Double Deception (33 page)

That dream lover had dissipated with the first glimmer of candlelight, and in his stead she was faced with a gentleman who must even now be cursing the price he had to pay for those few moments of indiscretion.

Perhaps in the eyes of the polite world they had been scandalously indiscreet. Athena could admit that it might have appeared so to those who had unexpectedly crowded into the library. But Athena was not greatly influenced by the polite world. Was not her honor unfortunately still intact? she thought. Could she in all decency force any gentleman—and in particular this one, who had imbued her dreams with passion and romance—to offer to shield her from the consequences of an act that had never occurred?

"No," she heard the earl say, cutting through her chaotic thoughts. "I should have come to the point much sooner, my dear, instead of teasing you, Athena."

"Teasing me?" Athena repeated mechanically. "You were teasing me, my lord?" She had known it all along, she reminded herself ruthlessly, and now he was confirming the true nature of his interest in her. Why then did she feel so bereft, so disillusioned? What was this dreadful pain in the middle of her chest?

"A fine kettle of fish you have got us into with your teasing, my lord," she exclaimed waspishly, determined, if nothing else, to prevent Lord St. Aubyn from ever finding out how much he had hurt her.

To her surprise, the earl seemed amused at this unladylike outburst. "We can get ourselves out of this bumblebroth—to borrow your father's words—in a jiffy, my dear, if you will only allow me to—"

"Well, you may save your breath, my lord, for I shall do no such thing," she snapped again. "And I will not have Papa badgering you into something that you cannot want, my lord. That neither of us wants, for that matter," she added with a blithe disregard for the truth. "I daresay you think you have to, but you will never persuade me that you wish for it."

"Are you saying that
you
do not wish to marry me, Athena?"

"Marry you?"
Athena stared at him for a full minute before the significance of his words sank into her befuddled brain. When she could no longer doubt the love she saw in his eyes, she knew this was no dream.

He came to her and took both her hands in his, pressing them, as he had done before, first to his lips and then against his beating heart.

"Yes, marry me, my love."

The tenderness in his eyes disconcerted her, and she looked down at their linked hands. "Your father has given his permission, Athena," he continued softly. "And my son urged me several days ago to fix my interest with you before you got away from me."

His voice dropped into a husky whisper, so reminiscent of her dream lover that Athena's heart turned over. "I meant to speak that day at the lake, my love, but I could not find the words. Perry calls me a slow-top, and he is right. It has been so long since I have felt any desire to speak of love to a woman."

"Love?" Athena murmured, enchanted by his confession, but hesitant to believe that she was that lucky woman.

He grinned wolfishly and pulled her closer, slipping an arm around her waist. "Yes, my sweet. Love. You make me feel like a young buck again, Athena. Now, answer my question, woman," he growled, "before that son of mine interrupts us again."

But Athena was not quite ready to surrender. "How do you know it really is love?" she wondered aloud. "If I remember correctly, my lord, you thought I was a fortune hunter out to snare Perry."

She felt him chuckle deep in his chest. "Sylvester," he reminded her. "I was wrong about you, Athena. When you kissed me in the dungeons—"

"As I remember it," she interrupted quickly, sudden warmth making her cheeks tingle, "you kissed me, my—Sylvester."

He grinned and brushed her lips with his. "Let us admit that we kissed one another, my love. A thoroughly satisfying kiss, I might add. Quite unexpected, too."

"I thought you were Perry," Athena protested, delighted at his teasing.

His arms tightened around her and Athena felt her heart skip a beat. "It seems we owe Perry a good deal," the earl said. "That kiss woke me up to a number of things."

"What things?" she demanded archly, eager to hear him speak of it.

The warm light that sprang into his eyes as they raked her face made Athena blush. "I discovered that I was not immune to the charms of a beautiful woman," he whispered in a low, sensuous voice. "It proved to me that I was not yet in my dotage, and that love is as sweet at forty as it was at twenty. And I do love you, Athena," he said, his voice heavy with emotion. "Believe me, I do."

"You had a peculiar manner of showing it, sir," she could not resist pointing out, mindful of all the deceptions the man she loved had practiced upon her and Perry.

His gaze sobered instantly. "You have a good deal to forgive in that regard, my love. But once you are my countess, I will make it up to you, that I can promise."

Athena smiled a secret, satisfied smile, and lowered her lashes, letting the wonder of this man's love seep into every pore of her being.

"Well?" he urged after a brief silence, his breath warm on her cheek. "May I inform Sir Henry that he cannot take you back to Bath with him?" When she made no immediate reply, he raised her chin and gazed lovingly into her eyes. "If you are worried about Penelope, my dear, I assure you there is no need. The child is more than welcome to make her home here at the Castle." He paused, his eyes glittering with amusement. "Of course, I had to promise her a bigger horse, and sundry other things I will probably regret at a later date."

Athena's eyes flew open. "Never say you bribed my daughter, sir?" she said accusingly, although she knew her face betrayed her amusement.

One of his dark brows rose quizzically, and the warmth in his eyes brought the color to Athena's cheeks.

"I can see that I shall have to bribe you, too, Athena Standish," he murmured, lowering his head purposefully, "or I shall never get an answer to my question."

Athena sighed and tilted her face to receive his kiss. "What exactly was your question, my lord?" she murmured playfully against the warmth of his mouth. Conscious of a sudden rush of tenderness for this man whose deceptions, painful as they had been at the time, had brought her a greater happiness than she had imagined possible, Athena pressed herself more intimately into his embrace.

This time there was no hesitation about the kiss he gave her, and Athena gave herself up to it, surrendering her lips, her heart, her body, as she had only dreamed of doing with the dazzling lover of her dreams.