To Desire a Wicked Duke (6 page)

He hadn’t wanted Tess to know he was so concerned for her welfare. There was no point in advertising his involvement with her charities either. As soon as he returned from London, he would remind the actor of his promise to keep quiet, Ian noted.

His outsized protectiveness was largely the reason he hadn’t fought having to wed her. He felt obliged to save Tess from a scandal he had caused.

By marrying her, he would also be making reparations of another sort. Although for good reason, he’d been the one to send Richard off to war in the first place, thus changing Tess’s fate irrevocably.

At least Lady Wingate should be pleased by the marriage, Ian surmised. The baroness’s violent reaction to their wanton conduct had seemed a bit overplayed, now that he had time to consider it. In fact, he suspected her ladyship of trying to throw them together, much as she’d done four years ago at Tess’s comeout ball. But if she wished to promote a love match between them, this was hardly the way to go about it, forcing Tess to choose between her beloved charities and ruination.

“Your carriage is ready, your grace.”

His reflections interrupted by the Wingate butler, Ian donned his greatcoat and beaver hat and stepped out into the rain.

He likely wouldn’t sort out his complicated feelings for Tess any time soon. And just now he had to drive
to London to procure a special license for a marriage neither of them had anticipated … and she, at least, violently opposed.

The impending termination of his bachelorhood didn’t exactly fill him with delight either, Ian admitted. Yet he couldn’t deny that it had crossed his mind recently to court Tess himself. Indeed, for the past several months—ever since Lady Wingate had insisted her goddaughter was coming out of mourning—he had toyed with the notion of seriously considering matrimony, and of making Tess his first choice.

He’d doubted she would be amenable to his suit, though. He had done too good a job of deliberately antagonizing her.

And now, Ian thought with a sardonic twist of his lips, it probably served him right that he had to deal with the extreme ill will he had purposefully sown.

Shaken and dismayed, Tess was grateful to reach her bedchamber at Wingate Manor without encountering anyone. She couldn’t bear to face the baroness or any more gawking houseguests just now. Not when she had to struggle with such a life-altering decision.

As Tess let herself into her room, the weight settling on her chest made it difficult to breathe. She was aghast to think she would have to marry Rotham despite their mutual antagonism—and furious at herself for letting this disaster come to pass.

Yet you will be facing a worse disaster if you don’t accept his offer
, she reminded herself. Not only would
scandal render her an outcast in society, her precious charities would be devastated.

Tess didn’t doubt that Lady Wingate would carry out her threat to ally with the entire ton against her. The baroness actually had ties to Rotham’s family by marriage; Judith’s late sister-in-law had been his maternal aunt. But they might as well have been related by blood, given their forceful natures. Her ladyship had an acerbic wit just like Rotham, and had regularly run roughshod over her weakling husband before Baron Wingate’s untimely demise from a lung ailment several years ago.

Rotham was just as strong-willed as Lady Wingate, perhaps more so, Tess acknowledged. He was a nobleman accustomed to getting what he wanted—which was one of the prime sources of friction between them.

How could she wed a man who was so vexing, so overbearing, so dictatorial? His arrogant highhandedness made her blood boil.

“If anyone could induce me to murder, it would be Rotham,” Tess muttered to herself. “How can I endure an entire lifetime of being his wife?”

He was right on one score, however, she conceded grudgingly. It was difficult enough for her as a woman—and a single lady at that—to raise funds for even the most worthy causes. It would be impossible if she lived under a cloud of scandal.

And as Rotham had pointed out, as a duchess, she would be in a much better position to aid her charities. As it was now, she had only a fraction of the power and influence Rotham possessed by virtue of his rank and fortune.

Marriage to him, though, would shatter all her plans and hopes for her future, Tess thought despondently. She had earnestly hoped to find true love again. And recently she’d been encouraged by the success of her closest friends—the three beautiful but staunchly independent Loring sisters—and even her cousin, Damon Stafford, Viscount Wrexham. She’d watched this past year as one by one, they found love and happiness in marriage.

Although Tess didn’t know if she would ever love again, their felicity—no, their
joy
—had inspired her to play the matrimonial mating game once more. Besides, she wanted a husband and children someday. Thus, she was willing to risk the whims of fate, even though she knew firsthand how incredibly painful it was to lose a loved one.

Crossing to her valise, Tess pulled out the last letter Richard had ever written to her.
My dearest love
, the salutation began.

Her eyes welled with bittersweet pain as she smoothed the well-worn pages with her fingertips.

She had known Richard Sutherland all of her life, having grown up in the same country neighborhood in Chiswick, partway between London and Richmond. Since he was only two years older, they had played together as children. Surprisingly, their friendship blossomed further after he went off to university, chiefly because they kept up a written correspondence.

Tess was glad to have her dear friend Richard’s support at her comeout ball, particularly since she was flustered to meet his handsome elder cousin, Ian
Sutherland, the sinful Duke of Rotham. Rotham had a wild reputation, but had attended her ball at the invitation of Lady Wingate, who had sponsored Tess’s entire London Season. His wickedness should have made him anathema at a young lady’s debut, but in the eyes of the hypocritical ton, the duke’s family connections combined with his high rank and enormous fortune made him a supremely eligible match.

Rotham’s powerful physical allure had unnerved Tess, though. In comparison, his younger cousin Richard was a much gentler man, sweet and thoughtful, instead of intense and dangerous to her peace of mind.

When that same night Richard had asked to court her, Tess had welcomed his suit and forcibly repressed her forbidden attraction to his wicked cousin.

She’d always wondered, however, if Richard had acted out of jealousy that night. Certainly he resented his cousin’s wealth, since Rotham controlled the purse strings and refused to increase his quarterly allowance.

Richard had chafed at his lack of funds, yet it surprised Tess when shortly after her comeout ball, he had entered the army on an officer’s commission purchased by the duke. Richard had never before shown interest in a military life, but he was not cut out to be a clergyman, and a gentleman of limited means had few ways to earn a livelihood other than the military or the Church.

He was off fighting the war when Tess lost her mother to a lung fever late that same year. Richard’s letters had comforted her greatly, though, and when
he came home on leave and proposed to her, they had agreed to a quiet betrothal. They planned to marry after her official year of mourning for her mother ended, but before the wedding could take place, Napoleon escaped imprisonment and Richard was called back to war. Tragically, he was killed in the Battle of Waterloo in the summer of 1815.

To shut out her grief at losing her betrothed, Tess had thrown herself into supporting various charities, including founding the Families of Fallen Soldiers. She also continued teaching classes part-time at her friend Arabella Loring’s Academy for Young Ladies. She had a modest fortune, so she wasn’t forced to work for her living, but she wanted to give herself a sense of purpose as well as fill the vast hole in her life.

Now, two years later, Tess had overcome her numbness of spirit and was satisfied with her life for the most part. But she still longed for love to replace the emptiness.

If she were ruined by scandal, though, what chance for love and marriage would she ever have? The lonely dreariness of a life lived in chaste spinsterhood held scant appeal.

That was the chief reason she had kissed Hennessy today, Tess remembered. For two years now, she’d led a colorless, passionless existence, one with no spark, no fire, and she’d vowed to change that.

But her resolve to live life more fully had landed her in deep trouble—

A quiet rap on her bedchamber door startled Tess out of her reverie. Quickly she wiped her damp eyes and returned Richard’s treasured letter to its velvet pouch and tucked the pouch into her valise.

When she opened the door, she found the youngest and most passionate of the three Loring sisters standing there. Lily had recently married Heath Griffin, the Marquess of Claybourne, after a spirited courtship. With Lord Claybourne’s financial support, she had initiated her own charitable endeavor, starting a home for destitute and abused women, and had attended Lady Wingate’s house party to help promote Tess’s causes.

“Is it true that you accepted Rotham’s proposal of marriage?” Lily demanded as she swept into the room.

“It is true that he proposed,” Tess said, shutting the door after the dark-haired beauty, “because we were caught in a compromising position. But I haven’t yet accepted his offer.”

“What in the world happened, Tess? I heard you were discovered together in a passionate embrace, but I thought you and Rotham were mortal enemies.”

“I wouldn’t call us
mortal
enemies, although we don’t get along.”

“Then why ever were you kissing him? And why would you allow it to go so far? Lady Perry said you looked as if you were already lovers.”

Tess flushed. “We are
not
lovers, Lily. We just … became carried away. The deplorable truth is, Rotham kissed me as a sort of experiment, and I lost my senses. I couldn’t help myself.”

Lily’s expression turned more sympathetic. “When Heath kisses me, I lose all ability to reason, so I am not surprised that Rotham affects you that way. He does have a reputation for being a devil with the
ladies. That is partly why they call him ‘the Devil Duke.’ But I hate to think of you wedding him, Tess. It is such a mismatch.”

“I know,” she agreed feelingly.

“You are a veritable angel compared to his devil,” Lily added with a faint scowl. “But Lady Wingate insists that you will marry him. You know we will stand by you if you choose to defy her.”

“In good conscience, I don’t believe I can defy her,” Tess replied quietly.

She couldn’t lightly dismiss her obligations to her godmother, not after all the baroness had done for her. As girls, Judith and Tess’s mother, Susan, had been bosom friends and attended school together. With no children of her own, Judith considered Tess more a daughter than goddaughter. After Tess’s father died from a fall in a hunting accident when she was sixteen, the baroness had borne the expense of a London Season, and utilized her role as a leader of society to gain Tess’s entry to the best circles.

When recently Lady Wingate began pushing her to consider matrimony again, Tess had been willing to do so. But Rotham would have been her very last choice for her husband.…

Upon seeing the despairing look on her face, Lily wrapped her arms tightly around Tess, hugging her close. “I suppose you will have to marry him,” she said, finally drawing back.

“Yes, I suppose I will. The alternative is unthinkable.” Tess forced a smile, despite her feeling of helplessness. “If I refuse, I will dwindle into an old maid and play the fond aunt to your children instead of
having children of my own. Worse, everything I have worked for these past years will be totally wrecked.”

“What does Rotham say?”

“He wants the ceremony to be held tomorrow. In fact, he has gone to London to procure a special license.”

“So soon?” Lily’s tone held the same dismay that Tess’s had.

“In his view, if we must wed, it is best done quickly, before the scandal has time to set in.”

Worry darkened Lily’s features. “What do you plan to do now, Tess? Is there any way I can help you?”

“I think I want to go home. I don’t feel capable of pretending we are making a love match, as Lady Wingate wishes us to do.”

“I will accompany you. You shouldn’t be alone at a time like this. Heath can remain here and woo Lady Wingate’s houseguests for their donations.”

Tess shook her head. “I would rather you stay and assume my role. Dorothy will be at home to console me,” she said of her companion, Dorothy Croft.

“Are you certain?” Lily asked, sounding unpersuaded.

“Yes. I can manage on my own, dearest. The most pressing decision is where to hold the ceremony. I planned to marry Richard in the village where we grew up, but it doesn’t seem right to use the Chiswick church with Rotham.”

“Why not Danvers Hall? You know Arabella will support you in any way possible.”

The Loring sisters had lived at Danvers Hall in Chiswick for several years, before the estate was inherited by the new Earl of Danvers, Marcus Pierce.
After Arabella, the eldest sister, had wed Marcus, she continued to make her home there, while Roslyn and Lily had moved out to live with their new husbands.

Tess pursed her lips thoughtfully. “Danvers Hall might work.”

“Then I will write Arabella at once and let her know.” Lily shook her head in disbelief. “Just think, Tess, by this time tomorrow you could be married and preparing for your wedding night.”

At the realization, Tess couldn’t suppress a shiver. Rotham had promised they could live separate lives after the consummation, but she still had the wedding night to get through.

Heaven help her
.

She didn’t want to share a marital bed with him, even for one night. She didn’t want him arousing her or tempting her or overwhelming her with his devastatingly sensual kisses. Her wild response to him earlier today had frightened her. Never in her life had she ever lost control like that—

Lily evidently comprehended her reservations, for she offered a suggestion. “If you are worried about the physical aspects of marriage, you know you can apply to Fanny for advice. If anyone can help you defend yourself against Rotham’s sensual powers, it will be Fanny. No one knows more about men than she does.”