The Bridal Contract (Darrington family Book 3) (6 page)

“I did.” Shame warmed the back of his neck. “I cannot explain my confusion.” Something had happened to him while he’d read the story book to the girl. She’d sat so trustingly in his lap and didn’t squeak or protest when he’d had to put his arms around her in order to steady her and turn the pages. He’d felt a wealth of protection surge through him and indeed, responsibility. She didn’t have anyone in her life and her own mother had given her up. Shouldn’t someone who had the means care for her?

“I see.” His brother squatted next to Daniela. “And what’s your name, pretty girl?” His voice had taken on a soft, gentle quality Oliver had never heard before. Here was the new Earl of Swandon talking to a bastard child not related to him by blood as if it were an everyday occurrence.

Oliver’s awe of his sibling ratcheted up a notch.

She peeked at Felix over the top of her doll’s curly, blonde head. “Daniela.” Then she pointed at Oliver. “That’s Oliver. He reads stories.”

“Does he, now?” Felix patted her head as he stood. “Well, then, I’m Oliver’s brother. You may call me Uncle.”

“I take it from that invitation you mean to see me keep her?” Oliver asked while his brother resumed his abandoned seat.

“I won’t say the situation isn’t amusing, because it is. Better you than me, actually.” A grin spread across his face. “However, I think having a child around the family will be a good thing. Perhaps it will shut Mother up for a while. After all, you’d be handing her a ready-made grandchild.” He snickered. “Please say you’ll come up to London and show the girl off.”

“I don’t see how London would be good for a girl so young.” He crossed his arms over his chest. What business was it of Felix’s to be so interested in his life?

His brother snorted. “Oh ho! Going into the boughs, are we?” He chuckled. “At the very least, Charlotte would adore the girl. She’d pamper the puss and adorn her with every bauble and ribbon she could find.”

Warmth spread through Oliver’s chest at the mention of his favorite sister. “Dear God, how is Charlotte these days? I had a letter from her, waiting for me upon arrival, saying she’d taken up with a marquess. Is that true?”

“It is.” If possible, Felix’s grin widened. “Ravenhurst to be exact. They wed not a month past. Came back to London from his country estate recently as he takes his duties to Parliament seriously, though Charlotte will insist she means to get him back alone at the first opportunity.” He shook his head. “I’ve never seen her so happy, so radiant, but, Lord how she bosses the poor man.”

Ravenhurst. Oliver searched the depths of his memory. “I’m surprised by that. Doesn’t Ravenhurst possess the temper of a bear and isn’t he a bit of a hermit?” Of course, he’d have duties to Parliament, so how did the man balance both? He’d hate for his sister to have landed into a dangerous marriage. A wash of sadness encompassed him. There was yet another sibling wedding he’d missed because he’d been too busy sailing and fueling his own pursuits. Perhaps he did need to be grounded. Those times wouldn’t repeat themselves, and he’d never forgive himself if he missed another momentous occasion.

“He does, but our girl can stand up to him no matter what he throws at her. They’re a great match, and another that Mother didn’t put together.” Felix gave a guffaw that made Daniela start and clutch her doll tighter. “Really, adding your little drama will send Mother right over. Say that you’ll consider it.”

“Quite frankly, I don’t see how any of this is entertaining.” Oliver frowned. The last person he wanted to introduce Daniela to was his managing mother.

“Oh, but it is, brother. Despite her arrival and birth, I think having the child under your roof will do you an enormous amount of good. It’s high time you put an end to your carefree days of roaming the earth as if you didn’t have responsibilities. She’ll make you grounded.”

He rolled his eyes against the lecture and slightly pompous tone. Since when had his brother wanted everyone in his life to settle down? “That is the stumbling block, for I do still intend to sail once the repairs are complete.” Yet, he knew in his heart he wouldn’t be able to foist Daniela off on an orphanage, nor would he leave her here to languish with a pair of elderly retainers.

“That is a problem.” Felix rested an ankle on a knee. “And here I thought it was the height of scandal to marry a kitchen maid.”

“Clarice, is that her name, is hardly that.” From the pieces of story he’d put together regarding Felix’s courtship and wooing of his bride, his brother had played quite the hero, rescuing her from the clutches of a grasping woman who’d ordered her kidnapping.

“Yes, well, this is true. The granddaughter of a French
comte
is nothing to sneeze at.” His smile was complacent.

“I’m sorry I missed the wedding.” He’d been in Madrid at the time as he’d hankered to tour the city. “Had I known of it sooner—”

“You still wouldn’t have returned home,” Felix interrupted. He brushed at a piece of lint on his sapphire tail coat. “Which brings me to my mission.”

“You’re here because of Mother’s summons.” Oliver couldn’t help the dull tone in his voice. Really, their parent’s demands were obnoxious at best.

“I am. She says she refuses to pen one more letter. If you don’t come up to London soon, she’ll arrive down here. I’m sure no one wants that.” Felix leaned forward. His expression turned serious. “Despite Mother’s bothersome qualities, she only wants to see us happy.”

“I
am
happy.” He refused to be coerced, even by his brother.

“Are you? Sure, I see longing and wanderlust in your eyes, but sooner or later a man needs to realize being alone isn’t that grand a thing.”

“Just because you are happily married doesn’t mean I would be.” Oliver thought again of Maria, and he shuddered. “I refuse to be saddled with an impractical woman, for I won’t give up the sea.”

“Oh, you are a stubborn one.” Felix leaned back. “You get that from Father. That man could hold out against a decision longer than anyone I knew. He vexed Mother to no end at times.”

Oliver grinned. He’d never been told that before. “Good to hear.”

“What we need is a plan that will mollify Mother temporarily. Once her attention wanes due to other… announcements let’s say, she’ll leave you alone and you can return to your life.” Felix stared at him, and Oliver could almost see the thoughts forming in his brain. “I’ve got it!” His brother leaped to his feet. “Why don’t you pick a woman, any bit of fluff from Brighton would do, then speedily woo her enough in order to strike a contract for a specified time period?”

“What sort of contract?” He didn’t trust that twinkle in his brother’s eye by half.

“A bridal contract, of course.”

“For what purpose? Again, I told you I have no plans to be married at the present time.” Oliver shifted in his seat. This had disaster written all over it.

“Of course you don’t, but Mother doesn’t know that.” Felix paced with his hands clasped behind his back. After a few moments, Daniela imitated his actions, and soon he had a tiny, dark-haired shadow following him back and forth across the floor.

Oliver’s frown deepened. How was it that Felix had charmed the girl so quickly when he’d had to work for days to earn her trust?

“Listen, there are plenty of desperate women out there who need funding for whatever reason. Perhaps a few of them are merely looking for a lark to pass the time. Why not offer one a lump sum? Pick a female who is so completely wrong for you that Mother will voice concerns and objections, which she’ll do anyway. At the end of a month, say, you’ll pay the woman off, fabricate an excuse to Mother why you and the woman didn’t suit then you’ll part ways with her and no one the wiser.”

What the devil sort of plan was that? Oliver shook his head. “Desperate women are the most dangerous. What happens if she wants more out of this contract period than the farce?”

“Then make certain you select a woman who doesn’t wish to be wed as well.”

His frown grew into a scowl. Didn’t all women desire to marry? The plan sounded more like a trap. “What of Daniela? For the moment, until I decide what will happen to her permanently, what do you propose I do with her?”

“Nothing.” Felix abruptly swiveled around, surprising the girl. He picked her up, threw her into the air, then catching her as deftly as if he had worlds of experience with young children. Daniela’s delighted giggles rang through the air. “She’s part of your life at the moment. Whomever you choose will have to accept that and her. But the addition of this little poppet can also be played into the plan. It’s all a part of annoying Mother enough that she’ll leave you be.”

“Again!” Daniela demanded.

Felix obliged the child. Oliver envied him the ability to interact as he did. “That’s enough, sweeting,” he said as he returned her to the floor. “If you want your freedom, this is the best way of any to achieve it. At the end of the month, Mother will be so out of sorts from the potential scandal you’re bringing upon the family name, she’ll be only too glad to let you back on your ship. She’ll practically beg you to leave the country for a while.” He regained his seat. “What do you say?”

“Will you help perpetuate how bad the woman would be for me?” The last thing Oliver wanted was to remain stuck in a false engagement.

“I will.”

“How do I skirt the very real possibility that I might inadvertently compromise said woman?” When Daniela approached him, with the doll clutched tight under her arm, he drew her to his side. Pleasure snaked through him when she didn’t dance away, but instead, leaned on his leg.

Felix attempted to quell a grin but failed. “Don’t put yourself into a position that’ll you’ll truly need to come up to scratch. The trick is to choose a woman you’d never find yourself attracted to.”

“I see.” Not to mention the fact he didn’t know any eligible women in Brighton to begin with. Perhaps he should accept those dinner invitations after all.
Bugger it.

Daniela patted his leg. “Where is Isa?”

It was as if the heavens opened and provided his answer. What better woman to pick than one who was so completely and utterly the opposite of his usual type? “Actually, pet, I think we’ll pay Eloisa a visit later today. Would you like that?” When the girl nodded then decided to use his leg as a surrogate horse for her doll, he grinned at his brother. “I know just the one. She’s pretty enough that Mother won’t know right off it’s a ruse, but she is actually desperate for coin. She has her own familial situation and I know she won’t refuse the offer.”

No one was as wrong of a match for him as his prim and prissy next door neighbor.

Chapter Five

Eloisa wanted nothing more than to strangle the overbearing and overweight Lord Everly then finish off the morning by throttling her wimpy brother, but she did neither. She sat composed on a settee in the parlor. With her hands clenched tightly in her lap, Helen sat next to her while Charles occupied the settee opposite. The corpulent lord had propped himself by the window, and unfortunately, the morning sun did nothing to soften his chin rolls.

“Charles, surely you can understand how ridiculous this plan is,” she attempted to reason with her sibling yet again. “Helen is too young to be tossed into Lord Everly’s lap merely to pay off your gambling debts. How vulgar this whole business is.”

“I could have married her off well before, you know,” he reminded her.

“Yet you didn’t, so why now, and to
him
?”

“Enough, Eloisa. Don’t insult him,” Charles begged. He darted a fearful look at the lord, whose maroon waistcoat strained over his bulging midsection. “You have no idea just how far gone I went at the tables last month,” he explained in a hushed voice. “If Everly hadn’t intervened and covered my debt…”

She shook her head. “I don’t want to hear your maudlin tale again.” Perhaps a throttling was too good for him. He needed a right good slap across the face to wake him up from the destruction of his life. “You never learn and you never listen. At this rate, you’ll bankrupt us all and then what?”

“You don’t understand.” Desperation lined his face. “I have no choice.”

“Oh, posh. Everyone has a choice. Why can you not sell the London town house and pay Lord Everly off with the proceeds?”

“I…” Charles slanted his gaze away.

A horrid thought occurred to her. It tightened her stomach. “Dear heavens, you don’t own the property in London any longer, do you? That’s the real reason we had to remove to Brighton, not for your wife’s health.”

Beside her, Helen gasped. “Oh no!”

Everything made sense now. The hasty departure from London to Brighton. Doddering Aunt Beatrice having been pressed upon to do the accounts instead of making use of the man of business Charles usually used. The refusal of her sister-in-law to entertain lest the gossips glean information about their reduced situation. The knowledge she and Helen were not to order dresses, gowns, or hats this year and that he’d revisit the feasibility of such at the time of the Little Season, not that they usually partook of London’s social scene anyway.

She stared at her brother as the truth dawned. “What did you do?” She barely managed to force the question out from through clenched teeth.

High color blazed in Charles’ cheeks. “I’m so sorry.”

“What happened?” Now that the truth was out, Eloisa wanted all of it. She clutched Helen’s hand. “Now, if you please.”

He fixed his gaze to the rather shabby carpet. “Three months ago I lost my purse in my last game of cards for the night. I’d been drinking and wasn’t thinking clearly, but I’d honestly thought I’d had a good hand. I couldn’t tell Cecilia what I’d done. She’d already warned me about my habits.”

“Go on.” She wouldn’t give him quarter.

“I thought I could win it all back with no one the wiser.” Charles rallied and his voice grew stronger. “I snuck back to White’s after everyone went to bed. I wagered it all—the property, most of what I had in the bank, some of Cecilia’s family jewelry. All I needed was one great hand. And I had that.”

“Fool. No one is that lucky when they’re pockets are already to let.” She frowned. “You lost, and I’m assuming to him?” She gestured with her thumb to Lord Everly.

“Not right away. I was actually winning.” A ghost of a smile crossed Charles’ face. “Then, he kept upping the stakes. Running scared I thought, but then I couldn’t match the raises, and I…” He shoved a hand through his thinning blond hair. “I put Helen on the altar.”

“And Lord Everly had the better hand.” Of course he did. Charles wasn’t the expert at any of the games he thought he was. “I honestly thought better of you.”

At that moment, Everly waddled over. “The lure of the gaming tables doesn’t discriminate, Miss Hawthorne.” He grinned, and his two chins quivered. “Now, I’ll advise you not to meddle in affairs you don’t understand.”

“How can you say that?” She shot to her feet, anger heating her insides. “I will fight with my dying breath to keep my sister out of your clutches.”

When the lord laughed, his belly jiggled. “How very Gothic of you, my dear.” The sunlight made his nearly bald scalp gleam as pink as a baby rat. “You should be glad for your sister’s future. She’ll have elevated status, will be a lady and have everything she’s ever wanted. She’ll be the toast of London for her beauty and status.”

“At what cost?” Eloisa asked softly. She’d no idea their coffers were as empty as they were. No way would this man accept a plea or a promise for Helen’s freedom.

“Well, the cost to me is high, but at least I won’t send Charles to the poorhouse or debtor’s prison, and neither will you have to become someone’s poor relation.” Lord Everly’s chuckle echoed in the silent room. “Your sister will bear sons, hopefully, and I’ll install her in the country, where she won’t be able to cause many ripples in my life in London. She’ll be the envy of rural life and will run the estate as she pleases.”

Sour bile hit the back of Eloisa’s throat. Helen squeezed her hand tightly. “What would it take for you to void the bargain?”

Both Everly and Charles looked at her as if she’d grown a second head. “Obviously, pay me every farthing your brother owes,” the lord rejoined. “There really isn’t anything else. I’m a man of some discernment, Miss Hawthorne. It’s my responsibility as an upstanding member of the
ton
to uphold the dignity and distinction that separates the titled from the not. Some men need to understand there are consequences to their actions.” His voice went hard. “I expect the wedding will be planned straightaway.” His chuckle sounded like ominous thunder. “Nuptials in a month’s time and no need for a special license. No exceptions.” He swept the room with his beady-eyed gaze then rested them on Helen. “I’ll be in touch.”

“I cannot believe this is happening to me!” Helen burst into noisy tears then left the room from a different door than Lord Everly had used.

“Well, that’s a fine turn of events.” Eloisa turned to her brother, but he hung his head. “You are nothing but a coward, Charles. A dismal coward, that’s what. Allowing your baby sister to be married off to that pig of a man and you watch like you’ve got no sense.” She shook her head. “I’m going upstairs to think upon this more. You may have abandoned Helen, but I shall not.” With a quivering chin and tears stinging her eyes, she marched upstairs and didn’t allow a collapse until she was hidden behind her closed door.

A scratching at her bedroom door came accompanied with a discreet throat clearing. “Miss, Viscount Tralsburg is in the parlor,” her housekeeper announced in a puzzled voice. “He claims he’s here on a matter of some import.” Since Charles’ reduced circumstances meant staff cutbacks, the housekeeper had to serve in the butler’s capacity at times.

As she sat up in bed, Eloisa rubbed her eyes. A headache pounded slightly in her forehead, and she still hadn’t a blessed clue how to solve Helen’s problem. That horrible meeting with Lord Everly had happened hours ago, but nothing she thought of could be considered as a solution. If only Peter had still been alive. He’d know exactly what to do. Alas, she’d need to figure it out herself. She looked at the tall, thin woman who hovered in the doorway. “Thank you, Gladys. Tell him I’ll be down directly.”

“Very well, miss. And…” The woman lowered her voice even more. “He’s brought a child with him.”

As if this was a development worse than appearing naked at the door.

Despite the miserable cloud that had descended, Eloisa smiled. “Thank you for the warning.” Her mood lifted slightly to know Daniela was with Oliver. Perhaps the child could take her mind off her current circumstances, and if she laughed, all the better.

Once the housekeeper left her alone, Eloisa rose from bed, smoothed the wrinkles from her moss green day gown as best she could, patted her hair back into its bun then left the room. Just before descending the stairs, she pinched her cheeks to prompt color into them but still felt she looked a fright after her crying earlier. A sigh escaped.
How silly of me.
It didn’t matter. This was merely a polite call from a neighbor. Nothing earth shattering and she didn’t need to look her best.

By the time she entered the parlor, her headache kept time to her footfalls and the sadness she carried for Peter had intensified. There were times in a woman’s life when all she wanted was to be held by a man, kept safe in his arms and be told everything would work out right in the end—even if it wouldn’t. As she stifled the urge to cry, she shoved thoughts of him away. Now wasn’t the time for maudlin memories or chasing what-ifs. He was gone and there would never be another like him.

When her gaze landed on Oliver, sitting stiffly on the faded pink, crushed velvet settee with Daniela prim and proper beside him in a lace-trimmed, navy dress, the cloudy thoughts scattered.
How domestically adorable!
“I assume that since you’re here with Daniela, you and she have called a truce?” she asked as she swept over the shabby Oriental rug. Did he notice their furnishings weren’t new or even stylish anymore, thanks to Charles and his abominable handling of his coin? Immediately, the girl squirmed off the furniture then ran to her.

“Isa!” She wrapped her arms around Eloisa’s leg.

What a darling nickname.
“Hello, poppet. How are you?” Eloisa smiled at the welcome. There simply wasn’t anything better than being greeted with enthusiasm from a child. The problem of having promised Peter her life was the fact she’d never have a child of her own, never collect small moments such as this. As her heart twisted with grief, she did her level best to mask her pain. No need for the viscount to question her about that too.

“I want to play.” She pointed to a doll, previously hidden by her skirting, that remained behind on the settee. “Do you?”

“Perhaps later. First, I’d like to find out why you and Oliver are here.” She glanced across to the viscount, who’d stood with an expression that bespoke mischief and devilish entertainment. Her stomach trembled. “What happened?”

“Calm yourself. Nothing untoward has occurred,” Oliver stated as he came forward. “Come and sit with me a moment. I believe I have the answer to your sister’s unfortunate problem. At the same time you can help me.”