The Problem with Seduction (12 page)

She looked him square in the face. He’d never seen a more beautiful, or more determined-looking, woman. “Can’t I?”

He managed to keep his voice even. What he wanted to do was seize her wrists and force her to accept his help. She was a spitfire. He didn’t think she ever paused a moment to consider anything but her own impulsive feelings.

That was the pot calling the kettle black, wasn’t it? He’d gone to her house to apologize for a proposal he’d blurted out in haste, and now they were sitting in a room a hundred miles away, simply because he’d felt intrigued by her sudden disappearance and had developed the urge to follow her.

Perhaps they were more alike than not. “I don’t think you
want
to leave,” he said slowly, feeling out his opinion of her. “Your home is here. That’s why you went to see your parents, isn’t it? There’s no other reason to come within a county of them, unless you truly wanted to see them.” He was glad he’d never encountered them before. They were really, truly awful. But he did know a bit about wanting to please family, even if his wasn’t nearly as difficult.

She drew away a fraction, enough to tell him he’d set her back up. “I’ll thank you not to make assumptions about me—”

He placed his hand over hers. She yanked her hand away. “You asked me a question,” he said. “Let me answer. If you settle in Dublin, your son will be raised believing I’m his father, because that’s the story we’ve told. He’ll think I don’t give a farthing about him. Whatever happened between you and Finn, it’s probably better if I don’t know. But don’t take Oliver away and make it all but impossible for me to be there for him.
My
father didn’t give a farthing about me and I don’t wish that on any child. I
would
do my best for him, if you’d let me.”

She shook her head. “I couldn’t ask that of you. It’s not even reasonable. Who would do that?”

He knew without thinking. “I would.”

Her head tilted slightly as though she was trying to make sense of him. He couldn’t explain his answer, even to himself. “Why?” she asked quietly.

“Let me do what you’ve paid me to do.” And with that, he knew why he’d followed her. His job was
not
done yet. Ten thousand pounds was a lifetime of being her child’s father. Not a few hours.

For a few, buoyant seconds, she looked like she might agree. Then she tucked her hands into her lap, becoming very small. “You didn’t even know us before last week. Just…take the money. It’s yours. All I ask is that you never reveal the truth.”

There was no going back. His only path forward was in front of him. “It’s not that simple. I can’t have Oliver think I don’t care. I wouldn’t be able to face myself in the mirror.”

Because his mother
was
right. He couldn’t just walk away as though nothing had happened. He’d made a commitment. By God, he intended to honor it.

Now
he knew why his brothers had been so adamant. He hadn’t been man enough to see it.

Elizabeth bit her lower lip. She looked away. “I won’t tell him it’s you, then. It’s not, anyway.
You
are not responsible. Please, leave us alone.”

He bit back a flippant argument that Oliver did need him.
She
needed him. The last hour proved it. “But I
will
know. Don’t you see? I will know I took him from his real father. How could I live with the guilt? A boy needs a father. If you won’t allow it to be Finn—”

“Finn!” she came out of her seat again. “Finn would
take
him! I can’t…I
can’t
be separated from my baby. I will
die.
” Her voice cracked. Tears glistened in her eyes. “Nicholas has no use for me.”

He well understood the despair born of feeling useless. He hated knowing she felt that way about herself. Not even the threat of one of those tears falling, however, could sway him from his position. He folded his hands on the table. “You can’t leave.”

“Ha.” Her eyes slid away. “Spoken like a man. The law is always in your favor, isn’t it?”

He didn’t have a defense for that. “The thing is,” he said matter-of-factly, so as not to provoke another passionate outburst, “I don’t
want
you to leave. We must be able to think of a way to keep you here, where you belong.”

She darted him a surprised look so full of hope, he knew without a doubt that he would do anything to make good on that promise.

Her gaze fell to the rickety table between them. “I
can’
t stay.” She did sound more even-tempered, as if she were considering his request rather than swinging wildly at her demons. “Even if I wanted to. Finn will easily prove you and I don’t have an agreement. There’s already no proof we knew each other a year ago.”

He set his hands flat on the table. “That’s only true from your perspective. Me? I’ve been aware of you ever since I became a man. I’m positive we have more of our past in common than you think.”

She gawked at him. “You watched me?”

Even he was surprised by his admission. He hadn’t meant to tell her that.

Going for the whole pound, he continued, “You’re one of the most beautiful, sought-after women in England. I’d have had to be dead not to notice you. I’m sure we can remember an event we both attended. Some dazzling night that might have ended in bed. Can’t you imagine it?”

Her breath caught. He could almost believe she was considering what that magical night might have been like. Then she shook her head, and the spell broke. “He won’t believe I was with anyone else. He only did at first because you caught him by surprise.” Her lip curled up with satisfaction. It had been
her
idea to shock him.

Then her expression turned bitter. “He knows how much I lo—how devoted I was to him. He even tried to prove I’m still attracted to him.”

Con’s eyes narrowed. In jealousy? As ridiculous as that seemed, he couldn’t help but wonder what Finn had done to her. Where he had touched her. Or when. “Are you?”

Blast, but he even sounded jealous.

Her answering recoil gave him immense satisfaction. “No! I hate him for what he’s done to me.”

That did simplify the situation, even if he took his burgeoning jealousy out of the equation. If she’d had latent feeling for the father of her child, Con wouldn’t have wanted to interfere in their lovers’ spat.

But since her antipathy toward Finn was palpable, Con’s inquisitiveness when it came to her was equally pricked. That surprised him. He hadn’t expected to become so interested in learning her story.

Ah, but he wouldn’t pry.
He must be patient. A virtue he’d mastered dealing with his twin. Her past should be something she decided to share with him, once he’d earned her trust.

Why did he need to earn her trust?

He raised his wine to his lips and finished off the glass. The fact was, he had a soft spot for a dark horse. He set his wineglass firmly on the table. “Be my mistress. That will resolve any concern Finn has that we didn’t actually spend the night together. We’ll do our best to appear smitten; the rest of the world will believe it and Finn will look dotty for saying otherwise.”

She pressed her lips together, looking doubtful.

“You’re my ‘mistress’ tonight, and it’s not so bad, is it?” Con smiled reassuringly, feeling as though he were putting on the performance of his life. “We can continue on like this. An arrangement in word only. I can’t afford your services and even if I could, that would be a deuced awkward arrangement.”

Her puzzlement deepened. “You think it would be odd for us to—”

“Don’t even say it.”
God, please don’t say it.
“While I find you very attractive, I feel strangely
friendly
toward you. I don’t know how it’s been in your experience, but I can’t think that’s a usual sort of arrangement between a man and his paramour. How would we undress in front of each other?”

She looked at him as if he’d gone daft. Earlier when she’d teased him, she’d sent him suggestive looks. Now he was left in no doubt that had been an act. Not that he
cared
if she’d been playing a role, since they were just friends from now until forever. Platonic, asexual friends.

What was he thinking?

“You should take up the townhouse again,” he continued, as if his mind weren’t racing with all the many ways he was setting himself up for a lifetime of ball-crushing pain. “I assume you can afford it? Then I can see Oliver from time to time, and my mother may, too.”

Elizabeth frowned, considering. “I never thought that you would have people in your life who would take an interest in us. Now, it seems, they are all involved.”

His family was a fixture in his life that he’d taken for granted. He felt a touch of sadness for her lack of close family. What would it be like to be that alone?

“They are,” he said firmly. “They will always be. And they must never know. Mine is the best sort of mother. I can’t tell her I lied to her. I must continue on as if Oliver is truly my child, if only so she will never have a chance to be disappointed in me.”

He had a reasonably good idea why Elizabeth was still regarding him as if he were babbling nonsense. He’d met her parents, after all.

“Your relationship with your family is incomprehensible to me,” she said, confirming his suspicion that she truly didn’t understand why he didn’t want to hurt his mother. “I suppose of the two of us, you are of a healthier mind when it comes to family matters.” She appeared to think it over. He tried not to look too hopeful.

“Very well,” she said at length. “I will set up as your mistress under three conditions. The first is that you keep your word that you won’t try to seduce me. The second is that you allow me to compensate you for your time with Oliver, as if you were his governess or tutor.”

“No,” Con said firmly.

She silenced him with a slashing motion. “No matter how much you argue otherwise, this was a business arrangement intended to last only the time it took you to wrest Oliver back. I won’t be beholden to you for the rest of my life. Which brings me to my third requirement: if you or I should choose to form an attachment with someone else, we will terminate our arrangement amicably.”

“No,” Con said again. She was already thinking of leaving him? But then, he didn’t want to spend the rest of his life attached to a woman he wasn’t allowed to touch intimately, did he? If so, he could be married by now.

“I’m not giving up on Oliver,” he said, “and I don’t want to be any more in your debt.” He didn’t say anything about the “friendly” part of her terms. That had been his own stupid idea.

She laughed low. He felt it all the way to his toes. “Oh, my lord,” she said, shaking her head slowly. “I fear it’s far too late for that.”

Chapter Seven

MEN OFTEN MEANT WELL, at the time. Elizabeth had learned from experience never to trust a protector longer than it took him to make a promise. It was only a matter of course before some shiny, new entertainment cropped up and distracted him. Yet here she was, returning to London with Lord Constantine. She knew better, and still… She’d always been too fanciful for her own good.

There
was
one logical reason she sat across from him now in the coach. Her father wanted her to silence the gossips. Taking up with Lord Constantine lent credence to her assertion that he was Oliver’s father. A perfectly ordinary arrangement between a man and the paramour with whom he’d sired a bastard could be of no interest to anyone. Society would soon forget her scandal. Wyndham had to be satisfied with that, for even if it wasn’t enough to convince Nicholas, she need only put an end to the
ton
’s speculation to meet her father’s requirement.

She must hope that after a few weeks of looking silly in the eyes of the
ton,
Nicholas would give up, too.

There was another, more reckless reason she had come back with him. She could hardly sit still for the butterflies his nearness caused in her belly. He was so handsome, and so protective of her and Oliver without being overbearing about it.

His eyes never wavered from the horizon beyond the plate window. His right fingertips drummed against his thigh. He appeared impatient to be home, yet she was coming to realize he was one of the most indulgent people she’d ever met. Whatever she asked of him, he gladly did. Mayhap it was because he had nowhere else to be. No other responsibilities.

She forced herself to look away, because in his direction lay danger. They’d been traveling two days. London was near. She, too, could hardly wait to be home. He’d been frighteningly astute in that matter. She
did
want to be in London. Ever since she’d left Shropshire, London had been the place she felt best. The enormous city provided enough nooks and crannies for a woman of any reputation to carve herself a home. Not that Elizabeth wanted to blend in completely; then she might disappear altogether.

Laughably, for a short time her plan had been exactly that. Disappear. She’d let Celeste, her best friend and the only person she’d known to turn to when she’d learned she was with child, convince her that the best refuge for an unwed mother was the obscurity of the countryside. Elizabeth had allowed herself to be led to Devon even though she’d never taken to that idea. At the time, it had seemed she had no other choice.