Libertine's Wife (11 page)

Thoughts he possibly had an heir on the
way softened the harshness of his expression just then. The child
was innocent of the mother’s crimes against him. Suddenly, he was
pleased to think of a child coming, despite the
circumstances.

Garret thought of her, gritting his
teeth to even spare her another thought. Arianne kept the note
brief. The cold lack of emotion in it was expected. He pushed back
the desire to see her again. He refused to give into it. Since his
return to London, he was tormented by ongoing fantasies of his new
wife. He set out to forget her the only way he knew how. He found
another woman, and then another after that.

His newest mistress, Annabelle, was the
polar opposite of his wife. The seasoned courtesan was gifted in
bringing a man to pleasure. Even she failed to dispel his wife’s
image from his mind.

He was tormented by that one night,
recalling each moment with painful reminders he couldn’t seek her
out again. The blue-eyed beauty filled his enraptured dreams,
making him wake to a raging erection and all the incentive to purge
her memory.

Many more months passed, and he
continued on his way to forgetting Arianne, going back to his old
haunts, seeking out his old pleasures. His preoccupation with her
hadn’t lessened, only grew. To the point, he only allowed himself
one thought of her a day.

By his calculations, she would deliver
his child soon. He was relieved she didn’t carry another man’s
brat, having done the basic math to determine she conceived on
their wedding night.

Guilt assailed him often thinking of
her going through it alone. She had to be terrified. He was
encouraged by Mrs. Greeves' letters that Arianne was doing well,
content his staff would care for her when her time came.

A mistress was one thing to ignore at a
time like this, but a wife was quite another. He wasn’t present at
the births of his other children, informed by messenger of their
arrivals. Their mother’s were content with large settlements from
him and he went on to the next.

If not for his solicitor, Mr. Helms,
and his fastidious records; he wouldn’t even recall how many
children he’d fathered with various mistresses over the years. He
saw five of his children on scheduled visits.

Helms reported the distinct possibility
he might have impregnated two more ladies within society in the
last six months since his return. The affairs were brief,
unplanned, and the result of his anger over his marriage. Both
ladies refused to come forward and approach him. They were married
to prominent peers who weren’t aware of their unfaithfulness. It
was just as well, his solicitor said, with a disgusted shake of his
head.

His former mistresses all seemed
content with his providing for them and never bothered him. Why
then did he wish Arianne would bother him now? He was disgusted he
gave the girl any more thought at all. Annabelle should have wiped
his memory clear of her. Instead, he burned for his wife in a way
that mocked all his efforts to forget her. Thinking of her made him
think of her deceitful brother too.

Eustace was back to his old ways,
running through his funds as quick as the turn of a card. He heard
rumors the man was upside down once more in his finances. He cursed
him under his breath, thinking of his wife and how lucky she’d been
to get away, spared the man’s obvious sickness.

Eustace could no longer use Arianne to
pay off his mounting debts. Garret knew he’d wind up at the mercy
of the same lenders soon. He hoped the man wound up in an alley
with his throat cut. Arianne’s sacrifice for her brother was
laughable! Millions couldn’t save the man. He had an unquenchable
passion for gambling. His luck was as deplorable as the
unscrupulous money lenders he sold himself to. He lost more than he
ever won, throwing all caution aside.

Garret cursed he allowed the
glib-tongued man to chat him up that night. He’d been bored as soon
as he arrived, looking for engagement, restless, and in between
mistresses.

His noble companions and their
high-priced whores were too drunk to notice he’d left them to their
own entertainments in the back room reserved for only the
wealthiest patrons. He walked around the gaming hell looking for
other distractions.

He was soon joined and chatted up by
Eustace as he stood at a table to watch the card play. He was taken
in by the man’s false sincerity and wit. Soon, they joked and
laughed together. He must have invited the man to his residence for
a weekend, never thinking anything of it when he arrived with his
sister.

Garret closed his eyes in disgust to
revisit that moment, feeling like an absolute fool.

Arianne deserved nothing from him. Even
as he told himself that, the guilt to think of her bearing his
child alone ate at him. The child coming should have softened his
anger. He clung to his outrage as more months passed.

Mrs. Greeves wrote to him that Arianne
neared her time. He was disgusted to know the child was due the
same week he’d circled in his calendar book. He was perusing his
accounts when his butler informed him he had a visitor. His old
friend entered. The man chuckled at the sight of him glowering
behind his desk.

“
I came as soon as I heard,”
the tall blond man said as he came forward. His handsome features
split into a grin. His merry blue eyes danced in delight. “I would
say congratulations, but you look as though you would flatten me if
I did. I can see the marriage hardly pleases you.”

Garret regarded his best friend Martin
Devere with another black look as the man sprawled in a chair
before him. The Earl of Cosgrove just got back from Virginia.
Martin, or Marty, as he called him, had been his closest companion
for much of their youth. They went to Eton together, then on to
Oxford. The friendship was an endearing one.

Martin shared his feelings in regard to
relationships. While the Earl of Cosgrove played the field with as
much exuberance as he, the man had yet to marry. Hearing of his
friend being leg-shackled during his absence no doubt delighted
him. The nobleman looked like he would explode into mirth if he
didn’t fear Garret would toss him out.

“
I see good news travelled
fast.” Garret poured him a snifter of brandy, pushing it across the
desk. “I can assure you the rumors running amok this week are all
false! It is no bloody love match! I didn’t pine for the damned
woman from afar! I certainly didn’t compose sonnets to her beauty
either! Christ, I resent these blasted half-truths flying
around!”

“
Who is this fair creature
who captured my reluctant friend?” Martin sipped his brandy,
grinning at his friend’s outraged words. “Anyone I
know?”

“
She is Sir Eustace Dunne’s
younger sister. You don’t know her,” was Garret’s tight reply.
“She’s what we would have called ‘a little nobody’.”

“
Where is she? I’d like to
see the little nobody who brought my disreputable friend to heel at
last.”

“
I left her at Ravensford
Hall to rot, Marty, and there she will stay,” Garret snapped in
response. “The damned woman is ready to give birth too, as luck
would have it.”

Martin looked delighted. “Is this
number seven or number eight? I lost track of all your children
over the years.”

Garret scowled. “It would be number
eight according to Helms records, and possibly my new
heir.”

“
That’s good news, is it
not? I’d say you gained much while I was away. Now we need not
worry your title will pass to that buffoon, William.”

Garret couldn’t deny his own relief of
that, but it remained to be seen if Arianne would supply him with a
necessary son to end his young cousin from inheriting his title.
“The news will hardly please William. He’s had his teeth cut on
gaining all that’s mine.”

“
This is good news. We both
know he would run Ravensford into the ground when you’re gone, my
friend.”

“
Again, should I bloody even
care?” Garret lit a cheroot, blowing smoke in agitation. “I’d be
dead! Who really cares what happens then?”

Marty looked outraged. “Because he’s a
damned imbecile, that’s why! You were hardly pleased to have him as
your heir, Garret. Don’t tell me this doesn’t please you with this
turn of events? I know I’m pleased! I don’t have to deal with him
should something happen to you. You forget; we are partners
now?”

“
I don’t want a damned
wife!”

Marty had the grace to bite back a
chuckle. “It appears you have one now, Garret, whether you like it
or not. Tell me how this blessed event came to pass. I could hardly
believe it when I was regaled with the news last night while
escorting Mother. I said “this is not the man I know and love,” and
you tell me ‘tis all true. Mother is beside herself. Don’t be
surprised if the old harridan pays a call on you to demand an
accounting.”

Garret left nothing out as he explained
how he was duped by Eustace and Arianne. He left out his continued
desire for his young wife, knowing Marty would mock his
contradictory feelings for his treacherous new bride.

Martin let out the breath he was
holding. “I don’t understand how it happened at all.”

“
It was as I said! The pair
of them set upon me while I was unawares! I was drugged, damn
it!”

“
That’s not what I meant. We
both know Helms would have made short work of that scenario. Far
wilier ladies have tried more elaborate schemes and failed. I
should like to meet this lady who ensnared you.”

Garret snorted in disgust. “I didn’t
call on Helms. He was busy with estate matters and unavailable. As
far as she goes, she is as beautiful as she is deceitful, my
friend. Suffice to say, I need not trouble myself with her any
longer.”

“
But you are married,
Garret,” Martin pointed out reasonably. “I know you well. You would
have had your mean little dog Helms send them both running, with
him biting at their heels. What care have you ever shown for
scandal surrounding you? She is hardly the first lady you’ve
ruined, or the last, come to think of it.”

Garret refused to admit it, but Marty
was right. When had he ever cared about his reputation? Ruining a
woman wasn’t the worst of what was known of him. It irritated him
for Marty to hone in on the truth. He felt his nose was further
rubbed in the matter then.

He could have refused to be threatened
by Eustace that day. He could have born the scorn of the ton with
hardly a care. Why had he let himself be led to the altar that day?
It perplexed him, even now.

Was it the immediate desire he felt for
Arianne that made him allow the marriage? For he had allowed it,
that much was true. He could rage and snarl that he’d been trapped
by her, but he’d broken free of such ploys in the past, and they
both knew it.

“
You might be right, but
what do such whimsical thoughts get one but pain and
disillusionment, my friend? She is but a fortune hunter, and no
more. While I admit I desired her for a brief moment; that too, has
passed.”

“
Oh, so you took the time to
get to know her, did you?” Marty shook his head in amused
disbelief.

“
No, I wasted little time in
running from her,” Garret admitted, scowling as he refilled his
brandy glass.

“
So, you don’t think you’ll
be running back—”

“
No! What’s the bloody point
in that?”

Martin cleared his throat, eyeing his
friend with a knowing look. “I know you, Garret. This is Martin you
talk to. When have you ever allowed a woman to get the better of
you?”

Garret uttered a curse. “What are you
trying to say, Martin?”

“
Perhaps this woman is
different from all the others?”

Garret snorted rudely, downing his
snifter and glaring at his friend. “They are all the same, my
friend. At the end of the day, any one of them will do. She amused
me for a moment, nothing more”

“
Then why marry her?” Martin
asked in confusion. “You have me confused.”

Garret thought of Eustace’s threats,
puny ones at best. He could have fought back and didn’t, feeling
more the fool to have been intrigued by the girl. What was the
point in denying the intense attraction he felt, even so briefly?
“Let us just say it was a moment of madness, and nothing more?
Forbidden fruit is often the sweetest.”

“
Still, it isn’t like you to
give in to those moments, even for the fruit,” Martin observed with
a knowing smile. “Mayhap there is hope for you after all, my
friend? Not that I’m inspired, mind you.”

“
No, I don’t see you looking
for a wife anytime soon, Marty,” Garret accused. “Tell me this
again when you find yourself trussed up like a fat goose as I
was.”

Marty chuckled and downed his snifter.
“I stick with whores, may I remind you? A coin or two and I needn’t
worry about waking up wed against my will. Though my mother might
like it if I married one of these days; I like my freedom too
much.”

“
Mayhap my bride has a
deceitful female friend I can send your way,” Garret warned with a
black scowl.

“
I predict you’ll be back
with the woman when the child comes.”