Page 17 of The Pleasures of Passion
“Trust me, Mrs. Trevor,” Niall said coldly, “a broken engagement would prompt few women to turn down a man of my consequence. Especially when I’m no longer headed for exile and a lifetime of hiding.”
She blinked at him as if she didn’t understand his veiled meaning.
The hell she didn’t. She could stare at him with that innocent, wide-eyed look all she wanted. He’d long ago realized that she was out for whatever she could get, and had thrown him over once she realized he was never going to provide her with the exalted life she’d apparently craved.
Well, he hoped she wasn’t secretly thinking to get it from him now—in marriage or otherwise. His time abroad had taught him that people could be incredibly deceitful when they were pursuing money and power. So if she was playing a deeper game, then she was out of luck. Because he was too wise to fall for that now, no matter how much she tempted him.
Three
Brilliana tried to decipher the undercurrents between the two men. She felt trapped, just when her life was beginning to even out. How dared Lord Fulkham upset everything again?
She needed her sister-in-law’s advice, but Delia wouldn’t be back from her honeymoon in Italy for a few weeks.
Brilliana didn’t want Papa to hang, no matter how much she resented how he’d blackmailed her into marrying Reynold. But neither did she want to be forced to spend days, maybe weeks, in Niall’s company. Especially when he acted as ifshewere the one who’d abandonedhim.
Shehadn’t fought a duel over some light-skirt.Shehadn’t run off to the Continent and lied about bringing out the person she allegedly loved to join him. Andshehadn’t waltzed back into England as if she’d done nothing wrong.
How unfathomable that he expected her to do this with him! Lord Fulkham, she could understand—he was with the government and thought that one’s country should take precedence over everything. She might agree with him, too, if it didn’t involve Niall.
Curse the man for agreeing to this scheme. So what if the undersecretary had finagled him a pardon? It wasn’t as if Lord Fulkham could withdraw it now. And surely there were other ways Niall could repay the political favor. Fulkham wasn’t blackmailinghim, just her. Niall didn’t have to do this, especially since Fulkham seemed to be his friend.
A nasty suspicion took hold of her. Could this be some elaborate scheme between the two men to . . . to . . .
To what? Punish her for not going away with Niall years ago? Get her into Niall’s bed now that she was a widow?
That last seemed unlikely, but given what she’d learned after he’d left England, she wouldn’t put it past him. And if Niallwereup to something unsavory . . .
“Lord Fulkham, couldn’t I just handle this on my own?” she asked. “There’s no need to inconvenience Lord Margrave. I could tell Papa that I want Silas to know his grandfather, and that would be enough to convince him that I am genuinely interested in reestablishing our . . . relationship.”
“And then what?” the undersecretary said. “Your father isn’t going to tellyouabout his illegal activities. Or involve you with them. But hemightdo that with Margrave, your soon-to-be husband. I need Margrave to become part of Sir Oswald’s circle of card-playing friends—something you cannot do as a woman.”
“But won’t he be suspicious of Lord Margrave if he hears that you helped his lordship gain his pardon?”
“Our connection isn’t known to anyone except Margrave’s family and now you,” Fulkham said. “Besides, Margrave will say that his years abroad have left him short of funds, and that’s why he’s interested in marrying a woman with an estate and a dowry, why he’s eager to try his hand at the tables, et cetera. I’ve got various people ready to enhance Margrave’s reckless character with tales about his desperate need for funds and his willingness to do anything to get them. They’ll start the rumor mill running this evening at the clubs, and by morning, everyone will know the supposed truth about Lord Margrave.”
“Thanks,” Niall said dryly. “Just what I need to rejoin respectable society and find a wife—a reputation as a ‘reckless character.’ ”
Brilliana ignored the shaft of pain that the wordsfind a wifesent through her heart. Her foolish, foolish heart. “Don’t worry. All your sins will be swept under the rug as usual, since you’re a man of ‘consequence’ and all.”
That seemed to spark his temper. “ ‘As usual’? What in blazes is that supposed to mean?”
“You’re the man who got pardoned for murder because you have friends in high places,” she said.
“Now see here—” Niall began.
“Meanwhile,” she went on bitterly, “once this is done, I’ll be the woman who betrayed her father to the authorities. So I don’t know whatyouhave to complain about. When a man has a reckless reputation, it only makes him more attractive to women.” Only look at howshe’dbehaved when Niall had started paying her attention. “But when a woman has one—”
“If you prefer,” Fulkham said, “we’ll make it seem as if you were unaware of what Margrave was up to.”
“And youdidsay you have no interest in marrying.” Niall’s hard gaze bored into her. “So why do you care what people think of you?”
“I don’t. I care what they think of my son.” Niall snorted. “The scandal over this will be long dead by the time he’s old enough for it to matter.”
It was so easy for him to say that. He was aman. “Really?” she said sweetly. “Having his grandfather branded a criminal for the rest of his life will affect him. Don’t pretend that it won’t.”
“But that’s true whether you help us or not,” Fulkham put in. “Having his grandfather hanged will be worse. Is that what you’d prefer?”
“No, curse it! Of course not.”
