way to exist with one another.

Yet at the moment, the wound was quite raw, which was why he sent a driver for her the night of the ball

with strict instructions she was to be carried bodily if she thought to demur. The footman recoiled in

horror when he said it, but Jared stepped forward so that they were nose to nose and explained to him very carefully that he’d not have a position in his household if he disobeyed him.

He dressed slowly, almost lethargically. He dreaded any evening in his father’s company, but this evening

—he didn’t know if he could even bear it. To see her now, when the rift between them was so deep? His heart felt in danger of disintegrating completely. He felt so numb he wasn’t certain that it hadn’t already.

Phoebe finished winding the gold beads through Ava’s hair that matched the beads sewn on the gold

gown. On her wrist, Ava wore the diamond bracelet Jared had tossed on the chair. When she had finally picked it up that day, she had noticed that it was engraved o n the inside.

From J.B. to A.B. Hearts

entwined will never grow apart. She had cried like a baby.

And the gown she wore—well, Ava was often in awe of Phoebe’s talent, but this was unbelievably beautiful. She felt like a princess.

So too in awe, apparently, were Lucy and Sally, who stood to one side, wide -eyed, staring at Ava as if they’d never seen her before.

“What?” she cried, terrified that her pregnancy was already noticeable. “Oh my dear, you are beautiful,” Lucy said.

“Really?” Ava asked as she turn ed one way, then the other in the gold gown, noting how each little bead caught the light and made her gown appear to glitter.

“It complements your complexion,” Sally said, nodding thoughtfully, but eyeing her critically. “Yet there seems something a bit off, doesn’t there?”

“There does?” Ava asked fearfully, peering at herself in the mirror. “Mmm,” Sally said, and she, Lucille, and Phoebe stared at Ava. “What is it, then? You’ll drive me mad with all the gaping!”

“Aha,” Sally said, smiling a little. She stepped forward, sunk her fingers into Ava’s bosom, and yanked

the gown down to indecency. Ava and Lucy shrieked.

“You’re absolutely right,” Phoebe said, nodding approvingly. “Just a hint of bosom.”

“A hint?” Ava cried. She moved to pull the bodice up, but was stopped by the shrieks of Phoebe and

Sally.

“Leave it, you silly goose!” Phoebe chastised her, and pushed the shoulders of the gown down a bit. She and Sally stood back to examine her. “Oh, Ava ,” she said, tears in her eyes. “You’re absolutely