The Rake's Wicked Proposal

Grace gave a puzzled shake of her head. ‘I do not understand. Have you not already sent word informing your brother of your imminent arrival?’

Damn it, he had. Well, he would just have to send another note explaining his delay.

‘Of our imminent arrival,’ Lucian corrected dourly. ‘Which means they are expecting me to arrive with my betrothed.’

‘I have told you—’

‘I have no choice but to respect your decision, Grace.’ He gave a terse inclination of his head. ‘In the circumstances, I refuse to go to Mulberry Hall until you can accompany me,’ he said as she continued to frown.

Grace understood the situation even less now. Oh, she would miss Lucian if he were to leave tomorrow for his brother’s home in Gloucestershire—she had absolutely no doubt about that. Lucian had become such a part of her life these last weeks—this last week especially—with his kindness towards both her aunt and herself. But she accepted that he had other responsibilities, other pulls upon his time. Surely the birth of his nephew, the new little Marquess of Mulberry, was one of those times…?

‘What is it you are not telling me, Lucian?’ she prompted shrewdly.

His brows rose. ‘You doubt my reluctance to be apart from you?’

He meant to silence her with a return of his arrogant haughtiness, Grace guessed. He only succeeded in arousing her suspicions anew. ‘You are keeping something from me, Lucian,’ she stated wryly.

Damn it. Was ever a woman so—so infuriating? Lucian wondered frustratedly. So stubborn. So adorable…

Lucian drew in a controlling breath. ‘The things you do not yet know, Grace—the things you have yet to experience—are far and beyond anything I might have to tell you.’

Those grey eyes narrowed. But not with anger, as Lucian had hoped. Had depended upon. No, Grace now looked upon him with open suspicion. A suspicion he dared not, could not, satisfy.

He nodded stiffly. ‘If you will excuse me, I will go and talk to your aunt now about my accompanying the two of you to the Dower House.’

An unusual arrangement, Lucian acknowledged silently. A single man staying under the same roof as two single ladies. But when one of those ladies was the man’s betrothed, excusable, perhaps. And necessary, now that Grace refused to accompany him to Mulberry Hall!

Grace’s mouth twisted ruefully. ‘The answer to that is already a foregone conclusion, My Lord, when my aunt so obviously adores you!’

Lucian’s expression softened. ‘Her fondness is reciprocated.’

In the case of her aunt, yes, Grace accepted. She still had absolutely no idea what Lucian felt towards her. Apart from the fact that he wished to make love to her, of course. He had left her in no doubt concerning that!

He straightened. ‘I really must go, Grace. I have a letter to write to my brother, amongst other things.’

‘Our conversation is not over, Lucian.’

‘For the moment, Grace, yes, it is.’ He crossed the room in long strides before turning in the doorway to look at her. ‘I would prefer that you not discuss this with anyone else, Grace.’

She bristled at the rebuke she heard in his tone. ‘I am not one given to gossip, Lucian.’

He smiled humourlessly. ‘Then I must be grateful for small mercies!’ came his parting shot.

Grace stared after him, totally sure from Lucian’s behaviour that he was keeping something from her.

But she was just as aware, from the hardness of his gaze and the stubborn set of his sculptured lips before he turned to leave, that for the moment she would have to settle for that knowledge alone.

Which in no way would prevent Grace from trying to find out the truth for herself…

Chapter Fifteen

To Grace’s surprise—and Lucian’s, she felt sure— Lord Sebastian St Claire arrived at the Dower House three days later, on his way back to London after a visit to Mulberry Hall to welcome his new nephew into the family. He had come, he said, to offer the Duchess his belated condolences on her recent loss.

Grace didn’t care what Lord Sebastian’s reason was for being there; she was simply grateful that his mischievous smile and wicked sense of humour helped to lift her aunt’s spirits and consequently her own. Lucian had been decidedly terse in her company these last three days, and as there had been no further occasion for Grace to talk with him alone—deliberately so?—she found the arrival of the younger St Claire brother a much needed diversion.