Scandal (11 page)

"The only difference here," Charles said, "is that Blade ain't impoverished."

"I am convinced you are wrong," Emily said through her teeth. "The earl's offer will be a valid one and I am going to accept it, even if you do not give your permission, Papa. You cannot stop me."

Broderick massaged his temples. "Remember that disaster five years ago, m'dear. You cannot be wanting to go through that humiliation and heartbreak again. You pined for days."

"It is not the same," Emily cried. "The earl will marry me."

"It is the same, damn it all," Broderick shot back. "And Blade will never marry you. But by the time you figure that out, we'll all be—" He broke off abruptly.

"You'll all be what, Papa?" But a sudden realization had just struck Emily. When it came to financial matters, she was rarely blinded by romance. Her eyes widened in comprehension. "Ah, I think I am beginning to perceive the full extent of the earl's threat. He is very clever, is he not?"

"Now, Em, don't go worrying your head about the details here," Charles said quickly. "Let Father handle this." He traded a worried glance with Devlin, who was frowning darkly.

"It is not just the threat to my reputation that worries you, is it?" Emily said slowly. "After all, you've already suffered that trial once before. No, the real risk is that Blade might indeed take me away for some time. Months, perhaps. Even a year or two. And once deprived of my financial skills, all three of you would lose St. Clair Hall and everything else soon enough at the tables."

"Damme, Emily, that ain't it at all. It's you I'm worried about, girl. You're my only daughter. D'you think I want to see you ruined for a second time?" Broderick glared at her.

Emily crossed her arms under her breasts and nodded in satisfaction. "Very clever, indeed. I'll wager that without me to repair your fortunes periodically on 'Change, you three would not be able to keep this house, or your expensive bloodstock, or much else for more than a year, at most."

"That ain't true," Charles snapped. "It's you we're concerned about. Your reputation and happiness are what's important here."

"Thank you," Emily said dryly. "So kind of you."

"Now, see here, Em—" Devlin began furiously.

"Do you know," Emily mused thoughtfully, "the most interesting question here is how the earl came to understand just how crucial I am to your financial status, Papa."

"Damn good question," Broderick muttered as he poured himself another glass of claret. "Which ain't to say your brother ain't right," he added quickly. "I am concerned about you, girl. Very concerned."

"So are we," Charles assured her. "The money ain't got anything to do with it."

"I am relieved to hear that," Emily murmured. "So nice to know one's family cares about one." She got up and walked out of the room.

Behind her Broderick Faringdon poured himself the remainder of the claret. He and his sons sank into a gloomy silence.

• • •

Emily went straight to her sanctuary, the library. There she sat behind the big mahogany desk and stared unseeingly out into the gardens. For a long while she did not move. Then she opened a drawer and removed the beautiful box that contained the carefully bound stack of Simon's letters.

It was time to step out of the romantic haze in which she had been living for the past several days. Her father had been right about one thing: Her whole future was at stake. It was time to do some serious thinking about the problem that confronted her.

It was time, in fact, to apply the same razor sharp intelligence she normally brought to bear on financial matters to the situation in which she now found herself. Emily opened the first letter in the bundle. She had read it countless times and could have quoted it from memory.

My Dear Miss Faringdon:

I take the liberty of introducing myself through the post because it has come to my attention that you and I have some intellectual interests in common. I have heard that you have an interest in certain poems that were recently published by a bookseller named Pound. Mr. Pound was kind enough to give me your direction…

After an hour of rereading the letters and rethinking everything that had been said between herself and Simon during the past few days, Emily forced herself to confront certain inescapable conclusions.

The first conclusion was that her family was right. Simon had established a relationship with her for the sole purpose of using her to extract vengeance against her father. The entire chain of events she had been attributing to a benevolent fate now exhibited a terrible, implacable logic.

But Emily had reached a second conclusion after rereading Simon's letters. The man who had written those sensitive, intelligent notes could not be the kind of monster her father claimed he was.

The third inescapable conclusion was that she was still in love with the mysterious, golden-eyed dragon of the East.

She came from a long line of gamblers, Emily reminded herself. It was time she took a risk for the sake of her own future happiness.

Pulling a piece of foolscap toward her, she picked up her quill and penned a short note.

My Dear Sir:

I must see you immediately. Please do me the courtesy of meeting me in secret at that spot where we first discussed the difficulty of finding a rhyme for glitter. Please exercise discretion and caution and tell no one. Much is at stake.

Yrs, A Friend.

Emily frowned over the note as she folded it and rang the bell to summon a footman. She hoped the wording was vague enough not to give anything away in the event the message was intercepted. One had to be very careful when one arranged clandestine meetings.

Simon was waiting for her at the pond. Emily heaved an enormous sigh of relief when she saw the chestnut stallion loosely tethered to an elm.

The dragon came toward her through the trees, his golden eyes unwavering. Emily steeled herself.

"As you can see, I received your note, Miss Faringdon." The earl reached up to help her dismount.

"Thank you, my lord." Emily deliberately kept her voice formal and totally devoid of emotion. The heat of his hands warmed her through the fabric of her habit. She stepped back from Simon as soon as her feet touched the ground. Briskly she turned to walk toward the stream. "I will not take up much of your time. It is getting late."

"Yes, it is." He followed her, his black Hessians making no noise on the soft carpet of old leaves that blanketed the ground.

Emily sat down primly on the boulder where Simon had first kissed her and risked a quick glance up at him from under the brim of her chip straw bonnet. He did not smile. He simply braced himself with one booted foot on the boulder, rested his elbow on his knee, and waited.

This man is good at waiting, Emily realized. He had waited twenty-three years for vengeance.

"I have been speaking with my father and brothers. Several things have become clear," Emily began slowly.

"Have they indeed?"

She looked toward the stream. "I want you to understand, my lord, that I fully comprehend your reasons for this rather bizarre course of vengeance you have embarked upon. In your shoes, I would most likely have tried something just as drastic. We are not unalike in some ways."

"Your father has been quite talkative, I see."

"He has explained about what happened all those years ago. How my family acquired St. Clair Hall. And about the terrible tragedy of your father's death. You have a right to pursue revenge."

"You are very understanding, my dear."

She wondered if he was mocking her. It was impossible to tell from his cool tone. Emily drew a breath and kept going. She was committed now. "I realize that you have no real intention of extending a legitimate offer for my hand. You plan to threaten to run off with me and keep me tucked away as your mistress for a few months or so unless my father hands over St. Clair Hall. You will not doubt keep me dangling emotionally during that time by promising marriage."

"Only for a few months?"

Emily nodded. "Just long enough to ensure that my family comes to some financial disaster that is severe enough to force them to give up the great house. Without me to guide their investments and restrain their excesses the way Mama used to do, that should not take long. Especially if you arrange for them to be lured into particularly deep play at the

tables. Once you have St. Clair back you no doubt intend to send me home to my family in disgrace."

"How very Machiavellian of me."

"It is quite a brilliant plan, actually." Emily felt obliged to give credit where it was due.

"Thank you," Simon said softly. "But I assume it will all come to naught now that you have discovered my scheme?"

"Oh, no, you can still make it work. All you need is my cooperation. And you know well enough you have that, my lord."

"You are telling me that you are willing to run off and live for a time as my mistress?" He picked up a small twig and toyed with it.

Emily folded her hands together. "Yes. If that were my only option. You know my feelings for you are very deep, my lord. I would, however, prefer to marry you. I would like to live with you for the rest of my life, not just for a few months or a year."

"I see."

"I know marriage was not your initial intent but I would like you to consider certain aspects of this matter that may not have occurred to you."

Simon did not respond to that for several seconds. And then the twig snapped in his fingers. "What aspects?"

She did not look at him. "I realize I am not precisely what a man of your position would wish for in a wife. I have no looks or position to speak of and you cannot have any affection for any Faringdon at the moment. And then, of course, there is the Unfortunate Incident in my past. But I feel I can make up for my deficiencies in several ways."

"Miss Faringdon, you never cease to amaze me. I cannot wait to hear the rest of this."

"I am very serious, my lord. First, I would like to point out that if you marry me, you will have achieved your goal of vengeance just as surely as if you had merely run off with me. You will have made my family financially dependent on you. They would only have access to my investment skills by applying to you for permission to consult me. Would that not be a suitable sort of revenge?"

"An interesting notion."

"You can keep all the Faringdons dangling on your financial puppet strings forever."

Simon looked thoughtful. "That is true."

Emily bit her lip anxiously. "Please consider something else, my lord. I think you will find that I will make you an excellent wife. I understand you, you see. I feel I know you very well through your letters. We have a great deal in common intellectually. We will have a certain conversational rapport that most couples never achieve."

"In short, you will not bore me over dinner, is that it?"

"I am certain we shall find much of mutual interest to discuss through the years. Surely that sort of companionship would be very rewarding to a man of your intellectual nature?"

"You are proposing that our relationship continue on the higher plane that characterized it in the beginning? You foresee our union as an intellectual association of two like-minded people?"

"Yes, precisely," Emily said, gaining enthusiasm as she saw he was paying close attention. "My lord, I fully comprehend now that you are not in love with me. Knowing that, I also realize you will not welcome any excesses of romantic passion on my part and I assure you I will not press for any from you."

"Miss Faringdon, you shock me."

"And you mock me," she retorted, stung.

"Not at all. I merely wonder what led you to conclude that I would not welcome any excesses of passion from you."

She looked down at her clasped hands, her face burning. "A detailed analysis of last night's events in the library, my lord."

"What about last night?"

She stifled a small sigh. "I thought at the time that you refused my offer of an illicit affair because you were being quite noble and gallant. I assumed you halted your lovemaking because you could not bring yourself to take advantage of a woman you cared about, even if she already had a sordid past."

"In other words, you assumed I was behaving like the gentleman I claim to be?"

She nodded quickly. "Yes. I realize now that you rejected my quite shameless offer because you are not in love with me."

"I see."

"And as you were not planning to actually marry me and were very unlikely to be forced into running off with me because my father is certain to give in to your demands, there was no real need to pretend to a passion you did not feel. Actually, under the circumstances you did behave like a gentleman." She frowned thoughtfully. "That is to say, as a gentleman plotting revenge might behave. I believe you are innately noble and generous, Blade."

"Now you flatter me."

"My lord, let me finish this business. I will summarize the advantages involved in marrying me. You will have achieved your goal of having a most excellent revenge against my family. You will be acquiring a wife with whom you can communicate on a higher plane. You will have a guarantee that I will not pester you with my ungoverned romantic passions. And there is one more thing."