Chapter Three from Lady BewareIn which Thea rejects a proposal.
The picture is my idea of what Darien might look like. Sort of. Vaguely. What do you think?
If you remember, Thea has encountered a mysterious stranger in the deserted corridors of her home. Warily, she has listened to his offer to help her brother. "So," she asked, "your price?" "Marriage. Marry me and I will clear Dare's name." Now read on...."
Chapter 3
She couldn't help but laugh. "Don't be ridiculous!"
"You care so little for him?"
Put like that, it seemed wrong to refuse, but the idea was preposterous. Then she realized why. "I care too much to place that burden on him -- my life's ease for his."
"If you pretended to adore me, he would never know."
Dryly she said, "I am not so good an actor."
"I'm so very appalling?" He was mocking her again.
"You're uncouth, a paltry bully, a foul liar, a greedy swine-"
Something in his face dried her words. All he said was, "I deny the paltry."
"Can you deny mad?"
"I can act the part of a sane man if I try."
"Then try now," she snapped.
"I thought I was both sane and clear," he said. "Marriage for the truth."
"No. But my family would be generous in other ways."
"Perhaps there are no other ways."
He seemed relaxed now, even amiable, but he was looking at her like a predator who has dinner cornered.
Thea waved her fan again, trying to match his manner. "Liars are two-a-penny, sir, so we will simply find another. One who will accept a sane recompense."
He laughed. "That's probably the only time a Debenham has ever sought a bargain. I'm prime quality and worth my price, my lady."
"Nothing, sir, would be worth tying myself to you for life."
Thea again stepped to go around him. This time he gripped her arm. His bare hand was callused, hot and strong on the skin between long glove and short sleeve.
"I'll settle for less than marriage," he said.
Thea turned to stare, her face now close to his. "What?"
Was he proposing....? He would vindicate Dare for her body...? This was impossible!
But her imagination tested the ground. A few hours, perhaps less. What did she know about these things? Set against Dare's entire life.
"What?" she asked again, demanding clarification now, but fearing her legs would give way.
"An engagement," he said.
Thea gasped and said "What?" again, but weakly now.
He turned her to face him. "If I clear Lord Darius's name, you engage yourself to marry me. Publicly." When she opened her mouth to object, he put a finger to her lips. "Don’t panic. You won't have to go through with it, but the betrothal must hold for at least six weeks."
Thea jerked free of his touch, wanting to grip her head, to rock it back into order. "You're mad!"
"And you are overwhelmed. Think about it. A six week engagement is not so great a trial compared to the prize it will purchase."
"And after six weeks?"
"You send me off with a flea in my ear."
"You expect me to jilt you?"
True humor lit his face this time and his smile carved lines into his lean cheeks. "That’s what horrifies you?"
"Yes! A gentleman who jilts a lady is ruined, but a lady who jilts a gentleman is not a true lady. Unless she has an excellent and known reason. Are you willing to provide an excellent and known reason why I should not marry you?"
Laughter faded to wryness. "Almost inevitably. So? We are engaged?"
"Of course not. If you truly did see Dare fall it is your duty to say so without reward."
"But what if I'll have to lie?"
"Then your word is worth nothing."
"Lies, my lady, can be worth fortunes." But he stepped back, clearing her way. "It seems our discussion is at an end."
Thea longed to take the escape he offered, but she found she couldn't do it. Truth or lie, she believed that this man held the key to Dare's future.
A betrothal wouldn't be so very appalling.
Except....
She still had no idea who he was.
"Who are you?" she asked.
"The man who can vindicate your brother."
"I mean your name."
"Horatio."
"Your full name, sir."
"Why quibble? I'm asking a small price for a large service and you are going to agree."
She wanted to deny that, but couldn't.
"You could be a nobody."
"I'm clearly somebody."
"You know what I mean."
"Yes. You wouldn't lower yourself to marry a tradesman."
"More to the point, no one would believe that I wanted to marry a tradesman. If you become Dare's witness and then I promise to marry you, your complete unsuitability as husband for a duke's daughter would ruin everything."
He looked at her in a new way. "I do admire a clear-headed woman. Don't fine tailoring and expensive trimmings tell the story?"
She looked him over, noting again the quality of his dark evening clothes, and the emerald glinting in gold amid the snowy linen at his throat. "You could be a rich tradesman."
"You'd never stop so low?"
"I told you. It would look peculiar!” Clocks began to chime. “Heavens, how much time has passed? I must return to the ball. We will talk more of this tomorrow, sir."
"Now or never. Refuse and I leave this house immediately. You will never see me again."
She stared, appalled. "That's not fair."
"Life rarely is."
"Tell me who you are."
"No."
"Tell me this, at least. Are you a gentleman?"
"Yes."
"Are you honorable?"
"Yes."
Thea knew that asking these questions was admission that she was going to give in, just as he'd so arrogantly predicted. He'd hooked her like a fish and was reeling her into his net, and she was as helpless as a thrashing trout.
He was an honorable gentleman and a soldier, and handsome in a roughened way. Though his behavior here had been appalling, he clearly could do better if he wished. A betrothal might be believed. It might even be tolerable.
But why? Why was he doing this?
"What do you gain from this?" she asked.
"Six weeks of your delightful company."
She simply looked at him.
He met her eyes but stayed silent.
She sought truth in his impassive features. Perhaps she also sought weakness, or last-minute mercy. She found neither. Instead, she recognized implacable will. He had faced her with a choice and would not relent. There was only one answer that would let her sleep at night.
"If you clear my brother's name, I will betroth myself to you and it will last for six weeks." When a flash of triumph lit his eyes, she added, "But that is all."
"Except for the sealing kiss."
Thea stepped back. "That wasn’t part of the bargain."
But when he grasped her gloved hand, she didn't struggle. Nor when he kissed it, first fingers, then knuckles, his dark eyes holding hers. She could hardly feel his lips through silk, but still she shivered.
When he took her shoulders it was as if he had entranced her, as a snake is supposed to be able to entrance its prey. Did such prey come to want to be captured, as she did?
She shocked herself, but their confrontation, their battle of wills, had stirred a passion inside her that demanded some culmination, some final crescendo. As he drew her close and lowered his lips to hers, she swayed. When he finally brushed his lips over hers, a sound escaped her throat.
"You're enjoying this, aren't you, my lady?"
"No." But it came out as a breath.
His lips pressed against hers again. Nothing more, and briefly, but heat sparked.
"Lying will send you to hell," he whispered there. "Tell me to stop now and our bargain is sealed."
She should, but it hadn't been enough.
He drew her hard against his powerful body. A sense of raw strength shocked her, but that only made the madness worse. She stared up at him, mouth agape, feeling she should beg for mercy, and then he joined his mouth to her, his tongue plunging deep.
She jerked back, but she was captured now. She could no more escape than a creature caught in an eagle's talons, but nor did she want to. Sensations were ricocheting through her -- Danger! Danger! – Thrill! Thrill! She thrust fingers into his hair, wishing she were gloveless, and pressed her aching body against his....
It could be as little as three weeks until Lady Beware arrives on some shelves.
Maybe, just maybe, I'll put up a little bit more before then.
Lady Beware is a June 2007 book, but start watching for it in late May.
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