Hawksfell Manor 04: Derek's Dare (7 page)

Yes, she’d be safe tucked away from him. But would he be?

Chapter 7

Diana stared at her reflection in the mirror above the vanity. The maid who assisted her, Lady Hawksfell’s lady’s maid on loan, continued to pepper her with questions she had no real notion of answering.

“What is Holbrook Hall like?” Lily, as she was named, asked. “How long have you known Baron Holbrook?”

She reasoned she’d answer that one. “For years.”

The girl twitched a thick lock of her hair into place. “I didn’t see him, but Cabot, that’s one of the footman, said he looks a lot like the earl.”

“I wouldn’t know.”

The girl seemed enthralled with all things Hawk, but then she would be, working here for the earl.

“I came to the manor after Lord and Lady Hawksfell’s marriage and knew nothing about the doings before that.”

“Doings?” Did she even want to know? “What doings?”

“Oh, you know.” Lily’s green eyes sparkled. “The earl and the rest of the staff.”

She couldn’t be intimating what Diana thought. The earl took advantage of his servants for his sexual needs? “I don’t know.”

“Well, the earl keeps to the countess now.”

“Lily, perhaps you shouldn’t—”

“Now, when the earl’s half brother came last month, I thought he’d taken up with that business.”

“Lily…wait. What business?”

Lily waved a hand. “The viscount took up with Posy, of all people! A parlormaid!”

“A parlormaid?”

Lily nodded. “Oh, I should call her Lady Lindhurst now.”

“Th–they married?”

“I thought she favored William, he’s first footman and I suppose she still does, but the new Hawk swept her off her feet.”

The maid’s words were confounding. “The first footman?”

“I fancied him, but he doesn’t seem interested. Now, Mosley.” Lily sighed. “He’s the chauffeur and so lovely. He’s got these deep blue eyes and shining blond hair.”

“Lily, you shouldn’t be talking about any of this with me.”

“But you’re just visiting, Miss Holbrook.” She tilted her head. “Although, the countess was just visiting and she ended up married to the earl!”

Diana came to her feet. “That will be all, Lily. Thank you. I believe I’m expected downstairs for dinner.”

The lady’s maid blinked rapidly then curtseyed. “Very good, Miss. I’ll just call a footman to take you.” She opened the door and peered out into the hallway. “Cabot?”

“Yes?” A handsome blond man stepped into the doorway.

“Please show Miss Holbrook to the parlor to await the dinner bell.”

The young man nodded, but his gaze followed Lily as she passed him and went down the hall. Diana cleared her throat and the footman whirled to face her.

“Right this way, miss.”

Perhaps the poor footman had feelings for Lily. Well, surely she could tell him she favored this Mosley fellow. The girl was quite outspoken. Something Lily said stuck in her mind as she followed behind Cabot, though. The earl’s brother married a parlormaid?

The family was gathered in the parlor, and she easily picked out the Earl of Hawksfell. He was commanding the room from a spot near the fireplace, with a beautiful blonde woman who could only be his countess standing at his elbow. A gentleman who looked much like the earl’s wife stood at her side. He was frightfully handsome, but there was obviously no one who drew his attention but Lady Hawksfell. Her heart sympathized with his plight. To want someone he could never have…

“There you are, Miss Holbrook,” the countess said. She glided over and took Diana’s hand in hers. “What a wonderful surprise to find we would have a female guest along with another Hawk.”

“Another Hawk,” the earl put in. His dark eyes, so like Derek’s, sparkled. “Miss Holbrook, may I introduce Lady Hawksfell’s cousin, Michael Crowley.

“Hello, Mr. Crowley,” Diana said.

The gentleman dipped his head.

“Michael, did you imagine such a thing?” the earl asked. “Another Hawk at Hawksfell?”

Michael smiled widely. “It seems they’re coming out of the woodwork to roost at the manor, eh Millicent?”

The countess laughed and grabbed onto Michael’s arm. There was a spark of something between them, yet the earl didn’t appear put out by the situation.

“Cease your teasing,” the countess said. “Miss Holbrook…May I call you Diana?”

Diana smiled. “Of course, please do.”

Lady Hawksfell’s eyes lit. “And you must call me Millicent. We are nearly family, after all.”

Diana’s heart pounded. “Oh?”

“Yes.” The countess took her arm and led her toward a couch set near the windows. “You are a Hawk’s cousin, Diana.”

“Third cousin, I believe,” Michael said with a smile teasing his mouth.

Millicent caught his gaze, and the temperature in the room seemed to climb. “Third cousin, then. I stand corrected.”

“Don’t tease, sister,” a dark-haired man said, rising from the couch.

Diana’s breath caught as she glimpsed a man who could only be the earl’s half brother. They were nearly identical.

“Matthew, I am not teasing,” the countess said. “Posy, do tell your husband I’m not teasing.”

Diana glanced at the pretty little thing seated on the couch. So this was the parlormaid who married a viscount. Her big, blue eyes were warm and her smile infectious.

“Hello, Miss Holbrook,” she said. “Welcome to Hawksfell Manor.”

“Diana, please,” Diana said. “Thank you. I daresay I was nervous, pushing myself on Derek…on Baron Holbrook to accompany him here.”

“The more the merrier,” the earl drawled. “Or so my wife and her cousin tell me all the time.”

“Yes,” Michael said. “It’s a pity Patrick and Mary couldn’t join us.”

“Another Hawk cousin and his new wife, Diana,” Millicent said in explanation. “They are settled at Eyrdale Park this evening, or so Grantley told me.”

“Grantley?”

“The earl’s man-of-affairs,” Michael said. “Didn’t the baron tell you it was Grantley who extended the earl’s invitation?”

Diana shook her head. After learning he was leaving her, again, she hadn’t given a care to the particulars.

“At the inn?” Matthew asked. “Hmm, I wonder if the circumstances were similar to when the earl found Patrick there. Lord knows the inn can be most…intriguing. Isn’t that true, my bride?”

Posy gasped then giggled. “Matthew, do stop!”

Matthew winked at his wife, and Diana’s cheeks flamed. How much more could she take of this? Everyone was quite amiable, but there was so much electricity in this room she feared the lit sconces would burst.

“Ah, Derek,” the earl said.

Diana turned her head to see Derek entering the room. He was dressed impeccably, like the other gentlemen present, but there was something about the breadth of his shoulders and his long stride that made her lungs seize. The others in the room faded from notice as he neared.

“Good evening, Gabriel,” Derek said.

The earl introduced Derek to his family and the dinner bell sounded. As they made their way into the dining room, Diana just prayed she’d be able to keep her countenance. She had no notion where she’d be seated, but it didn’t matter. With a room full of Hawks and their women who loved them, she was doomed to feel her own bleeding heart most keenly.

* * * *

Derek managed to make it through dinner. God, it was unbearable. They were all so bloody happy. He didn’t begrudge any of them their wedded bliss. He just found it impossible to believe.

He’d watched Diana through the meal, and afterward. She’d looked as perplexed as he felt, but the one time he’d caught her gaze she’d still carried that light in her eyes. The carnal knowledge he’d given her. God, he was cursed. Cursed by more than his Hawk lusts, apparently. He couldn’t take her love. It would all but kill her.

Cabot caught up with him in the hall outside his room in the bachelor wing.

“Are you ready to retire, baron?”

The footman had served him as valet earlier this evening and was apparently given to his care throughout his stay.

“Yes, Cabot. I’ll see to myself, however.”

“Very good, my lord.”

The footman made his way down the long hallway toward the back of the house. Derek let himself into the room and removed his jacket. Flames crackled and popped in the fireplace and the room was decorated in rich colors of burgundy and gold. The lamps were lit, so he went through the room unbuttoning his shirt and turning off the lights. He left one burning near the bed. He heard the door open as he reached for his dressing gown.

“I’m fine on my own, Cabot,” he said.

“I would say you are,” Diana said softly.

He turned to find her standing there in his room. Again.

“Diana, you can’t be here.”

“I need you to love me, Derek.”

Her color was high and her breath coming fast, but he suspected she meant more with her request.

“You will ruin your reputation if anyone were to learn you were in my room.”

She clicked the lock on the door as she had in his room at Holbrook Hall. “I want you to take me, Derek.”

His lusts stirred as he caught her orange blossom scent. “I told you, that’s not going to happen.”

She grabbed onto his shoulders. “Don’t take one of the maids.” She sniffed. “Please.”

She knew about the earl’s offer? “How did you…?” He shook his head. “I’m not going to fuck one of the maids tonight.”

His coarse language made her eyes widen. “You were thinking about it?” She swallowed. “About f–fucking one of the maids?”

“Or one of the footman,” he went on. “Cabot is pretty enough. What do you think?”

She covered her ears. “Why do you delight in torturing me?”

He let his dressing gown fall open. Her gaze fell on the bulge in his trousers. “Are you sure you want me to fuck you?”

She licked her lips, and he felt it like a caress along his shaft. “I don’t know.”

He unbuttoned his trousers and freed his cock. He gave it a long stroke, feeling every beat of his pulse along the shaft. He couldn’t keep up this game much longer. His lusts would rise soon, and then he would have to have her. “You want my cock in your pussy, Diana?”

She gave a shaky nod. “Y–yes.”

He thumbed the head of his cock and hissed a breath. “You don’t.” He stuffed himself back in his pants. “Go.”

Tears welled in her eyes. She walked to the door and placed her hand on the knob. She faced him again. “Derek,” she whispered.

“Go! Before I fuck you and ruin your life.”

She covered her mouth with her hand and ran from his room. Derek locked the door behind her. Her shock and sadness seemed to do the trick on his beast. His heartbeat slowed, and the throbbing in his cock subsided.

He rubbed at his burning eyes. It was better this way. Let her resign herself to the fact that they could never be together. She might be upset now, but that pain was nothing compared to what would certainly follow if she gave him her heart.

Chapter 8

Diana ate breakfast with the countess then used her familiar excuse of seeing to correspondence to get some time to herself. The earl and his wife, and her cousin, Michael, were very nice people indeed, but she couldn’t bear to be around their happiness today. Not after what Derek did, what he’d said, last night.

He’d tempted her with his body. With his words. Foolish girl that she was, she’d wanted to make love to him anyway. She donned her overcoat and went back down to the entry. She nodded to the butler, told him she was going out for a walk, and left through the front door.

The drive circled back toward the way they’d come yesterday but also branched off around one corner of the great house. With no clear direction in mind, she followed the path and discovered a carriage house. The wide doors were open, and she saw several vehicles inside. A shaft of sunlight caught something bright and shiny, and it drew her eye. As she stepped closer, she saw that the sun had found a man with blond hair. He was bent over an engine, obviously tinkering with something or other. She admired his fit body in its tidy uniform. She stilled. Uniform. This must be the chauffeur Lily was going on about last night. The oh-so-lovely Mosley.

“Hello,” she said.

He started and straightened. He was tall, nearly as tall as Derek, and possessed wide shoulders. When he turned she realized Lily had every reason for her infatuation. He was beautiful.

“Hello, yourself,” he said, wiping his hands on a rag.

His hands looked strong and not very dirty, considering the work he was doing. His gaze slid over her even as his cheeks turned pink. She felt an answering rush of heat to her face.

“I’m Diana Holbrook,” she said quickly. “I’m a guest of the earl’s.”

“Evan Mosley.” He leaned back against the car for a moment, then his mouth dropped open. “Wait. Diana?”

“Yes. Why?”