The Five Kisses (9 page)
“Because I love you.”
“Ahhhh!” There was such relief in his sigh that she looked up in surprise. “For a moment, my dear, I was in despair. I have gone about this stupidly. If I am correct, you thought I planned to seduce you.”
“Don’t you?”
“No need to sound so disappointed.” He held up his hand for silence when she would have spoken. “Everything in good time. In actual fact I am much too tired for such exercise. I only just returned to Maynard Hall in time to pick up Monsieur Hubert’s offerings and bring them here. I have spent the day in the saddle, completing three very important errands.”
“What were the errands?” she asked, curious despite herself.
“The first one was to get a special license.”
Chad’s eyes glistened at the look of wonder on Gillian’s face. He reached inside his jacket, withdrew a heavy parchment and with great reverence laid it in her lap. With shaking fingers she opened it and silently read the contents. Her chin trembled as she tried not to cry.
“But I can’t marry you,” she wailed.
“What a contrary woman you are. Perhaps I will have to seduce you after all because then as a fallen woman you will have to marry me. Come along now, Gillian, tell me you will.”
“I can’t. You have to marry someone with a title and an enormous dowry. You are an earl.”
“So that’s the reason. You must not be such a snob, my darling. An Earl, indeed. First and foremost, I am a man. And I love you with all my heart. I think from the moment I saw you up in the hayloft, hurling apples to save me and an unprepossessing kitten, I’ve loved you. It took me a very long time to discover that fact but now that I have, I plan to keep you by my side forever.”
“Are you positive? You won’t regret it?”
For answer, he rose to his feet, pulled her out of her chair and into his arms. He kissed her until she was breathless but managed to maintain enough control to place her back in her chair, out of temptation.
“You must be strong for both of us, my girl. We are going to be married very properly tomorrow evening. My second errand was to stop in the village and speak to the vicar who has graciously agreed to marry us in the chapel at Maynard. Even now Monsieur Hubert is putting the finishing touches to our wedding supper. Thanks to Nelda and Robbie’s assistance, everyone in the county has been invited. Have you any complaints as to the arrangements? Any questions?”
She beamed at him and he returned her smile. Without words, their eyes traded all the secrets they had kept from each other over the years, until finally Gillian ended the silence.
“What was the third errand?” she asked.
“To find you a Christmas present. That was what took me the longest,” he said. He reached down to the small wicker basket, forgotten until now, and set it in her lap. “You will have to be an exceedingly good and loving wife for all the trouble I have taken to find you the perfect present.”
Gillian carefully pulled back the green and red-checkered cloth. Nestled in the bottom of the basket was a kitten. The pretty red ribbon around the cat’s neck looked incongruous against the gray fur dotted with oddly shaped black patches. Yellow-green eyes squinted up at Gillian and with a cry she reached in to pick up the tiny animal.
“Patches must have paid a visit to every female in the county. I had hundreds to choose from but this one resembled him most. Do you like him?”
“I love him. We shall have to name him after his father.” She cuddled the kitten against her breast, smiling lovingly at Chad. “Thank you, my dearest friend. He is the most perfect Christmas present. I only wish I had something to give you.”
He took the kitten out of her hands and returned it to the safety of the wicker basket. “Perhaps you do,” he said.
“Chad!”
Amid the sighs and whispers, the kitten began to purr.
THE END
AUTHOR’S NOTE
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About the Author:
Karla Darcy lives with her husband, several tame geckos and an occasional friendly snake on the Treasure Coast on the east side of Florida. She has always felt she lived in the Regency period in a past life. Her early writings were musical comedies and humor columns so it was an easy transition to the romantic and humorous style of Regencies. Lovely dresses, masked balls and witty conversations which contained saucy double entendres were the perfect cup of tea for this author.
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Enjoy these other Karla Darcy Sweet Deception Regency Romances
(Click to buy or download a sample)
The Masked Heart
The Marriage Wager
The Scandalous Ward
BONUS MATERIAL: First Chapter
THE MASKED HEART
BY
KARLA DARCY
Presented By:
Glades Publishing
Prologue - 1807
“An actress, my dear,” Lady Yates said, “is merely a slut who can sing.”
“Aunt Haydie!”
Lady Haydie Yates sniffed at the shocked expression on her niece’s face. “This is no time for missish airs, gel. Might as well know what you’re getting into before you make the first misstep.”
Blaine Margaret Meriweather shifted uncomfortably on the satin settee and tried to face the older woman with a worldly air she was far from feeling. Smoothing the skirt of her black mourning gown, Blaine looked warily at the upright figure in the wing chair and tried not to flinch under the steely glance of the golden-hazel eyes so like her own.
“I realize, Aunt Haydie, what I propose would be considered outrageous by some, but I thought you, of all people, might have more sympathy with my idea. After all, you have always told me a woman should not be held back by the conventions of society.”
“No need to quote me, Blaine. I am well aware of all my tiresome preaching.” The sixty-year-old Haydie waved her blue-veined hand in a dismissing gesture. “I am not unalterably opposed to the plan but I must be sure you are aware of all the pitfalls to this freakish start. A young gentlewoman does not become an actress without losing a great deal.”
“It seems to me, aunt, that there is little left to lose.” Sadness tinged Blaine’s voice and she swallowed back the rising lump in her throat.
“Thus speaks youth,” Haydie said. “Believe me, child, there are things more important than money and land in the balance here. I cannot imagine what your father would think of such a decision.”
“I can.” A sad smile tugged at the edge of Blaine’s generous mouth. “He would shout down the house while my stepmother Juliette would sniffle into a lacy handkerchief, her violet eyes awash with tears. Ah, Aunt Haydie, I miss them so.”
“It was blessedly quick, child,” the older woman said in bracing tones, then she snorted in annoyance. “A lot of trumpery that kind of statement but one must hold on to something. In all truth, I cannot believe that either your father or your stepmother suffered long after the carriage left the road. Your father was not one who would have been a cheerful invalid and Juliette was already terrified of growing old. She would have been devastated over any form of disfigurement. Perhaps my words are harsh, Blaine, but one can only deal with the present. They were a charming, improvident pair. And my brother’s inability to think beyond today has landed us all in the soup.”
Blaine sighed and leaned wearily against the back of the settee, noticing the worn spots on the satin upholstery. As her eyes roamed around the drawing room, she was aware that all of the furnishings needed attention. The room was clean enough. She had seen to that herself, but she ought to have considered redoing some of the coverings and adding new draperies. Now it was too late.
She had been in charge of the household, since she was fifteen, the year Valerian was born. Then her stepmother, having finally presented a male heir to her husband, demanded that they remove to London for the season. Blaine had been delighted with the responsibility of the estate and equally pleased to be with her half-sister Fleur and the new baby who were also left behind at Weathers. For six years, the three children had seen little of their parents except for Christmas and occasional houseparties. They had been happy years but now with the death of her father and stepmother, Blaine could see that their comfortable way of life was truly threatened.
“Now, child, tell me about this cork-brained scheme.”
Haydie’s voice interrupted Blaine’s musings and she tried to gather her thoughts. Without hesitation, she declared, “I would like to go to London and become an actress.”
“I heard that part of the plan,” Haydie said dryly. “It’s the rest that I’m waiting to hear.”
“Well, to be perfectly honest, I haven’t worked out any of the details.” A puckish grin widened her mouth and she peered through a cloud of dark lashes at her formidable relative. “I have given our difficulties a great deal of thought and I truly believe that this might be the answer to our present situation. You must admit, Aunt Haydie, that if we are not in the River Tick, our ship of state is sinking fast.”
“Cheeky gel!” The old woman’s words were snapped but there was a twinkle in the wise, old eyes that did not go unnoticed.
Blaine’s face sobered as she continued. “According to the lawyer, everything has been left in trust for Valerian until he is twenty-one. Val is only five now. For the most part the estate is self-supporting. I have gone over the books very carefully with Higgins, the estate manager. With stringent economies, we should all be able to survive but, in actual fact, we will live no better than our tenants for the next sixteen years. Worse, we will have nothing in reserve in case of some unlooked for casualty.”
“I cannot believe Cedric arranged things so poorly!” Haydie reached out for the glass of sherry on the table beside her. She took a bracing sip then cocked her steel-gray head to the side as she stared at the portrait of her brother which hung above the fireplace. “On second thought, I can well believe it. At times, my dear, your father was a thundering lackwit. He assumed, like most of us, that he would live to his dotage.”
Blaine’s eyes rose to the portrait and she smiled. Her father was dressed in his hunting pinks, seated on a low stone wall, his hand on the head of his favorite hunting dog Knolly. In the background was Weathers, the country home of generations of Meriweathers. The warm golden tones of the Cotswold stones shone like a beacon at the end of the narrow, tree-shaded lane. The land around the house was flat, perched as it was on the edge of Salisbury plain in Wiltshire. Tears sheened Blaine’s eyes at the thought that they might eventually be forced to sell the house which was Val’s patrimony. Never! She vowed silently and pulled herself erect to face her aunt with determination.
“We need money, Aunt Haydie,” she announced. “Our tenants depend on us to help them in an emergency. There are no dowries for either Fleur or myself and there is nothing for Val’s schooling. Papa wanted him to go to Cambridge and for that he will need tutors. Our governess can hardly prepare him.”
“You’re right, my dear. Frau Puffentraub has been fine for you and now Fleur, but Val must go off to school,” Lady Yates agreed. “I have wondered in the last few days if it might not be a kindness to release the good frau to find another position.”
