Page 52 of Lady Daring
Darien shook his head, saying nothing, and Forsythia’s eyes filled with tears. She whirled and ran away, pushing ball-goers out of her path.
Darien steered Henrietta to the middle of the floor, where sets were being made up.
“That was cruel,” Henrietta said. She should not be surprised that he was capable of it. What man gave regard to a woman’s tender feelings? But it was disappointing to realize he was just another self-interested rouéafter all.
“She ought not go on thinking I am courting her when I have no such intentions.”
And what were his intentions towardher? Henrietta wondered. Oh, yes: advice from her uncle, and her help managing Lady Celeste, though he didn’t like the offer she had extended. Kissing her had meant nothing to him, a demonstration only. She pushed the lowering thought away.
“Of course. You break betrothals, not hearts.” She made her curtsy as the dance began. “But why should Forsythia think you were courting her if you were not?”
He placed his hand against hers as they circled one another, and she hoped he did not feel her fingers trembling. “Do you recall what your brother said over dinner, about how I gained my estate at cards?”
“Yes,” Henrietta said, sick at the memory. “And how the owner took his life thereafter.”
“I went the next day to his hotel suite to return the deed and settle our debt some other way,” Darien said. They switched hands, circling in the other direction. His face was like marble, his eyes bright and hard. “I found the body there, unattended. His man had robbed him and left. The landlord nearly had apoplexy when he saw the gore. He left a wife and three daughters with no idea that he had plunged the estate into debt and mortgaged their futures.”
“The Pennyroyals,” Henrietta guessed, completing her turn.
“The pension from the Royal Army is next to nothing.” Darien grasped her arms and lifted her in a circle. He was warm and firm. She tried not to flush at the heat, the strength of his body.
“He made some terrible investments, then tried to retrieve them with worse gambles. His bailiff told me that his wife had been raising the children in London to be close to her ailing mother, so she never knew what things had come to. Because, of course, a proud husband would try to protect her with ignorance.”
“So what has kept Miss Pennyroyal in the manner which she feels her due?” Henrietta asked as they circled one another again, palms pressed together.
“With some correction and investment, the estate has been restored and continues to yield income.” He kept his voice low, aware that the dancers around them were very interested in their conversation. Pinochle in particular never took his eyes from them. “Part of the profits are conveyed to Mrs. Pennyroyalthrough her late husband’s solicitor. She thinks it is a trust he left her. I retain part for myself, to keep me out of my father’s pocket.”
“And you visit the family to be sure they are not in want.” This was altogether unexpected, overturning her assumption—the assumption shared by everyone—that he was a heartless cad.Miss Pennyroyal clearly had no notion that Darien was her family’s benefactor. “Yet you let people like my brother believe that you drove the Colonel to suicide.”
“I doubt I could have stopped him even if I hadn’t been nursing a thick head that morning,” Darien said. “A man who is set on self-destruction will find a way. Never mind who he leaves behind. Or how many other good men are taken from their lives when they would have given much to keep them.”
She saw the white lines come out around his mouth and guessed he was thinking of his brother, fighting the savage tide of grief. She understood that blinding pain, how in the threat of that enveloping blackness one might use anything—or anyone—as a shield. He’d hinted that he hadn’t had his head on straight with Celeste. But he was doing his best to repair the damage now.
“And you let all those high sticklers think you are an indiscriminating seducer,” she said quietly. His hands were so warm, his grip on her sure and commanding.
“The truth would not serve. If her family knew a young lady were plotting to avoid an undesirable marriage, she’d be pressed to it all the faster. Far more expedient to have her ruined and left to her own devices after. A gentleman keeps a lady’s secrets.”
He drew his hand slowly along her bare arm as they reached the end of the line and parted. Henrietta held his eyes over their joined palms as they met again at the top.
“But the truth could repair your reputation far more than I could. Forsythia is right. Associating with me will gain you ridicule from more than just the marquess.”
His eyes turned wary. “Perry took some maggot in his head that I should pay court to unsuitable females to foil my father’s demands that I marry. Pay him no mind. No one else does.”
Henrietta forced a shrug. “The cartoons seem to have paid him some mind. But the thought is indeed silly. A tradesman’s daughter, and a bluestocking at that? Hardly a prize for the infamous Daring.”
He pressed those beautiful, mobile lips together. “I hoped you would not see those cartoons. They are cruel, and inaccurate.”
“I find them highly amusing,” Henrietta lied. “If only they knew your real interest in the Wardley-Hines lay with Uncle Pelton. How disappointed the scandalmongers would be.”
He studied her, and his eyelids lowered into a sleepy, seductive look. Her toes curled in her silk slippers.
“Havering was right,” he said, his voice deepening. “No one will care you are a bluestocking in that gown. You look utterly delectable.”
She floundered a moment in the pleasure she took in that declaration. He was a practiced seducer. That was one of his lines.
“Wonderful. I hope the attention shall gain more signatures for my petition.” Henrietta tugged her hand free of his and made her turn. “Save your skills for worthier targets,Daring.I have no betrothal to break.”
He closed his fingers about her wrist. She felt the warm strength of his hand through her gloves, and an answering warmth stole through her belly. His eyes darkened to violet as, quite deliberately, holding her eyes the whole time, he pulled her up against his body and lifted her in a turn.
