Hawksfell Manor 04: Derek's Dare (4 page)

So it was late morning and he was on his way back to the torture that was Holbrook Hall.

As they neared the village of Helmsley, he sat up. “Stop at the Inn at Helmsley, please.”

The driver wore that smug expression of satisfaction for a second before nodding. Derek didn’t really care. Let him think what he would. Derek had enjoyed himself immensely at the inn the other night, but he wasn’t going there to get laid today. No doubt Evan was up at the manor, toiling on the earl’s motors and going about his busy day. He imagined that his own work had been far more tedious at his estate.

The paperwork he’d overseen assured the estate still brought money into his coffers. He had no worries there. He just couldn’t bring himself to spend another night under that roof. So today he was going to delay his return to the hall, and to Diana, and take a hearty lunch at a familiar inn. He smiled to himself. He could always give Clara another tumble, but it wouldn’t be nearly as incredible as fucking her with Evan. Besides, he never took the same lover twice. Before Evan, he’d never wanted to. He suspected the same would be true if he ever had Diana. He’d want her again and again. He couldn’t dare to lower his guard, though. The inevitable pleasure couldn’t be worth the pain he felt when he set them aside as any Hawk would. Imagine the pain in their eyes when they realized he lacked the heart to do forever. Again, he silently cursed his father and the legacy he’d left behind.

It was noon by the time they arrived at the inn, which suited Derek just fine. He stepped out of the car and into the crisp fall air. This part of Yorkshire really was quite lovely. His own estate was ample, but he held little affection for those particular woods and hills. There was a touch of heather in the air here, no doubt from the moors stretching up toward where he guessed Hawksfell Manor was situated.

Clara met him with a smile as he entered. “Baron Holbrook. Nice to see you again.”

Her eyes lingered on his crotch, and he felt a familiar kick of his Hawk beast. “Clara.”

She laughed and touched his arm. “Alone this afternoon?”

“As you see.” When she licked her lips, anticipation in her eyes, he shook his head. “Just lunch today, please.”

She pouted then waved him toward a table with good spirits. She must know that, even if he himself wouldn’t fuck her again, Evan surely would. He sat down and looked around, seeing the usual assortment of local gentry and country folk. The inn was a popular place, apparently. He certainly liked it enough.

Clara brought him a platter of thick stew and lingered for a moment. Derek arched a brow and she grinned. No doubt she was thinking about how he and Evan had taken her. Her on all fours while Evan pounded inside her while Derek felt every moan she made around his cock. It wasn’t a surprise that he and Evan would be just as good with a woman as they’d been together. For a moment he regretted his rule. He could imagine him and Evan fucking Diana and was suddenly seized with the need to experience that. To watch her lose her mind as Evan licked what must be a pretty little pussy. To fuck her cunt as she sucked Evan’s cock down to the root. No matter. He was never going to be with Evan again. And he was certainly never going to be with Diana.

“Baron Holbrook?” a man’s voice said, breaking through his mind’s tantalizing wanderings.

He looked up to see a brown-haired man looking down at him, a serious expression on his face. He was probably his own age and good looking. He was dressed soberly, almost like an attorney, and Derek had never seen him before. “Yes?”

“I’m Thomas Grantley, my lord. I work for the Earl of Hawksfell.”

Questions swirled through Derek’s mind, but he wasn’t going to voice them. Let this man, this man of the earl’s, make his meaning clear first.

“May I join you?” he asked.

Derek shrugged. “I suppose.”

Mr. Grantley nodded and sat across from him. “I’m here at the request of the earl, Baron. He would like you to come to the manor.”

“Why? I’ve never met him and he is nothing to me.”

“Nothing? Hardly that. You’re a Hawk.”

“So? I’ve never had a thing to do with a one of them.”

Grantley nodded again. “I know your family history has not been a happy one.”

Derek bristled. “What do you know of it?”

“It’s my job to know the locations and circumstances of the earl’s Hawk relatives.”

“For what purpose?”

Grantley looked down at the table, no doubt trying to come up with the correct words to make his employer’s wishes known.

“I admit you’ve piqued my interest,” Derek said. “Perhaps you should just state your business and leave me to mine.”

Grantley looked up, his brows drawn together. “The earl has recently discovered that Hawks can find satisfaction, my lord.”

Derek laughed softly. “Oh, I’m perfectly satisfied. I assure you, I fuck as much as I’d like to.”

Grantley’s cheeks reddened, immediately bringing Evan to Derek’s mind. “Nevertheless, the earl would like to extend an open-ended invitation to stay at the manor.”

Derek grinned. “I hear he keeps a staff of willing lovers there, Grantley. Is that true?”

“The earl is happily married.”

“That doesn’t answer my question, but I suppose it’s not my place to wonder.” Derek crossed his leg and ran a finger over the crease of his trousers. “Am I to assume he gives me access to his staff as well as his home?”

Grantley’s brows rose. “You’ll have to ask the earl.”

Derek held up a hand. “Okay, Grantley. I admit I’m toying a bit with you.”

Grantley smiled, a fleeting expression but a handsome one. “May I tell the earl you’ll accept, then?”

Derek thought about what awaited him at Holbrook Hall. Temptation and torture from Diana and vexation and irritation from the other Holbrooks. Why not spend some time, open-ended invitation after all, at Hawksfell Manor? At the very least he might see Evan. Get to talk to him again. And if he felt the urge to fuck a parlormaid or footman, who cared? He was a Hawk. Why not go to the largest, grandest Hawk’s roost?

“I accept the earl’s generous offer,” he told Grantley. “Tell him I’ll pay a visit in two days’ time.”

Grantley looked quite relieved. He rose and bowed his head then left the inn. Derek stared after him. The man was dedicated. That was certain. What he’d said about the earl’s marriage was surprising, though. The man was happily settled? That never happened to a Hawk. If there was the slightest chance that was possible there wasn’t anything Derek wouldn’t risk to capture his own happiness.

“It will never happen,” he muttered.

He finished his meal, all the while wondering just how he was going to break the news to Diana that he was leaving Holbrook Hall yet again.

* * * *

Diana paced in the front parlor, finding herself once again on the very spot where Derek had changed everything for her. He’d kissed her, damn him. He’d told her he wanted her! Then he’d left yet again. Her drive with Sir Simon had been as dull as she’d expected. Her mother had been as hopeful as that older gentleman, actually. It had been a form of torture for her though, smiling and simpering as the man droned on about his sheep and his tenants. Derek never spoke of his own estate with such inanity. Well, to be honest, he never spoke of it at all. At least not with her.

The sound of a motor drew her eye to the drive. Her heart flipped when she recognized the car Derek had taken despite the gloom of the coming evening. She’d watched him being driven away. It was much more pleasurable to watch him return.

“Yes, Diana,” she said to herself. “He’s coming home to you.” She snorted. “Not likely.”

“Miss?” a parlormaid said from the doorway.

Diana eyed her. She was a pretty thing, all dark hair and eyes. Had Derek taken her, too? Her heart, so recently buoyed by Derek’s imminent return, now felt as heavy as a stone.

“N–nothing,” she managed to say to the maid.

The girl bobbed a curtsey and left her. Diana stepped away from the window and ran her hands over her dress and patted her hair. Thankfully she’d decided to wear one of her new dresses for dinner tonight. Though the cut was sleek and draped beautifully over her hips, the fabric also hugged her waist and showed a bit of her décolletage. Her corset was doing its job. The tops of her breasts felt plump and soft to her hands. Her fingers danced over her throat and the side of her neck. Derek had buried his face there, his hair-roughened cheeks delightfully setting her nerves to tingling.
He’ll give me what I’ve been asking for.
The truth was, she had no notion of what precisely she was asking him for. She would ask him tonight. That was all.

She heard the front door open and the low rumble of Derek’s voice. Attempting to assume an air of nonchalance, she pretended she just happened to step out of the parlor into the entry as Derek arrived home.

“Diana,” he said, drawing up short.

“Hello, Derek.”

He nodded, swallowing so his Adam’s apple bobbed. She ran her eyes hungrily over him. He looked marvelous, as usual. His overcoat spanned his wide shoulders and when he removed it she wasn’t disappointed by his tweeds. His hair was slightly tousled and he seemed uncertain as he stood there. Both elements combined to lend him a bit of approachability that made her step closer as if pulled by an invisible thread.

“Was your trip enjoyable?” she asked.

“Enjoyable?” He waved the footman holding his suitcases to head upstairs and handed his coat to a waiting maid. He said something to her she didn’t hear but the girl didn’t appear to blush or giggle. She just hurried away. He faced Diana again. “I suppose you can say that.”

Questions burned within her, but she wouldn’t press him for answers. She wanted to know only one thing. What he believed she wanted him to give her and how soon he would do it.

“You’re in time for supper,” she said. “The family is already in the dining room.”

His jaw tightened. “I plan to eat in my room tonight, Diana. I have to see to a few things if I’m leaving the day after tomorrow. An evening spent with a table full of Holbrooks is not something I need right now.”

Her throat tightened as she focused on the only phrase that affected her. “You’re leaving. Again.” Oh, it was like a repeat of that last morning just days earlier!

“The Earl of Hawksfell has invited me to stay for a while. I find I can’t resist the prospect.”

“But why so soon? You’ve only just returned.”

“I’ve had a hell of a few days, Diana.” He turned away and began to climb the stairs. “Please don’t press me.”

Diana fumed for a few long moments, then chased him up the stairs. “Why do you hate us so much, Derek?”

He stopped at the landing and faced her. His dark Hawk eyes looked almost sad. “I don’t hate any of you. I just don’t want to be the center of a Holbrook dinner conversation again.”

He turned away and walked toward his room. His words struck her. He was right. The blasted Holbrooks, male and female, old and young, seemed fascinated by all things Hawk. It had been that way since he’d come to the hall, but she’d never really paid much attention. She’d only wanted to be near him, not to know everything about his cursed family’s past. To think that he lumped her into that group of gossipmongers cut her.

She descended the stairs slowly and headed for the dining room. She could hear her family talking and laughing, meaning the men had already imbibed generously on her late father’s wine. As she entered the room she saw there were eight Holbrooks dining tonight. Her mother’s eyes stabbed at her.

“Where’s Derek, dear?” she asked. “I’d heard he came home not too long ago.”

“He’s eating in his room,” Diana answered.

Silence met that statement then the room erupted with stories and suppositions that scorched her ears and curled her toes. She couldn’t handle this tonight. Holding a hand over her mouth, she made a retching sound that shut up the group of Holbrooks.

“Are you all right, Diana?” Betsy Holbrook, her second cousin, asked her.

“My stomach is a bit ill,” Diana lied. “Mother, please forgive me.”

She didn’t give anyone time to worry more over her phantom stomachache. As she left the room, she could hear the conversation begin to buzz again. She knew she wasn’t the subject. No. They talked about hunting and riding, parties and pairings. And Hawks, of course. Always Hawks.

Chapter 5

The following day Derek continued to avoid her. At least it felt like that to Diana. He’d been taciturn at breakfast and left the breakfast room without another word. What had happened on his visit to his estate? She knew he didn’t like going there. She always saw the resignation preceding a trip and the tension on his face when he returned. To leave so soon upon returning worried her. She felt she was losing him and couldn’t bear to think of her life without him in it.

She slumped into a chair set in one dark corner of the parlor, tapping the toe of one shoe on the fine carpet. If her mother saw her posture she’d screech. It didn’t matter. The afternoon was waning and it would soon be time for supper. Would Derek stay away again? He was leaving tomorrow. She just had to see him tonight.

“Our Hawk cousin kept himself to his room last night, I take it?” one of her male cousins, maybe Eddie, asked.