Chapter 12
Max woke up with a now-familiar feeling of dread and rolled onto his back to contemplate the highly decorated ceiling of the guest bedroom.
What an absolute disaster. His father had insisted on speaking to Allegra alone, and Max had no idea what had passed between them, as his father had left immediately afterwards.
He’d been told to stay with the Musgroves and to accustom himself to the idea that he would soon be married.
Max groaned and rubbed his face. Allegra was not pleased, but had she accepted her fate?
His father must have secured her agreement to something if the Musgroves had allowed him to stay.
And who was that fellow hanging around her with such a possessive air?
She’d sworn that her marriage prospects were dire, and yet here she was, days after being with him, with a new suitor hanging on her skirts.
Max got out of bed. He didn’t like the way he was feeling at all.
He hated emotion and now he was mired in it, and it was all Lady Allegra Musgrove’s fault.
A servant came in with hot water for him to wash with and informed him that breakfast was laid out in the dining room and would be available until ten.
Max thanked him and proceeded to wash, shave, and make himself presentable.
For some reason, the very sight of Allegra made his normal charm disappear to be replaced by a helpless sea of muddled fury.
It could not continue. He had to calm down and at least try to be pleasant to her and the rest of the family while he worked out how to extricate them from this awful situation.
Except for that Cooper fellow. He tied his cravat and pinned it in place. He had no desire to be pleasant to him. He was far too familiar with Allegra for Max’s liking.
He put on his coat and boots, went down the main staircase, and was directed into the dining room by a passing maid. To his relief, Lady Allegra wasn’t present, but Mr. Cooper was.
He looked up as Max came in and smiled. “Good morning, my lord. I hear you are staying on as a guest.”
Max inclined his head an icy inch. “Yes, my father had to return to London.” He helped himself to the dishes on the sideboard and sat down opposite Mr. Cooper at the table. “Are you a guest here, sir, or are you employed in some capacity?” Max asked.
Mr. Cooper chuckled. “You have a very sharp eye, my lord. I have previously been employed by the aristocracy, but not for some years. I’m a scholar and a writer affiliated to the cathedral at Wells, which is how I became acquainted with Lord Dorian.”
“You’re a friend of the family, then.”
“I’d like to consider myself one, yes.” Mr. Cooper looked directly at Max. “And you? How long have you known the Musgrove family?”
“My father has been acquainted with the earl for more than twenty years,” Max said.
“Good morning.” Julian Laurent, a gentleman Max knew slightly, came into the dining room. He was dressed in exquisite taste and had a decided twinkle in his eye. Laurent surveyed them both and smiled. “It’s nice to see you getting acquainted. You have so much in common.”
Laurent was known for his famous wit, but in this instance, Max didn’t think he was very funny.
“How so?” Mr. Cooper asked.
“You share an interest in Lady Allegra, yes?”
Mr. Cooper looked at Max. “We do?”
Max smiled, finished his food, and got to his feet. “I think I’ll take a stroll around the grounds.”
He sought directions from the butler and left by a side door.
A long avenue of trees marched down toward a lake and a picturesque stone bridge.
As it was a fine day, he decided to head that way.
Had Laurent confirmed Max’s suspicion that Mr. Cooper was after Allegra?
If so, it was quick work on her part to consider another man after what they’d so recently shared.
He’d thought it meant something to her … but perhaps he’d been wrong. And why did he care anyway? God, he hated feeling like this. He was the one who left his partners, he was the one every woman desired, and—
He stopped walking. When had he become such an arrogant prick?
After what he’d put her through, Allegra had every right to prefer another man to him, and if Cooper was what she wanted, he’d have a perfect excuse not to marry her.
For some reason, that didn’t make him feel any better, which was why he wasn’t in the best of moods when he spotted his prey.
He marched up to Allegra, who had just crossed over the bridge. She didn’t look very pleased to see him, which suited his current state perfectly.
“What is going on?” Allegra said in a deadly calm voice. “You promised me—”
“I promised I would do my best,” Max said. “And, obviously, as usual, I wasn’t good enough, and bloody Landon and my brother blurted everything out to my father.”
“Why didn’t you just deny everything?”
“Because I am trying to be a better man!” Max only realized he might have raised his voice when Allegra scowled even harder. “I didn’t know our fathers were friends and that mine would suddenly develop this ridiculous puritanical streak about honor.”
“I told him there was no need for you to marry me.”
Max stared at her. “And let me guess, he ignored you completely. He told me the marriage was practically settled, and that I should get used to the idea.”
“He certainly wasn’t interested in my suggestions.” Allegra sighed, and her shoulders drooped. “What are we going to do?”
“If we both continue to refuse the match, they can’t force us,” Max said. “This isn’t the dark ages.” He paused. “And it looks as if you already have a suitor for yourself.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Mr. Cooper. He professed an interest in you over breakfast. And I couldn’t help but notice that you seem to favor him.”
Allegra stared at him for a very long minute as her dogs roamed restlessly around her. “You are offended by the possibility that I might marry someone else? Even when it gives us the perfect excuse not to marry ourselves?”
Max took a moment to puzzle out her logic before replying. “You know damn well that the only reason I agreed to bed you was because you swore you’d never have the chance to experience physical intimacy.”
Two spots of color appeared high on Allegra’s cheeks, and she took a step toward him. “That wasn’t the only reason. You agreed, because it meant you got off the hook!”
“How do you know why I agreed? Did I make you privy to my private thoughts?”
“Oh, I know your private thoughts. You let your father bring you here like a naughty schoolboy, didn’t you?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Allegra glared at him. “You obviously made no effort to defend yourself, or—”
“Or what? You might as well spit it out, Allegra. It’s not like you to be coy.” Max took a step toward her so they were really close. There was a damp curl stuck to her cheek, and he resisted the urge to release it.
“You let him tell you what to do,” Allegra repeated. “The only reason you are here is because of him. You let him set out the terms of this ridiculous marriage.”
Max stared at her incredulously. “Are you angry because I didn’t propose to you myself?”
“Yes!” Allegra was shouting now. “At least that would’ve been honest, and I could’ve turned you down to your face, but no, I have to deal with your awful father.”
“I was trying to protect you,” Max said through his teeth. “I thought it best to let him manage things himself, so that when he failed, it would all be his fault.”
“By acting like a sulky schoolboy?”
“That’s unfair.” Max glared at her.
“Well, that didn’t go quite as planned, either, did it?” Allegra said. “We’re stuck here, and everyone seems to have decided we’re getting married.” She looked away from him. “What on earth are we going to do?” she asked again.
“The first thing that might help is if you stopped shouting at me,” Max said.
“You started it.”
Max held onto his temper. “If that is true, then I apologize. The most important thing is that we work together to find a way out of this mess, yes?”
“Yes,” Allegra said. “And I apologize for shouting at you, too.”
“The main thing to remember is that they can’t force us to marry.”
“Agreed.”
“And if you can persuade your Mr. Cooper to propose to you in the next few days, then when my father returns, everything will have been settled, and he won’t get his way.”
Allegra nodded. “I’ll do my best.”
She walked off with her dogs, leaving him standing by the bridge.
He knew he should be relieved that such an easy solution to their problem was available, but the thought of Allegra having anything to do with Mr. Cooper appalled him.
Cooper wouldn’t understand her like Max did.
No one would. She was unlike any other woman he’d ever met.
He decided to go for lots of long walks during his stay so that Allegra would have plenty of opportunities to persuade Cooper to propose to her. The last thing he’d want would be to witness that event. Somewhere deep inside, he would hate it.
Allegra walked back to the house in a strangely unsettled mood.
Max had obviously decided to let his father deal with the situation.
Allegra wasn’t sure if it was a sound strategy or laziness but, after having met the duke, she could see why he might have tried it.
The duke was a man who expected his will to be obeyed instantly, which was why her outright refusal to fall in with his plans had been completely ignored.
“Lady Allegra.”
She looked up to see Postumus coming toward her and immediately felt a sense of rising panic. She’d suspected that he might want to marry her, but she had no idea how to broach the subject without blurting out her situation and ruining her prospects with him.
He paused. “Are you feeling quite well?”
She bent down to pat the dogs to conceal her blushes. “Yes, I’m fine. Have you breakfasted?”