One Night with Tulip (The Farthingale #12)

Chapter 1

London, England

“MISS FARTHINGALE, WHAT is the matter?” Alexander Havers, the new Duke of Davenport, had not expected to run into Tulip Farthingale when he stepped into Lady Fullerton’s garden on this hot summer evening, hoping to get away from the crush of revelers in the ballroom at one of her famous routs.

The night was steamy, threatening rain, if the heavy scent of grass and damp leaves was any indication, although not a drop had fallen yet.

But a light haze had settled over the trees and lush shrubbery, dimming the rows of lanterns gaily strung along measured intervals and giving the impression of a fairy garden hidden in mist.

A church clock bonged in the distance to mark the midnight hour.

This also marked his last night in London before Alex returned to Somerset and the Davenport estate his predecessors to the title had left in shambles.

He thought he had been alone out here until the lovely Tulip had run straight into him and bounced off his chest, for she had been moving very fast.

She had a tendency to do this, having run into him in this same manner the first time they had met, and he had been thinking of her ever since.

He caught her in his arms to steady her, the softness of her lithe body familiar as he wrapped her securely in his embrace.

Wispy tendrils of haze encircled them.

Blessed saints.

She felt remarkably good in his arms.

“Oh, dear!” She looked up at him, her big blue eyes reflecting the firelight from one of the garden lanterns. “I’ve done a dreadful thing, Your Grace.”

“You have?” He struggled not to grin at the earnest expression on the face of this charming bluestocking he would have liked to know better.

“What have you done? You know I am no longer working for the London magistrate, an impossibility now that I have inherited a dukedom, so I will not report you to the authorities. Your secret is quite safe with me.”

Until a few months ago, he had been simply Mr. Alexander Havers, and had yet to get used to being addressed with the deference accorded his new title.

While he had not changed who he was in essence, most around him had suddenly turned into fawning toadies because he had inherited a dukedom.

Those who ignored him in the past now fussed over him, pretending they had always admired and adored him.

Young ladies went to great lengths to throw themselves at him now that he had become London’s most sought after bachelor.

Not Tulip, however.

She avoided him as much as she could because she was wary of the Davenport reputation. Only recently had she started to thaw toward him, hopefully understanding he was nothing like the dishonorable Davenport dukes who had come before him.

He kept hold of her, rather liking the feel of her body against his palms.

She was draped in pale blue silk, a hue that matched the color of her striking eyes, and he thought her the prettiest thing he had seen in an age.

“Lord Finley Caruthers took me for a stroll in the garden,” she said, clearing her throat as though it pained her to make the announcement.

“That is a serious crime,” he intoned, taking care not to laugh.

“Please do not tease me about it. He wanted to kiss me and–”

“You let him?” He frowned, knowing exactly what a dishonorable hound like Caruthers meant to do once alone with Tulip, and it was not restricted to a single kiss.

“No!” Her eyes rounded in horror, then her expression turned sheepish. “But I almost let him do it.”

“Almost?”

She nodded. “You see, I wanted to be kissed.”

Dear heaven.

Alex would have obliged her, and been a far safer partner than that lout, Caruthers.

“But then I realized that I did not wish him to be the one to kiss me. Especially not for my first time.”

“Your first?” His heart lurched, and then suddenly began to pound erratically.

Why was his heart pounding?

This was his last night in London. One night. Only one night and he would be off to Somerset for as long as it took him to get his dukedom back in order.

You fool, just let this evening pass quietly.

But he ignored the warning.

He ignored the simple and effective rules that had kept him out of compromising situations all summer long.

Do not engage a girl in conversation, especially not this girl and not while you are holding her in your arms. Do not look at a girl’s lips, especially not this girl’s lips that he had ached to kiss since their first meeting.

She was now giving her fleshy lower lip a soft nibble.

He could go on with more rules that he was obviously abandoning because this was Tulip Farthingale and he did not understand why he could not get enough of her.

To his chagrin, she seemed quite comfortably nestled in his arms and was making no attempt to move away when she could have done so with ease.

She should have done so.

He would never be so boorish as to prevent her.

“Yes, my very first kiss.” She nodded again, the dark curls surrounding her lovely face bobbing delightfully. “Because I have never been kissed before.”

“That is usually what a first indicates,” he said, then quietly chided himself for his snide response. He blamed it on the heat coursing through him. “So, never?”

“Not once in all my life,” she continued, giving him a slight frown for his impertinence. “And I thought it was time to take the leap. But as his lips drew closer to mine…”

“What happened?”

The expression on her face turned to one of distaste. “I panicked and ran off. How could I kiss anyone who did not have my heart? Should it not be splendid and meaningful, a kiss to cherish all the days of my life?”

Oh, gad.

This is why he stayed away from innocents.

They were so…innocent.

“All right, I’ll keep an eye on you as you head back into the ballroom. Just promise me you will stay close to your family for the rest of the evening.”

Tears now formed in her eyes as she solemnly promised. “I feel so ashamed.”

“Why? It was just a harmless kiss that never took place, although it might have led to something far more compromising.”

“I know. I think this is what scared me into running away from him. He was not looking at me in any nice way.”

Alex glanced around the garden, wondering where Caruthers had got to. Should he not have caught up to Tulip by now? “Um, did you by any chance hit him before you ran off? With a heavy object, perhaps?”

“No,” she said with a sniffle. “I simply ran off when he attempted to stick his face close to mine. And then he stuck his tongue out from between his pudgy lips and…ew. But, oh. I see. He should have walked right past us to return to the ballroom, but he hasn’t yet.

I promise you, I did not touch him. And the garden paths are sufficiently lit so that he should not have lost his way or tripped over a tree root. ”

Alex let out a breath as he repeated his earlier instruction. “Go back inside the ballroom. I’ll stay out here and watch you walk in.”

“Then you’ll go in search of Lord Caruthers? Should I not go with you?”

“That entirely defeats the purpose of getting you safely away from him.”

“But I am with you, so he would never dare anything. Besides, I know exactly where I left him and you do not.”

He ignored the stubborn look on her face. “This is not a large garden, Miss Farthingale. Just point me in the general direction and I will find him. Without your assistance. I do not want you within reach of him again.”

“All right, I–”

Several lanterns close by began to sway and pebbles crunched as Caruthers trod heavily toward them, looking ferociously angry. “There you are, you little… Ack!”

Alex did not wait for the curse to come out before he tossed Tulip behind him and in the same motion grabbed the angry lord by his throat to prevent him from uttering a crass word or worse, pouncing on her. “The lady refused. It is over, Caruthers. Do not make more of it than it is.”

“She’s a shameless tease,” he growled when Alex released him a moment later, for he was not trying to strangle the lout but merely startle him into stopping.

“She is young and innocent, and you ought to have known better than to lure her away from the ballroom.”

“You mustn’t blame him, Your Grace,” Tulip said, but had the good sense to remain behind him as she spoke.

“I am the one who suggested it. I give you my sincere apology, Lord Caruthers. It was wrong of me, quite foolish and wrongheaded. I beg your forgiveness for any embarrassment it may have caused you.”

“Your turn now, Caruthers,” Alex prompted when the oafish lord said nothing in response. “Accept her apology and move on.”

“I’ll show you acceptance,” he muttered, appearing ready to take a swing at Alex, then remembered he was now a duke, and thought better of challenging him. Not to mention Alex was bigger and stronger, and a more ruthless fighter.

“You’ll regret this, Davenport! And so will your pretty pigeon!”

“Not as much as you will if you dare trouble her again,” he said while making certain Tulip remained safely behind him.

Obviously frustrated by the impenetrable barrier Alex presented, Caruthers repeated his curses and threats, and then stormed off toward the ballroom.

Tulip watched with trepidation as her spurned suitor stomped up the terrace steps. “What do you think he means to do?”

Alex did not know, but he doubted the man was going to stay quiet.

He glanced up at the sky that was covered in a layer of clouds, as though the heavens had slammed their door against him, refusing to listen to his silent plea for this little altercation to resolve without further problem.

But he knew it would not.

An entitled lord like Caruthers was not going to take rejection lightly.

Sighing, he placed Tulip’s hand in the crook of his arm. “Come back inside with me.”

Tulip held him back a moment. “But is it safe for you? I mean, people might think I went into the garden to kiss you. Is it not better for me to walk in alone as you first suggested?”

“No. That was before Caruthers leveled his threat.” He was not going to risk that angry lord deciding to stake a claim on her and alleging he had compromised her.

If any false accusations were to be leveled, better they be leveled against him because he would always protect Tulip.

She held him back again. “But it is certain to cause you more trouble if we walk in together.”

He arched an eyebrow. “Why are you so concerned about me, Tulip?”

“Should I not be? Haven’t I caused you enough of a headache for one night?”

“Aren’t you Farthingales notorious for this very thing?” he teased. “Do not alarm yourself. This is nothing I cannot handle.”

But Alex knew trouble was afoot when he saw Caruthers march out of the ballroom with John Farthingale in tow not a moment later.

John was the Farthingale family patriarch entrusted with Tulip’s care, and Caruthers was obviously giving him an earful of lies.

On their heels came a small army of ladies and gentlemen, several of whom he recognized as indiscriminate gossips.

The snake had wasted no time in spewing his venom.

“There! I told you! There’s your precious ward, Farthingale. See how cozy she looks beside Davenport? Did I not tell you he had ruined her?”

Tulip gasped and curled her hands into fists. “How dare you spout those abominable falsehoods! And to think, I–”

Alex held her back. “Be quiet, Tulip.”

“But he is a lout,” she said in a whisper, knowing they had to get their stories straight. “I apologized to him and he took it with utter lack of grace. Well, I’ll show him.”

“No, you’ll be quiet and let me handle the matter,” he said with quiet authority.

She was only going to dig herself into a deeper hole than she had already dug for herself if she told the onlookers it was Caruthers she had lured into the garden. Did she not realize she might be forced to marry the wretch?

Alex would never allow this to happen. “Tulip, close your eyes.”

She widened them. “What? Why?”

“Because I am going to kiss you. Do you or do you not want a first kiss? Would you mind terribly if it was with me?”

“Why would you ever want to kiss me? And why now when everyone is watching?” She gasped, suddenly realizing the implications.

“Quickly now, yes or no. They are marching down the stairs toward us.”

“Are you mad? It will ruin you.”

“To be precise, it will ruin you. It has already ruined you.”

“And you are determined to save me?”

He nodded. “It is me or Caruthers. Do you mind becoming my duchess?”

“Yours? But–”

“Choose, Tulip.”

“You.”

He drew her into his arms and kissed her with all the heartfelt sincerity he could muster, which was surprisingly a lot because he actually liked her.

In addition to her obvious physical charms, she had shown moral rectitude. What other young lady would have apologized to him and Caruthers? What other young lady would have felt any remorse for her mistake and not blamed anyone but herself for her lapse in judgment?

What other young lady would have sought to protect him?

But was it not up to Alex to protect her?

“Wise choice,” he murmured, pressing his lips deeper onto her slightly open mouth that was open because she was still trying to talk sense into him, but he was beyond listening. Nor would anyone else among the approaching throng ever listen to what she had to say in her own defense.

They had seen her standing beside him in the shadows of Lady Fullerton’s garden and were already poisoned by Caruthers’ lies into believing the worst had taken place.

That beast was determined to destroy the sweet innocent forever.

Alex counted to three before removing his mouth from hers, already regretting the end of their kiss because she had the prettiest lips, soft and plump, and they tasted of mint and champagne.

He stared down at her.

She appeared distraught as she returned his gaze. “Why did you do this? Don’t you realize what this means?”

He nodded. “You’ve just received your first kiss…and your first marriage proposal.”