The Deception (Baron 3)

She said, “If you will allow me to remain as Edmund’s nanny, it perhaps will relieve you to know that, unlike you, I much prefer the country and the sea. I have always detested large cities. I find them dirty and noisy. If you allow me to remain, your grace, you can be certain that I will be quite content right here at Chesleigh. It is written of in all the guidebooks as one of the most noble and stately residences in all of England. Not Blenheim, to be sure, but nonetheless.”

“Blenheim is a tasteless heap of stone, of no particular style and no antiquity. Its gardens are paltry, its forests scraggly. It has no pride of ancestry in its walls, no sense of permanence. Warwick Castle, now, is quite another matter. One can feel centuries of human misery and triumph within its walls. Unfortunately, my ancestors had not the famous Warwicks’ wherewithal.” The duke arched a black eyebrow. “I’m not a useless fribble, Madame. Don’t give me that surprised look. Sometimes my attention turns to politics.” Her heart nearly stopped. What the devil did he mean by politics? Oh, God, she had to know. Houchard had said that the duke didn’t deign to care about politics. “What do you mean, your grace? Do you sit in the House of Lords? Do you propose new laws?”

“No, not exactly. Not at all, really. It’s not important. Actually, what I should have said is that I try to do precisely what pleases me at any given moment. Much of what pleases me is not fit conversation for a lady’s ears.”

He’d left something out. She wondered what it was. She said, “That didn’t stop you this afternoon, or just thirty minutes ago either.”

What else was one to do? He laughed. “Touche, Madame. Perhaps you would like to go to the drawing room? I imagine that Bassick would serve us some tea shortly.” “But we just finished dining.” “Bassick believes that tea is the foundation of happiness, health, and well-being. If we adjourn to the drawing room, the tea tray will be brought within an hour.”

The duke settled her in a lovely pale blue silk-covered chair near the fireplace. He himself remained standing, his back against the mantel, his arms crossed over his chest.

“Have you thought about me remaining here, your grace?” “You arrived only four hours ago, Madame.” She looked down at her hands and said truthfully, “I’m afraid, your grace.” “I shan’t boot you off the premises.” “No, but perhaps you would simply allow me to remain, doing nothing, having no importance at all. I wouldn’t like that. In fact, I couldn’t have it.” “Why the devil do you sound so nervous?”

“Because you haven’t yet told me if I may remain as Edmund’s nanny.”

“You are a young woman, Madame. I would think that you would prefer to join Society. I am your kinsman. It is my duty to see that you are established, that you don’t want for anything. I know that my mother would be delighted to introduce you into the beau monde. With your French blood, and your undeniably lovely face and figure, I predict your instant success. I’m not at all tight-fisted, Madame, and will provide you sufficient dowry to support a suitable second alliance.”

It had never occurred to her that he would be so wretchedly generous. She had to stay at Chesleigh at all cost. She finally said, “Even though I’m half French, I’m actually English to my very bones. I don’t like the French.”

“Those are my sentiments as well, particularly Napoleon. Now, what do you say?” “I don’t want to go to London.” “I beg your pardon?”

“I have no wish whatsoever to leave Chesleigh. I’ve told you. I love this house, the sea. I want to stay with Edmund. Even though I haven’t met him, I’m sure that we will suit.”

Suddenly he looked bored with her, and cynical. He looked as if he would say something, but contented himself with just shrugging his shoulders.

She jumped to her feet, accidentally tipping the chair and sending it onto its back on the beautiful Axminster carpet. “Oh, dear,” she said, picked up the chair and righted it. “I gather you are perturbed about something?” “I don’t understand your skepticism, your grace. I have told you what it is I wish, yet you pretend to disbelieve me.”

“Were you widowed so recently that good taste forbids gaiety? If that is your reason for wishing isolation, then I will accept it.”

“I was widowed over a year ago, your grace. My father died shortly after my husband. I have fulfilled my social obligations. Now I just wish for peace and rest.”

He said, his voice becoming distant, “You must have been very attached to your husband.”

“No—yes, I mean, certainly I was attached to him. Andre was a great man.” “And a poor one, evidently.” “I am left penniless because I did not bear him an heir. That is the way of the world, everywhere, even here in England. His younger brother is now master. I never got along well with his younger brother. After Andre died, I returned to my father.” “Did the young fool try to seduce you?” Again, his cynicism burned the air between them. “Well, yes, I suppose he did. I couldn’t abide him. I left. His breath smelled always of garlic.”

“I see,” the duke said, and examined his thumbnail. It was a bit jagged. “Exactly who was your husband, Madame?”

“The eldest son of the Comte de la Valette, André Neigeon, by name.”

“I can’t very well continue calling you Madame or cousin. May I call you Evangeline?” She nodded and thought that her name sounded like smooth honey when he said it. It also sounded seductive and provocative. It was odd about this man. Other than being the most beautiful man she’d ever seen in her life, his was a brooding, complex nature that she doubted anyone understood. Perhaps his father had. “Certainly, your grace.” “You may call me Richard.” She nodded, but she didn’t want to be close enough to him so that his first name came naturally to her. She wanted to keep him apart from her, separate. She should have been relieved that he had so quickly accepted her, but instead she felt so ashamed she wanted to slink away and hide.

“If you truly wish to remain at Chesleigh in the company of my son, I suppose it would be ill-natured and unreasonable of me to disallow it. You will not, of course, be treated like a nanny. Indeed, I will expect you to be mistress at Chesleigh when I am not here.”

From an unknown to the mistress of his house in his absence. She just stared at him, words vague in her mind and dead on her tongue. She began to pace, her strides long, bounded only by her skirts. She whirled to face him. “That is ridiculous. You don’t know me. I’m nobody at all. Never would I agree to such a thing. I would be your employee, just like your other hundred or so employees.”

“How did you know their number? Were you counting faces all afternoon?”

“No, but this place, it’s immense. Every time I’ve looked up, there’s been a different footman or maid standing not three feet from me.”

“The fact remains that you were my wife’s first cousin. You have no family left except your uncle, who doesn’t even know you’re in England. Thus, I’m now the head of your family, or, if you wish, you have become part of my family. I am now responsible for you. I cannot in good conscience place you in an airless room in the attic.”

“I didn’t mean it to sound like that. But it is impossible. Forgive me.”

He withdrew from her as effectively as if he’d walked from the room and left her alone. He looked indifferent. He said, “Having my lovely cousin in residence at Chesleigh cannot but make every gentleman of my acquaintance red with jealousy. Besides, it is what my mother would insist upon. If you don’t choose it, it is unfortunate, but it is what will happen.

“Once you have settled in, I will bring my mother here to meet you. The propriety of your living here, without proper chaperone, cousin or not, is another matter upon which my mother is well versed. We can’t have your reputation sullied by being here with me. Perhaps my mother should come to Chesleigh now, though her health suffers from the sea air.”

“I’ve been married. There’s nothing for you to sully. I see that you are quite bored with me, with this entire conversation. I will excuse myself.”