To Seduce a Bride (22 page)

Ada's bedchamber was on the second floor at the rear of the corridor, and Lily managed to reach it before him, in time to open the door for him. He carried the courtesan inside and gently set her down on the bed. Ada kept her arms twined about his neck, though, while she whispered something in his ear that made him laugh softly.

Lily realized she was grinding her teeth, and she willingly admitted relief when Heath disengaged himself from the beauty's hold and gallantly took his leave of her.

When he accompanied Lily out into the corridor, however, she was surprised that he took her elbow in a firm grasp. “Where may we be private, angel?” he asked in a deceptively pleasant tone.

Lily sent him a narrow glace. He almost sounded angry at her. “Will Fleur's sitting room do?”

“Well enough,” he said tersely.

Wondering what had roused his wrath, Lily led the way. She felt herself tense when Heath shut the door sharply behind them. After last night, she most certainly didn't want to be alone with him again.

Yet he obviously didn't have in mind a repetition of last night's lovemaking. His gaze pinned her for a long beat before he moved toward Lily, stopping barely a foot away. Despite his intimidating stance, her body's response to his nearness was immediate: She found it difficult to breathe, let alone think, when he was that close.

“You endorsed Ada's attempt at seduction, didn't you?” Heath demanded in a curt tone. When she remained silent, a muscle ticked in his jaw. “Don't bother to deny it, sweeting. Ada confessed your role.”

Lily's eyes widened as comprehension dawned. “You persuaded her to tell you, didn't you? You
charmed
a confession out of her.”

“Guilty as charged,” he shot back.

“How did you even guess?”

“I thought her behavior strangely forward, even for her. And I've learned to spot a ruse when I see it.”

“Oh, yes, I forget,” Lily rejoined. “Females have been throwing themselves at your feet for aeons. So that display of concern for her injury—your rubbing her ankle so tenderly—was all for show, for my benefit?”

“Indeed. Her ankle is perfectly sound.”

Lily felt her fingers curl into fists as she remembered her fierce feelings of jealousy a moment ago. And Heath had deliberately stoked them, pretending to be interested in the beautiful other woman.

Apparently he was not finished upbraiding
her,
though. “You admit that you approved Ada's little scheme. What I want to know is
why.
”

“I should think it obvious,” Lily retorted, starting to feel uncomfortable with his piercing regard.

“According to Ada, you meant to prove that I am like your late father—eager to chase anything in skirts.”

“That is part of it, yes.”

Her answer made sparks flare in his eyes. “And you thought you could be rid of me by pawning me off on some other woman? Bloody
hell,
Lily.”

When she winced at his fury, Heath's jaw locked with the visible effort to control his temper. “What the devil were you thinking? Did you actually believe she could succeed in enticing me? That I would ever want a woman like her when I could have you?”

Lily wrapped her arms around herself defensively. “Truthfully…yes. I thought that if she satisfied your carnal desires, you wouldn't want me any longer.”

“Dammit, Lily…” In frustration, he raked a hand through his hair. “I don't merely want sex with you. I want you for my
wife.
If fucking was all I wanted, I could find any number of willing women to indulge me.”

“I know,” Lily said in a small voice, feeling rather chastened by his argument.

“And I am perfectly capable of finding my own mistress if I want one. I do not need your assistance. And I most assuredly don't appreciate your deceit or your plotting.”

Moving across to the sofa, she sank down. “I am sorry. I never should have allowed Ada to try and seduce you. Besides,” Lily added, biting her lower lip, “I never even considered the risk she was taking. She has a new patron, and it could have ruined her chances if he discovered she was dallying with you.”

To Lily's relief, Heath's tone was a trifle less harsh when he spoke. “Is that the reason you interrupted us? Because you worried she might spoil her chances with her new protector?”

“Ummm…not exactly.”

“Then what, exactly?”

Lily risked a glance at Heath. His jaw was still set in anger, she saw. “I…didn't want you kissing her.”

He stared for a moment before the hard line of his mouth eased. “You were jealous.”

Feeling a betraying blush rise to her cheeks, Lily ducked her head. “Well…yes.”

Silence reigned for a time. Then Heath came to sit beside her on the sofa. “I suppose I should be flattered. And encouraged. I must be making progress in my courtship if you were roused to jealousy.”

The faint hint of humor in his tone made Lily stiffen. “Don't raise your hopes too high, my lord. I still have no intention of marrying you.”

She felt his gaze intensify on her again. “You acknowledge your jealousy, but you won't consider my proposal? That makes little sense. Why are you so damned set against marrying me, Lily?”

“I told you why.”

“Because your parents' union was hostile. It doesn't follow that ours will be so.”

Squaring her shoulders, Lily looked up. “If you had experienced their battles all during
your
childhood, you would not be so eager to wed, either.”

His gaze bored into hers. “So you believe our marriage would be a battleground, like theirs was.”

“I…don't know,” Lily finally said. “But I am not willing to risk it. I don't wish to be miserable for the rest of my life, the way my mother was.”

A muscle flexed in Heath's jaw. “You are equating me with your father again.” When Lily refused to comment, he made a sound like a growl. “What did he do to your mother that was so terrible?”

Lily swallowed, her stomach clenching with the old, old pain. “I don't wish to discuss it.”

“Damn and blast it, Lily! How can I defend myself as being different from your father if I haven't a clue what he did?”

“Very well….” The pain welled up inside as she choked out the words. “If you must know…he struck her! He beat her with his fists and felled her to the floor and then kicked her till she screamed. And I couldn't bear it.
I couldn't bear it!
So I grabbed up a knife and told Papa to leave her alone or I would kill him. And I meant it. I would have
killed
him had he raised his fists against her again. Is
that
what you wished to hear?”

Her voice had risen practically to a shout, and when she ceased, her breath came in hoarse, uneven pants.

Heath stared at her, his expression arrested. Lily stared back, gritting her teeth fiercely, refusing to look away. But her chest felt hard and heavy and tight, while the back of her throat ached and her eyes stung with tears.

His expression softened then, and she read sympathy in the perceptive hazel depths.

Swallowing hard, Lily averted her gaze from Heath's suddenly gentle one. She didn't want his sympathy, his pity. She didn't want his tender touch, either—yet she was given no choice. She felt the warm, sliding pressure of his fingers as they raised her chin, compelling her to regard him.

“So you were forced to protect your mother from your father's violence,” he said, his tone very gentle.

Nodding, Lily sat there rigidly, struggling to hold on to her composure. Her voice was a tearful rasp when she finally spoke. “My greatest regret was that I couldn't help her further. A year later Mama finally took a lover to allay her misery, and then she was banished from her home and even her country. You…you know about the resulting scandals.”

For a span of several heartbeats, Heath remained silent. Then he reached up to capture her face carefully between his palms. “I would never strike you, Lily.
Never.
I would never be physically violent with a woman, no matter the provocation.”

She searched his face, his intent expression, and could give him no argument. Somehow she was certain Heath would not hurt her physically…but emotionally was another matter altogether.

“Even so, I won't allow any man to have that kind of power over me. As your wife, by law I would be little more than your chattel. If you chose to beat me—or even kill me—I would have no recourse.”

Reflexively, Heath clenched his jaw at the ludicrous notion that he would ever raise a hand to Lily, although he supposed he could appreciate her perspective, even if it frustrated the devil out of him. But he forced himself to hide his frustration as he smoothed the knuckles of his hand across her cheekbone.

Seeing her dark eyes so big and bright with incipient tears, he felt a fierce surge of protectiveness toward her—along with an intense, burning need to dig up her father from his grave and punish him for what he'd done to his wife and daughter.

At least now, however, Heath better understood Lily's fervent desire for independence. Her determination to carve out her own destiny. Her fear of putting her fate in any man's hands. Even her stubborn determination to place him in the same category as her bastard father. With her bitter experience, she couldn't trust that he would be any different.

When his hand slid lower, giving a delicate massage to the curve of her neck, Lily stiffened and pulled back, obviously discomfited.

“If you will pray excuse me…” Dashing a hand over her eyes to wipe away any trace of tears, she rose abruptly to her feet. Her fingers knotting together, she glanced down at Heath. “I am sorry if I made you angry by allowing Ada to attempt your seduction, but perhaps it was for the best. Now you know why I can never consent to be your wife.”

With that barely audible murmur, she turned and quit the room, leaving him alone with his thoughts.

Heath sat there for a long while after she had gone, contemplating his courtship of Lily and how he should respond to her revelation.

For one thing, he would have to show her indisputably that he was far, far different from her father, or any of the other men she'd known who treated women like chattel or used violence to hurt and dominate.

Heath's jaw hardened. He couldn't stop thinking about that haunted pain in Lily's eyes when she'd confessed about threatening her father in order to save her mother from assault. He remembered seeing that same look last week when Lily had chased O'Rourke from the house, brandishing a statue at his retreating back. And when she'd flung herself against the gang of bullies in the alley to defend a mongrel dog.

It also explained why she'd insisted on kindness as a qualification for the candidates he invited to the soiree. And why she was so irate about the injustice done to some of the young women she'd taken under her wing here at the boardinghouse. And why she'd put herself out to help two of them escape a life of prostitution by finding them respectable jobs in her own home.

Lily's actions reflected her ferocious desire to protect the weak and helpless, which touched Heath with tenderness for her.

Yet after learning about her father—after witnessing the pain in her eyes and hearing it in her voice—Heath finally realized just how difficult a task he faced, trying to win Lily's hand in marriage. She would never let down her guard because she was afraid to give herself to any man, lover
or
husband.

He would have to teach her about tenderness, about intimacy, about trust, that much was certain to him. She was like a wild woodland creature, cautious, wary, in need of coaxing, of gentling.

He'd made a start last night when he'd held her in his arms, Heath decided. He would wager half his fortune that Lily had never felt such emotional closeness with a man before him.

He'd never felt that kind of shared tenderness, either, and he knew it was very special.

At the memory, Heath closed his eyes momentarily, recalling the naked feel of her pressed into the curve of his body, her warmth, her fragrance. He knew instinctively that Lily's passion was something he alone could kindle—a thought that gave him primal satisfaction. But he wanted more than merely to control her body. Much more.

He wanted Lily for his wife.

Attaining that goal, however, would be the biggest challenge he'd ever faced. The decision to marry him had to be Lily's. He couldn't force her to accept him. She would have to take him for her husband because she
wanted
to.

And very likely, the only reason she would want to was if she loved him enough to overcome her doubts and fears about him.

Which meant he must strive to make her fall in love with him.

Heath frowned darkly in contemplation. Perhaps using his sexual prowess was not the best way to win her heart after all. Nor was wooing Lily with marriage in mind. As long as she felt pursued and hounded by his courtship, she would keep her defenses unassailable.

But what if he were to back off his campaign? What if he were to cease pursuing her?

Admittedly, he could benefit from a respite himself. Every morning he woke with a painful arousal that wouldn't cease. And each time he touched Lily, kissed her, held her, became more and more tormenting. If he had to endure another chaste night with her, making love to her without really making love to her, he feared he wouldn't be able to hold back. He would give in to his fierce desire for her and make his possession irrevocable.

But if he retreated, Heath mused, perhaps he could bring some discipline to the fire in his senses and manage a semblance of control over his hunger.

It seemed a very wise step to avoid any further sexual intimacy with Lily at least. And an even wiser step to stop wooing her for now. To give her time to sort things out for herself instead of constantly pressing her to marry him.