Alissa Baxter (34 page)

Alexandra sat down on the bed. “You mustn’t apologise, Emily. I should be the one doing that for putting you in such a difficult position.”

“I’m afraid that I am not very good in a crisis, Alexandra,” Emily said, with a sigh. “I lost my head when you failed to return, and went all to pieces. I knew it was dangerous for you to meet Lady Barrington on your own.”

Alexandra smiled a little ruefully. “Our adversary wasn’t Lady Barrington, after all, Emily. Edward Ponsonby wrote those letters.”

“He did?”

“Hmmm — he was intent on carrying me off to Gretna Green, and forcing me to marry him.”

Emily looked at her friend in horror. “How awful, Alex!”

“Yes — thankfully, though, the Duke of Stanford’s tiger saw me being abducted and told the Duke who came to my rescue.”

“You don’t think that he will now try to murder John in order to get revenge, do you?” Emily said, in some alarm.

Alexandra shook her head. “Those were empty threats, Emily. Mr Ponsonby is nothing but a coward. He looked terrified last night when Stanford stopped his coach. I don’t think that we need fear anything more from him. Stanford has ordered him to leave the country.”

She stood up from the bed. Looking nervously at Emily, she continued, “His grace has promised to call on me this morning.”

“I expect to hear very soon of your betrothal then, Alex,” Emily said, smiling.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if his grace decides to wash his hands of me after this affair. I have been such a trial to him.”

Emily shook her head. “His grace loves you, Alex. It is clear to anyone who sees you together.”

“Oh, Emily! Wish me luck!” Alexandra said, quickly embracing her friend.

After a solitary breakfast, Alexandra made her way to the Rose Salon to await the Duke. He called at ten o’clock, and Alexandra, looking up from the book she was trying unsuccessfully to read, smiled tentatively at him as he entered the room.

“Good morning, your grace,” she murmured.

The Duke walked across to Alexandra, and bowed over her hand. “Good morning, my dear. I am delighted to see that you look none the worse for wear after your adventures last night.”

“I am fully restored, I assure you,” Alexandra said quietly. “Only — I am a trifle worried about Sir Jason’s threats to — to spread the news about my abduction, your grace. Do you think he will do so?”

“Morecombe is a proud man, my dear, and he will not wish for it to become known that I defeated him in a duel. He knows that if he speaks, so will I. He won’t say anything — of that you can be sure.” He smiled down at her. “But enough of that, my dear. I have not come here to speak about Sir Jason.” Taking her hands in his, the Duke drew Alexandra to her feet. Looking down at her he said quietly,

“I have come, as I think you know, to declare myself. I love you Alexandra — will you make me the happiest man alive by doing me the honour of accepting my hand in marriage?”

Alexandra smiled radiantly. “Oh yes. Yes, of course I shall!”

The Duke pulled Alexandra into his arms, kissing her long and passionately. Eventually he raised his head, and gazing tenderly down at her, said, “I shall do my very best to make you happy, my dear.”

“I love you with all my heart, my lord Duke,” Alexandra said, looking dreamily up at him.

“You called me by my name, last night, Alexandra.”

“I — I know, your grace. But — Grandmama told me that I must only call you by your name when you invite me to do so,” Alexandra said shyly. “In the heat of the moment last night, I forgot all constraints.”

“I shall be happy for you to forget those constraints for the rest of our lives, Alexandra.”

“Then I shall of course oblige you — Robert,” Alexandra said, smiling up at him.

Burying her head in his shoulder, she knew that she had never been happier in her life. To be held in Robert’s arms like this was wonderful, glorious... especially after thinking last night that the man she loved was lost to her forever.

The Duke drew back, and said seriously, “Alexandra — do you realise how close we came to losing one another? You were foolish not to inform anybody about those letters.”

“I — I know,” Alexandra said solemnly. “However, with you gone, I did not know who to turn to. I was afraid of endangering John’s life by making a false move. I thought that Lady Barrington had written the letters and when I called on her the next day...”

“You called on her, Alexandra?” the Duke said, surprised.

Alexandra looked down. “Yes — before I spoke to Sir Jason. Fortunately, though, I did not tell her about the letters. I merely asked her why she wished me harm.” She looked up at the Duke again, her eyes searching his. “Lady Barrington has never liked me, I believe, because of my connexion with you, Robert. She made it very clear to me that she hoped to marry you. Therefore, when I received the first letter...” Alexandra shrugged her shoulders. “It all seemed to fit neatly into place.”

The Duke looked thoughtful. “I can see how it must have appeared to you.”

Alexandra nestled back into the Duke’s arms, and determinedly turned her thoughts away from the other woman. The Marchioness no longer had the power to hurt her with her words, she knew, and the best thing she could do was forget about her completely.

“Oh Robert, this feels so much like a dream that I am afraid that I shall wake up and find you gone,” Alexandra murmured into his shoulder. She looked up at him again. “I cannot quite believe that I am really going to marry you!”

“Believe it, my dear,” the Duke said, almost fiercely. “Before very long I shall be able to call you mine.”

Alexandra, gazing into his eyes, was slightly startled at the possessive look she saw in them but, at the same time, it made her feel sheltered and protected and happier than she had ever believed possible. She was going to be Robert’s wife, she thought exultantly, as the idea finally sank into her consciousness. His wife. The word held a special meaning for her now. After all her years of scornfully dismissing the idea of marriage, she had finally come to realise that the freedom and independence she had once treasured more than anything in the world, represented only an empty landscape in comparison to the joy and richness she had found in Robert’s arms.

She smiled up at her betrothed. “I feel decidedly foolish, now, when I think of all the derogatory things I used to say about marriage.”

“You are happy, then, to be saddled with a husband?” the Duke asked, his eyes gleaming.

“Happier than I’ve ever been,” Alexandra said shyly, burying her head in his shoulder. After a few moments, her thoughts turned in another direction and she chuckled suddenly.

“What amuses you, my love?” the Duke asked, tilting up her chin.

“I was thinking about Mrs Hadley,” Alexandra said solemnly.

“Mrs Hadley?”

“The Squire’s wife...”

The Duke frowned, and said slowly, “Ah, yes — Mrs Hadley: a hatchet-faced woman with a scarecrow for a daughter. What made you think of her, my dear?”

Alexandra chuckled again. “I was recalling a particular conversation that I had with Mrs Hadley a week or so after I first met you.” Alexandra paused meditatively, then continued, “She said that she entertained the highest hopes of securing you as a husband for her daughter, Jane, and warned me in the friendliest possible way that I would be foolish to even consider casting my eye in your direction because I am only the daughter of a baronet. Men with your connections, she informed me, do not marry beneath themselves. She thought that Jane was in a better position to attract your attention because she is...” Alexandra cleared her throat portentously, “
the great
granddaughter of a viscount on her father’s side
!”

“Good God!” the Duke said blankly.

“Hmmm,” Alexandra murmured. “I wished her joy of you, but when I found out later who you really were, I told Emily that I was surprised that Mrs Hadley would even countenance the match — considering your shocking reputation as a notorious rakehell. But Emily informed me that her stepmother and Jane were quite prepared to overlook your reputation.”

The Duke’s eyes glinted as he looked down at Alexandra’s deceptively innocent face. “The all important question, my love, is whether
you
are prepared to overlook my — ah — ‘shocking reputation’?”

Alexandra stepped out of the Duke’s arms, and with a regretful shake of her head, said sadly, “Why, that is not the question at all, my lord. If you regard our situation more closely, it is
my
reputation that I must beg you to overlook. You may have been a disreputable rake, but Society still perceives you to be perfectly respectable. I, on the other hand, am close to being a ruined woman and...”

“You talk too much, Alexandra,” the Duke interrupted her, and, pulling her into his arms again, proceeded to silence her in a most effective way. Alexandra flung her arms around his neck and, sighing with pleasure, barely noticed that the Duke had had the last word in this particular conversation. She was far too happy even to care.

To my parents,

Ken and Tessa,

for their unfailing love and support.

Copyright © 2002 by Alissa Baxter

Originally published by Regency House Publishers (0620294108)

Electronically published in 2006 by Belgrave House/Regency Reads

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

No portion of this book may be reprinted in whole or in part, by printing, faxing, E-mail, copying electronically or by any other means without permission of the publisher. For more information, contact Belgrave House, 190 Belgrave Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94117-4228

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This is a work of fiction. All names in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to any person living or dead is coincidental.