The Trouble With Heroes.... (13 page)

Heaven help
her
. “Then I’m even more surprised that you think you
have business with me, sir.”

“
Roots and branches can spread a long
way. Your parents never spoke of the sad history of your aunt,
Clarrie Dunsworth?”

Claris wished she were a better liar. “I
know she died young and that my mother believed the blame lay with
the man you claim as cousin.”

“
Very, very distant cousin. The scion,
in fact, of the younger of those sister heiresses, as I am a scion
of the older. The two branches of the family are not
fond.”

“
Yet you come here at his bidding?
Enough, Mr. Perriam. I have work to do. What do you
want?”

Oh, he wasn’t used to being commanded, this
fine gentleman, especially by a woman, and a woman such as she.
Claris met his angry eyes.

“
I, too, have work to do. My Cousin
Giles is recently deceased, and his will requires that I marry you,
Miss Mallow. I hope to do it as expeditiously as
possible.”

Claris stared, truly speechless.

“
Marry me?” she managed at
last.

“
Marry you. I am Giles Perriam’s heir,
but in order to claim the inheritance, I must marry you. It might
be some deathbed attempt to put right an old wrong, or even to
deflect a curse—”

“
A curse!”

“—
but it is assuredly an act of
malice. Still, it must be done.”

Claris rose to her feet, needing a hand on
the table to steady herself.

“
I fear you are unbalanced, sir.
Please leave.”

He, too, rose but made no move to obey. “I’m
as sane as any man in this demented world. Come, come, Miss Mallow,
don’t cling to the conventional response. The marriage will give
you all possible advantages, and I pledge to be an amenable
husband.”

“
Amenable
?”
Claris echoed. “Be amenable, sir, by leaving this
instant!”

For the first time she noted that he wore a
sword.

A sword!

She moved to one side, putting the length of
the table between them.

“
Miss
Mallow . . .”

She glanced around for any weapon but didn’t
even see a trowel.

“
Ellie!
” she
shouted.

Stupid, stupid. What could Ellie do?

Then Ellie came out of the cottage,
astonishingly with a pistol in her hands. Though it was a small
gun, it seemed too large for her to manage, so Claris snatched it
and pointed it, hands trembling.

“
Leave, Mr. Perriam, and do not
return!”

She’d never held a pistol in her life, and
it was shockingly heavy. Could she bring herself to fire it?

“
You heard Miss Claris, sir,” Ellie
said. “You’d best be off before she does something she’ll
regret.”

He suddenly laughed, eyes bright with it.
“I’m tempted to test that. But how delightful this is, Miss Mallow.
I very much look forward to our further acquaintance.”

His eyes in some way held hers, sending a
shocking frisson through her.

Fear.

But it didn’t feel exactly like fear, even
if it did make her knees loosen and her hands tremble. She raised
the pistol a little higher, trying to steady it on him.

Without urgency, he picked up his gloves,
hat, and riding crop. Then he bowed, in an elaborate style that
must surely be from court and power but was all insolence, and
walked away. What was worse, he turned his back in complete
disregard of the gun. Claris was tempted to shoot him for that
alone.

Yatta leapt down and followed, perhaps
pretending to himself that he was chasing the enemy away, but
Claris knew the truth. They couldn’t have forced that man away if
he’d not been willing to go. Even so, she kept the pistol trained
on him until he rounded the cottage and was out of sight.

Ellie took the pistol from her weakening
hands. “There, there, dearie, he’s gone now.”

Claris collapsed back onto the bench. “He’ll
return.”

“
Likely he will.”

“
Then I will shoot him.” It was the
frisson speaking. “Show me how.”

“
It’s not a skill learned in a day,
dearie. This one isn’t loaded or primed or I’d not have let you
take it.”

Claris sank her head in her hands. She’d
threatened him with nothing, and perhaps he’d known that. She
looked up to glare at the gun. “Where did that thing come from? Why
do you have a pistol?”

“
We’ve been in some unruly places,
Athena and I.” Ellie put the pistol on the table and sat beside
Claris to take one of her hands. “Now, dearie, what did he do to
set you screeching?”

Claris clutched that hand. “I’d think I’d
dreamed it if not for those two glasses. And the pistol. Ellie, he
proposed marriage! No, he didn’t propose. He stated that he was
going to marry me. As if I had no say in the matter at all!”

“
Perhaps he thought you’d snatch at
the chance.”

“
That’s it! He did. Said how
comfortable I would be, how amenable he would be. How dare
he?”

“
Like I said, he likely thought you’d
be honored, a fine gentleman like him. Though that could be a sham.
Many a fine man eats oats.”

“
Eats oats?”

“
Or any other poor food. If you’re
thinking of it—”

“
Of marrying him? Of course
not!”

“
I’m merely saying that if you were,
you’d best confirm that he’s as prosperous as he seems. But then,
why should he deceive you? That’s the line a scoundrel takes with
an heiress.”

Claris shook her head. “I think you’re as
mad as he is. I have no intention of marrying anyone, be he rich as
Croesus, but certainly not a stranger claiming to be forced into
it.”

“
Forced? Now, that’s interesting. It’d
take a bit to force a man like that.” Ellie pushed to her feet and
picked up the pistol. “You tell us all about it when Athena’s home.
But for now, I’ve the floors to finish and the stew to
tend.”

“
I’ll help.”

Ellie looked at her. “Perhaps that’s best.
Keep busy, dearie. And keep an open mind.”

“
On marriage to that wretch? Closed as
a tomb. I’m mistress of my life, and so I shall remain.”

Seduction in Silk
will be published in August 2013 in mass market paperback and
e-edition. There are buy buttons here.
http://www.jobev.com/buysilk.html

About Jo Beverley

Publishers Weekly declared Jo Beverley
"
Arguably today's most skillful writer of
intelligent historical romance..."
Her work has been
described as "
Sublime!"
by
Booklist, and Romantic Times described her as "
one of the great names of the genre
."

She is the NYT bestselling author of over
thirty historical romance novels, all set in her native England in
the medieval, Georgian, and Regency periods. Her novels have won
the RITA, romance's top award, five times, and she is a member of
Romance Writers of America's Hall of Fame.

She also writes some romantic stories
with a science fiction and fantasy twist, and
The Marrying Maid
was an honorable mention for
Best SF 2011.

Her web site is
http://www.jobev.com
,
and she regularly blogs at Word Wenches.
http://www.wordwenches.com
.

You can find her on Facebook at
https://www.facebook.com/jo.beverley