Price of Desire (20 page)

“Well, are you?
”
The demanding little voice drew his attention again
.
He peered around, and down, to find himself staring into familiar green eyes
.
His breath caught.

Anna had found him
.
He’d reconciled himself to leaving without meeting her face to face
.
It had torn at his heart, but he’d seen no honorable way around it
.
Now, here she was
.
All he could do was stare at her dainty perfection.

“Don’t you know it’s rude not to answer
?
I am always being scolded if I don’t answer
.
You do talk, don’t you?”

“Yes.
”

It was much harder to form the single word than Wulf would have imagined
.
His mouth had suddenly filled with cotton
.
Had his cravat come untied from his neck and of its own accord slipped between his lips
?
He’d never had anything to do with children – never wanted to – if only he knew what to do.

She was so beautiful, it hurt him to look at her
.

How had he thought he could leave without meeting her – leave without her?

“You still haven’t answered me.
”
The little foot stamped with that queenly majesty she’d inherited from her mother
.
“If you are hiding, I know a secret way.”

“Ah, yes, I am hiding
.
There’s a dragon loose in the woods.”

Anna gave a delicious shiver.

“A dragon
?
Really
?
Mama only finds trolls
.
I’d love a real dragon
.
Should we hunt it?”

“No, definitely not,” Wulf sputtered
.
Weren’t little girls supposed to be scared of dragons?

“I’ll protect you if you’re afraid.
”
Anna lifted the stick she was dragging.

“Should you be with your Nanny?
”
Why had he said that
?
The last thing he wanted was for her to leave, to go join somebody who might not welcome his presence.

Luckily her eyes clouded at the thought
.

“NO!”

The foot stamped again
.
Small lips puckered into a perfect rosebud and her little brow furrowed
.
His heart dissolved as a single tear meandered down her cheek
.
Another followed.

“Nanny wants me to take a nap
.
I am too old for naps
.
Nanny needs a nap
.
If I go to sleep then she can, too, but I don’t want to nap
.
I am a big girl.”

What did one say to that
?
Anna barely reached his knee, but it was clear her spirit was very big indeed.

“How old are you?
”
He knew the answer, but it seemed like a safe question.

A dirty pudgy hand lifted and thrust three fingers at him
.

“Five.”

So much for safe questions
.
He knew she was four
.
Didn’t she know the answer
?
Should she know t
he answer
?
What were four-
year-
old children supposed to answer?

“Where are you
?
Major Huntington, where are you?
”
Lady Clarington’s voice echoed through the clearing.

“It’s the dragon
.
Where should we hide?”

Without further sound Anna grabbed his hand and tugged him . . . straight into a bush
.
While her tiny size allowed her to skip merrily in, he had to duck and crawl to follow
.
He’d ruined his boots in the mud, and now his breeches would meet the same fate
.
It was a good thing he didn’t have a valet to horrify.

“This way,” Anna whispered.

He followed, realizing that the long hedge led all the way back towards the picnic party, the thick outer branches creating a long, if slightly prickly, tunnel
.
Anna picked up speed as she moved
.
Maybe they should have employed four year-olds to scout in Belgium
.
She certainly moved rapidly over the dank leaves and low branches.

She stopped suddenly, and Wulf found himself crushing her to his chest to prevent himself from toppling over her
.
The soft smell of baby rose from her hair, blocking out the smell of damp leaves
.
He could have remained in that instant forever, the sweet baby smell and the warm, soft body sheltering him from all the unpleasant memories of his life
.
Peace
.
He kissed the top of her head in gratitude.

“Shhh, don’t do that
.
She’ll hear
.
She always hears.”

Wulf shook his head to clear the wonder from his thoughts
.
He peered out between the leaves and saw the blue fringes of a skirt he remembered well from that morning
.
Even with Anna’s body warm in his arms, he could not stop the shiver of awareness that shook him
.
He was only feet away from Rose.

Lady Smythe-Burke’s voice whistled down at them
.
“. . . Definitely not fit in with your plans.”

“Forgive me, but I am not at all certain I agree
.
It seems to me that unless a man understands from the start what I want, how will I ever know if he’s suitable?
”
Rose’s softer voice whispered around him, but there was nothing soft in her tone.

“My dear Rose
–
I think it’s time I called you that
–
I do agree, but only to a certain degree
.
As I said before, manageable men need to be managed.”

Why on earth were they talking about manageable men
?
Anna turned her face into his chest, distracting him from any other thought.

“I am not sure I take your meaning.”

“You want Mr. Williams, or whoever you chose, to think it’s all his idea.”

“I do?”

“You do.”

Even though all Wulf could see was one small foot tapping, he could almost see Rose’s face compressed in thought
.
She’d have her lips pursed, her upper teeth worrying the lush lower one
.
Her
eyes would darken and . . .

“I think I understand
.
If I let him choose to let me help, then
–
”

“He feels that he’s the one in charge, the master, so to speak.”

“But, I don’t want a master
.
If there’s one thing I am trying to avoid, it’s a masterful man.”

Not that a man with any strength of will would ever want anything to do with her anyway
.
Why couldn’t they finish their conversation and move on
?
Anna was starting to squirm, and he’d seen that look on her face plastered across many a young recruit right before his first battle
.
There were certain indignities that his trousers refused to put up with.

“I don’t mean to pry into your marriage, Rose, but did you tell Burberry what to do?”

Now this was more interesting.

“Well, no
.
Once I understood what was needed I would suggest and he would agree, most of the time.”

“Exactly, that way he got to think he was in charge and
–
”

Wulf imagined Rose gulping before she cut Lady Smythe-Burke off
.
“You make it sound so cold
.
I always wanted to do what was best for John
.
I never tried to manage John, at least not until the end,
when he was too ill to . . . n
ever mind that, what I mean is that John always wanted what was best for me; never once did he fail to put me first
.
If he let me run things, it was only because he knew it made me happy, satisfied me
.
There was no managing, either by one or the other of us.”

“Do forgive me.
”
Lady Smythe-Burke spoke more softly than he would have believed possible
.
“I know the admiral was an unusual man, a great man
.
I didn’t mean to imply that
–
”

“Let’s just not discuss it
.
My past marriage is over
.
I cannot go back to it, no matter how I might wish to
.
What concerns us now is finding me a new husband.”

What
?

He hadn’t seen this coming, but suddenly everything made sense.

“Yes, of course, my dear Rose
.
So tell me, what do you think of Mr. Williams
?
I would confess to knowing little about the man, a most unusual thing, but I’ll try not to hold that against him.”

“He actually struck me as much more suitable than I had thought
.
He seems genuinely to care about his land, without taking it for an obsession
.
He was very ready to take my advice, and didn’t seem taken at all aback that it was a woman offering it.”

“Always important, but men can change.”

“He loves this shire, was drawn back to it by his boyhood memories
.
I don’t know his exact situation, but if he’s just purchased holdings he must be fairly comfortable.”

“What about family
?
I’ve seen many a perfect match spoiled by an ornery mother.”

“I don’t recall that he said
.
We were interrupted, you know.”

“Still say I did the right thing.”

“My biggest concern is Anna.”

Wulf felt the small body in his arms stiffen
.
He had to admit a certain frigidity had settled over him as well
.
He was afraid he knew where this was heading.

“The child?”

“Yes, I want to be sure I find a good father for her.”

Not a chance
.
She’d stolen his child and given Anna to another man once, and he’d die before he let it happen again
.
A half-hour before, he’d been prepared to leave – but now he’d held, talked to her
.
Anna was his, and he would not let another moment of her life be stolen from him
.
The thought caught him off guard, and he was still reeling from its implications, when Anna launched herself from his arms and out of the bushes.

“No
.
I don’t want another papa
.
You can’t make me take one
.
You can’t.”

Rose reached out to grab her daughter, but Anna was off, running back towards the house.

“I don’t want a papa
.
Papas are mean
.
I’ll hide and not come out ‘til he’s gone.”

Rose’s skirts twirled as she took off in pursuit of her daughter. “Please give my excuses to my guests
.
I’ll return as soon as I’ve attended to this.”

“Humpf
.
She spoils that child, I daresay
.
Just watch out
.
The little one will grow up not at all a typical society miss
.
She might even develop a mind of her own.
”
But Lady Smythe-Burke was at all distressed by the prospect.

She turned and started back towards the lake to rejoin the rest of the party.

Then she paused.

“Oh, Major Huntington, you’d best head back to the house yourself
.
You wouldn’t want anybody else to catch sight of that muddy boot and wonder what you were doing in the bushes . . . particularly with Lady Clarington still missing
.
I imagine that’s one bucket of worms you don’t want to tip.”