Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Neville paced his study, fully dressed for the confrontation at hand. Thank God Althea had let him convince her to “rest” a moment after the second time they’d made love or she’d already be racing out of here to evade her uncle.
He moved to the open door to his room and glanced inside.
Guilt surged in him at the sight of her curled up in his bed, asleep and unaware of his plans.
He should have told her. After the first time they’d made love, when he could see her remorse for what she’d lost, he should have asked her to marry him.
But she’d been so damned eager to get away from him that he’d been afraid to ask.
Then he’d been too caught up in seducing her again, in exploring the absolutely delectable body now shielded from his gaze by the counterpane. Fortunately, the cover didn’t hide her flushed face or her tangle of hair or her soft, reddened lips—
“By Judas!” he swore under his breath as his body reacted to her again. It wouldn’t do to greet Kensingham in such a state. The entire situation was delicate enough without that.
A knock came at the door, and he winced, hurrying to open it. “Yes?” he murmured to the footman outside.
“There are six men awaiting your lordship’s pleasure in the drawing room.”
Six men. Damn, he’d forgotten about the seconds. And of course, Kensingham had brought a doctor. How should he handle this?
He thought a moment, then told the footman, “Ask the Earl of Kensingham to come to my study. Alone.”
The footman raised one eyebrow, but left to convey the message. Neville ran his fingers through his hair, his gaze darting automatically to the open door to his bedchamber. The time had come to put his plan into action.
But this wasn’t what he wanted. He didn’t want to spring this on Althea while she wasn’t even awake.
Until now he hadn’t considered what would happen to her when her uncle caught sight of her.
But now he knew it would shame her. He couldn’t bear that, especially in front of the uncle she now felt so ambivalent about, thanks to him.
Surely there was a better way to bring Kensingham around. There must be. And he would find it.
By the time the second knock came at the door, he’d made up his mind. He moved quickly to the adjoining door and closed it, after checking to be certain Althea was still asleep. Then he strode to the outer door to his study, opened it, and beckoned the earl in.
Kensingham was dressed soberly, his face pale as he entered. Neville was vaguely conscious of his own unkempt hair and mussed clothing, but didn’t worry about it. The only important thing was to get this settled, so he could have Althea forever.
“What is this about?” Kensingham snapped. “Why weren’t you waiting out front? Are you crying off?”
Nev shook his head, meeting the man’s gaze unwaveringly. “Not exactly. But as I said last night, I have no wish to fight you. I’d prefer to settle this more amicably. And I think I’ve found a way to do so. I’d like to offer for your niece.”
For a moment, Kensingham merely stared at him, mouth agape. Then his eyes narrowed. “Is this some trick? The Fox? Marry? Why, everyone knows that—”
“Everyone is wrong,” Nev said through gritted teeth. He was tired of having his reputation flung in his face. “I’ve always intended to marry sometime. Why do you think I was at a marriage mart last night? I want a wife. And I’d like it to be Althea.”
Kensingham gave a harsh laugh, his hands balling into fists. “What in the name of God makes you think I’d let her marry a scoundrel like you?”
It was the answer he’d expected. Still, he pressed on, forcing down the anger boiling up in him.
“Don’t let what happened between us eight years ago stand in the way of your niece’s future.
You know quite well I’m a perfectly suitable candidate.
My exploits in the past have been no more outrageous than yours.
You’re marrying a respectable woman. Why can’t I? ”
“Because even if I did approve—and I don’t—she won’t have you,” Kensingham retorted. “I promised to let her have the final say on any suitor I choose, and she’ll never approve of you.”
“She will approve. If you don’t believe me, go home and ask her.” He didn’t know how he’d get Althea home before her uncle, but somehow he’d manage it.
“How can you be so damned sure—” Kensingham began, but broke off at the sound of the door opening at the other end of the room, and a female voice saying, “You promised to awaken me before dawn, Neville. Why didn’t—”
Neville groaned as he turned to see Althea standing in the doorway to his bedchamber, her face flushed from sleep and the counterpane draped around her, barely covering her breasts.
No man with an ounce of perception could mistake what she’d been doing for the past few hours. And certainly not Kensingham.
As her color turned to ash, Kensingham let out a roar. “What the bloody hell— Althea, what in God’s name are you doing here?”
“I-I . . . ” Her eyes went wide as she clutched the counterpane to her chest with a groan. “Oh, merciful heavens, Uncle Winston, what are you doing here?”
“It appears I am interrupting something abominable!” He turned to Neville, his face contorted with rage. “You bastard! You lecherous, deceitful—”
“He’s done nothing worse than you’ve done to other women in the past, Uncle,” Althea cried out in defense of Neville. Her face filled with outrage as she stepped toward him. “You have no right to chastise him for sins you commit regularly.”
It was Kensingham’s turn to blanch. He stared at Neville, his eyes black with horror. “Oh, God, how much did you tell her about me?”
Neville felt a sudden pity for the man who stood trembling before him. “Everything, I’m afraid. She wanted to know the truth, and I gave it to her.”
Kensingham looked as if he’d been struck. “The truth? Why? So you could use it to seduce her? Did you say, ‘Look at what a lecher your uncle is. You might as well behave as wantonly as he’? Is that how you got her into your bed?”
“He didn’t seduce me, Uncle,” Althea said. “I went willingly. What he told me had nothing to do with it. It was my choice.”
Kensingham’s face grew bleak. “Your choice? You had none. Don’t you see?
When a man like Foxworth decides to have a woman, he does what it takes to succeed.
” Kensingham looked from Althea to Neville, then went pale again.
“In your case, he had to have you in his bed so he could force you to marry him. He wanted to marry you, he knew I wouldn’t approve, and this is how he made sure it would happen. ”
Neville’s heart sank. Somehow Kensingham had ascertained Neville’s intentions exactly, and Neville doubted that Althea would appreciate those intentions.
“Don’t be absurd,” Althea glanced at Neville, dropping her voice to a shaky whisper. “Neville doesn’t want to marry. Everyone says—”
“He just offered for you,” Kensingham broke in. “Ask the man himself.”
Althea faced him with an incredulous expression. “Did you offer for me?”
“I never said I didn’t want to marry,” Neville told her, praying she would understand. “Not once, if you’ll recall. You believed the rumors, but they weren’t true. I simply never wanted to marry until now.”
Kensingham stepped forward. “Apparently, last night this damned scoundrel decided he wanted you for a wife. That’s why he seduced you—to force me into accepting his suit.”
Her face was ashen, and she wouldn’t look at him. “D-Did you really plan all this just to make sure I married you?”
“It’s not the way he makes it sound,” Neville protested, feeling his hold over her slipping. “I did want to marry you, ’tis true. From the moment I met you on that balcony, I knew you were the only wife I wanted. And I knew your uncle wouldn’t let me marry you, so when you came to me last night—”
“You lied to me.” She clutched the coverlet more tightly to her chest. “You . . . you told me all you wanted was one night with me, that you’d let me go before anyone could ever know.
” The pain in her voice tore at him. “You told me it was my stolen night. But you never intended it to be that, did you? That’s why you didn’t wake me before Uncle came.
What did you plan to do? Give him a glimpse of me in your bed?
Describe in detail all the ways you . . . you—”
“Please, Althea, it’s not like that,” he said, his gut clenching inside him.
But it was very near to that, and he knew it. He’d never once considered her wants during his little campaign. He’d convinced himself she would want what he wanted.
“You could have asked me, you know,” she whispered. “All you had to do was ask me to marry you, and I—”
“Your uncle would never have allowed it.”
A sudden change came over her face. Anger suffused it until her eyes blazed. “That had nothing to do with it! If you had told me what you wanted, I could have helped you. Somehow we could have made him listen to us both. But you didn’t even ask me!”
“If you’ll recall,” he snapped, “the subject of marriage came up a few times, and you weren’t at all amenable to the possibility.”
The instant he said it, he realized he’d made a major blunder.
Her face went stony. “Yes, I do remember. I was very clear on the subject of marrying you, wasn’t I? I believe I said I wouldn’t marry you even if you offered.”
“That’s because you didn’t believe I would offer!” he protested, feeling like a drowning man just before his head disappears beneath the water for the last time. “You were so convinced I would never marry anyone—”
“You’re saying if I’d meant what I’d said, if I truly hadn’t wanted to marry you, you would have made sure I did so anyway?”
Neville’s eyes went wide. “If? If you’d meant what you said? That means you do want to marry me, doesn’t it?”
She lifted her head, her face etched with hurt. “I wouldn’t marry you now if you were the last person on earth.”
Neville felt his heart twist inside him. “Don’t say that! I understand why you’re angry, but—”