Be My Bride Page 7

  “It’s very pretty, Mother. You’ll look just like the roses in Mr. Daniel’s garden.”

  Cynthia smiled at him, feeling her eyes moisten. “That’s right, Adam.”

  He crawled down from the bed and skipped off across the corridor. Watching him, Cynthia glanced up to find Daniel watching her.

  “I don’t know what to say,” she murmured, oddly embarrassed. “It’s absolutely beautiful.”

  “Good,” Daniel replired. “Then you’ll have no trouble accompanying me to the assembly this Wednesday.”

  “No, I suppose I won’t.” She couldn’t help laughing at the thought.

  And she had worn it to the assembly, with a nosegay of rosebuds at her wrist and roses entwined in the braid in her hair. And Daniel had danced every dance with her, and she’d felt more beautiful than even the night she’d met Nathan. In fact, Nathan had never seemed farther away, and for once the thought didn’t terrify her.

  Daniel couldn’t help noticing the change in her. All his efforts to bring them closer were beginning to work. She was laughing again, not the teasing laughter he remembered as a young man but a joyful sound that did something to his heart to hear it. He ordered a dozen more dresses, each in a different style and all in shades of violet and blue and pink that complimented her fair coloring. Whether it was the dresses or laughter he didn’t know, but he was pleased to see the dark circles disappear from around her eyes.

  He was also pleased and a little surprised to find that virtually none of his own clothes were fitting. Between the improvement in Monsieur Henri’s cooking and the exercise he was getting with the boys, he had lost a good fifty pounds. When he put on the new clothes he ordered for himself, he had to admit that he cut a rather dashing figure. Perhaps Cynthia hadn’t married herself such a frog after all.

  There was one thing more he felt he must try to change, however, and that was Cynthia’s inability to play with the boys. While he would cheerfully wrestle and dash about the house with them, Cynthia always watched from a distance. She watched with an indulgent smile on her face, that was true, but she refused to join them.

  At first he wondered whether she was hampered by her new gowns, but she didn’t seem more likely to enter their games when she wore the hideous black dress, which was rarely now. More likely, he decided, she had had to be both mother and father for so long that she was unable to unbend to be herself even long enough to play a game of hide and seek. It seemed to him a symbol of their relationship – while it was pleasant, the joy was missing. If he could get her to unbend in one area, perhaps the other would follow.

  His opportunity came one afternoon when he had been playing a boisterous game of touch and run with the boys through the hedges of the maze. He had stopped to catch his breath near one of the entrances when he heard Cynthia calling to the boys to come in for tea. James and Adam dutifully appeared from behind various shrubs. A half-hearted scuffle behind him could only be John. He held out one arm to stop them and put a finger to his lips.

  “Let’s see if we can’t get your mother to play for a bit,” he whispered. All three of them brightened, and they scampered off into hiding. Daniel sauntered out of the maze right into Cynthia’s path.

  “Hello, my dear. Did I hear you calling?”

  Cynthia smiled at him over the basket of roses in her arms. She had to admit that even with his new clothes powdered with dust and thoroughly rumpled, he was looking rather handsome. She’d never realized in fact how handsome he really was. His jaw was firm, his profile strong, shoulders were impressive, and his legs long and powerful. The strength of her possessive feelings surprised her, and she had to look away with a blush that rivaled the color of the blooms in her arms. “Yes, well, I’ve finished with the roses for the day, and I thought it must be time for tea.”

  “Well,” Daniel said with a grin, “if you really want tea, you’ll have to come fetch us.” He tapped her gently on the arm. “You’ve been touched.”

  She blinked, and Daniel pelted off into the maze, his husky laughter floating behind him.

  “Daniel, this is ridiculous,” she called, peering into the bushes in first one direction and then the other. Really, couldn’t the man be serious? The path stretched empty in all directions. “Boys, come out immediately.”

  “Boys,” Daniel’s voice countered from somewhere on her right. “You will do nothing of the kind until your mother touches one of us.”

  Somewhere to her left someone giggled. Adam, she thought, eyes narrowing. “Very well, then, have it your way.” She set the basket on one of the stone benches that dotted the maze and tiptoed toward the sound. Carefully she peered over the top of the bushes. There was no one there. Frustrated, she sank back onto her feet.

  “Nah nah nah,” John teased from her right. She whipped about in time to see him disappearing around a turn in the maze. She lifted her skirts and dashed after him.

  For the next few minutes it was pure anarchy in the maze. Children raced around corners and dove into bushes. Daniel actually leapt over one of the lower hedges to avoid her touch. Determined, she pursued him deeper into the maze, his laughter always just ahead of her. Adam escaped by crawling under a stone bench. James ran away so quickly he lost a shoe, and she only paused long enough to scoop it up and slip it in the pocket of her gown. John had the uncanny knack of letting her get within a finger’s breadth before sprinting past her and disappearing again. Her hair came undone from its pins, she trod on the flounce of her gown, and she had never had such a wonderful time in all her life.

  She was about to get the jump on John at last when she caught sight of Daniel heading for the center of the maze. Letting her son escape, she edged along the hedge and peered around the corner. Facing away from her, Daniel was bent over the stone bench at the center of the maze to catch his breath, one foot up on the bench. She tiptoed up behind him and placed both hands on his broad back. “I have you!” she shrieked triumphantly.

  Daniel grabbed her around the waist and pulled her into his embrace. She was so surprised that she could only gasp out an “oh” and with her mouth in such a perfect position, he kissed her.

  It was a quick peck, nothing more. But it caused the strangest sensations in her stomach, and all she could do was stare at him. He had the oddest expression on his own face, his gray eyes suddenly dark, and she had the distinct impression that his breathlessness had nothing to do with the game.

  “Cynthia,” he managed. “Say something, please.”

  She blinked. “Thank you?”

  He laughed shakily. “Thank you? Is that for the game or the kiss?”

  “Both?” She felt shy suddenly and dropped her gaze. The feel of his arms around her was wonderfully comforting, and she found she had no desire to move. What she did have a desire for, however, was another kiss, and the thought was enough to shock her into silence.

  Daniel had no idea how things had gotten to this pass. Here he stood with Cynthia in his arms in the middle of the garden of all places, the feel of her mouth under his still fresh in his mind. Fresh, it was overpowering. He found himself staring at those lips, warm, dusted with moisture like dew on the petals of a rose. All he’d have to do was lower his head once again and . . . .

  “Aw, she caught him!” Adam cried from the hedge. “Do we have to go to tea now?”

  Daniel forced himself to let go of her. Cynthia smoothed down her skirts and stood a little straighter. He had to bite his lip to keep from laughing. Her effort was completely in vain with her hair wild about her shoulders and dust caking the hem of her skirt.

  “That’s only fair, Adam,” she told her son with a smile. “I did catch Daniel, and he promised we’d go in when I caught one of you.”

  “Oh, all right.” Adam sighed. Within minutes, they had rounded up James and John and were headed back to the house with Daniel in the lead. Cynthia picked up her basket and trailed behind. She told herself she was quite glad she had managed to get them to return to the house, but suddenly she had lost a
ll interest in tea, and she couldn’t wait to get some time to herself to think.

  Chapter Nine

  She didn’t get time to herself until after the boys had retired. Daniel seemed disappointed that she didn’t choose to stay up and play chess or billiards with him as had been their wont of late, but today’s kiss in the maze had thoroughly unnerved her and she found it impossible to be alone with him until she knew why.

  After she had departed, Daniel sat staring into the fire, thoughts unfocused, or rather refusing to focus on a particular incident. He nodded at Evenson who came in to check the windows and doors before going to bed. “Is there anything more I can do for you, sir?”

  “Can you explain women to me, Evenson?” Daniel asked.

  Evenson sighed. “If I could do that, sir, I would no longer be your butle;, I’d be the richest man in England.”

  “In the world,” Daniel amended.

  “Just so, sir. Good night.”

  Daniel nodded again as he left. He continued to sit in front of the fire, watching the red coals dimming one by one to black. Around him the room grew still and cool. He had spent many such nights before Cynthia and the boys had come into his life, but the memories were far from pleasant. His life was richer and better with them in it. He had thought he was content with his lot. But after the kiss this afternoon, he knew he could never be.

  He had fallen in love with Cynthia.

  He shook his head. How could he have been such a fool? He had wanted to win her heart, but somehow he had never considered that he might lose his own. He’d thought the poets mad, but now he knew they were no madder than he was. The frog was hopelessly in love with the beautiful, clever, wonderful mother of his sons. If she had felt for Nathan half of what he was feeling for her, he suddenly understood how she could run away and leave everything behind.

  Most likely it had been creeping up on him all summer long, only he had just noticed it this afternoon when she had run up behind him. He really hadn’t been intending to kiss her, but with her mouth so delectably close he hadn’t had much choice. And the taste of her and the feel of her had been so sweet. He closed his eyes just thinking about it. God, how could he ever be in the same room with her again without wanting to hold her that way once more?

  He leaned back on his elbows. He couldn’t face her without saying something, that much was clear. But what was he to say? “My dear Cynthia, I know I made a bargain when I married you, but I’ve changed my mind. I want ours to be true marriage. You will report to my bed this evening.” He shook his head. That would hardly do. Yet he balked at the idea of simply telling her he loved her. Surely she would just smile politely and tell him to go to blazes.

  “They’re all right about you, my lad,” he said with a sigh. “How much of a man can you be if you can’t even tell the woman you love that you love her?”

  Upstairs the woman he loved was having a similar conversation with herself. It was equally plain to her that she had fallen in love with Daniel, although she couldn’t remember when it had happened. She looked at herself in the mirror of the dressing table and a slow smile spread across her face. In love! She had never thought to feel this way again. A blush was spreading with the smile. She was in love with her darling, gentle, sweet-natured husband. But was he in love with her?

  The smile and blush faded as quickly as they had come. True, he had kissed her, and he seemed to have been as affected by it as she had. And she had realized some time since that his awkwardness around her was a sign that her presence meant more to him than he wanted it to. But did that truly mean that his heart was engaged? Men did not necessarily love where they lusted, she had heard. Should she trust him with her heart when she did not know his?

  But how could she face him without blurting out her feelings? And what was she to say? “Daniel, I know I asked you for a marriage of convenience but would you mind if I shared your bed?” The blush returned in full force. She would sound like a veritable wanton!

  And yet she had to do something. They had been rather cozy together this summer, but everything was changed with the kiss. She could try to ignore it, but she feared it would only fester. The best thing for all would be to tell him the truth, that she was hopelessly in love with him and wanted to make theirs a true marriage. Knowing her Daniel, if he felt otherwise, he would be very gentle about telling her so.

  She resolved to speak to him as soon as the boys were off to the vicarage school that next morning, then spent so sleepless a night worrying about his answer that she arrived at the breakfast table late and feeling haggard. She took some comfort in the fact that Daniel did not look as if he had slept well either. There were bags under his stormy gray eyes, and his hand stirring the honey into his tea shook on the spoon. The boys did not seem to have noticed the difference; they sat eating and laughing as they usually did.

  “We are going to the pond to fish this morning,” John announced, cramming a piece of toast in his mouth and speaking around the wad. “Wanna come Mr. Daniel?”

  Daniel managed a smile. “I’d love to, but isn’t Mr. Wellfordhouse expecting you at the vicarage?”

  John avoided his eyes. “Oh, I’m sure he’d understand if we took a day off.”

  “Fishing!” Adam exclaimed, waving the spoon from his porridge in the air. “I’m gonna catch a whale!”

  Cynthia smiled at him and motioned him to put the spoon down, which he did with a contrite look.

  “I do not believe Mr. Daniel’s pond carries whales,” James interjected. “Sturgeon would be the best one could hope for, I would imagine.”

  “Minnows more likely,” Cynthia told him. “But I quite agree with Daniel. Fishing will have to wait. You need to go to school.”

  John set down his spoon and frowned at her. “Mother, there is more to life than school. Isn’t that so, Mr. Daniel?”

  “A great deal more, John,” Daniel replied. “However, you won’t be in much of a position to enjoy it if you don’t have a decent education. I know the pond is calling, but it will be here tomorrow and the day after that. Today you need to go to school.”

  John glanced between the two of them. “Is something wrong?”

  Cynthia could feel a blush heating her cheek and hastily looked away from the knowing blue eyes. “No, John.”

  “Everything is fine, John,” Daniel agreed, although his voice sounded a little shaky to Cynthia. “And I’d be delighted to take you to the pond this afternoon when you return from the vicarage.”

  John slumped in his chair and poked at his porridge. “Oh, very well.”

  Daniel nodded. “I’ll look forward to it, then. I hope you understand about the vicarage school, John. You more than any of the others need to be attending, because it will prepare you to go to Eton.”

  “Eton!” Cynthia gasped. “Oh, Daniel, how wonderful!”

  He beamed at her. “It’s the least I could do.”

  “What’s eatin’?” Adam demanded. “I want to go too.”

  “And so you shall, my lad,” Daniel said. “First John, then James, then you. And after that Oxford or Cambridge if you like.”

  John was frowning again. “I don’t know those places. Are they near Barnsley?”

  “No, they’re much farther than that,” Daniel explained. “They’re fine schools, John, where you’ll meet lots of fellows just like you. Your Uncle Jonathan attended Eton. So did the Duke of Wellington. I always wished I could. These are places you’ll be proud to say you were graduated from.”

  John paled and rose from his chair. “You’re sending me away?”

  “Daniel is sending you to school, love,” Cynthia tried soothing, reaching out a hand. John shrugged it away. “John, it’s more than I’d ever hoped for you.”

  “You want me gone too?” John cried. James stared at them all, and Adam trembled in his chair.

  “John,” Daniel said firmly, hoping to make the boy see reason before the whole lot of them started crying, “no one wants you gone.”

  “Per
haps this isn’t the time to talk about this,” Cynthia put in, seeing her oldest son shake with suppressed emotion.

  “Why, because you don’t want me to talk?” John demanded.

  The boy was obviously beyond logic. “John,” Daniel said quietly. “I think that’s enough.”

  John turned on him, eyes wild, and Daniel had to fight not to flinch away from the betrayal staring back at him. “I know why you’re doing this!” the boy shouted at him, blinking away hot tears. “You want to spend more time with her! You like her better than you like us! Well, she wouldn’t even be here if I hadn’t told her to. I did everything! I told the ladies in the village she wanted a husband so those awful men would call. I got you to go over there when you didn’t even want to. I got her to marry you. She doesn’t even like you. She thinks you’re fat and stupid!”

  “John!” Cynthia gasped, hands flying to her mouth.

  The constriction by his heart that the boys’ concerns usually caused was gone, and Daniel felt only pain inside him. He had been right all along. It didn’t matter how princely he behaved or how lordly he looked. To Cynthia, he would always be a frog. It would have been easy to give up and go back to his quiet life before they had arrived, a life with small chance of hurt and even smaller chance of love. He straightened under John’s glare. He refused to give up on them.

  He rose and went to kneel beside the boy to put himself at John’s eye level. John’s small chin stuck out, and his fists were balled at his sides. His thin chest heaved as he gulped back sobs. “John,” Daniel said carefully, “this isn’t about my feelings for your mother. My idea of you going away to school is entirely about my love for you. When I married your mother, I gladly took on the responsibility of raising you and your brothers. I take that responsibility very seriously. It is my duty to help you grow up to be a gentleman you’ll be proud of. A good education is a requirement for such a gentleman.”

  “But why must I go away?” John sniffed, dashing the tears away with the back of his hand. “Why can’t I stay here and get an education?”