Chapter Twenty-Four #2
who’d married an English duke’s daughter and built a vast estate for them in Surrey.
Tess gathered them into the Fenbridge dining room where she and Eve and Dominic greeted them personally and thanked them for
coming. Then, to her utter delight, Fenbridge strode into the room soon after to mingle with the distinguished guests.
Half an hour later, a maid signaled to Tess, and she left Dominic and Eve to keep the guests in the drawing room occupied.
The Van Arsdales swept down the main staircase. Miss Van Arsdale wore an exquisite pale pink beaded gown that glittered as
she moved.
“Miss Hawthorne,” she said, her gaze narrowing slightly. “What a surprise to find you here. Were you invited?”
“I was,” Tess told her with a smile. “Mr. Prince invited me.”
“Gads, girl,” Van Arsdale barked, “you two are determined on a proper scandal, aren’t you?”
Tess held her smile, refusing to be baited. “As he is my betrothed, I doubt there will be a scandal.”
Miss Van Arsdale blinked and then her lips curved. “My, you do work quickly, Miss Hawthorne. Perhaps I should ask you for
some pointers when I go back to London to snap up a duke.”
Dominic strode out of the drawing room, baiting the Americans’ attention before Tess had the time to decide whether Miss Van
Arsdale was being sincere or simply cutting.
“We’ve invited a few special guests tonight, Van Arsdale. I hope you won’t mind.”
Van Arsdale seemed utterly unfazed and even a bit intrigued by that news. “More’s the merrier I always say.” He waved an arm
imperiously. “Introduce me.”
Dom led the two of them into the drawing room and did precisely that. Eve, who seemed to know the collectors as well as he
did, acted as a sort of intermediary, jumping in to add little details to link each guest to British archaeology or the London
museum.
Tess watched from a distance, seeing Van Arsdale’s eyes glitter when he was presented to the duchess and then the fellow American
who’d secured a blue-blooded wife, much as he was hoping to find a noble-blooded Englishman to add to his family tree.
When Lord Ashbourne stepped forward for an introduction, Tess noted a flash of interest from Sofia Van Arsdale. He was a tall, lean, classically handsome young man with burnished blond hair, a winning smile, and striking blue eyes.
Van Arsdale seemed intrigued when he shook the young man’s hand. He wasn’t the duke the American titan was seeking for his
daughter, but he would be one day.
“I hear you’ve made a marvelous find.” Lord Ashbourne leaned in as if they were speaking of state secrets. “An extraordinary
gold buckle of Anglo-Saxon origin, is it?”
“It’s the prettiest thing you’ve ever seen, I assure you, Lord Ashbourne,” Miss Van Arsdale gushed.
He grinned at her. Tess almost expected him to disagree and claim she was the prettiest thing he’d ever seen, but the astute
young man knew who he had to convince and focused all his attention on Gordon Van Arsdale.
“Have you considered donating any of the dig’s discoveries to the British Museum?” he asked Van Arsdale almost casually. “The
duchess there recently bequeathed the most impressive collection.”
“We’re building our own museum,” Van Arsdale boomed. “You’re all invited to come and see it in New York.”
“Oh, but we’d hate to see British history leaving our little island, Mr. Van Arsdale,” Ashbourne said smoothly, his voice
rich, his accent pure aristocratic haughtiness. “Tell me, Miss Van Arsdale, is there anything we could do to persuade him?”
Sofia Van Arsdale let out a throaty laugh and ran her fingers over the diamond choker at her throat. “Perhaps you should persuade
me first, my lord.”
Tess felt Dominic come up beside her and turned to find him watching the unfolding flirtation with as much interest as she
was.
“This wasn’t part of the plan,” he told her quietly.
“I didn’t realize how handsome Ashbourne was.”
Dominic slid an arm her waist and stepped a bit closer. “Find him handsome, do you, my bride-to-be?”
Tess grinned and nudged her hip surreptitiously against his. “I only meant objectively speaking. He’s handsome if you like
that blond Greek god kind of beauty.”
“And do you?” he asked, his hold hot and firm against her waist.
“No,” Tess breathed, then looked up at Dominic. “I prefer the dark-haired, dark-eyed, devilishly handsome sort of beauty.”
“Thank God for that.”
They both chuckled. Tess clutched his lapel when the dinner gong sounded, and Ashbourne offered his arm and led a seemingly
smitten Sofia Van Arsdale into dinner.
“This may work for a reason we hadn’t even considered,” she told him excitedly.
“Mmm, but Van Arsdale still needs to be persuaded.”
“The man may not have a single bit of real respect for history, but I think he’d give his daughter anything she wants.”
As they strode into the dining room together, Dominic bent to whisper, “The question is whether he’ll settle for a marquess
for her.”
This time, Tess made sure that she and Dominic were seated together, and by some bit of serendipity, Sofia Van Arsdale and
Ashbourne were seated near each other too.
Mid courses and on a prearranged cue, Wrothley piped up and asked Van Arsdale if he’d heard about Aldridge’s enormous donation
to “the local museum.”
Van Arsdale’s hands tightened around his cutlery at the mention of Aldridge’s name and even Sofia, who’d been happily chatting away with Ashbourne, quieted.
“Of course, I’ve bloody heard of it. Man’s forever grandstanding and getting in the papers.”
“You should come see the Aldridge bronzes once they’re on display,” Ashbourne put in casually. “They’re thinking of calling
it The Aldridge Room.” Ashbourne swept his hand through the air as if imagining the American’s rival’s name etched on a plaque.
“Oh, goodness,” Tess said after a charged look from Dominic. “I almost forgot to say that we’ve had a telegram from the one
guest who could not attend.”
Tess’s hands shook slightly as she took up her glass of wine and looked at Dominic.
“Won’t you read it out to everyone?” she asked him.
“Of course.” He pulled the telegram from his waistcoat pocket and lifted it with dramatic flair as if he’d learned a great
deal from the Americans in the past days. “Lord Rothschild apologizes that he could not attend, and says . . .” Dominic paused
and looked down, reading directly from the telegram:
“I hear you are planning to donate your finds to the British Museum. I commend you heartily, Van Arsdale.”
“It would be an extraordinary act of philanthropy, Mr. Van Arsdale,” Duchess Norberry said with genuine emotion. “One for
which the English public and I daresay the American too would remember you forever.”
“We’d be pleased as punch to have a Van Arsdale Room,” Ashbourne said, offering his wine glass in toast as if the deal had
already been done.
“Oh, Father, wouldn’t that be magnificent!” Sofia Van Arsdale said, her eyes glittering, not at Van Arsdale, but at the handsome marquess seated next to her. “Would you see to it all yourself, Lord Ashbourne?”
“I would see to anything that would please you, Miss Van Arsdale.”
Tess was shocked to see that the young man’s interest seemed genuine, though with a young lady as pretty and wealthy as Miss
Van Arsdale, the nobleman’s quick interest seemed natural.
Van Arsdale swigged down his wine and cast a look around the table. Everyone, even Fenbridge, watched him expectantly.
Finally, he locked his gaze on the Marquess of Ashbourne.
“I want more than a room, Ashbourne.”
The young nobleman arched one aristocratic brow. “Oh?”
“I want a whole goddamned wing.”
The duchess and Wrothley exchanged a surreptitious smile. Tess gripped Dominic’s hand under the table, where it had been resting
on her thigh.
“Sounds very grand,” Fenbridge said, though he’d been quiet throughout dinner. “A toast, then, to our esteemed American guests,
and to their future generosity to the British Museum.”
Van Arsdale still looked a bit stunned at the turn of events.
But as each guest at the table lifted their glass toward him and then the duchess began a round of hip-hip hooray that everyone joined, he smiled under his neatly trimmed mustache, seeming to bask in the attention and praise.
Later, after dessert had been served, the guests made their way back to the drawing room for port.
“We did it,” Tess whispered to Dominic as they stood together near the unlit fireplace. She slid a hand along his chest, curling her fingers around his lapel. “You concocted a marvelous plan,” she told him after glancing around to ensure no one might overhear.
“Honestly,” he said, tipping a glance to where Ashbourne sat on a settee and Sofia Van Arsdale sat in a nearby chair, leaning
toward him, a lovestruck look in her eyes, “attraction did a great deal more than I was anticipating.”
“I can’t disagree. And they do make a charming couple.”
“We still need to get you back on the dig.”
Tess wasn’t worried. “I don’t think that will be a problem. I can apologize to Mr. Van Arsdale. And to Miss Van Arsdale, if
it comes down to it, and I suspect she’ll be in a forgiving mood.”
Dominic arched a brow skeptically.
“Look how happy she is,” Tess pointed out.
“I’ll convince them one way or another,” he assured her.
“I know you will.” Tess smiled up at him. “You’re very convincing.”
“Am I?” He bent to whisper in her ear. “Then let me convince you to come up to bed with me. Now.”
“As you once said to me,” she told him, fingers tightening around the fabric of his lapel, “I’ll follow you anywhere, though
people may talk.”
“Let them talk.” He turned, bracing his hands on the mantel on either side of her, standing scandalously close. “I care about
what you think. What you want.” He dipped his head. “I want you. Always. Forever.”
He was making promises. Soon he’d be making vows, and she’d be making them too. Yet Tess wasn’t scared of promises anymore.
She wanted them because she loved and trusted Dominic Prince with her heart.
“Always,” she whispered. “Forever.”