Marrying Mischief Read online

  “The instant I made a profit in trade that did not apply to my father’s business, I placed you in my will, Emily. So, as your next of kin, your family would inherit what I would leave to you.”

  “Why?” she demanded. “Why on earth would you do such a thing? Guilt?”

  Certainly, it was guilt, she reminded herself. Only guilt. He had all but seduced a young girl with pretty words, gifts and kisses, then left her the very next day without any explanation, and had stayed away. He had never had any intention of returning to her. A pity it had taken her years to realize that fact. He was no man at all if he felt no remorse for the pain he had caused her.

  “Guilt, of course,” he admitted curtly. He released her hand and got to his feet. The stranger who called himself Nicholas was back. “If you are recovered enough that I may leave you alone, I will go and see to your accommodations. Please remain in this room. We are keeping everyone as isolated as is humanly possible.” He snapped a perfunctory bow, turned on his heel and left the room.

  Emily sat up, leaned forward and hugged herself, trying to dispel some of the horror she was feeling. A thousand questions occurred to her the instant he was gone. What were the symptoms? How long did it last? How many recovered? She looked around her. Books. There would be answers here somewhere.

  Quickly she scrambled off the settee and began examining the titles. She picked a Materia Medica off a shelf at eye level. There was a paper inserted, already marking the section referring to the cholera. Nicholas’s doing, she knew. He would have had the same thought as she.

  Emily carried the tome back to where she had been sitting, opened it and began to read. There was precious little to learn there, however. Speculation, mostly. Remedies that worked for one, killed another. The cause of the disease’s spontaneous occurrence, or how it traveled one to another remained mysteries only guessed at by the learned minds who should have the answers and cures.

  Moments later, Nicholas returned. “I see you are using the time productively. Ever resourceful, aren’t you?”

  She turned a page as she looked up at him. “How long has Josh been affected?”

  “Two days out of port after we left Portugal, he came down with fever and began to behave strangely. Two others were similarly affected, all of their complaints consistent with the cholera. Josh and the two men did go ashore together and must have contracted it somewhere there in the city.”

  Emily felt the need to strike. “You allowed a young boy to carouse in a foreign port with two sailors? What sort of shipping enterprise do you conduct, sir?”

  He raised a brow and glared at her. “One of those sailors is the captain, Emily. A man whom you know and respect. I was not aboard at the time. Captain Roland had business in the city and did not think it wise to leave a young boy alone on the ship without proper supervision, so he kindly took him along.”

  “Oh,” Emily said, biting her bottom lip. “The captain has it, too?”

  “Unfortunately, but I had sailed enough to chart the course for home, so we headed here. I felt they could not be treated properly at sea.” He went on, dismissing her contrition. “I had the three, including Joshua, confined to the largest cabin. Our doctor volunteered to tend them and remain apart from the rest of the crew. We came ashore and directly here after dark three nights ago. There have been no further cases among us, so we are hopeful it has been contained.”

  “What of your staff here?” she asked, wondering why no word of this had circulated within the village.

  “I arrived alone and spoke from a distance with the gatekeeper. I simply told him that he and the others were to vacate Bournesea within the hour and hasten to the London house and remain there.”

  “And they left? Just like that?”

  “They went directly as I commanded. They might be curious, but they would never question my order or disobey me. Father trained them well in that respect.”

  Emily nodded, too disturbed over the issue of the sickness to comment upon the old earl’s iron hand with servants. “The doctor has not sickened from his contact with the men and Joshua?”

  “No, and he assures me all three are in various stages of recovery. They are incredibly lucky. Few survive it and many die within hours.”

  She heaved a sigh of relief. “I know. I’ve heard.”

  “No one understands how it is carried from person to person,” Nicholas replied in a guarded tone, “but none of us have had close contact with anyone outside the crew since they sickened. I figure another fortnight should tell the tale. If by that time, everyone remains well, we may go about our business and count ourselves extremely fortunate to have been spared.”

  “Fortunate indeed,” Emily replied thoughtfully. She laid the book aside and stood. “I will see to Josh myself.”

  “No!” he exclaimed, blocking the door as if she were planning a sudden escape. Which she supposed she was, if the truth be known. He visibly forced himself to relax and held out his hands in entreaty. “Emily, you must give it two days. I beg you. I promise if Josh continues to improve as he has thus far, you may see him then. Your contact with him was brief today. Let’s not tempt fate with another visit.”

  She understood that Nicholas had her best interest at heart. At least in this matter. “I suppose you are leaving me no choice.”

  “None, I regret to say. And I am also sorry to refuse your request to leave. But a mere two weeks of idleness should do you no harm.”

  “Little do you know,” she muttered.

  “What? What am I asking you to abandon that is so crucial? Tea with the local ladies? Walking out with some local dandy?”

  Anger suffused her. She absolutely shook with it. “How dare you judge my days of no account, you stupid man! This enforced confinement will cost me my employment so that my father must work on in your employ for who knows how much longer!” She flung herself down upon the settee and dashed the heavy book to the floor. “And there is no suitor, thanks to you!”

  He smiled, damn his eyes. “No suitor? I’m glad of it, but how did that come to be my fault? I heard that you had one and were about to wed.”

  “Well, you were sadly misinformed.” She stuck out her chin and pinned him with a glare. “After you, sir, I was put off men altogether.” Let him find humor in that, she thought with an angry huff.

  Her words effectively killed his smile. “This employment you mentioned,” he said, deliberately switching topics. “Is it something in the village? Dressmaking or the like? You plied a magic needle, as I recall.”

  She ducked her head, wishing she had not brought up the matter at all. “Governess,” she muttered, then chastised herself for her hesitation. Why should she have any qualms about making him uncomfortable? He certainly hadn’t minded her discomfort in times past.

  His expression grew sad. “Oh, Emily…”

  Disappointed, was he? Because she would be trapped in that strata between well-born and servant and accepted by neither? She knew well what she could look forward to, and thought it small price to pay for what she would gain.

  Her only goal in life at this point was to secure an income so that she could support her family. Father would not last much longer if he continued working so hard. And Josh should be at school instead of racketing around the world on a boat. Now her plans were dashed.

  Emily raised her chin and elaborated. “I was to travel to London the day after tomorrow and assume my duties immediately. That was the condition of my employment. Now Lord Vintley will accept someone in my stead.”

  “Vintley?” he asked with a dreadful frown. “That’s just as well, then. He used to visit the Worthings, where I met him and was not favorably impressed.”

  Emily pinched her lips together. But they would not hold back the words. “Lord Worthing’s daughter recommended me. I am certain she will be greatly disappointed to hear I have lost the opportunity she afforded.”

  “Dierdre,” he said with deadly calm.

  “Just so. Your intended.”
/>   “She is not my intended.”

  “Your father thought differently. He told me that you had been betrothed to her for two years before you went away.”

  “That is not true. A marriage with Dierdre was his wish for me, never my own.”

  “So you say.” Emily regarded him closely to see whether she could detect a lie. Either his father had been lying through his teeth, or Nick was now. She was disposed to believe Nick, of course, but the knowledge of how he had dashed her trust once before made her cautious.

  He propped his hips against the edge of the desk and crossed his arms over his chest. “Since you never liked Dierdre, why, may I ask, would you even consider such employment if you thought it would please her?”

  “Remuneration, my lord,” Emily answered readily. “And I did write and thank her for mentioning me. The salary is twice what I could expect anywhere else.” For two hundred pounds per year, Emily felt she could endure almost anything. Even Dierdre Worthing’s satisfaction.

  It was an offer Emily could not afford to lose. The income from it would probably save her father’s life if he could retire before his heart gave out completely. And would definitely ensure that Josh received a proper education.

  “Even if your father must give up the living here at Bournesea, Emily, you need not work,” Nicholas said kindly. Condescendingly, if she were honest in her appraisal. He might as well pat her on the head while he said it. “You have but to tell me what you need and I will gladly supply it. Surely you have always known you could come to me for anything.”

  Emily pursed her lips and nodded, holding his gaze with her own. “Ah, I see. Add your monthly stipend to the rumors that circulated about our affair and we would have a full-blown public arrangement, is that what you wish? Well, I have worked hard to dispel those rumors, Lord Kendale, and I do not intend to resurrect or augment them in any way whatsoever. Do I make myself clear?”

  “We had no affair!” he exclaimed, disturbed that she would even call it that. “This is preposterous. I am merely offering aid to a cherished friend and you know it!”

  “A cherished friend you embraced and kissed upon the lips whilst standing in the midst of the village commons for all the world to see. I was very nearly ruined by that, I’ll have you know.”

  Instantly, he seemed ill-at-ease. Emily wanted him to be. She wanted him on his knees begging her forgiveness. She wanted his arms around her, pleading for a chance to make things right. She wanted to scratch his eyes out.

  “Emily, listen—”

  Instead of affording him any chance to explain the inexplicable, she interrupted. “Is the chamber ready where you would have me stay?”

  He sighed and shook his head. But the gesture obviously did not agree with his answer. “Yes, the room should be aired by now,” he admitted.

  “Then, under the circumstances, I suppose manners force me to thank you for your hospitality,” Emily said.

  “I am compelled by the same to assure you that you are quite welcome. Use the bellpull if you need anything. There are no maids about to dance attendance, but someone eventually will come to bring whatever is lacking.”

  She swept past him as regally as she could manage and left the library. Whatever was lacking, he had said. That was just about everything she could think of, but certainly nothing a tug on a bellpull would provide.

  Chapter Two

  Nick had known she was not married, of course. His subtle questioning of her brother Joshua aboard ship had relieved that worry before they had begun the voyage home.

  The earl had written six years ago that Emily and the pockmarked postmaster were about to be wed. Nick had stayed drunk for an entire week, then vowed with all sincerity to forget the vicar’s daughter and her faithless ways.

  His father had lied, of course. But Emily had not answered Nick’s subsequent letter wishing her well. Obviously she had wanted him to believe that she was settling into a marriage with Jeremy Oldfield.

  Nick knew nothing good about the postmaster, who had been a self-righteous bore and a bully in their younger days. Those traits frequently grew worse with age and Nick had worried about Emily because of that. However, his relief in discovering she was unattached was now marred by what she had just declared about his ruining her chances for a happy life. He had never once considered that.

  Perhaps she had overdramatized the case because his leaving had made her angry. Emily always had possessed a talent for exaggeration. That quality, too, might have increased with age.

  As for aging, either Emily had changed or his memory was faulty and his dreams had ceased to do her justice. The years had enhanced rather than dimmed her beauty. Blond flyaway curls framed a lovely heart-shaped face that had grown even more exquisite without its girlish roundness.

  Her figure looked fuller, more womanly. To be expected, of course, that she would mature and surpass the prettiness he remembered.

  And her mouth, so expressive in both joy and anger, stirred him still. He had almost given in to the urge to plunder it as he had done so eagerly that one time. But at the last moment he had refrained from doing so. She obviously wouldn’t thank him for it now.

  Her eyes were the same clear and guileless blue, framed by softly curling lashes. However, the absolute trust and adoration he had seen in them once had vanished completely over the years. The absence of that hurt more than he would have believed.

  In truth, it made him soul sick. If what she said was true, his attraction to her might have ruined her life. If only he had been more circumspect, less thoughtless, but at twenty-two he had not fully realized the impact his interest in her would have on her future.

  Now, taking what she had said into consideration, he could see how none of the men in the county would dare trespass on property the earl’s son had publicly claimed and therefore declared off-limits. And that is exactly what he had done with that kiss.

  The very next day, on the earl’s orders and under determined escort, a furiously struggling Nicholas had been set aboard a packet for India to commence learning the vagaries of trade as his father’s representative.

  Apparently his son engaging in business seemed far less demeaning to Earl Kendale than having him inappropriately engaged with a village girl.

  The old man’s warning, issued not an hour before the ship sailed, still rang in his ears. “If you return and insist upon continuing your suit of this little adventuress, I shall ruin her entire family. Loveyne will find himself and his two brats upon the road without a quid among them and with nowhere to go.”

  A horrifying prospect for anyone.

  His father had continued. “She’s a fair-looking bit of fluff, Nicholas, but not for you. Not even as a playfellow. As long as you stay away, she will be safe.”

  Nick had objected vehemently even as he realized he had no choice but to do as instructed. The earl’s threat had been clear and concise.

  His father had laughed. “You’ll be set free as soon as the ship’s well under way. When you are, you keep my bargain in mind, my boy. Picture our eccentric, good-hearted Vicar Loveyne destroyed by the dismissal. He knows nothing else but tending his little flock, now does he? Even if he does, I’ll see him turned off by anyone who hires him. And the girl, Emily? That little baggage can take to the streets.”

  The earl leaned nearer as if to impart a secret. “Trust me, I’ll see to it that she does. And that skinny brother of hers looks just the right size for sweeping chimneys. How old is he now, five or six?”

  Nick had known from experience that his father never bluffed nor made idle threats. The Earl of Kendale had possessed the power, the means and the motive to destroy the entire Loveyne family and he would have done so without a qualm.

  Though his father had never applied cruelty just for the enjoyment of it, he certainly never blinked at crushing anyone or anything that did not suit him.

  Nicholas had his orders. He was to learn shipping from his father’s factors in India, see a bit of the world, then come h
ome and wed appropriately. Wed Lady Dierdre Worthing. His father had left him no choice about the first commands, but against that last, Nick had rebelled. He had stayed away from Bournesea and had never seen the earl, nor replied to his correspondence since that day.

  Apparently his father had solidified plans for the marriage during his absence, Nicholas recalled with a frown. On arriving home three days ago he had found the contract stating the terms of Nick’s betrothal to Dierdre Worthing.

  His own name had been forged below Dierdre’s. Nicholas was assuming her signature was genuine. For all he knew, she could be as oblivious to the entire matter as he had been. He had not heard a word from her in all this time.

  Maybe she was already wed. Heartening thought, but unlikely. Unless she’d become betrothed and married within the past few months, he would have read of it in the newspapers shipped regularly from London.

  His father had risked a scandal with the forgery, obviously counting heavily on Nick’s unwillingness to reveal the deception once he discovered it.

  He wished he could attribute his father’s dishonest meddling to love and concern for an only son, but Nick knew it was borne of a need to master everyone and everything.

  If Emily had shown any interest at all today in resuming what had been begun between them with that kiss seven years ago, Nicholas would have been perfectly willing to pursue it. But she had not. Quite the contrary.

  For Emily, their former attachment, innocent as it had been, had proved disastrous. She must hate him. Because of his interest in her, she was not married and probably never would be. She had declared quite fixedly she was through with men altogether because of him. He knew Emily’s determination once she made up her mind.

  But Emily, a governess? He shook his head. Vintley was no saint. Nicholas remembered him well, and doubted the lecher would treat her with the respect she deserved. The very thought of her assuming such an unguarded position was unacceptable and that was all there was to it.