Page 21 of A Rogue's Downfall
“Miss Astor.” He inclined his head and extended one arm. “Shall we walk?” He indicated the formal gardensbefore the house and the lawn that sloped beyond ittoward the distant beach. The driveway and the roadwere behind the house.
She took his arm and glanced along it to a strong, long-fingered, well-manicured hand. The very handthat had come inside her nightgown and fondled herbreast. She felt as if she had just been running for amile uphill but quelled the urge to pant.
“I am afraid,” he said, “that I have caused you a great deal of distress, ma’am, both last night and thismorning.”
The best way to cope with her very schoolgirlish reactions, Caroline decided, was to withdraw into herself, to keep her eyes directed toward the ground beforeher feet, and to keep her mouth shut as much aspossible.
“You must allow me to make some reparation,” he said.'
They were strolling past brightly colored flowerbeds. All the flowers were blooming in perfect symmetry, shethought and wondered how the gardeners did it.
“It would give me great satisfaction if you would do me the honor of marrying me,” he said.
Caroline Scott, Viscountess Lyndon. One day to be a marchioness. Wife to such a splendidly gorgeous man.Mother to his children. The envy of every woman oftheton.And the proud owner of their pity too as herhusband philandered his way through the rest of theirlives. Ah, it was such a dreadful pity. And it was takinga superhuman effort to put common sense before inclination. Perhaps she would wake soon from the bizarredream that had begun some time the night before.
“I am sorry,” he said, bending his head closer to hers and covering her hand on his arm with his, “you arequite overwhelmed, are you not? I am more sorry thanI can say to be the cause of such bewilderment. Wouldyou like some time to consider your answer?”
“No,” she said, her voice as calm as it had been before and quite at variance with the beating of her heart, “I do not need any longer, my lord.”
“Ah,” he said, his tone brisker, “then it is settled. You have made me very happy, ma’am.” He raised herhand to his lips.
She spoke with the deepest regret. “I am afraid you have misunderstood, my lord,” she said. “My answeris no.”
“No?” He stopped walking abruptly in order to stare down at her. Her hand was still clasped in his.
“I will not marry you,” she said, “though I thank you for the offer, my lord. It was kind of you.”
“Kind?” he said, a new sharpness in his voice. “I believe you are the one who does not understand, MissAstor. I compromised you last night. I must marryyou.”
Ah, romance, Caroline thought with an inward sigh. Whenever she had daydreamed about him, he had beengazing at her, eyes alight with admiration and passion.His eyes up close were even more beautiful than shehad dreamed of their being, but they were frowningdown at her as if she were a particularly nasty slug thathad crawled out onto the path after the early morningmist.
“It seems a singularly foolish reason for marrying,” she said. “Nothing really happened, after all.” Shewilled herself not to flush, with woeful lack of success.
“Miss Astor,” he said, “not only was I alone with you in your bedchamber last night, but I was also nakedin your bed with you.” Caroline would not have beensurprised to see flames dancing to life on her cheeks.“We were seen together by your maid with the resultthat the story is by now doubtless common knowledgebelowstairs. I admitted the truth of what happened toyour brother with the result that a considerable numberof people abovestairs probably know by now. And youeven confessed to having invited me into your bed.”
“Into my room,” she said. “To say good night.”
“Inviting a man into your room at night,” he said,“is the same thing as inviting him into your bed, ma’am.And saying good night under such circumstances is thesame thing as making love. It seems that your educationin such matters is somewhat lacking. We have no choicebut to marry, Miss Astor.”
“Letty will have said nothing,” she said, “and neither will Royston unless he has unburdened his mind toCynthia. She will not spread the story. The idea thatwe must marry is ridiculous.”
He had released her hand to clasp his hands behind him. He regarded her in silence for a while. She lookedup into his face, memorizing its features, in particularthe rather heavy-lidded blue eyes. She tried to memorize his height and the breadth of his shoulders. Sheknew she would dream of last night and this morningfor weeks, perhaps months to come. And she knew thata part of her would forever regret that she had notseized the moment and made herself miserable for therest of her life.
“You know nothing about me. Is that it?” he asked. “Your brother is satisfied that I will be able to keepyou in the kind of life to which you are accustomed,Miss Astor. I have estates and a fortune of my own. Iam also heir to a marquess’s title and fortune. Is it yourignorance of these facts that has made you reluctant?”
“I knew them,” she said. “You are not exactly anunknown figure in London, my lord, and I was therefor the Season this spring.”
“Were you?” he said, looking her over in a way that confirmed her conviction that he had never knowinglyset eyes on her before this week. “Your objection to meis more personal then?”
Her mouth opened and the words came out before she could check them. All she would have to say wasthat she objected to being forced into marriage becauseof a mere mistake in identifying a room. But that wasnot what she said.
“You have a reputation as perhaps the most dreadful rake in England, my lord,” she said.
“Do I?” His manner became instantly haughty. He looked twice as handsome if that were possible. “Ithought women were supposed to have a soft spot forrakes, Miss Astor. You are not one of them?”
“Not as a husband,” she said. “I would be a fool.”
“And clearly you are not,” he said. “So I am being rejected because I like to bed women and have nevermade a secret of the fact.”
