Don't Bargain with the Devil (2 page)

 

Hunting through her trunk, she found her pencils and the sketch pad containing the drawing she’d done of him a year ago, back when he’d thought
she
might be a suitable wife. She stared at the tousled curls and beatific smile that always made her heart turn over, then drew a pair of vile-looking horns on his head. She wasn’t an irresponsible hoyden. She
wasn’t!

 

All right, perhaps she was a trifle outspoken. But what was wrong with that? He’d enjoyed it well enough when they were children running about the regiment.

 

You’re the kind of woman a man dallies with, not the kind he marries.

 

Dallies with! She gnawed on her pencil, remembering the first time Peter, a seventeen-year-old general’s son three years older than she, had laughingly stolen a kiss from her. Had he been dallying even then? Had she assumed it meant something when it had meant nothing to him?

 

And after she’d waited months for him, too! She’d been so sure Peter would marry her. Before his departure on the Grand Tour, he’d even called her his “one true love.” He’d kissed her again, so sweetly it had seemed a declaration, especially when he’d told her to wait for him.

 

But once he’d returned, that was all forgotten. Instead, he’d called on her dressed in costly splendor, sporting a fine gold watch and talking down to her.

 

You’re too impassioned, too curious about things no lady should deign to notice. You can’t help it—it’s in your blood.

 

Her
foreign
blood. Peter knew that Lucy had been adopted by Colonel Seton, the man she called Papa. Her real father had been an English soldier, her mother a Spanish woman of uncertain background. Not that Lucy could remember, since they’d died in the war when Lucy was only four.

 

But Peter didn’t care about that, did he? Oh no, he only cared about the precious
blood
that her mother had passed on, which he seemed to think seethed with Spanish wildness and passion and fire.

 

Well, she’d show
him
wildness and passion and fire! With quick slashes of her pencil, she added a pointy tail that curved out from behind the modest frock coat he’d worn back when he was plain old Mr. Burnes, before he’d unexpectedly inherited the earldom of Hunforth.

 

That’s when he’d become “too good” for her, too conscious of his precious lineage and important connections. That’s when he’d become exactly like every other man in English society.

 

Although most people assumed Papa was a widower and Lucy his daughter, they soon learned otherwise from the gossips. Lady Kerr, her stepmother, had gently warned
her that her odd parentage might prove an issue for high sticklers, especially since she wasn’t a great heiress like her friends. And though men had shown her some interest during her first season, she’d had no offers. Not that she’d encouraged them—she’d been waiting for Peter. But she would have thought
one
would have made an offer anyway.

 

Unless…Oh, Lord, what if Peter were right about her? What if
everybody
thought she was some hussy not good enough to become a respectable man’s wife? Was that why men were always eyeing her bosom and trying to kiss her on balconies? They never seemed to do that to the other girls.

 

They certainly never did that to Lady Juliana. Rich, elegant, boring Lady Juliana, whom Peter had apparently chosen as sufficiently suitable to be his bride.

 

Fresh tears sprang to her eyes. How dared he spurn her? The other men didn’t surprise her; half were sheep who did what their mamas said. But Peter was supposed to be…

 

Hers.

 

She’d make him rue the day he’d rejected her. She had started to sketch a knife protruding from his treacherous heart when a knock came at the door. Hastily, she thrust the sketch pad beneath a pillow and bade the person enter.

 

Her stepmother glided into the room with her usual grace, another trait Lucy lacked. “Your father has finished his discussion with Mrs. Harris.” Lady Kerr, who’d been married to Papa for little more than a year, surveyed the harum-scarum pile of clothing on the bed. “So we’re leaving. And he’d like to say good-bye.”

 

“I’ll be along shortly.”

 

Lady Kerr glanced at the open trunk. “Shall I help you unpack first?”

 

“I don’t need your help!” Lucy snapped, then regretted it when Lady Kerr flinched. Lucy softened her tone. “It’s kind of you to offer, but I can handle it alone. There’s no reason for you to alter your plans.”

 

Lady Kerr’s halfhearted smile pricked Lucy’s conscience. The woman had tried hard to be her friend. Papa had even hinted at how much it would mean to Lady Kerr to have Lucy call her Mother, but Lucy couldn’t bring herself to do it. She chafed at Lady Kerr’s constant reminders to lower her voice and mind her tongue and not laugh at men’s rough jokes. If all a mother did was chide, perhaps she was better off without one.

 

At least Lady Kerr improved
Papa’s
life. Though she didn’t always approve of his blustering, she did love him. And she was right for him, too, strong and calm to balance his impetuous nature, and never daunted by the addlebrained things he did when distracted. Lady Kerr would make certain he didn’t forget his hat.

 

Of course, managing Papa had been
Lucy’s
job until she’d left for school. She missed that—and the dinners when he’d spun tales of India or the evenings when she’d practiced her sums for his approval. Life had been simple then.

 

A sigh escaped her.

 

As usual, Lady Kerr mistook it. “You don’t have to stay. Your father and I would love to have you go with us to meet Venetia in Edinburgh. Surely another instructor can teach drawing until Mrs. Harris can replace the teacher who quit.”

 

Lucy returned to unpacking. “Actually, I look forward to the teaching. Edinburgh is such a bore, and I should stay busy until the Season is in full swing.”

 

And she needed to show Peter Burnes that she wasn’t irresponsible. After she impressed him with her levelheaded behavior as a teacher, he would grovel at her feet, admitting he’d been wrong and begging her forgiveness.

 

She might forgive him. She might not. But she could do neither if she were stuck up north while he pranced about town with Lady Juliana.

 

Taking her stepmother’s arm, Lucy guided her toward the door. “You should go. You know how Papa is about waiting.” Besides, she wanted them both off so she could wallow in her misery.

 

They walked down in silence to find Papa pacing before the stairs. When he heard them and looked up, his irritation altered instantly to pleasure.

 

Most of it was for Lady Kerr. And the countess’s blush further illustrated their bond.

 

A painful yearning pierced Lucy. Would a man ever look at
her
like that and make
her
blush? Even Peter hadn’t managed that. She wasn’t the blushing sort.

 

“There’s my lassies!” Papa boomed. His manner of speaking was one thing Lady Kerr hadn’t civilized out of him. “Come now, Maggie, no dawdling. We must make haste while the weather is fine, eh, Lucy?”

 

“No rain is our gain,” Lucy parroted his oft-used remark, left over from her childhood in Spain and Portugal during the war, when long marches in bad weather meant pure misery.

 

“You’re all settled, then?” he asked Lucy as Lady Kerr took his arm.

 

Papa and Lady Kerr were going off together. Without her. It was all she could do to manage a smile. “I’m fine.”

 

With a frown, he looked her over. “You don’t look fine to me. It’s that idiot Peter Burnes, isn’t it?”

 

She blinked. “How did you—”

 

“I’m no fool, lass. I know ye had yer heart set on him, and I saw yer face when he and that snooty Lady Juliana danced together three times at Saturday’s ball. I always thought him a bit of a fribble, but I never took him for a fool until now. Ye’re better off without him, d’you hear?” He chucked her under the chin. “Don’t be wasting another thought on that jackanapes.”

 

The fact that her unobservant Papa had noticed what had gone on between her and Peter was so unexpectedly sweet she burst into tears.

 

He stood frozen in shock until Lady Kerr nudged him. Then he hastily drew Lucy into his arms. “There, now, lass, didn’t mean to make you cry. It’s not so bad as all that, is it? Sh, sh, hush now.”

 

The familiar scent of Guard’s Bouquet on his collar calmed her, reminding her that he was still her dear Papa, no matter whom he’d married.

 

Lady Kerr held out a handkerchief, and Lucy took it gratefully, casting her stepmother a tremulous smile as she dabbed at her eyes and nose.

 

“As I told you,” Lady Kerr said, “we’d be happy to have you come with us.”

 

The kind remark nearly brought back Lucy’s tears, but she stifled them ruthlessly. When had she become such a watering pot?

 

Steadying her shoulders, she pulled away. “I can’t. I need to keep busy, and Mrs. Harris could use the help. I’ll be fine. Really, I will.”

 

“We’ll be back in three weeks,” Papa said, “but if you need us sooner, just send word.”

 

“Thank you, Papa.” Lucy kissed his cheek, then, on impulse, kissed Lady Kerr’s. The bright smile she received in return made her wish she hadn’t been so sharp with her earlier. “I’ll miss you both,” she said, and truly meant it.

 

She accompanied them to the coach and followed it to the end of the drive. As she strolled back, she balked at facing her unpacking. It would only provoke more tears, and she was sick of crying.

 

She made a sharp turn and headed across to the blooming cherry orchard that separated the school from its neighboring estate, Rockhurst. According to Mrs. Harris, Mr. Pritchard had been trying to sell it, but no one would meet his exorbitant price, since the house was nearly beyond repair. So Rockhurst had lain vacant for the past three months, which was why she felt free to wander into its orchard.

 

As she entered the trees, a breeze sent blossoms tumbling about her like snowflakes, and her heart lightened. Unable to resist the enticement, she kicked off her kidskin slippers and began to twirl amidst the falling blossoms as she’d done when she was a girl. The more she twirled, the less her heart ached. Her hair pulled loose from its pins to fall about her, twirling with her.

 

For the first time in days, she felt free to be herself, without Peter’s nasty words taking her to task. When she was gasping and too light-headed to make another turn, she threw herself to the ground. Tucking her hands beneath her head, she stared up at the branches and lifted her face to the blossoms drifting gently onto her gown.

 

If only life could always be like this, just cherry blossoms and spring. Or even as it was during her blissful
student days here, when she and the other girls learned geography and the waltz and how men could deceive you—

 

A sigh escaped her. She should have heeded those lessons. Instead, she’d let her imagination run away with her, soaking up the nonsense in that scandalous book of harem’s tales she and the girls had read in secret. She’d convinced herself that one day she and Peter would marry and try…all those…naughty…things…

 

The previous night’s tear-torn sleep caught up with her, and she fell into a doze. She was dreaming of a harem where the women were in charge and the sultan had to do
their
bidding, when a deep male voice penetrated her haze.

 

“What have we here? A local lady come to welcome me to the neighborhood? Or a goddess descended from Mount Olympus to sport with a mere mortal?”

 

Lucy’s eyes shot open. Was she still dreaming? The devilishly handsome man standing at her feet could easily be a sultan, with his olive skin and eyes the color of roasted almonds. He’d clearly just come from a bath, for his glossy black hair lay damp on his neck. Shockingly, he wore only a white shirt tucked into black pantaloons tucked into a pair of top boots, with no waistcoat, coat, or cravat.

 

She had to be dreaming. No man hereabouts would leave his house in shirtsleeves. Or leave his shirt open at the throat to reveal a smattering of chest hair. Or wear pantaloons so tight they showed every well-defined muscle in his thighs. He was such a delicious specimen of manliness that he fairly took her breath away.

 

Meanwhile,
his
gaze slid down her body in an intimate and decidedly wicked perusal. It paused at her breasts before moving to where her gown dipped between her
parted legs. After casting her stocking feet a pointed look, he smiled, his thin black mustache quirking up.

 

“A goddess, most assuredly,” he said in faintly accented English. “No local seńorita would walk about without her shoes.”

 

Seńorita?
Oh, no. He wasn’t her dream sultan. He was very real. And foreign. And a complete stranger.

 

Belatedly, she scrambled to a sitting position. Lord, what must he think of her? Before she could struggle to stand, he held out his hand. She hesitated half a second before taking it, although the moment she was on her feet, she snatched her hand free.

 

A chuckle escaped him. “I should beg your pardon for disturbing your siesta, but I do not regret it. You make an enchanting picture lying in the cherry blossoms.”

 

His amusement sparked her temper. “Who are you, sir, and why are you on private property?”

 

He arched one finely groomed black brow. “I could ask the same of you.”

 

“I’m a teacher at the school that adjoins this orchard.” She smoothed her skirt, trying to make herself look more teacherly. It was woefully hard to do with her hair tumbled down about her waist.

 

“Ah, yes, the girls’ academy.” He cast her a speculative glance. “But that is
what
you are, not who. What is your name?”

 

Oh, dear, she wasn’t supposed to be here, and if he were to mention it to Mrs. Harris…“I shan’t give my name to a stranger. Especially when you haven’t given me yours.
You
are the intruder here.”

 

“Intruder! What a suspicious little thing you are,” he
said without rancor. “As it happens, you already know my name. It’s on my calling card.”