Regency 05 - Intrigue (4 page)

His grin widened. “I’m not.”

Her mouth dropped. “You are younger?”

“No, Lady Brackney. I am seven-and-twenty.”

“There, you see?” she smirked. “You are younger and more impulsive. You haven’t thought this through. A pretend engagement, indeed.”

“You are correct, of course. Although,” he said thoughtfully, “I don’t think I can really be described as impulsive. Lazy, indolent, a bit of a ne’er-do-well, but impulsive?” He shook his head. “Not impulsive. I tend to think things through very carefully before taking action. For example, I said nothing of our engagement being pretend. It will be real. Hence, the rumors.”

“You are crazy,” Malvina stated calmly, completely convinced of this fact. “The very idea of an engagement, pretend or real, shows just how impulsive you are.”

“I do not know who is terrorizing you and I feel the easiest way to protect you is marriage.”

“Engaged is a far cry from married, Sir Bedlamite.” She suddenly flew from the bed. “I will not listen to one more word from you. Get out of my house!”

“No.”

Malvina was so stunned by this reply, she did not move when he rose from the bed and came to stand over her. She looked up into smoldering brown eyes, eyes that a moment before had been devoid of anything but a certain amount of amusement. She forced herself not to cringe away in fear.

“You, madam, are singularly lacking in sense. Do you not realize I am the only chance you have? If you had any real fear of me, you would have set your servants on me by telling them I am here to see them all transported for their activities. So do not pretend to suddenly realize what a Bedlamite I seem to be just because you are affected by me physically. You are older in years but certainly not sense.” He stopped abruptly, straightening. “Never mind. If you want to hang for your part in the murder of that boy who tried to save you, far be it from me to interfere.”

Gideon strode from the room, his back rigid.

Malvina stared at the open door, thoughts racing through her head at an alarming rate. Everything he said was true and she knew it. She hated how this man seemed to read her thoughts like a book. But he was the only one who seemed to care a fig about her, however offhanded his concern. He was going out of his way to help her and she treated him as if he was nothing more than a schoolboy out for a lark.

Her stomach sank to her toes. He was gone. Gideon, mysterious man that he was, her only hope, was gone.

Gideon waited just beyond the door, ready to catch her when she realized what a mistake she’d made. He knew she would come to this conclusion since it was the only possible answer.

Despite everything, she was not a stupid woman. Naïve, perhaps, but not stupid.

He had to wonder at his own sanity, however. She was partially right about that. He was not behaving in any kind of rational manner. The truth was, the two kisses he’d shared with her had overset him more than he liked to admit. Something inside him had clicked into place the moment their lips had touched and the thought of life with her had just seemed right.

He didn’t believe in love at first sight but he surely believed in attraction. And he was attracted to Lady Malvina Brackney.

He shrugged. He had to marry someday. The succession would perish if he refused.

He saw a flash of dark blue gown from the corner of his eye as Malvina burst from her chamber. Not realizing he was there, she attempted to run past him. Catching her around the waist, he grunted when her body collided with his chest. She gasped.

“Were you looking for me, by any chance?” he drawled with that lazy intonation she was becoming used to.

“I will marry you,” she said breathlessly. “That is, if you are still offering.”

He favored her with a whimsical grin. “Of course.” He released her and, taking her hand, led her back into her bedchamber. He firmly closed the door, turning the key in the lock.

When he turned back to her, his expression grew serious. “You have all the control in this, Malvina. I am completely willing to go through with the wedding. I consider this engagement as real as if I had been escorting you to Almack’s for the entire Season with a view to proposing. Think on that until I extricate you from your current situation.”

She nodded. “I have one question, though,” she said calmly. “Why do we need to be engaged? Can you not simply say you are a friend?”

“That may work with your son but not
That Man
, as you so charmingly call him. If he is someone who knows me, he would know that I would never befriend a woman. Seduction, maybe, but never friendship.”

The smoldering look he gave her, the way his eyes swept over her sleep mussed hair and rumpled gown, sent a shaft of desire through her middle. It was a sensation she barely knew, had rarely felt. The flame in her cheeks at that moment could probably vie with her hair for redness.

He sighed and looked over his shoulder, his eyes narrowing. “I wish Hart was here,” he murmured to himself. “As vexing as that man is, he is a veritable font of useless knowledge.”

“Who is Hart? A friend, I assume.”

Gideon shot a sidelong glance at her. “Never assume anything, Malvina. Hart is the Duke of Derringer. No doubt you’ve heard of him.”

“No, should I have?”

“Oh, that’s rich!” Gideon laughed. “Hart will be shocked that there exists someone in this world who has not heard of him.” Her questioning look grew. “He is famous, my dear. Or, infamous, rather. Legendary, perhaps?”

“What has this to do with anything?” she asked.

“What has anything to do with anything?” he replied. His air of boredom had reasserted itself.

“You, sir, are maddening.”

Two days later saw Malvina Brackney swaying along in a carriage on her way to retrieve her son. Gideon sat next to her, staring out the window. She watched him surreptitiously, always with the thought that her life could not have possibly become more complicated. It was difficult for her to believe he was serious about treating the engagement as real. He was, after all, a young and extremely handsome man, born of wealth and privilege.

Two days had certainly allowed her time to learn more of her companion but beyond the information that he was Gideon Mallory, she knew nothing of who he was or where he came from. Every time she asked more pointed questions about his history, he became vague and sleepy, complaining about this or that until she rolled her eyes in disgust and dropped the subject. It was beginning to alarm her.

Perhaps he was the illegitimate son of a prominent Member of Parliament. Although, that would not account for his secrecy unless he was trying to shame his father into acknowledging him. No, it wasn’t that. He did not seem the type to engage in such shady dealings, though she wasn’t sure how she knew that.

But what is his real interest in me?
she wondered for the thousandth time just that morning. He could not really want to marry her. He should marry someone young enough to bear him many sons, share his interests, his beliefs, and his upbringing. She was nothing more than the daughter of a Cit, anathema to the upper class.

Although, she supposed she was no longer a member of that class. She had married a baronet, after all, and had had nothing further to do with her family, as was requested by her own father. He’d wanted a member of his family to somehow get in the upper reaches of Society and he had succeeded. To an extent. Brackney had always been ashamed of her, despite her beauty and training as a lady, and had adamantly refused to take her about. She’d never been to London.

It was unfortunate that her father had more or less disowned her. Had he been there for her, to advise her, encourage her, and protect her, perhaps she would not have been dragged into the mess she now faced.

Lord, what was she doing? She was engaged to a complete stranger! That wasn’t nearly so bad as her strong desire to actually marry him. She had a feeling life with him would never be dull even though that was the exact persona he tried to convey. Hadn’t she already had a few adventures with him, and seen what a vital, tightly wound person was beneath that lazy exterior?

Malvina turned to gaze fully at him and blushed when she saw he watched her. His brown eyes held amusement and his lips curved up just a bit. She looked away, trying to ignore him.

“What is going through that fertile imagination of yours, I wonder,” he murmured sleepily. He stretched his legs, still watching her steadily.

Malvina shot him a look of innocence. “Nothing of import, I assure you.”

His lips twisted into a full grin. “Indeed? I would hate to call you a liar, my lady, so forgive me if I tell you I don’t believe you. You had a far too—frustrated, shall we say?—look on your face for your thoughts to be fleeting.”

With a superb effort of will, her expression didn’t change.

Gideon shrugged one elegant shoulder. “Very well, I concede your thoughts were pointless. We are arrived, however, and I do think you should at least pretend that we are happily engaged.”

A seed of rebellion started in Malvina’s mind at his tone. She smiled at him flirtatiously, batting her eyelashes, and parting her lips in a silent invitation, using her powers of observation of the art to show him just how good an actress she was. His look was everything she could have wanted…at first.

She wasn’t sure later how or even what exactly happened. One moment she was mocking him with her charade and the next she was in his arms, being thoroughly and expertly kissed. Her head was swimming by the time he released her and when she looked in his eyes, she saw none of his earlier amusement, just a smoldering anger. She drew away from him, alarmed by this other side of him that she had no way of understanding.

“Do not play with fire, my lady,” he said harshly. “You will only get burned.”

The carriage stopped at that moment, distracting Gideon and giving Malvina a chance to recover her composure. He stepped from the coach and offered her his hand. She placed her hand in his after a brief hesitation.

Upon entering the school, they went to the headmaster’s office and were told to wait.

Turning to his intended bride, Gideon requested blankly, “After you introduce me to Dr. Keate as your betrothed, allow me to speak with him alone.”