TuesdayNights (30 page)

A hurt expression suddenly on his face, Michael stared at Edward. “But, she cannot. I ... I ruined her,” he stated with a curt nod. “She cannot marry another,” he insisted with a shake of his head. “I will not allow it.”

Edward’s face took on a look of surprise. “You say that as if you ruined her deliberately,” he accused, obviously not remembering when Michael had explained what happened that night. Edward was quite drunk, after all. Edward’s eyes widened and he stared at Michael for a long moment. “Oh, my God, you did do it deliberately, didn’t you?” he whispered, not quite believing that his friend could do such a thing unless he was completely foxed or a candidate for an extended stay at Bedlam.

Michael stood up, his anger returning. “Take that back,” he threatened, his fists coming up.

Edward remained in the chair and kept his gaze on Michael. “I will not,” he countered, feeling a sense of bravery he hadn’t felt in at least the past week. He’d rehearsed over and over in his head how he was going to take the punch to his face.

Well, he was prepared, he decided.

He hoped his jaw wouldn’t break. His nose, well, it would heal, he figured. And he had no appointments scheduled for the coming week, so there would be time to be bedridden with a broken rib or two.

When he returned his attention to Michael, he found his friend staring into space, as if he was deep in thought. Planning my funeral already, is he? Edward thought quickly, wondering if he could make it to the library door before one of those fists made contact with his body. I can outrun him, he thought with a smile. I don’t know where I’d go...

“I have to take a walk,” Michael announced before he turned and left the library, closing the door behind him.

Edward stared after him, the stunned expression on his face remaining for several minutes after he heard the distant click of a front door closing.

When the library door opened again, he looked up to find Olivia staring at him, her hands wringing together. He stood up quickly, intending to bow.

“You took a very risky chance for my benefit,” she whispered, a mixed look of shock and relief on her face.

Edward tried to appear calm even though he knew that he had barely escaped Michael’s retribution. “Indeed. But I think it was worth it. And for your sake, I hope it was,” he said with an impish grin, his face coloring as he realized Olivia and probably half the household staff had overheard the entire exchange.

The library door was wide open during the argument.

“I think ... no, I am quite sure that I met your Anna today,” Olivia stated as she moved to take the chair across from his. “She is a very beautiful woman.”

Stunned at the comment, Edward stared at her. “Indeed?” he replied, his breaths suddenly coming faster. He sat down. Hard. “And did she ... did she seem to be in good health?” he wondered, his eyes darting about the room.

“She did. She mentioned wishing she was married to you, in fact,” Olivia said quietly. She took a deep breath, not sure if she should say what she’d been thinking while she waited in the hallway. “I know it is none of my business, Mr. Seward, but may I inquire as to why you are not already married to her?”

Edward slumped in his chair and finally glanced at Olivia. “My family ... As a second son, I had an obligation to the earldom,” he replied with a sigh, his eyes leaving Olivia’s to focus on other objects in the room. “At least until my brother married and sired an heir.” He could not bring himself to make eye contact with Olivia, his embarrassment at his earlier charade still apparent.

Olivia nodded her understanding. “Has your brother taken an acceptable wife?” she queried, her voice very gentle as she continued her line of questions.

“Oh, yes,” Edward answered with a nod. “About a year ago, in fact. Penelope Winstead. She is the daughter of the Earl of Heatherington. Very suited to the role, and very pretty,” he stated enthusiastically. “But not as beautiful as my Anna,” he added in a whisper, his gaze full of fondness and longing.

“And is Lady Seward will child?” Olivia wondered.

Edward’s gaze fell on the fireplace. “She bore a son last week, so my obligation as a spare heir has ended,” he stated firmly.

Olivia leaned her head to one side. “So, you are free to marry your choice of bride now.”

“I am,” Edward agreed. “But my Anna disappeared a year ago, and I have been searching for her ever since,” he explained.

“And, if you found her, would you marry her?” Olivia asked as she moved to the sideboard and poured him a glass of brandy.

Edward finally made eye contact with Olivia. “Of course,” he answered simply as he took the glass and gave her a nod.

Olivia smiled then. “She is a seamstress at Madame Suzanne’s modiste in New Bond Street. Go there now. Ask for her hand. Get a special license ...”

“I have one of those,” he interrupted, holding up a finger in the air. At her raised eyebrow, Edward shrugged. “I believe it is common practice for sons of earls to have such things,” he explained proudly. “They are sort of issued to us so we’re spared the reading of the banns. They last three months, too!”

And apparently they’re issued to the sons of viscounts, as well, Olivia thought with a smirk, remembering that she and Michael had been able to marry because he had one.

He had to get married before next Friday, he’d said. But given what she’d seen in her father’s library the day before Michael’s visit to her room, she was sure Eloisa was his intended. And yet, just moments ago, he’d announced that he loved me.

She was suddenly aware of Edward’s attention on her, as if he was waiting for the rest of her advice. “Marry her, Edward.” She poured a glass of claret for herself. “I would like very much to have another woman around with whom I can learn how to be an aristocrat’s wife.”

Edward nodded. “What else do I need?” he asked suddenly.

“A ring,” Olivia answered, giving her own a quick glance when she remembered Michael mentioning he had to go in search of one. “Or use the one she wears on her thumb ...”

At Edward’s sudden inhalation of breath, Olivia paused and gave him a brilliant smile. “And ask her for her hand and visit the bishop,” she finished with a curt nod.

Edward took a sip of brandy and considered Olivia’s words for several moments. What do I have to lose? he wondered when he considered what there was to gain from such a union. A woman who loved him, for he knew she did, and Olivia had just confirmed it. He closed his eyes and imagined a life with Anna – they could travel the Continent during their first year of marriage, visiting the sources of ancient civilizations and looking for antiquities, live in London during the Season attending balls and musicales, live on his family’s estate in the summers, raise their children wherever they chose. They would have a happy life, he decided.

Anna!

When he opened his eyes, Olivia was gone.

Michael descended the steps to the square and began walking east. His mind replayed Edward’s accusations over and over. He had to admit the business deal that included Olivia’s dowry was the best deal he had ever brokered in his life, but Harold Waterford had been the one to propose the terms. Who was he to turn down an increase in his management fee?

Before he had rounded the corner to the next street on the square, he was instead thinking about the night he’d entered Olivia’s room. It was not as if he was in a drunken stupor; he knew exactly which room was his, which room was Olivia’s. What had she started to say to me this morning? “If I had known it was you...”

Just because he wanted her as his wife didn’t mean Olivia wanted him as her husband. But perhaps she did, he thought hopefully. Had she seriously considered Edward’s offer? She thought I had a mistress, he remembered her saying. How could she have known about the Tuesday nights he spent dining with her sister, unless Eloisa had told her? But Eloisa had promised him she wouldn’t tell anyone, and what would she gain by saying anything, especially now that she was being courted by Huntington?

So, if Eloisa didn’t tell Olivia that Michael was her protector, then how had she found out? Who had told her? There were only a few other people who knew about Eloisa. His coachman, Mr. White. Eloisa’s maid, of course. And ...

Damn!

Edward told her, he thought angrily. He took a deep breath and shook his head.

If things were going to plan, then Eloisa would not be an issue. He had received Huntington’s invitation to spar on the morrow – that was certainly confirmation that his banker intended to ask for her hand if he hadn’t already done so. Michael vowed then and there that he would no longer see Eloisa in any capacity but that of a brother-in-law. And he hoped the next time he saw her, she would be betrothed to his banker.

As for everything else, perhaps it was time to have a talk with Olivia. She deserved to know she was his intended all along. She might despise him for a long time to come.

Or she might not.

When he had completed the circuit around the entire square, he climbed the stairs to his townhouse, still contemplating what to do about Olivia. Court her, he decided. And get her a decent ring! That he planned to do the following evening.

But first, he had to write another missive to his mother, he decided.

“Is it true, then?” Olivia wondered when Michael finally entered the hall from the vestibule. He had come into the townhouse wearing an expression that suggested he was deep in thought, his attention drawn so completely away from the present that Jeffers made no attempt to greet him. He hadn’t taken a coat nor a hat when he left the hour before; he had simply left the house.

Olivia knew that, as her husband, Michael could do with her what he liked. She was his property now. But he also had an obligation to provide protection for her. She was sure her father would have required it of him before he would have made whatever business deal it was that included her. Michael had said over dinner that her dowry was quite – how had he put it? Quite satisfactory. And weren’t some marriages predicated on convenience? A merging of two families or two businesses or two countries? Why should mine be any different? she wondered, a heavy sense of dread settling into her belly. Was that all she was to Michael, then? A by-product of a business deal? Perhaps she should have accepted Edward’s proposal and become his mistress, if for no other reason than to have a sympathetic man with whom to spend her Tuesday nights. The thought sickened her, though, and when her stomach suddenly threatened to cast up her accounts, she took a deep breath and looked up at the ceiling, closing her eyes to steady the spinning sensation she felt at her very core.

A slight waft of a warm breath washed over her just before lips brushed against hers. She opened her mouth a bit and accepted the gentle kiss, keeping her eyes closed just in case the kiss was in her imagination. The kiss deepened as a hand rested against her cheek, the fingertips barely making contact with her jaw and the back of her ear. She moaned softly as she pretended it was Michael who kissed her, who held her with such care.

“Is what true, my sweet?” Michael whispered, his lips now near her ear.

So startled was she by the sound of his voice next to her ear that her eyes shot open. She found herself staring up into his eyes. “Oh!” she gasped, realizing Michael really was right there, standing over her, supporting himself by leaning on one forearm that was propped against the hall wall.

A small smile quirked the edge of his lips as he watched her. “I did not wish to startle you,” he whispered, his lips moving to her forehead, where he kissed the space just below her hairline. “Is what true?” he repeated quietly, his brows furrowing a bit when he noticed the crease between her brows deepen.

Olivia took a breath, realizing she no longer felt as if she was spinning, her eddy suddenly anchored by Michael’s very solid presence above and in front of her. She swallowed hard and finally found her voice. “Is it true that I am part of a business deal you made with my father?”

Michael sighed and cursed to himself, angry that he’d allowed Edward to say aloud what he hoped he would never have to admit to himself. “Yes, as a matter of fact,” he replied with a nod, wincing when he realized how awful the news must have sounded to her.

Olivia bit her lower lip as a tear collected at the corner of an eye. She nodded, her face taking on the expression of someone trying very hard to maintain control when, in fact, the world was quite out of her control.

“A deal that has been in the works for five years, I might add,” he said quietly, his right eyebrow cocking in amusement at the last moment. “Your father drives a very hard bargain, you must know.”

Olivia continued to stare at him while the tear at the corner of her eye finally spilt and trailed down her temple. Michael quickly caught it with his lips, tasting the salt and kissing the space around her eyes.

“Are you teasing me now?” she whispered, a sob catching her breath before she could get out the last of the question.

Shaking his head slowly, Michael closed his eyes. “No,” he said as he pushed himself away from the wall. He placed his hands under Olivia’s arms and lifted her to her feet, surprised at how easily he was able to get her to stand, although she seemed to need his frame to stay standing.

Wrapping his arms around her shoulders, Michael held a hand on the back of her head and drew it against the crook of his shoulder. “You are part of the most lucrative business deal I have ever made with your father,” he claimed, a hint of pride in his voice. “And, I am of the opinion that you are the best part of the deal,” he added before leaning down to kiss her on the lips. It was a quick kiss, as much a kiss of reconciliation as it was affection.

Olivia allowed him to hold her for several minutes as she considered his words. “And for this deal to ... work, what are your expectations ... of me?” she wondered quietly.

“Ah, yes. The terms of the deal,” Michael said as he grinned and stroked her hair, wishing he could prove his love for her right then and there. But there was much to do before she would be convinced he was sincere. “Just marry me,” he said as cradled her head with one hand. He felt her start when she heard his words, and he smiled.