The Pursuit Of Marriage (27 page)

The irresistible Miss Effington was obviously in love with the not really infamous and far from perfect Lord Berkley.

Now, he just had to get her to admit it.

Thirteen

It is a man’s responsibility to safeguard the people in his life who need protection from those who would take undue advantage of them or from their own nature, whether or not they are appreciative of his efforts. Sisters immediately come to mind.

L. Effington

C assie sat upon the mount chosen for her by the Holcroft stable master and surveyed the countryside. It was the kind of spring day poets write sonnets to praise. The skies overhead were so brilliant a blue it hurt to look at them. The meadows were rich and lush and verdant, painted with endless tints and shades of green. One could almost breathe the colors of a day like this. All in all, it was perfect. Or it would be if one had had the opportunity for even a moment alone with the gentleman one had nearly lost one’s innocence to the night before.

Fully half their party had taken carriages to the spot for Gwen’s picnic today, a bucolic setting near a small lake. The rest, including Cassie, had chosen to ride. She quite liked to ride, but even if she hadn’t she would have chosen horseback simply because Reggie had and Miss Bellingham had not. Cassie had planned to ride by his side in the hopes of pursuing a private conversation, but Mr. Drummond had effectively prevented that by favoring her with his undivided attention. Certainly he was a delightful companion, and it was rather nice to watch Reggie watch them, but the time to provoke jealousy was past. At least on her part.

Her gaze drifted to Reggie and her heart fluttered in a most annoying way. He had dismounted and was speaking with Miss Bellingham, her mother, and Miss Hilliard. The man was quite obviously flirting with them all, and Miss Bellingham was blatantly flirting right back. Why didn’t she just fling herself on him and be done with it? She might well be an incomparable, a diamond of the first water and all that, but behind those violet eyes the woman was no doubt nothing more than a tart. A tart armed with beauty and charm who was obviously determined to be the next Viscountess Berkley. Miss Wonderful—hah!

Cassie narrowed her gaze in annoyance, aimed as much at herself as it was at Miss Bellingham. Apparently, jealousy was not confined to Reggie. Still, Cassie had to admit, if grudgingly, that Reggie appeared to pay no more attention to Miss Bellingham than he did to Miss Hilliard, and given what Cassie and Reggie had shared, or almost shared, did she, in truth, have any reason to be jealous at all?

Last night had been rather remarkable and a prelude to what she hoped was to come. Even now the memory of his touch brought shivers of delight and a tense yearning deep in the pit of her stomach. Still, his obvious pleasure at her declaration that she would never force a man into marriage simply to avoid scandal nagged at her. As much as she tried to dismiss his reaction as not important, she feared it was very important indeed. If he loved her—and up until the moment he had left last night she was confident that he did—what difference did it make what led to their marriage? And marriage was certainly where they were headed.

Unless, of course, she’d been right from the very beginning about men with infamous reputations and very, very wrong about the man she thought he was.

She was, however, definitely right about her own nature. She had taken the first steps down the path to scandal and ruin, and there could be no turning back now. Whether Reggie was an honorable man or a true scoundrel, she didn’t care. She would be his; indeed, she was determined to be his, regardless of the cost she might have to pay. Either with her reputation and her future or her heart.

“Do you like my brother?” Lucy pulled her horse up beside Cassie’s.

“I find him exceptionally annoying,” Cassie said coolly.

“As do I, but I should think for a woman like you that would be a benefit.”

Cassie raised a brow. “What do you mean a woman like me?”

“Oh, you know.” Lucy shrugged.
“You’re so…so…”

“Eccentric?” Cassie grinned.

Lucy laughed. “Yes, of course, but I would think that was something of a badge of honor for you. I know I find it so.”

Cassie stared at the young woman. “Do you?”

Lucy nodded. “Indeed I do. I quite admire you, Miss Effington. You do precisely as you please.”

“Within bounds,” Cassie said quickly, pushing the thought of last night firmly out of her head. She would certainly not wish to encourage Lucy in any kind of improper behavior. “One should always be cognizant of the restrictions of propriety.”

“Oh, most certainly.” Lucy’s tone belied her words, and Cassie was fairly certain the girl didn’t believe it for a moment. “But I didn’t really mean eccentric, although I suppose it is somewhat accurate as you do things that are not expected and speak your mind as well. But what I meant was…” Lucy thought for a moment. “Confident. Yes, that’s it. Assured. You are the kind of woman who knows what she wants and precisely how to get it. I quite admire that.”

“I’m not sure how admirable it is, and I fear you give me far too much credit at any rate.” Cassie chose her words carefully. “It’s rather difficult actually, to walk the fine line between the behavior society expects and yet follow your own…” She thought for a moment. “…nature, I suppose. Being true to yourself rather than everyone else, within limits, of course.”

Cassie shook her head. “In truth, while I have always been fairly determined and quite willing to speak up about what I think, lately I have found myself confused more often than not.”

“Nonsense.” Lucy snorted. “I can’t imagine you being confused about anything, especially about what you want.”

“Still, I—”

“Now then, Miss Effington, may I call you Cassandra?”

“My sister calls me Cassie.”

“Then I shall too. So.” Lucy met her gaze directly. “Do you want my brother or not?”

Cassie hesitated, then blew a long, resigned breath. “Yes.”

“Thank goodness. I was worried for a moment.” Lucy leaned toward her and lowered her voice. “I shall make a bargain with you. I shall do everything possible to distract Mr. Drummond, who is far too polite to ignore my attentions, and you can focus your efforts on Reggie. And perhaps we can do something to pry Miss Bellingham from his side as well.”

Lucy wrinkled her nose. “I don’t mind telling you I would much rather have you in the family than Miss Bellingham.”

“Why?”

“I don’t like her,” Lucy said simply. “I’m not sure why, but I don’t. And I don’t trust her. I suspect she’ll do whatever it may take to get precisely what she wants, regardless of how many people she has to trample beneath her feet to do so.”

Cassie laughed. “Didn’t you just say the same thing about me?”

“Yes, but I am confident that you have limits. That, when all is said and done, you are a nice person.

Besides, I think you might truly care for my brother, whereas I think she only cares for what he is and what he has. And I don’t like the way she looks at him. As if she’s, well, hungry.”

“And how do I look at him?”

“Oh, you look as if you’re hungry as well. But you look as if you want to savor him, whereas she looks like she plans to chew him up and spit him aside.”

“Thank you, I think, but you said a bargain.” Cassie studied her cautiously. “What do you receive in return?”

“Aside from a sister-in-law that I like?” Lucy’s gaze drifted to Christian, and a determined smile turned up the corners of her pretty mouth.

“Lucy!” Cassie shook her head. “You are far and away too young for Christian. Beyond that, he has a great deal of experience and a certain reputation with women, and I daresay—”

“I know all that and I don’t care.” Lucy tossed her dark hair and smiled in a manner far older than her years. “I know I may be too young for him now, but someday I won’t be. As I don’t think he’s the kind of man to succumb to marriage any time soon, I can wait. And at that point, indeed between now and then, it would be rather beneficial and most convenient to have the sister of the man I intend to marry wed to my brother.” She cast Cassie a determined smile.

“That would be convenient,” Cassie murmured and wondered if Christian’s fate wasn’t already sealed.

“Wouldn’t it?” Lucy beamed, then her eyes widened. “I say, would you like to see Berkley Park? We needn’t go all the way to the house. You can see it from that hill.” She waved at a slight hill a short distance away, crowned with a stand of trees.

“Oh, I scarcely think…” Cassie glanced at Reggie, who was still overly occupied with Miss Bellingham, and shrugged. “I don’t see why not.”

“You’ll like it, it’s lovely. Very old as well, I think. I have no idea how old, although Reggie probably knows. Somewhat imposing in appearance, but really not at all…”

They started off at a pleasant pace, Lucy chatting all the time. Mostly about how handsome Christian was or how charming or whether or not he had ever shown a serious interest in a woman and how none of Cassie’s other brothers were wed, so obviously waiting for marriage ran in the family, and when did Cassie think Christian’s thoughts would turn toward marriage anyway?

They reached the top of the hill and Lucy paused for breath. Only then did they hear the unmistakable sound of a horse behind them.

“And what, might I ask, are you two doing?” Reggie said as he rode up with a smile. Cassie smiled back and tried to ignore the way her heart leapt whenever he smiled.

“I wanted to show Cassie Berkley Park,” Lucy said and turned toward Cassie. “We’ll have to dismount, of course. The best view is from the other side of the trees.”

There wasn’t more than a handful of trees here, but they did effectively hide the scenery.

“I’ll be happy to point it out to her,” Reggie said. “As you have to return to the others.”

Lucy’s brows drew together. “Why?”

“Mother sent me to fetch you.”

“Whatever for?”

“I have no idea, nor do I care.” He nodded in the direction they’d come from. “Now, go.”

“I daresay I shouldn’t leave you here without a chaperone,” Lucy said with a prim note in her voice. Cassie bit back a grin. “It’s most improper.”

“As we are scarcely out of sight of the others, I think we can take the risk of scandal.” Reggie smiled wryly. “What do you say, Miss Effington?”

Cassie shrugged in a nonchalant manner. “As you say, we can see the rest of the party from here. I don’t see the harm in it.”

“Nor do I. Now,” he fixed Lucy with an all too familiar brotherly glare. “Go!”

“I’m going,” she snapped, wheeled her horse, and started off at a brisk clip.

“She’s going too fast,” he murmured.

“She most certainly is not.” Cassie laughed. “Indeed, she’s setting no more than a moderate pace. Besides, from what I can see, she sits a horse extremely well.”

“Horses and dogs used to be the only things that concerned her.” Reggie heaved a long-suffering sigh.

“I’m not entirely certain when she turned her attentions elsewhere, but I can tell you I don’t like it one bit.”

“In that, I believe you and my brothers have a great deal in common.”

He winced. “That puts things in an entirely different perspective and one I’d prefer not to consider, if you don’t mind.”

“Still, she is little more than a child, whereas I—”

“You are delightful.” He met her gaze, his gray eyes full of all sorts of wonderful promises, and smiled and she thought she might well melt off her horse and into a small puddle on the ground. “In truth, I thought we’d never get rid of her.”

“If it wasn’t Lucy, it would have been Leo.”

Reggie laughed. “Or Drummond. He seems exceptionally fond of you.”

“Or it could well have been Miss Bellingham, as she is obviously quite fond of you,” Cassie said pointedly.

“Perhaps we are destined never to be alone again.”

“That would be a shame, I think. I rather like being alone with you.” She forced a light note to her voice, as if her comments, and her meaning, were of no more significance than an observation of the weather.

“Do you?” His gaze was intense, and she wondered if he could indeed see right through her.

“I do, and as we are alone now”—she drew a deep breath—“I think there are things we should discuss.”

“I can certainly think of one or two,” he murmured, then grinned. “But not at the moment.”

“Why not?”

“Because any minute I expect someone, probably one of your brothers, to notice our absence, jump to all sorts of unwarranted conclusions—”

“Unwarranted conclusions?” She widened her eyes, and innocence sounded in her voice. “Do you mean like thinking that you could be in my room late at night, partially clothed?”

“Something like that.” He laughed and slipped off his horse, then reached up to help her dismount. She slid off her saddle and into his arms. He held her for far longer than he needed to, far longer than he should have and not nearly long enough. She stared up at him and wanted to say everything she felt and everything she wanted, but once again words failed her. Extraordinary, really, the way he was the only man who had ever made her even remotely speechless.

“Come on.” He released her but took her hand and led her through the stand of trees. “The bottom of this hill marks the boundary between Marcus’s estate and mine.” He skirted around a beech, stopped, and gestured in a grand manner. “There it is, although I fear you really can’t see it well from here.”

She shielded her eyes against the midday sun. He was right, the house at Berkley Park was far too distant to see properly, but she guessed by what she could discern and the symmetry of its shape that it was in the Palladian style. Its pale gray stone gleamed softly in the sunlight, and even at this distance the house had a solid, beneficent presence.

“It was built about a century and a half ago by either the first or second Viscount Berkley, I forget which.” He shrugged, but there was a distinct note of pride in his voice. “It has been my family’s home ever since, and I hope it always will be.”

“You like the country, then?” She wasn’t at all sure why she was surprised. She had simply assumed he would prefer the excitement of London to the peaceful life one led in the country.

“I do indeed. Oh, I certainly enjoy London. There’s always something amusing to occupy one’s time, and I daresay, any man who professes boredom in town is simply too lazy to partake of what is offered. But there is a calm here that is soothing to the soul.” He gazed over the countryside, and his voice was thoughtful, as if he were saying aloud things he had only thought up to now. “It’s busy, of course, what with the tenants and managing the estate and any number of other responsibilities. I do have an excellent estate manager, but I’ve always felt it was my, well, duty, as it were, to keep abreast of his activities. Indeed, I have implemented some modern improvements through the years myself. I usually meet with him daily when I’m residing at the park. When I’m in London, he sends a report once a fortnight.”

“Really?” She stared at him with surprise. “I had no idea you would be so involved.”

He raised a brow. “Not what you expected from the infamous Lord Berkley, then?”

“Not at all. And you have my apologies.”

“I’m not sure I’ll accept them,” he said mildly. “I thought, or perhaps I simply hoped, that we were past the point when you would misjudge me because of your preconceived notions based on nothing more than my reputation.”

“You’re right. I do know you better, or at least I think I do. And it’s entirely unfair of me to continue to assume anything on the basis of your infamy, which in truth I’ve seen little evidence of except, of course, last night, when you were certainly, well, most inventive and quite polished—”

He grinned. “Most inventive and quite polished?”

“It did strike me that way, although I really have no basis for true comparison—-”

He raised a brow. “I hate to think how I might fare.”

“I wouldn’t were I you,” she said quickly, ignoring the heat that rushed up her face. It was exceedingly odd to be discussing such intimacies with a man, although with Reggie it seemed almost natural. “And yes, I would certainly expect no less from you given your reputation.”

“It’s a heavy burden to bear.” He shook his head in a mournful manner. “Still, in this particular instance, am I to assume your preconceived expectations based on my reputation have worked to my benefit?”

“Only in that you did not disappoint.” She cast him a flippant smile. “For the most part.”

He gasped in mock dismay. “For the most part?”

“As we did not actually…that is to say…what I mean is…” She drew her brows together and glared at him. “You know full well what I am trying to say.”

“I do indeed, but it’s most delightful to watch you attempt to say it and fail.” He grinned. “Given your outspoken nature, of course, and my preconceived ideas that you will not hesitate to say anything that is on your mind at any given moment regardless of how inappropriate it might be.”

“Why were you so pleased when I said I would never marry a man simply to avoid scandal?” she blurted, then winced. Surely there was a better way to ask that question.

“Thank you for proving my point,” he said wryly.

“I’m glad you appreciate it. Now,” she held her breath, “do answer the question.”

“Of course it’s nice to know a woman would not force a man into marriage to avoid scandal.” He shrugged. “I can’t imagine there’s a man alive who doesn’t feel the same.”

She stared in disbelief. “That’s not an answer.”

“I thought it was an excellent answer.”

She forced a note of calm to her voice. “Perhaps I am not phrasing this correctly. Perhaps you don’t really understand what I am asking. I am not trying to determine the attitude of all mankind on a general basis. I simply want to know why you, Reginald, Viscount Berkley, are so pleased that I, Cassandra Effington—”

“There you are.” Leo’s genial voice rang out behind them.

Reggie grimaced.

Cassie sighed and was at once grateful she was not armed.

“I knew I’d find you eventually.” Leo sauntered toward them with an all too satisfied grin. “Luncheon is ready, but Lady Pennington refuses to serve until everyone is present. And as we are all famished, I took it upon myself to track you down, as a dog might track a fox.”

Although it would certainly not be at all difficult to borrow a pistol and shoot her brother at a later date.

“Come now. It wasn’t all that difficult, Effington,” Reggie said in an overly pleasant tone. “Particularly given that we were neither trying to hide, nor were we more than a step or two out of sight.”

“However, a step or two can often be most significant,” Leo said lightly. Reggie shrugged. “I would say its significance depends a great deal on the intentions of those who are out of sight.”

Leo’s brows pulled together. “And intentions are fluid, variable, are they not? I mean to say one moment a gentleman’s intentions might be completely honorable and the next they could be quite improper, too forward, too personal and absolutely scandalous.”

“Good Lord,” Cassie said under her breath.

Leo ignored her. “And when the lady in question is prone to reckless behavior and acting without due consideration, she can certainly not be counted on to protest any improprieties that might occur. Indeed, she might even encourage them.”

Cassie gasped. “Leo!”

“See here, Effington.” Reggie narrowed his eyes and met Leo’s gaze directly. “I fear you have somehow received the wrong impression. The simple fact that last night, when I mistakenly entered your room, I did not challenge your threats regarding my intentions toward Cassandra, does not mean you can continue to cast aspersions upon my behavior or hers.

“Brother or not, your implications as to her actions and quite frankly, her intelligence, are most insulting. And while I do not relish the thought of yet another duel, and would quite regret having to do you bodily harm, I shall consider it my duty to do so should you fail to apologize to her at once.”