How to Seduce a Bride

A thoroughly kind and fantastically rich older gentleman, or a thoroughly shocking, fascinating younger one? Also rich, of course.

Oh, poor me, what a terrible decision to have to make, Daisy thought. She chuckled, and hastily stopped when she heard herself. She didn’t want to wake her maid or Helena. The hotel suite remained silent; the streets outside were still. Daisy wished it were morning, but there were hours yet to go. She was restless and anxious, but if she got up, she’d wake them, and there were things she wasn’t ready to talk about yet.

She lay on her back and studied the patterns the moonlight made on the high ceiling above her. The truth was that she didn’t want to marry anyone.

She scowled. She hated it when she lied to herself. There was no question that Leland had stirred things in her that she hadn’t known existed… She frowned, fiercely. Of course she’d known; she’d just denied those feelings for so long that they’d begun to wither. Even when Tanner had been alive, there’d been times when she’d responded to another man’s smile, or walk, or appearance. She’d always hastily buried such thoughts, lest Tanner guess and beat her black and blue.

But Leland wasn’t Tanner. And neither was Geoff.

What if she married Geoff, and found herself longing for what he couldn’t give her? Because as much as she cared for him, and she did, she felt exactly no desire for him. In fact, his kiss had embarrassed and shamed her. So, then, marriage to Geoff was out.

And so, then, marriage to Leland Grant, Viscount Haye? She sucked in a breath and blew it out. Well, not only did he tempt her, the truth was, she liked him. In spite of his airs and his acid comments, or maybe because of them. He made her feel awake, and every hour she was with him seemed important. But oh, that mother of his! What an icy article she was. Now, there was a female whose eyes showed she could consider blue murder! Still, he was a grown man, and his mother seemed to make him either rueful or sad but nothing more. He even said her exploits were what made him vow he’d be faithful to his wife. But could he be? He was said to love the ladies. He didn’t deny it.

That made her worry, too. She was drawn to him, but could she really ever fully respond to him? Fine thing that would be! A man like that married to a woman who could never give him what he wanted-even if she found herself wanting to try. And the truth was that she did want to.

So what about a tryst? A tryout? A test. Just one night…

Daisy sat up and locked her arms around her knees, laid her cheek on her knees, and thought.

She had to concentrate on the issue. The thing was that someone was after her, accusing her of murder. To imagine that she’d had a hand in killing Tanner! She’d love to have done it, to be sure. But she didn’t have the means, the opportunity, the courage, or to come right on down to it, the sort of soul that could have done it. Now, if he’d died of a blow to the head, that would have made sense. She’d always thought that one day she’d just lose all control, seize up a flatiron, or a fireplace poker, or a… but she’d never done it.

Still, it made perfect sense to accuse her. Anyone back in the colony would have known how Tanner bullied her and how she despised him. So it could be someone who had hated her back then. There were a lot of hate-filled people there. It might be a friend of Tanner’s bent on mischief, or just someone who envied her newfound wealth and liberty. It might even be someone here in England who wanted her out of the way.

Daisy frowned. She hated herself for thinking it, but she’d seen the glances Helena cast at Geoff. Geoff hadn’t. It was as though he didn’t realize Helena was there. It was sad, and it was futile, but could Helena think that Geoff would notice her if her employer were gone?

Daisy didn’t want to think about it.

But she wasn’t sure of anyone now. She sighed. It didn’t matter. Someone had laid information against her. True or false, she knew enough about the law to know that a woman never did well in the prisoner’s dock, and one who’d been a convict wouldn’t get a fair chance in court. But she also knew that if you had friends in high places, the law didn’t apply to you. She needed a man of wealth and power to protect her with more than his cooperation. She needed his name.

But she didn’t want to prostitute herself, be a liar or a cheat. And she’d vowed she’d never be a prisoner again: not any man’s or any state’s. Still, if she had to marry, then was it too much to ask that she find not only peace, but pleasure in her future?

Could she?

Or should she just pack up her things and disappear into the countryside? She could give herself a new name and live out her days alone. And never have a baby to call her own. Well, she mightn’t be able to anyway. Daisy sighed again. It wouldn’t matter to Geoff, she supposed. He had his heir. Leland had said he didn’t care, though.

But was that fair? She had to decide soon.

Daisy didn’t sleep that night.

Chapter Seventeen

“I’ve got the special license,” the earl said, patting his pocket. “Everything’s been signed and stamped, and is ready to use.”

Leland nodded, then kept moving his head one way and another as he stared into his mirror. “Not too high,” he finally murmured, “not too formal, but certainly not so casual. This will not work,” he told his valet, who was hovering behind him. He stripped off his neck cloth. “Bring another, please. The trick will be to get the fall just right,” he told Geoff.

“You will, you will,” the earl said absently, still patting his pocket. “Have you the ring?”

“Of course,” Leland said, as he lowered his chin into the crisp, clean white folds of the neck cloth his valet had just handed him. “Ah. Perfect! Thank you. Have you my bags packed?” he asked the valet.

“I’ll just make sure all is in order,” the man said, bowed, and left his master and the earl alone in Leland’s bedchamber.

“Are your bags packed?” Leland asked the earl.

“It’s all done,” he said. “I’m not so fastidious as you.”

Leland cast a critical eye over him. “Obviously. That waistcoat will do for the coach ride, but you can’t mean to wear it in the chapel.”

“No one will notice,” the earl said impatiently. “I’m not posing for a painting. It’s a marriage ceremony, over before you know it. It’s not as though there will be throngs of invited guests. Just a few people we both know. Anyhow, I’ve been through it before. Trust me, nothing is noticed but the bride.”

“I’ll notice,” Leland said.

“Damn it, Lee, but a sorry, hurried, hole-in-the-wall sort of ceremony it will be, too,” Geoff said, ignoring the comment about his clothes. “I know it’s necessary, but I can’t help but wonder. Are we doing the right thing, after all?”

“No, of course we’re not. We ought to have the ceremony in Newgate, with the bride carrying her chains instead of a bouquet, and the jailers as bridesmaids, blotting tears from their cheeks with their truncheons. How novel. It might start a new style,” Leland said caustically. Then he sighed.

“Don’t you think I’ve been over this in my mind for a week now?” he asked in a softer voice. “It isn’t the right thing, but it’s the only thing. Whoever laid information against her is adamant. Someone has either paid a great deal of money to the right people in high places, or else he or she lives in them. As it is, now there’s enough reason for Bow Street to keep her in prison ’pending investigation.’

“They can’t prove anything but they don’t want her getting away until they do,” he went on. “It would be a hideous experience for most young women even if it were only for a few hours. But once they have Daisy, it could be for longer. They might say they have to bring witnesses or evidence or whatnot from the Antipodes. You of all people must know what that could do to Daisy, even if we paid to have her kept in the best apartments at the place.”

The earl nodded, but didn’t look happy.