An Accidental Affair (30 page)

She brought her gaze back to his. “Effects?”

He kissed her cheek lightly, then laughed. “You’ve been telling everyone I love you for the past half hour.”

She covered her face. “I’m sorry. I don’t remember doing that.”

He helped her stand, retaining her hands in his. “Don’t be. I’m not at all embarrassed by the truth. We only remained here because I didn’t want my aunt to see you this way. Who knows what you might have told her?”

Just then, the half brothers returned and Arabella studied them. There were six men, all who bore a degree of similarity to the man holding her. “Which one followed me?”

“Archie. He’s the youngest in my employ.”

She spotted a shy, skinny fellow wearing a ridiculous grin as he stood about with the others. Even though she hadn’t ever been introduced, his face when their eyes met was very familiar to her. She’d spoken with him before. “He was in Green Park the day after my niece ran away. After I spoke to you, I dropped a handkerchief and that young man returned it to me without a word. Thank you,” she said to Archie. “I am forever in your debt.”

He ducked his head in acknowledgement and then the others started teasing him. She smiled at their antics. Merrick had such an interesting family. They turned for Winslette House and led the way home.

Merrick curled his arm about her waist. “He’s a quiet one. I left him behind that day to watch over you. You were preoccupied with worry about Cecily and the loss of your home and I knew it was not far, but I wanted assurance you’d made it home safely.”

Arabella pressed her head to Merrick’s shoulder and closed her eyes. She couldn’t help but be surprised that he’d set his half brothers to watch over her even then. It was a sweet and protective gesture, like every kindness he’d showered her with, but at the time they had been barely acquainted. Arabella wasn’t sure how she felt about his presumption, but she couldn’t help but be grateful for it now.

They walked on in silence until Grayling, returning from the house, found them.

He frowned. “What’s kept you?”

Merrick stroked her back slowly. “Can a gentleman not stroll about his own land with a pretty woman on his arm?”

Grayling’s brow rose at Merrick’s behavior and then he winked at Arabella. “I suppose, but as sweet as it is to see my friends express their affection so openly, it is growing rather late. My wife is growing anxious and I cannot explain the level of anxiety your Holland is unable to hide. Lady Penelope had to order him to sit down. He would have come after you in person if she hadn’t bellowed at him.”

Arabella stopped and held her hand to her chest. “He’s alive. I was so certain he’d…”

“Takes a hard blow to stop one of us,” Merrick whispered for her ears alone. “Sounds as if he’ll be fine in no time at all if he’s fussing already. Not that I’ve ever known him to stop. We should return, though. I left Aunt Pen to watch over him and who can say what ill will come of that.”

Arabella buried her face in Merrick’s shoulder as tears filled her eyes. She hadn’t thought of much of anything once he’d had pulled her into his arms, and the shock of what had passed before finally caught up with her.

“Everything will be all right, love,” he whispered as he held her close while she cried. “Have faith in that.”

She curled her arms about his shoulders and held on. “If not for you… I’d be lost.”

He kissed her brow. “I was thinking the same thing. Let’s get you back home and into bed.”

When Merrick slipped his arm around her back again, she snuggled closer to him as they walked back to find every window in her home filled with faces. The servants who’d remained behind were waiting on her safe return.

She waved to them, but in going back, she had to face the immediate future. Merrick loved her and wanted her to marry him. Lady Penelope insisted she must consider her reputation and leave Winslette with her, putting her affair with Merrick behind.

She couldn’t do either.

Merrick shifted to take her elbow as they ascended the short flight of stairs and then released her. When she glanced at him, his face was a perfect mask of patience and understanding. She didn’t know if she love him, not yet, but he was dear to her.

When Grayling swept inside, she held Merrick back. “What do I tell your aunt?”

“About your abduction? I’d recommend the truth. She will find out of her own accord either way, and she’ll know what to do to spare your reputation any harm.”

“Do you think she will still want me to stay with her now?”

His hand fell away. “You don’t want to stay at Winslette?”

“No. Not alone. I do not feel comfortable here anymore. I doubt when you are gone back to London I would sleep a wink.”

Merrick shook his head. “I would stay with you, but my presence would not be in your best interests. My aunt has said very plainly that she likes you, and she is not one to change her mind so quickly. She won’t hold you accountable for recent events, so I believe her offer will stand. She is also in the best position to help you regain your possessions from Farnsworth’s town house and quash any rumors he started.”

A small portrait of her parents, her few jewels, and many letters were all important to her. She had forgotten them. “I would indeed like some possessions returned.”

Merrick smiled. “Then I will wish you luck now and hope you have an enjoyable season. My aunt is a busy woman, so you should have no end of entertainments to occupy your time.”

“Will you call on me at your aunt’s house?”

He shook his head. “Arabella, you know how I feel about my aunt.”

“Yes, but will you still see me?”

He drew close, took her hand in his, and raised it to his lips. His breath beat across her skin, warm and soft, setting her senses on fire. “Every chance I get. I have grown used to seeing you every day, and I won’t deny myself that luxury.”

He peered at her a long time before he kissed her knuckles, her palm, and the inside of her wrist where she’d been bound. Her pulse leapt with joy and arousal, but he released her, a regretful smile on his lips. “I will miss you.”

“I will miss you too.”

He smiled suddenly. “You’d best go in and see to your guests. Grayling has a tendency to grumble when bored. I’d like to take a stroll around the house to cool my temper and see that all is well.”

“Do you suspect Farnsworth or Parker will come back?”

“No. But I won’t take any chances where you are concerned anymore.” He turned away and started his trek to the darker side of the house.

Arabella’s stomach lurched, and her palms grew sweaty. She had hoped to have more time with Merrick before necessity separated them. Her throat tightened as doubts plagued her. She didn’t want her decision
not
to marry him to be the end of them. “Merrick,” she called and ran after him.

He turned back immediately, and when she reached him, she threw her arms about him and kissed him urgently. This couldn’t be all there was to their affair. She twisted her fingers in his hair, holding his lips to hers as she drew upon every limited skill she possessed to enthrall him. He groaned as her tongue swept into his mouth and teased him.

A door rattled and he broke away, shoving her behind him protectively. In the shadow of the house, two figures moved, disappearing behind trees and a sheltered corner not easily observed from where they stood. Arabella held on to Merrick’s arm as he set off in pursuit of the pair. Whoever they were, they were leaving the house rather than creeping closer to it. “Who is that?”

“I cannot tell from this distance,” he whispered. “Return to the house and I’ll find out.”

She grabbed his hand and held him tightly. “I’m not going anywhere without you.”

Although he didn’t look happy about it, Merrick didn’t insist she go. He nodded and together they crept quietly across the lawn. The pair stopped a short distance from the house in a spill of bright moonlight that revealed Lady Penelope speaking with a man. The hand holding Arabella’s tightened.

Ahead, the pair laughed and then Lady Penelope leaned forward to press a kiss to the man’s forehead. After another few words were spoken, Lady Penelope retreated to the house alone and disappeared inside. The man she’d met turned, revealing his identity as Mr. Holland, Merrick’s half brother.

Merrick cursed and strode forward, dragging Arabella with him. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Holland jumped clear out of his skin, and then he glanced around the clearing, guilt writ large in his every movement. “Just taking some air.”

“Bollocks. What were you doing with my aunt?”

“I wasn’t with Lady Penelope.”

“I saw you talking to her in this very spot just now.” Merrick stepped closer to hiss, “She kissed you.”

 
“She did no such thing.”

Although Holland tried to appear shocked, Arabella could see it was an act.

Merrick drew in a several deep breaths, his body tensing with anger. “Does she bribe you to spy on me? What price did you name?”

“It’s not like that.”

“Really, then what exactly is it like?” Merrick faced his brother, fury evident in every move he made. “How did she know Arabella was under my roof? You must have told her. Did you send a note to arrange an urgent assignation one night?”

“I would never.” Holland pulled a face as if disgusted. “It’s nothing at all like that.”

“Then what the hell is she to you?” Merrick’s free hand rose and he stabbed Holland in the chest with his fingers. “What did you talk about just now?”

Holland licked his lips, glancing left and right as if looking for rescue. “Many things. The season. The weather.”

Merrick drew in a shaky breath and his fingers curled into a fist. “You and our half brothers are the only family I have, and I trusted you completely. What a fool I’ve been to confide in you, the very person feeding the Fords information about my life. No wonder grandfather sent a special license. I thought it less calculated than the delivery actually was.”

“I do not tell her about you or Lady Farnsworth.”

“You are dismissed, Holland.”

Merrick turned and Arabella caught his expression at last. He was devastated by Holland’s betrayal. Unshed tears filled his eyes, turning them glassy. He set his arm about Arabella’s back to urge her away, and the tremble that shook him broke her heart.

They had gone barely three steps before Holland ran around them to halt their progress. “Will you just stop and listen to me a moment? I can explain, but only if you keep an open mind and promise no harm to Lady Penelope’s reputation.”

“Why should I do anything you ask now? Why?”

Holland clutched his hands together before his waist, looking every bit a guilty fiend. “Of course I speak to her,” he whispered. “She’s my mother.”

Merrick froze, clenching Arabella against him so tightly his fingertips hurt where they dug into her waist. “Never. My aunt is a spinster. She’s never even considered marriage.”

“It’s true. I’ve always known.”

Arabella turned in Merrick’s arms, loosening his grip in the process, and held her hand to his chest to comfort him. Beneath her palm, Merrick’s chest heaved. His eyes widened.

“Lies,” he whispered.

“I couldn’t tell you. No one knows about our connection.”

“She never married, and I’ve never heard mention of suitors. There is nothing in her manner to suggest she’d ever been disappointed in love. How could you be her son?”

Arabella glanced over her shoulder in time to see Holland bowed his head. “She will not speak of that time, but from what she has said, I can only conclude that the experience was not pleasant. A trick perhaps to gain her dowry and Rutherford’s favor?” Holland wrung his hands, eyes averted at his confession, and Arabella believed he was telling the truth.

Unfortunately, Merrick required more information to be convinced. “Go on.”

“She has expressed strong views on the evils of gentlemen who engage in affairs before they marry and the natural consequences of such. That is likely why she has been so hard on you. What I do know for a certainty is that my mother left Newberry Park for several years around the time of my birth, and when she returned her sister had married Father. They never got along, as you may recall.”

Merrick shook his head and released Arabella. When he paced away a few steps, Arabella held her breath. Such a situation made every difference to the revelation. If Lady Penelope had been forced and didn’t want to marry the fiend, then Arabella could understand Holland’s reluctance to mention the connection. Merrick’s father had been truly evil.

“Aunt Pen might have nursed an older relation through the last years of her life,” Merrick said at last. “But she never had a child. Rutherford would have disowned her.”

“It does seem unlikely that she managed to hide my birth from him, but she was his favorite out of all his children. I cannot explain that. What I remember most were many moments when she laughed and played with me. I must have been very young for that to have happened.
 

“When she left to return to Newberry Park, she placed me in the care of her maid and new husband. I was already known as the servant’s son to all who knew us and no one suspected subterfuge. But I remembered the truth and I cried for my real mother. Eventually, my new parents brought me to Essex and took up work in the tavern where we first met. I saw my mother but once a week when she came to the village. I was forbidden to call her mama except when no one could hear.”