Ducal Encounters 01 - At the Duke's Discretion (30 page)

“When I see Romsey again, I shall have a few choice words to say to him,” Amos said, grinding his jaw. “He was supposed to protect you.”

“He is distraught at the turn events took,” the duke replied. “And rightly so. It seems he had a crisis in Southampton that required immediate attention from men he could trust. According to the brief message he sent me by express, he does not have many completely honest souls under his command. It was something to do with a smuggling ring his police office in Southampton have long been attempting to crack. If he sent in untrustworthy officers, the cargo and half the smugglers would have escaped, and so he called in the ones from Shawford, thinking Reece would be insensible from drugged ale, and Miss Brooke would be safe.”

“He might have warned us,” Amos said, scowling.

“Yes, that was a mistake,” Zach agreed. “If we had known, we would have taken precautions. It seems Romsey intended to have his people back in place by first light this morning, and did not count on Reece avoiding the drugged ale. Don’t think too badly of him, Miss Brooke. He is a man with a lot of responsibility resting on his shoulders and not enough people to share the burden.”

“I don’t blame Lord Romsey,” Crista said.

“I damn well do,” Amos muttered.

“Romsey will be returning to explain himself, and offer you his thanks and apologies, Chesney, and especially you, Miss Brooke.”

Amos growled. “So he blasted well should.”

“I was obliged to tell your mother you were here at the Park, Miss Brooke,” Lady St. John said apologetically, “and she is most anxious to come and see you.”

Crista pulled a face. “Does she wish to see me, or is she using it as an excuse to be admitted here?”

That was what Amos would like to know.

“I came over to ask after your health and ascertain if you would like to receive her.”

“Tell her to come to the shop if she is so concerned about me. Uncle and I will be returning there directly.”

“Not until Romsey has come back and talked to you. We must prevail upon you to remain with us for at least one more night, Miss Brooke,” Zach said with a charming smile. “And I rather thought to send your family back to London as soon as possible to relieve Lady St. John of the responsibility for them.”

“Oh, very well then.” Crista managed a wan smile. “I might as well see them, and get it over with. If you know in advance when she is expected, you gentlemen could make yourselves scarce,” she added, smiling more naturally this time. “That would serve her right.”

“Then I shall return to Farrington House and tell her so. You can expect her this afternoon, Miss Brooke.” Lady St. John stood, as did every gentleman in the room. She leaned over Crista and gave her a brief hug. “I am so very pleased to see you safe and well.”

“Thank you for looking after my family,” Crista replied. “They do not deserve your kindness, and I dare say they will forget to thank you for it, and so I shall do so on their behalf.”

“I would not have missed all the excitement for the world.”

“I will see you out,” Zach said, walking to the door with Lady St. John. A footman leapt forward and opened it for them.

“Excuse me, my dear,” Chesney said. “I feel a little tired. I believe I shall rest before luncheon after all.”

“Are you sure you are all right, Uncle?” Crista’s brow wrinkled. “I expect the doctor could be sent for again if you−”

“Nonsense, my dear. An hour’s rest, and I will be as right as rain.”

The room seemed very quiet, and rife with tension, with just Amos and Crista in occupation of it. She looked everywhere except at him, and he wondered what thoughts occupied her mind. Almost certainly not the lascivious type that gripped his whenever he was in her company, of that he was perfectly sure. He was equally determined she would not be going back to work in her uncle’s shop, or anywhere else for that matter.

“I am so very relieved to see you looking well,” he said, sitting beside her and claiming one of her hands. “I died a thousand deaths when I realised Reece had captured you.”

“It was not a pleasant experience,” she said in a matter-of-fact tone, “but it taught me a very great deal about my rebellious nature. My mother would say she could have told me as much, of course, but now I have discovered it for myself.”

Amos sent her a melting smile. “How are your wrists, and your arm?”

“They will soon heal.” She waved his concerns aside. “My main discomfort is being here where I don’t belong, imposing upon you all.”

“Look at me, Crista.” When she didn’t turn her head, he placed one finger beneath her chin and compelled her to do so. “If only you could know the horror I felt when I realised Reece had taken you,” he said for a second time. “I told Romsey. I warned him…damn it. He had no right to behave in such a cavalier fashion and put you at risk!”

“Shush, it’s all right.” She reached up a hand and gently stroked his face. “I was frightened, I will admit that much, but I was equally determined not to let him touch me, no matter what, and it all turned out for the best.”

“But it so easily might not have done. If we hadn’t arrived when we did, I…well, he would have overpowered you, even with an injured hand.”

“But he did not. It does no good to dwell upon what might have been.”

“I suppose not.” Amos shook his head. “And at least now you are safe at the Park, where you belong.”

She laughed. “I hardly belong here.”

“Oh, but you do, my love. Where else would my wife live?”

“Your wife!” Crista opened her eyes very wide, appearing to be totally shocked by the suggestion. “Don’t be so ridiculous.”

“Does the idea appal you so very much? I thought we felt something for one another.”

“Just because…well, just because we enjoy one another’s society, that is no basis for marriage, or reason to enter into one.” She looked directly at him, giving him her full attention for the first time since her uncle left the room. “If you think you have acted in an ungentlemanly fashion, which you have not, and feel the need to redress the balance, let me assure you such a sacrifice is quite unnecessary. After all, it was I who asked you to educate me.”

Sensing she was serious in her rejection of him, he grasped her hand more tightly, raised it to his lips, and kissed each finger in turn. “I’m sorry, my love, I am not doing this properly. You make me nervous, you see.”

“I make
you
nervous?” She laughed. “I cannot imagine why.”

“Because I so much want you to accept me, but your courage and beauty unbalance me.”

“I am starting to think you received a blow to the head as well. You’re not talking any sense. The last thing I am is beautiful.”

“Ah, love, that is where you are quite wrong. I knew you were unique the moment I set eyes on you. A heady mix of intelligence, wit, and irreverence. You are the lady I have been waiting all these years to find.” He trapped her with an intensely sincere gaze. “What kept you so long?”

She didn’t respond for what seemed like an eternity. The tense, oppressive silence weighed heavily on Amos, but he resisted the urge to break it. He considered trying to convince her with words, or to show her with deeds, just how comprehensively he had fallen in love with her. But he would not. It would be unfair. He knew how responsive she was to his touch, and he needed her to think rationally when she made her decision. He ought not to be asking her to make one so soon after her ordeal, but he had a very good reason for doing so.

One that he had yet to share with her.

“You are in earnest, are you not?” she eventually asked, her expression giving nothing away.

“Never more so. I am coming about this all the wrong way, but what I should have made clear from the outset is that I love you with a deep passion that does not allow room for one iota of doubt. I never want to be parted from you again, never want you to throw yourself headfirst into danger, or behave recklessly in a misguided effort to protect your family. Only by marrying you, can I be absolutely sure you will remain safe.”

Crista laughed. “There would be nothing safe about marriage to you, my lord.”

Amos threw his hands in the air. “Crista, I am trying to be serious.”

“So am I, and I am sorry to say that a marriage between us is not possible.” The laughter left her eyes, and she looked desolate yet resolved. “Your mother would never give her permission, and I would not see your family striven by discord because of me.”

Amos sent her a smouldering smile. “I address you with my mother’s blessing.”

“You what?” Crista’s mouth fell open. “I beg you not to make sport of me. This is already difficult enough.”

“It’s true. She came to me immediately after she spoke with you this morning and told me that if I did not marry you, I would regret it for the rest of my life, which is true. My mother is nothing if not perspicacious. I think she understood my feelings for you before I understood them myself because−”

“Because mothers have a sense for such things,” Crista finished for him, a slow, glorious smile invading her features.

“Precisely.”

“I realise she is anxious to see at least one of you suitably married, but I am hardly suitable. I am no lady. She probably just feels grateful I helped avoid a scandal. She will have come to her senses by tomorrow.”

“But my senses have never left me, and you are more than lady enough to satisfy me. You have been brought up as a lady and instinctively understand how to behave in good company.” Amos grinned. “You even poured tea for a duke without spilling it on the cloth.”

She laughed. “If that is what you think, it’s fortunate you didn’t notice my shaking hands.”

“So, what is it to be, my love?” He fell to his knees in front of her chair and grasped her hands. “Don’t torture me a moment longer by withholding your answer.”

She ran her hands through his hair and offered him a radiant smile. “If you are absolutely sure, then the answer is
yes
. Of course it is
yes
.” She stood up, still with her hands in his. He came easily to his feet and pulled her into his arms. “A thousand times
yes
. Pinch me, I must be dreaming. My most secret desire has become reality. Now kiss me, if you please, and let us seal this bargain.”

Crista, still dazed by Amos’s offer and her acceptance of it, was even more astonished by the genuine-seeming congratulations she received from all the members of his family when they made their announcement after luncheon.

“Welcome to the family, my dear,” the duchess said, kissing her cheek. “You are everything I could wish for in a daughter and, I suspect, one of the few women in England capable of keeping Amos in line.”

“You will want Portia and me as bridesmaids, I am sure,” Lady Annalise said, smiling.

“Thank you,” the duke said, kissing her also. “You have just removed a heavy burden from my shoulders.”

“Oh no she has not,” the duchess replied, wagging an admonishing finger at the duke. “I still expect you to find yourself a wife in the very near future.”

A plethora of male Sheridans converged upon her to offer their congratulations, all tall, elegant, and graceful. None of them moved her in the way Amos so easily could, simply by looking at her in a particular fashion, or sending her one of the devastating smiles he appeared to reserve just for her.

“Congratulations, my dear.” Uncle Charles squeezed her hand. “Some good has come out of this terrible business after all.”

“There, you see,” Amos said when the rest of the family tactfully withdrew and left them to themselves. “What did I tell you? They all love you almost as much as I do already.”

“I feel as though I am living in a dream.” But she also did not feel quite as euphoric as she knew she ought to. There were aspects of her past she still could not put behind her.

“What is it?” Amos asked, frowning.

“Already you understand me so well.” She sent him a wan smile. “My mother and sister. I still don’t know what to do about them.”

“What do you wish to do about them?”

“I must face them, I suppose, and tell them the news before they hear it elsewhere. But…oh, I don’t know. My mother doesn’t even like me very much, but now she will smother me, just to get close to your family. I could not inflict that upon you.”

“Why do you continue to make allowances for them when they have treated you so shabbily?”

She shrugged. “Because I always have, I suppose. Papa made endless allowances for Mama, and I fell into the habit, too. I feel the distance between Mama and me is partly my fault because I have never been able to please her.”

“Oh, my sweet love.” Amos pulled her into a tight embrace. “I cannot have you constantly feeling guilty about the woman who happens to be your mother. She will continue to take shameful advantage of you if you do.”

Crista blinked. “Is that was she does? Do you really think she uses me?”

“Absolutely. And until you speak your mind, allow her to see you are no longer quite so pliable, she will continued to do so.”

Crista nodded, feeling a great fog lifting from her brain. “Yes, you are very probably right about that.”

“Then here is what I suggest.”

***

Crista received her mother and sister alone, aware that Amos was in the adjoining room, just in case he was needed. It was clear they had not yet heard of the betrothal. Her mother bustled into the room and frowned when she saw Crista’s fine gown.

“You ought not to be wasting money on gowns for yourself,” Mama said. “Think of Amelia first.”

“Yes thank you, Mama. I suffered no lasting injuries from my ordeal.”

Mama took her time selecting a chair and made no reply.

“This is a very fine house,” Amelia said, glancing around the room, her eyes round with appreciation. “Far nicer than Farrington House. Where is the duke? Will he be joining us?”

“Yes, you ought to find an excuse to call him in, Crista, since you seem to be on such good terms with the family.”

“Ah yes, about that. I must ask for your congratulations, Mama.” Crista paused to fix her mother and sister with a penetrating look, enjoying her moment of triumph. “Lord Amos has asked for my hand in marriage, and I have accepted him.”