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  Now Darius’ eyes flashed to Lily and Garrick across the room. “You make us sound like piranha, Priss. What do we care about Blackmoor’s funds? She’s a pretty girl to be sure, but you can’t mean to leg shackle one of us to her? We barely know her.”

  Prisca rolled her eyes. Not very ladylike, but the two fellows were her brothers. “Well, why not you? Lily will marry someone. She’s pretty and kind, and I might enjoy being the relation of a duke, even distantly.”

  “Indeed?” Darius grinned. “Is that why you and Will…” But his voice trailed off when her glower darkened dangerously.

  “I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about,” she bit out.

  He looked at once like a remorseful little boy. “Sorry, Priss, I didn’t mean…”

  She shook her head. “William Westfield means nothing to me. In fact, as Lily is hunting for her husband, I think I shall hunt for mine.” She pretended to ignore the twin looks of surprise her brothers exchanged. Then she feigned an innocent frown, reeling them completely in. “I do hope there will be several eligible bachelors there this evening.”

  Emory proudly thrust his chest out. “If you are serious, Prisca, I can personally guarantee a full house.”

  She graced him with a most charming smile. “Well, I should have choices, and so should Lily—especially if none of you are interested in scooping her up.”

  As predicted, both of her brothers’ eyes flashed back to her friend, now alone, as she stared out the window. They really were too easy to manipulate.

  Simon was more anxious than he could ever remember being before. It had been two days since he’d seen Lily. Two days without her melodic laugh. Two days without her smile, her scent, her twinkling hazel eyes focused on him.

  This blasted ball at the assembly room couldn’t happen soon enough to satisfy him. He rushed Parker through the chore of readying him for the event and was pacing the floor of his parlor two hours earlier than necessary.

  Will peeked inside the room, grinning ear to ear. “Ready, are you?”

  His blasted brother wasn’t even dressed to go. “Why aren’t you?”

  “It’s hardly time,” Will responded, dropping onto a light blue settee. “Relax.”

  “Get dressed,” Simon ordered.

  Will simply chuckled. “For God’s sake, Simon, you’re wound more tightly than a child’s top. Have a drink or something to calm your nerves.”

  Simon glowered at him. “You could just meet me there.”

  “Or I could stay away completely,” his brother suggested with a grin.

  “That’s a fabulous idea,” Simon replied, starting for the door. Then he threw over his shoulder, “I wish you’d declined the invitation to begin with. I’d much rather have Lily here tonight.”

  “You are a man besotted.”

  “Just anxious. I want to discuss a proposition with her.”

  “A proposition?” Will echoed. “Down on one knee and the whole bit?”

  Simon stopped short. Marriage. He wished it could be that. It wasn’t even safe to keep her in Hampshire, but to live with him day in and day out, to be his wife… He couldn’t put her in that sort of danger. If anything ever happened to her, he’d never forgive himself. “I didn’t say ‘proposal.’”

  Will’s blue eyes seemed to stare right into him. “You’re making a mistake.”

  “You keep saying that, and I have yet to ask for your advice.” Simon quit the room and headed out of the house.

  He stepped lightly down the steps, anxious to be inside the coach, on his way to Lily.

  “Your Grace.” His coachman bowed, then opened the door of his carriage.

  “Langley Downs,” Simon instructed him.

  He had a good twenty minutes before he reached the Hawthornes’ estate, and he leaned his head back against the squabs, closing his eyes. Lily hadn’t made any comments about wanting to marry him, just that she didn’t want him to send her away. Everything would be fine, if he could just see her again.

  When he arrived at Langley Downs, Simon nearly bowled the old butler over on his way inside. “Y-your Grace,” the man stuttered, righting himself.

  “I’d like to see Miss Rutledge,” Simon announced.

  The butler shook his head. “Miss Rutledge and Miss Hawthorne are preparing for the ball. Would you like to wait for them in the parlor?”

  He’d like to stomp right up the Hawthornes’ stairs, knock down Prisca’s door, and throw Lily over his shoulder… Though he didn’t really have a choice. “The parlor?”

  The Hawthornes’ butler nodded. “We have a full house today, Your Grace.”

  “Indeed?” Simon soon found himself at the threshold of Langley Downs’ yellow parlor. One, two, three, four… Every Hawthorne brother was in attendance, save one. “Where’s Blaine?” he asked in way of greeting.

  Emory looked up from his perusal of The Times. “Still at Cambridge. How are you, Simon?” He stood, crossed the room, and offered his hand, which Simon clasped.

  Every other Hawthorne brother offered his welcome and then went back to his previous activity. Garrick and Pierce returned to their game of chess, and Darius focused his attention on a piece of foolscap.

  “Brandy?” Emory asked him, as he headed for a decanter.

  Simon nodded. What were they all doing here? Emory was generally the only one in residence. “What brought everyone home?”

  Emory handed him a tumbler and shrugged. “Prisca, it seems, is intent on finding a husband for your Miss Rutledge, and she thought to start with us.”

  Simon nearly broke the glass in his hands. He had to rein in his control to keep from doing so. “She what?”

  Emory smiled. “Did you really bestow a grotesquely large dowry on the chit? That doesn’t seem like you.”

  They’d never discussed amounts. Although Lily said she wouldn’t accept even a farthing from him. Simon’s vision got bleary. Lily wouldn’t do this. How many times had she told him she wanted to stay?

  “You all right, Blackmoor?” Emory asked, concern in his voice.

  Simon nodded. “I’m, uh, just surprised she told anyone, is all.” Why would she have told Prisca Hawthorne, of all people? He would strangle any Hawthorne brother who thought he could take Lily from him.

  “So it is true?”

  “I said it, yes.” Could he take it back? March up the stairs and demand she forget any man except him? That idea had promise. “I would like to see Miss Rutledge.”

  Emory smirked. “Good luck with that. Prisca said they’ll be down when they’re ready and not a moment before.”

  Sixteen

  SIMON’S BREATH WHOOSHED FROM HIS LUNGS. DEAR God! Was that Lily?

  Lily wore an exquisite green gown that accentuated curves she generally kept hidden. Her pretty auburn locks were loosely piled on her head, adorned with tiny gold roses. Though she was gorgeous, Simon wanted nothing better than to strip her bare and remove every blasted rose.

  When she saw him, her face lit up, and Simon couldn’t help but grin like a fool.

  “Simon,” she whispered.

  He was before her in less than a heartbeat. Two days without her was too long. “Lily.”

  She blushed, and he felt his heart expand. Was there a way to forgo this stupid ball?

  “I wish there was a way I could speak with you privately, Lily,” Simon said quietly as he looked at her. He wanted to offer his plan to her before the ball, so he could get this unbearable burden lifted from his chest. Simon glanced around. There wasn’t a quiet corner available, anywhere. “Might we take a walk in the garden?” Simon held out his arm to her. Her smile warmed his heart.

  “I’m not sure that would be quite proper,” Lily hedged, throwing a glance at Prisca and raising a questioning eyebrow.

  “Of course you can take a walk in the garden together. The man is giving you a dowry so you can find a husband. I feel certain he has no designs upon your person,” Prisca responded. Her violet eyes twinkled.

  Sim
on tugged Lily’s hand until they were out of the manor and alone on the garden path. The scent of roses hung in the air. But nothing smelled as delectable as she did. “I’ve missed you,” he said as he pulled her gently beneath the arbor and wrapped his arms around her.

  “Really?” she asked quietly.

  Simon gently and tenderly touched his lips to hers. Despite the waning of the moon, he was fully and completely in control of the beast. Where he could not have been gentle with her yesterday, he could be today.

  She immediately softened in his arms and pressed her length against his. He fought back a groan as he set her away from him. He needed to tell her of his plan.

  “I think I have come up with a solution to our problems, Lily.”

  “You plan to send Oliver back home with me after all?” Her face lit with hope.

  Simon winced. “No. That’s not something I can offer you. I need for him to be with me. It’s complicated, and it’s something I can’t explain.”

  “Yet you expect me to accept it with grace?” she asked, her eyebrows drawing together in a frown.

  “I think the solution I want to propose to you will make you very happy.” He took both her hands in his and held them close to his heart.

  “You want to be close to Oliver,” he started. She nodded.

  “I want to be close to you,” he continued.

  She smiled.

  “I cannot offer you marriage because of my… lifestyle.” She frowned. Oh, this was going poorly.

  “Your lifestyle, Simon?”

  “Yes. I need to maintain the lifestyle to which I’m accustomed.” He held tighter to her fingers when she tried to jerk them from his grasp.

  He took one large breath of air and said, all at once, “I want to set you up in a small house nearby so that I can see you when I’m available and you can see Oliver as often as you like because you would be nearby.”

  “What?” she asked.

  Oh, he really didn’t want to repeat it. It was hard enough to say the first time. “What part did you miss?”

  She finally succeeded in tugging her hands from his grasp and backed away from him warily. Then she began to pace.

  “Let me be sure I understand you, Simon. You want to make me your mistress?” Her eyes flashed. Her face reddened.

  This was not going well at all.

  “No.” He took a step toward her. “Not a mistress. Not really,” he added.

  “Simon, you want to put me in a house.” She began to tick items off with her fingers. “Pay my bills, I assume?” She arched her eyebrows in question.

  He nodded. “Of course.”

  She ticked a third finger. “Let me see Oliver when I wish.”

  “Within certain boundaries, yes.”

  “And you and I would have relations of a sort.” She added another finger.

  He groaned, lust immediately encompassing his brain, and took a step toward her. “Of course.”

  She stepped back.

  “That, Simon, is a mistress. And do you know what I’ll do? I believe I will take you up on your offer.”

  He smiled and reached for her.

  “Your offer to provide me with a dowry, that is. So that I can find a husband.” Her voice grew louder and louder. “You will honor the offer you made to me of a dowry.” She shook her finger at him. “You will honor that offer, and I will accept. Because I will not be any man’s mistress, not even yours.”

  She stomped past him, her green dress lifting in her wake. He chased after her, but she slammed the door in his face. By the time he caught her, she was ten steps from the parlor. She stepped around Will, who had finally arrived, without sparing Simon more than a glance.

  He watched as she approached the Hawthorne men and said, “Gentlemen, I believe we have a ball to attend.” Her smile was radiant. She was completely composed. Then she added, “Because I need to find a husband.” She laughed, a beautiful sound that was the most painful noise he’d ever heard.

  Will bumped his shoulder with his own. “Told you it was a really bad idea.”

  Simon wanted to roar. He wanted to shout.

  Will continued softly, “One of these days, you will learn that younger brothers do know a thing or two about some subjects.”

  “I still have yet to ask your advice,” Simon rumbled as he watched Lily take Emory’s arm and head for a Hawthorne coach.

  “Perfect,” Will added, as two of their childhood friends ambled their way. “We get Darius and Pierce. It’s been an age.”

  “So nice of you to escort us,” Darius teased as he reached the ducal coach.

  “Flattered,” Pierce agreed.

  Lily tried her best to keep from crying. Prisca’s tight grip on her hand and stoic expression did help. She hoped that neither Sir Herbert nor his sons asked anything of her, as she paid no attention at all to the conversation in the Hawthorne coach.

  By the time they arrived at the local assembly room, the sun had begun to set, as did Lily’s hope for the future. Mistress. How could he think she would agree to such a thing? Her cheeks warmed. She had acted like a wanton with him, though that was no excuse.

  The coach rambled to a stop. If she never laid eyes on Simon Westfield again—

  The coach door opened, and Simon stuck his head inside. “Lily.”

  She gritted her teeth. There was no way to graciously refuse his hand.

  Prisca put her hand in Simon’s. “Oh, Your Grace, thank you. That was such a trying ride. I do need a breath of fresh air.”

  Simon glared at Prisca but helped her from the coach, leaving Lily to accept Will’s outstretched arm. She’d never been so grateful to see someone… Well, there were other times she’d been more grateful, but she pushed those from her mind.

  Will led her inside a large Georgian building nearly overflowing with men of all shapes and sizes. “Don’t be too hard on him,” Will said softly.

  Lily’s eyes flashed to his. “You have no idea what he asked of me.”

  “I have a fairly good guess. I know how his mind works.”

  Lily ignored that last bit and looked around her. The assembly room wasn’t terribly large, and there was very little room to move about. “I never attend balls,” she admitted. “But I’d always heard there were very few gentlemen to go around.” That was certainly not the case here. At least two men for every female in attendance.

  Will heaved a sigh. “I’d imagine your new dearest friend had a hand in it.”

  Lily glanced in front of them to see Prisca admiring the turnout with a glow in her eyes. How had she managed this? Lily was in awe. “Well, she did say she intended to hunt for her own husband here.”

  Will stopped in his tracks, an instant grimace appeared on his face. “She said what?”

  Lily looked up at Will. Something did seem to be going on between the two of them. “What is the history between the two of you?” she asked.

  He simply shrugged. “She wants more than I could ever give her.” He looked away nervously, as though she might uncover some deep, dark secret if he actually met her eyes.

  “That seems to be a theme amongst the Westfield men.”

  “You don’t understand—” Will started.

  But she cut him off with a cutting glance. “It seems as though I’ve heard that once tonight already, doesn’t it? Pardon me, but I didn’t believe it then, and I don’t believe it now.”

  Seventeen

  PRISCA TOOK IT UPON HERSELF TO ACT AS LILY’S matchmaker for the night, arranging introductions, filling her dance card, and keeping Blackmoor at bay. She made certain Lily never missed a dance, even if she had to prod her brothers to fill the space. Prisca was delighted to see Lily embrace all the attention lavished upon her and accept all the invitations. By all appearances, Lily was having a grand time, though Prisca knew that the poor dear’s heart was breaking.

  Having dealt with a Westfield man of her very own, she had a good idea of what Lily was going through. She had to admit she felt a certain sens
e of satisfaction as she watched Simon pouting among the fronds of the plants that hugged the outer edges of the ballroom.

  His eyes never left Lily, and every time the dance changed, Simon made to approach her. But someone else always got there first, sweeping her back onto the dance floor. He became more and more surly as the night went on, barking at anyone who dared to speak to him.

  Prisca watched as Mrs. Bostic, the local vicar’s wife, made her way across the ballroom. She was approaching Simon of all people? Then inspiration struck. Prisca knew how to solve this problem for Lily.

  She edged around the ballroom until she stood near Simon. But he disregarded her presence, as though she was inconsequential. She would show him inconsequential.

  “Mrs. Bostic,” Prisca called to the woman. She turned and walked toward Prisca, her hands outstretched. “How wonderful it is to see you.”

  The woman returned the greeting. “Quite a lovely event, isn’t it? Such a turnout,” she remarked absently as she turned to stand between Prisca and Simon.

  “Oh, it’s indeed lovely,” Prisca smiled. “It looks as though my new friend Miss Rutledge is having a grand time.” She pointed to the dance floor. She smiled as she noticed the slight tilt of Simon’s head as he heard Lily’s name.

  “Who is the gel, Miss Hawthorne? I don’t believe we have met.” She tapped her fan against her hand, searching her memory.

  “Miss Rutledge has been staying at Westfield Hall. Her nephew, the Earl of Maberley, is the duke’s ward. She brought him for a visit.” Simon stepped closer, almost imperceptibly, but not quite.

  “She has certainly captured everyone’s attention, hasn’t she?”

  Prisca nodded. “Indeed, I know His Grace is awfully fond of her.”

  This made the older woman frown, and Prisca had to bite back a smile. After all, the Duke of Blackmoor was rarely fond of respectable girls. “Is her chaperone here?” Mrs. Bostic asked. “I should like to introduce myself.”

  Prisca forced herself to laugh delicately. “She doesn’t have a chaperone, Mrs. Bostic. She came here this evening with my brothers and me.”