HisLadysKeeperfinal.wps (6 page)

laughter.

“Well, I can certainly say I would not be saving her from impending matrimony if she were a man … I definitely don’t dance to that particular tune.”

“Indeed.” Mallory smiled. “But as far as Elizabeth is concerned, I’ve told you to cease and desist for the moment. You’ll have to win and woo my Gemma quicker than you’ve ever courted a fair maiden before. I want this wedding … it’s the only way. I just got a bloody missive earlier from that annoying pratt. He and his sister will be arriving here by hired carriage tomorrow morning.” Mallory shuddered. “I wonder if I could possibly scare him to death by dressing up like Captain Rafe Morgan?” He laughed. “That little man would probably scream like a girl and hide behind Gemma’s skirts.”

“Why the hell does he have to hire a coach? I thought he had deep pockets.”

“Deep pockets with frayed holes. All of his considerable debauched ways have dried the well, I’m afraid. Ah, if only I were still at sea using the guise of Captain Morgan, I’d have him dancing at the end of my cutlass.”

“Damnation … so what you’re telling me is that he’s agreed to marry Gemma

because of her money … well of all the no good dirty—” He rested his hand at his side, suddenly remembering that he no longer wore his obligatory cutlass. It usually served to comfort him … maybe he could make sure he was wearing his uniform tomorrow … that way he could scare the living daylights out of Kilworth by giving him a little demonstration with his prized Navy Cutlass.

“Aye. And Gemma thinks she’s getting a man she can control like a puppet. I swear I have no blasted idea where that girl gets her foolish ideas. She doesn’t want to be under the thumb of her husband, and yet, she wants to be able to control her husband’s every move. She certainly doesn’t know what married life is like. She will not be able to keep him on a short leash. I keep trying to tell her that will not be the case with Kilworth, but I might as well hold my breath and stick my head under the loch.”

“There’s only one thing to do, Captain Morgan. I’m afraid that I’ll have to ruin and marry your sister … in that order.” He gave Mallory a cheeky grin. Mallory slapped him heartily on the shoulder.

“Now, that’s what I’ve been waiting to hear since I enlisted your assistance in this matter. Since Ethan died, I’ve noticed just how much stress our arguments and chats used to take off my shoulders. He always had a way of making me see sense, when it came to my rambunctious sisters.” Grief reflected in Mallory’s eyes. “I don’t think I’ll ever get over missing Ethan … or Andrew for that matter. When ever I needed them, they were always there.”

“Ethan was old enough to be our father.” Hart sighed. “How many of the old gang have we buried? Our numbers are dwindling to a mere trickle.”

“Too many.” Mallory set his mouth into a grim line. “I hate the thought of losing any more of our friends. We’ve been through so much together.”

“Well, I guess since we’re among the ones that are still standing, we need to watch each other’s backs.”

“Indeed we do … and we are.” Mallory looked to his sister’s bedroom door.

“You have to convince her before my mother makes her appearance, she doesn’t want to look like the big bad wolf in front of Gemma, but she doesn’t want this match to come to fruition any more than I do. I’ve told her I have a way of winning battles, and she told HIS LADY’S KEEPER Marly Mathews 27

me she was going to leave me to it, so there you have it. I do adore my mother.”

“Mallory, you need have no fears … if you let me do as I will, I’ll have Gemma madly in love with me by tomorrow night. I need you to do one thing, though. You have to find a way to get her out of that room.”

Mallory leaned against the wall, and stared at the bust of some ancient family member that sat on a marble setting beside him. “Hmm … well, one of the ways to Gemma’s heart is through her stomach. She has a frightful appetite. The thing is she can eat whatever she fancies without having to worry about it going to her waistline. I’ll see what Elizabeth has planned for supper, if we’re lucky, she’ll have something that really caters to Gemma’s tastes.”

“And if we’re not lucky?”

“Then, we’ll have to make sure that Mrs. Grant makes a nice tasty little pudding, for afters. If she does not, we’ll just have to leave it to Gemma’s nose. She’s been blessed with the nose of a bloodhound just like all of the rest of us St. Martin’s have.

Now, I must go and find that delightful little duchess of mine.” Chuckling, he ambled away, leaving Hart with the company of his thoughts.

“Act Two is about to begin my lovely little shrew.” Whistling a jaunty tune, he walked through the upstairs headed for his own quarters … he had to make sure that he looked like the dashing debonair man of Gemma’s dreams for tonight. And since he was a man of fine breeding, he should be able to pull it off without a hitch.

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Gemma turned away from her sketchbook and looked over toward her open window. She could hear music. Pushing her chair back, she stood up and stretched languidly. The evening meal would be served soon … but she wasn’t about to dine with the others, she had full confidence that a maid would bring her meal to her.

Elizabeth had to be playing the pianoforte in the music room. Probably as a nice little prelude to supper. Grimacing at the large growl that her stomach let out, she walked to the window seat sat down and lost herself in Elizabeth’s composition. She hadn’t heard this tune in a long time—and if her ear wasn’t off it was an old Scottish ballad.

When the harp joined the pianoforte, she dropped the sketch pencil she still held in her hand.

There was no one else in attendance at Mallory Hall that could play the harp adequately, save for Elizabeth and she. Unless her mother and sisters had arrived early, which she doubted, since her mother had been set on attending Lady Astor’s famous masquerade ball. There was supposed to be a revival of her famous
Midsummer Night’s
Dream
theme.

The question that nagged the hell out of her was who in the world could be

playing the pianoforte? Mallory knew how, though he detested it with a passion.

“
Hart
.” The word slipped out of her mouth before she could even realize she’d said his name. Why had he been able to work his way under her skin so thoroughly and in such a short amount of time?

If she was completely honest with herself, he was the finest looking man she’d ever set eyes upon. His dark brown eyes were like melted chocolate, and their warmth permeated straight through her skin whenever he looked at her. His black hair gave him an air of mystery. It was a different shade from Elizabeth’s black hair, and when the light hit his in just the right spot, you could almost see red highlights. She swallowed.

Fanning herself furiously, she stood up on wobbly legs, and walked over to her wardrobe.

She could summon for her abigail, but that would take too long. She had to get down to the music room straightaway.

She slipped out of the comfortable morning gown she’d changed into after taking off her dusty riding clothes. Her eyes scoured the wardrobe for something that would make her stand out next to Elizabeth. Sometimes, she envied Elizabeth for her unique beauty. With her haunting look, she always gave the impression of being a faerie princess. “Ah, ha! This should work to my benefit.” She reached for the sapphire colored silk gown. It had a plunging neckline, accented by the high waistline. With a few strands of pearls and the sapphire jewels her mother had given her last month, she’d definitely stand out in the room. She had considered wearing her emerald evening gown, but she knew that Elizabeth had just had an emerald gown made by her modiste, and she would more than likely be wearing it tonight. Wetting her lips, she was about to slip into it when a loud knock startled her. She almost dropped the gown. Carefully placing it on her bed, she walked to the door.

HIS LADY’S KEEPER Marly Mathews 29

Something snapped at the back of her mind. She looked at the door. She wasn’t expecting anyone. She’d dismissed her personal maid for the day, resigned to spend the rest of the time in her rooms. So, who was calling upon her? The duet playing downstairs had stopped a few minutes ago.

He wouldn’t dare ….

She reached for her dressing gown and quickly placed it around her body.

Underneath, the only thing she wore was her corset and slip. Padding softly to the door, she listened. She couldn’t hear anyone. Maybe it was just Charles playing a trick on her.

She unlocked the door, and gradually pulled it open.

“Now you listen, Har ….” She stopped mid-word when her eyes rested on a

smiling Elizabeth. Wonder of wonders, she stood garbed in her new emerald colored gown.

“You look rather flushed, Gemma. Are you feeling ill? Should I send for the doctor?”

“I’m fine, really, Elizabeth. I think I’m just a bit hot. The weather has been quite strange today, one minute a cool breeze is blowing, the next moment, it feels so stifling,”

she murmured, fanning herself uneasily.

“Yes, indeed.” Elizabeth’s brown eyes flickered with uncertainty. “I came up here to ask you to reconsider attending the evening festivities. We shall be playing cards after dinner, and I might even be able to talk Mallory into striking up a game of chess with Hart to get you a few hours of peace. The man seems quite determined to woo and win you, Gemma. I can’t blame him though—you really are quite a beauty.”

“He’s only doing it because Mallory has put him up to it. That blasted brother of mine wants to run everyone’s lives! Sometimes I think it was easier for all of us when he was off on one of his bloody seafaring adventures.”

Elizabeth stepped past her into the room. Her eyes lingered on the evening gown spread out on the grand four-poster bed.

“I see you were trying to decide on whether or not to join us.” She gave her a soft smile. “You know, your brother isn’t acting out of hatred … he is acting out of his love for you … and for his whole family. He really does want you to find happiness. As for his bloody seafaring adventures, your brother was doing what he could out on the High Seas to bring back enough money to keep this family going through thick and thin. The money he brought back, he couldn’t have made on an officer’s salary in the Navy, and you know it. You and your mother might want to delude yourselves into believing that he was only a privateer, but you must know deep in your heart what his true identity was

… I sometimes think that Mallory feels confined on land. The sea calls to him, you know. That’s why I’m planning a trip back to the States as soon as my darling Susan is old enough to take the trip. She seems so frail sometimes, I worry for her, and so does Mallory.”

“I know.” Suddenly, Gemma felt like a worthless little toad. “I know that you and Mallory have been under a lot of strain, but Susan will be fine, she will get over this delicate stage, Ann went through it when she was that age, and by my mother’s tales, I did too. Look at me now, I’m as strong as a horse.”

A soft look of love entered Elizabeth’s eyes. “Yes, you are. Thank you for reassuring me, Gemma. I just wanted you to know that no matter how annoyed you might become with Mallory, and trust me, I’ve wanted to throttle him more than once HIS LADY’S KEEPER Marly Mathews 30

since we first became reacquainted at Chesapeake Bay almost two years ago today, but when it comes right down to it he wears his heart on his sleeve, and I love him so much that I don’t think I could breathe if anything ever happened to him. Can he still make me want to scream in frustration at times? Yes. I still love him though … and I’ll love him for the rest of our lives. That’s what being a couple means, it means we fight, we argue, and when the chips start to fall, we LOVE each other with the very fiber of our beings.”

“Why are you of all people, giving me this inspiring talk?” Gemma grumbled.

Elizabeth moved to grasp her hand. “I’m giving it to you, because you have a spirit that demands freedom … just like I do. But if you marry Kilworth, he will clip your wings, and he will break you down until you lose sight of yourself … you can’t allow that to happen!”

“What makes you an expert? You have almost as much experience with men as I do. I know that Mallory is the only man you’ve ever loved, and it goes without saying that he is the only man that you’ve ever welcomed into your bed.”

“This is true. I’m ruined with Mallory … he lavishes me with everything that I could ever want … and when it comes right down to it I could do with none of those things as long as I had his love. Yet, I am an expert. I’ve seen a man just like Kilworth destroy a good woman’s life. A woman, that when I think about it, was probably much like you. My mother wasn’t exactly my mirror image … she had the St. Martin beauty.

Even though we are only distantly related, some of the same traits and looks spilled over into my mother. She was an angel—but marriage to my father made her into a living shadow of what she’d once been, and eventually, it was her complete undoing. My father was responsible for my mother’s death … and I will live with that until my dying day. I won’t let you follow in her footsteps.” Elizabeth released her hand and walked to the door. Turning back, she looked her straight in the eye. “I’ll send my maid to help you dress. Oh, and one last thing … though I sympathize with you on a great many things, I will do whatever I can to help Hart. He looks at you just the way Mallory first looked at me. I want to see that burgeoning love continue to grow … you’ll thank me for it in the years to come.”

“Don’t bet on it, Elizabeth.” Gemma dropped her voice to a low whisper.

“Oh, you’ll find, my dear, that when it comes to gambling … I never lose.” She winked at her and with that, she quietly shut the door behind her, leaving Gemma with a slowly breaking heart.