Chapter 5
Chapter Five
“ T onight is the night. ” Face resolutely set, Leah stared at herself in the reflection of her vanity mirror. “Lord Trembley is going to propose.”
“Are you sure?” Vivian looked up from where she was sitting on the edge of Leah’s bed, reading one of the gossip columns, to stare at Leah in shock.
“I am fairly certain,” Leah said, smiling at her in the mirror. “He has called every day the past three days and has brought me the most beautiful bouquets.”
“But is he in need of a wife?” Vivian asked, frowning slightly. “As far as I know, he is not in any debt, and he has three younger brothers. It’s not as if he is in any rush to produce an heir.”
“He might not be content to let his line go to his brothers,” Leah said. “And anyway, he has hinted that he is tired of the marriage mart and wishes only to be happily settled down and content.”
Vivian wrinkled his nose. “He’s a bit dull, isn’t he?”
“If wanting to be settled down is dull, then so are you, Vivian!” Leah said, giving her a pointed look. “Or might I remind you that you are also happily married?”
“Oh, yes, Nathan and I are very happy, but we are hardly a boring, settled-down family,” she said, her eyes glittering. “I am raising his daughters from his first marriage, after all, and they are a handful! Arianna is only six years younger than me! It has created quite a few dramatic moments, let me tell you.”
Leah laughed. She was well aware of the dramatic moments caused by the fact Vivian, at twenty-five, was the chaperone for her nineteen-year-old step-daughter this Season. But it was also what she admired about Vivian: despite the potential hardships of marrying Lord Bellmond, she had done so, because she loved him. And he loved her so much that he had been sure it was true love from the moment he set eyes on her.
They were Leah’s favorite couple in the ton, and she never could quite understand why they were friends with her.
“Well, I would be happy with fewer dramatics in my own marriage,” Leah said. “Being quiet, comfortable, and settled down sounds very nice to me.” She didn’t add that the one aspect of Vivian’s marriage that she did envy--the passionate love between her and her husband--was something she would have to live without. It wasn’t worth even thinking about.
“Well, if you are happy with Lord Trembley, then I am happy for you,” Vivian said. “Now, we should get downstairs, before Emery comes looking for us. We don’t want to keep your future husband waiting.”
Leah followed Vivian down the stairs and into the drawing room, where drinks were being served. Sure enough, Lord Trembley was there, and the moment he saw her, he came over to her side.
“How lovely it is to see you again this evening, Lady Leah,” he said. “I took the liberty of bringing you a glass of champagne.”
“Thank you, Lord Trembley,” she murmured as she took the glass from him. “That is very thoughtful of you.”
“I was wondering,” he said, with a slight hesitation in his voice, “if I might ask for a moment alone with you tonight. There is something I very much wanted to--”
“Ahh, Lady Leah, there you are!” Leah looked up to see another suitor, Mr. Harding, walking toward her, a wide smile pasted onto his face. “I hope that Lord Trembley is not monopolizing you this evening.”
“Mr. Harding,” Lord Trembley said, his eyes narrowing. “What excellent timing, as always. Ahh, and there is Nottington.” Trembley gave Leah a pained look. “It seems as if I will be fighting for your attention again this evening.”
Her heart hammering, Leah looked around in the direction Trembley had been staring. Sure enough, the Duke of Nottington had just entered the drawing room, and he was headed straight to where she was surrounded by Trembley and Harding.
Leah’s heart leapt at the sight of him. He was here! He would witness her triumph tonight when Lord Trembley proposed. She smiled at him and nodded for him to join them. But as he drew closer, her smile slipped, and there was a small flutter of trepidation in her stomach. She wasn’t exactly sure why, but there was something about the steely glint in his eye that gave her a bad feeling.
Lady Leah looked more confident than Dorian had ever seen her. She was surrounded by two handsome gentlemen, both of whom he felt fairly certain would be very happy to have her as their bride, and she was beaming. G lowing, even. For a second, he felt a flicker of happiness for her: she was slowly but surely overcoming her fear of talking to gentlemen.
He also felt no small amount of pride and vindication in himself. If there was one thing Dorian loved, it was being right. And he had been right about Lady Leah, that she was not a hopeless case, and that he could find her a husband very quickly.
But there was another, darker feeling lurking beneath his satisfaction , and it was this one that seized hold of him as he walked over to where she was standing with Mr. Harding and Lord Trembley. And right now, it was screaming at him that these men were not worthy to share the same air she breathed--let alone marry her.
“Your Grace,” Harding said, nodding to Dorian as he joined them. “How are you this evening?”
“Well, I would be better if you had paid me back the sum you have owed me for the past few months,” Dorian said, looking very pointedly at the man.
Mr. Harding flushed at once. “Of course, Your Grace,” he mumbled, shuffling his feet. “I should have had that back to you at the agreed-upon date.”
“Yes, you should have,” Dorian said dryly. He glanced over at Lady Leah, a smug smile on his face, and was stopped short by the furious look on her face. His stomach squirmed. Of course she was going to be annoyed at him for revealing one of her suitors was a lout who didn’t pay his debts. But he was doing her a favor! She wouldn’t want to be married to a man who couldn’t pay back a small sum.
“Please excuse me,” Mr. Harding said, bowing to Lady Leah. “I just remembered that I… need to be somewhere.”
He backed away from the group, red-faced, and then turned and hurried away. Dorian felt a flicker of satisfaction, even if Lady Leah was still looking daggers at him.
“Dispensing with your rivals, Your Grace?” Tembley said with a raised eyebrow. “For a sportsman, that wasn’t very sportsmanlike. ”
“The man owes me money,” Dorian said curtly. “I don’t need to apologize for reminding him.”
“Perhaps now is not the best time to do so,” Trembley said. “Especially in front of a lady. She does not want to hear about such unpleasantness.”
“No,” Lady Leah said coldly, “I do not.” She turned to Trembley and gave him a wide smile. “Perhaps we could go out to the garden for some fresh air? You said you wished to speak to me about in private…?”
Dorian’s stomach lurched. In private? Is Trembley really ready to propose after just three days?
“Before you go,” he interrupted, “I wanted to ask you, Lord Trembley, how Lady Claire Watson is? Or are you not still courting her?”
To his immense satisfaction, the superior look on Lord Trembley’s face immediately evaporated, and a sour expression replaced it. At the same time, Lady Leah’s face went rigid, and she glanced up at Trembley with wide eyes.
“I-I do not know of what you speak,” Trembley stammered, his eyes also darting to Lady Leah and then back to Dorian. “Lady Claire and I were only ever friends.”
“That is not what she told me,” Dorian said with a shrug. “But of course, she doesn’t bring a very large dowry with her, does she?”
“Your Grace!” Lady Leah hissed, her expression livid. “I would beg you not to speak of a young lady so callously! Or to make such unkind implications about Lord Trembley, who is a guest in my brother’s house.”
“Of course,” Dorian said, bowing to her. He knew he was being an utter ass. He knew. But he couldn’t stop himself and didn’t entirely want to try. Not that Lady Leah would be very sympathetic to that excuse.
She turned to Lord Trembley and said, more urgently, “Shall we take a walk in the garden? I know that I could use some fresh air.”
But Lord Trembley looked deeply uncomfortable now, and Dorian didn’t blame him.
“I think I should go and say hello to our host,” he said, smiling at her tightly. “Will you excuse me, Lady Leah?”
He bowed curtly to both of them, then hurried away--at an even faster pace than Mr. Harding had left.
There was a beat, during which neither Dorian nor Lady Leah said anything. Then she rounded on him, her face red with anger, her eyes little slits of anger, and her jaw clenched.
“Garden,” she hissed. “Now!”
Dorian didn’t argue. She was entitled to her anger--until she heard his reasoning. He followed her out of the drawing room and down the hallway to the French doors that led out to the garden. Only once they were outside, and free of prying eyes, did she turn to him with clenched fists and begin to whisper-shout.
“What are you doing? You just sabotaged my one chance to find a husband before Lord Dubois forces me to marry him!”
“Lord Trembley was not your one chance,” Dorian said dismissively. “There will be others--others who are actually worthy of you.”
“You do not get to decide who is worthy of me or not!” she shouted, not even pretending to whisper any longer. “You are not my father, you are not my brother, and you have no right to get in the way of my happiness like this!”
Dorian felt himself growing more indignant. “I just saved you!” he snapped. “Do you really want to be married to a man who cannot pay his debts or to a lord who abandoned the girl he was all but engaged to the moment you became the hottest new thing?”
“What are you talking about?” Lady Leah snapped.
“Lord Trembley and Lady Clarie Watson! I did some digging into him over the last few days, and it turns out he was all set to marry her--they only had to become formally engaged--until it became clear that you were suddenly the ton’s favorite. And of course, you come with more wealth and connections.”
“Well then I am very sorry for Lady Claire, but she is not my responsibility!” Lady Leah shouted. “I am trying to save myself from a man who revolts me. I’m not asking for someone perfect. I just need someone good enough!”
“You should not have to settle just because Lord Dubois is threatening you,” Dorian said, putting his hands on his hips. “And I cannot bear to see you married to someone who would jilt another woman simply because you are a more enticing prospect.”
Lady Leah narrowed her eyes. “I understand that you feel responsible for me because you are the one who has helped make me into a desirable match. But you said you would not interfere again. You gave me your word!”
“I know, but--” Dorian knew he didn’t have any leg to stand on. He had promised her that he wouldn’t interfere. But after he’d gone home that night, he’d thought more about what it would feel like to watch Lady Leah marry a cad simply to escape a letch. She didn’t realize the terrible things the men of the ton could say about ladies behind their backs. She didn’t know that half of them were nearly as bad as Lord Dubois.
She was still staring at him, waiting for his explanation, and he swallowed. His mouth had suddenly gone dry. “I don’t want these men to take advantage of you simply because you’re desperate,” he said at last. “You are in need of protection, and I am the person to provide it.”
This last line had come across very pompously, even he had heard it. But he couldn’t take it back now, so he drew himself up, deciding it was better to dig down on his position rather than admit he might be behaving like an arrogant ass.
He thought that Lady Leah’s face would soften, as it had the other day. But it didn’t. In fact, her expression grew even more irate, and every line in her face seemed to harden.
“I did not ask for your protection,” she said. “Nor do I want it. What I want is to find a husband before I am locked into the worst possible fate I could imagine. Maybe this is impossible for you to imagine, because wealthy, powerful dukes are never forced into marriages they don’t want to have. They are free to choose who they marry. But young ladies don’t always have that choice. So let me spell it out for you: I will protect myself. I will make my own fate. And I will decide who I want to marry. Not you, not Lucien, and certainly not Lord Dubois.”
She took a threatening step toward him, and he felt himself instinctively wanting to step back. However, he stood his ground.
“You act all self-righteous,” he snarled, “but you were the one who made this my problem. I would have been very happy to have nothing to do with it, to let you marry Lord Dubois! But you made this my problem by kissing me, by entrapping me, so that I would be forced to marry a woman I didn’t want to unless I helped you find someone else. So I do, in fact, have an idea of what it is you are facing.”
All the color drained from her face.
“I tried to apologize,” she whispered. “You said you weren’t angry–”
“My point,” Dorian continued doggedly, “Is that you were the one that embroiled me in all this, and now, if I am getting protective of you, then that is something you will have to accept as a byproduct of your actions.”
Her jaw tightened again, and he knew that he had taken it too far. When she spoke again, she didn’t sound angry, but deeply disappointed. Somehow that was worse.
“I’m sorry for embroiling you in this,” she said, “but it doesn’t give you the right to sabotage me--especially when my marriage will also free you of your obligation. From now on, I want you to stay out of my marital problems. I no longer require your help in finding a husband.” Her eyes burned into his. “Is that clear?”
He said nothing, and she turned to go. Only when she was at the steps up that led back up to the house that he spoke.
“Lady Leah, please don’t--”
“Just leave me alone,” she interrupted, without turning to look at him. And then she hurried up the stairs and disappeared into the house, leaving Dorian awash in a strange combination of guilt and self-righteousness.
She’s wrong, Dorian thought furiously. I do have a right to interfere. But even he knew he was wrong, and he knew, even as he turned away and walked deeper into the garden, that he was going to have his work cut out for him making this up to her.