Samantha Kane (16 page)

hint of an intimate relationship between Oliver and Vanessa. If

they wanted her father to agree to Nick’s proposal he must

believe it was Nick and Nick alone that Vanessa was to be with.

“I am Lord Ambrose Wetherald and I promised Lady Vanessa

that I would marry her, regardless of her past association with

you.” Nick took another step toward them and reached for

Vanessa, but Wetherald knocked Nick’s hand away in disgust.

“As far as I’m concerned you don’t deserve her. What were you

thinking to drag an innocent young lady into debauchery and

ruin? She may be carrying a child, thanks to you. Did you even

think of that? What it would mean for her? Did you even care?”

“Get out,” Lord Carlton-Smythe ordered the staff that had

gathered in the doorway and were openly gaping at the scene.

As one they turned and scurried off.

As one they turned and scurried off.

Oliver’s head was spinning. A child. No, he hadn’t thought of it.

And if he had, he would have ignored the danger, would have

embraced the idea of Vanessa round with their child. He glanced

at Nick, who was staring at the floor.

“Yes, I thought of it,” Nick said quietly to Oliver’s surprise. He

looked up and stared balefuly at Wetherald. “And I wanted it.”

Oliver grew hopeful. If she were pregnant with their child they

would have to let Nick marry her.

“Have you no decency?” Wetherald angrily pounded his fist

against his thigh. “Dammit! Didn’t you think what this would

mean for her? Is that what you want? Do you want to ruin her in

the eyes of society? Turn her into nothing more than a whore?”

Nick growled and ran at Wetherald, ramming him up against the

wal with his arm across the smaler man’s throat. “Don’t ever

cal her that again,” he snarled. “Do you hear me?”

“It is not I who wil say it,” Wetherald gasped. “But society. You

know it. Is that what you want for her?” Nick let him go abruptly

and backed away, shaking his head. Wetherald rubbed his neck.

“I wil marry her, regardless of whether or not she’s carrying a

child.” His voice was hoarse but sincere.

Vanessa was shaking her head. “No.” She was growing more

Vanessa was shaking her head. “No.” She was growing more

agitated by the second. Her head was pounding from her brief

emotional outburst earlier. She realy mustn’t cry again. It was

terribly distracting when one was trying to keep her wits about

her. “This is al hypothetical, my lord. I don’t know if I am

indeed carrying, nor do I know if…” she paused, looking

between Nick and Oliver, “Nick is able to offer for me at

present.”

“Perhaps it would have been wise to ascertain that before

leaping into a liaison?” her father said sharply.

“I did not leap,” Vanessa responded just as sharply. “I did not

entertain the notion that the liaison would last longer than

Christmastide.”

Her father and Wetherald looked shocked. “You gave your

innocence knowing that the connection was to be temporary?

But why?” her father spluttered.

“You would not understand.” Vanessa turned her back on him

and stared beseechingly at Oliver. He could say nothing or he

risked ruining their chances. Couldn’t she see that?

“You presume,” Wetherald said in a clipped tone. “I have

offered to protect you should the need arise. Please show me the

respect I believe justified by that action and reveal your reasons

to us.”

“Fine,” she snapped, whipping around to face him. “I am

suffocating in this life.” She pounded her chest with her fist,

letting her anger out for perhaps the first time in her life. Inside, Oliver was cheering her on. “I am trapped in here. I do not want

this life. I do not want to be a Carlton-Smythe and al that the

name requires and implies. I want to be Vanessa. I want to be

free to come and go as I please, to marry or not marry as I

please, to know that the man who takes me to bed wants me

and not my family or my wealth or my connections. Just me. I

want to laugh and dance and play with children and walk down

the street with my lover without the censorious eyes of society

condemning me. I cannot eat, breathe, blink or think without

someone watching me for the tiniest little mistake, one slight

variation from the path mapped out for me. I am dying inside. Or

I was. Until I met Oliver and Nick I didn’t even realize that

slowly, insidiously, the real Vanessa was dying, becoming a

marionette dancing on the strings everyone else was puling.” She

slashed her hand through the air. “I’m tired of dancing on a

string. I’m done.” She sat down abruptly, breathing heavily,

suddenly exhausted.

Wetherald stood there blinking at her in stunned astonishment.

“Wel,” he said awkwardly.

“Yes,” she agreed wearily, “wel.”

“I am able to offer for you,” Nick said quietly. He went and

kneeled in front of her. Then he reached into the pocket of his

kneeled in front of her. Then he reached into the pocket of his

coat and puled out a smal bouquet.

“Mistletoe,” she whispered as she took it. She grew teary-eyed.

“Thank you.” She looked behind him for Oliver, and he read the

thank-you for him, too, in her face.

“I gladly offer for you,” Nick told her. “I love you, Vanessa.

Marry me. Walk down the street with me. Play with our children

and dance every day. I don’t care about your family. We wil

walk away from here right now with nothing but each other. Say

yes.”

Oliver felt the pain of not being able to speak cut through his

chest. Vanessa turned tearful eyes to him and he nodded, trying

to say without words that he felt the same. Her father intercepted

the look.

“Who are you, sir?” he asked suspiciously.

“Oliver Gabriel, my lord, at your service,” he said with a

respectful bow of his head.

“Mr. Gabriel is a dear friend,” Nick said as he stood up, stil

holding Vanessa’s hand. “We served in the war together. He is

here to support me.”

Her father turned to her. “And these are the men we heard

about? The ones you were carrying on with while we were in

about? The ones you were carrying on with while we were in

Kent?”

“We met Vanessa at the Shelbys’ Christmas Eve dinner, sir,”

Nick answered, making an obvious effort to be respectful.

“Perhaps it was wrong, but as soon as I saw her I began my

pursuit without waiting for your return or permission. I beg your

indulgence. My only excuse is that I fel in love with her soon

after we met.”

“My indulgence?” her father sputtered. “You blithely inform me

that you have ruined my daughter, debauched her and left her

carrying your child, and you have the effrontery to beg my

indulgence?”

Oliver winced. Nick took a deep breath, his eyes narrowed in

anger. “I did not leave her carrying my child. I am here to marry

her. I want to marry her. I love her.”

“Mr. Wilkes is far from an il-advised match, sir,” Oliver argued.

Since Lord Carlton-Smythe had brought him into the

conversation, he would say his piece. “He served valiantly at

Waterloo, was injured in the line of duty and was decorated for

his service. He has an income of seven thousand pounds a year

and a smal estate in Oxford. More than enough to take care of

Vanessa and a family.”

“I need to know how Oliver feels,” Vanessa said suddenly. She

“I need to know how Oliver feels,” Vanessa said suddenly. She

worried her lower lip for a moment, while Oliver’s gaze clashed

with the confused one of her father. Wetherald appeared

stunned.

“Why?” her father demanded.

Wetherald cleared his throat. “Might I suggest that a simple

explanation is preferable?"

“Yes,” Oliver said. “A thousand times yes. This wil work. Is it

what you want? Say it is.” He hadn’t even considered that

Vanessa would want a normal marriage to Nick, that she might

reject the idea of the three of them together.

“It is,” she said fervently, holding out her hand to him. He

crossed the room quickly and took it, kissing her palm, not

caring what her father or Wetherald thought of it.

Her father suddenly sank down in the nearest chair. He slumped

over, his elbows resting on his knees. Wetherald rushed to cover

the awkward silence. “Let us al remember that whatever

happens in the privacy of the home is between a man and his

wife and no one else.”

“Yes,” Nick agreed from Vanessa’s other side. “Thank you.”

“I did not choose Wetherald without thought for your wishes,

Vanessa,” Lord Carlton-Smythe said wearily. “Is he not in favor

of expanding women’s rights? My lord,” he addressed

Wetherald, beseeching him with a raised hand. “Did you not tel

me you wanted a wife who would devote her energy to

charitable causes?” He turned to Vanessa. “And isn’t that

orphanage the only thing that seems to make you happy?”

Vanessa looked at Oliver and then Nick, searching for guidance.

By unspoken agreement, they remained silent. Whatever

happened here would set the stage for Vanessa’s future

relationship with her family, and it was up to her to settle it.

Finaly she rose and went to her father.

“Thank you.” She caught his attention, although his eyes met hers

for only a second before focusing over her shoulder. “And you

were correct. Wetherald was an excelent choice for me.” Hope

sprang to life in her father’s expression but her next words kiled

it. “But that was before I met Nick and…and fel in love.” She

glanced at Oliver and he knew she’d almost said the one thing

that her father might not forgive if it was spoken aloud. “Please,

Father.” She placed a hand over his on his knee. “Please

understand. Al those things are important to me. But I can have

those and love if I marry Nick. Isn’t that better? Isn’t that what

you want for me?”

He sat there for a moment, staring at her hand on his while Oliver

held his breath. Then he briefly squeezed her hand, let go, sat

back and looked at Nick. “I want assurances her dowry wil be

set aside for Vanessa’s use. You’re not to touch it. Any

set aside for Vanessa’s use. You’re not to touch it. Any

expenditures of that money wil require prior approval from my

man of business, who wil manage the funds.”

“Of course,” Nick agreed immediately. “Whatever you wish.”

“She must have adequate pin money,” her father insisted. “I’l not

have her looking shabby. She’s a Carlton-Smythe.”

“Absolutely,” Nick agreed. “She may have as much as she

needs.”

“Come from trade, do you?” Her father stood up. “As long as

you didn’t crawl from the gutter, I can spin a tale that wil keep

the tongues from wagging too viciously.”

“Hardly the gutter, sir,” Nick replied stiffly. “Gloucester.”

“Humph,” her father grunted, making it clear he thought the two

were located very near each other. “Let’s have done with this,

then,” he ordered. He turned unexpectedly on Vanessa. “How

far along are you?” he demanded, clearly shocking her.

“I am not at al sure I’m going to have a child,” she confessed

sheepishly. “I never should have mentioned it.”

“Yes, you should have. If there is even a possibility, measures

must be taken. You know this is true,” her father said briskly. He

turned to Wetherald. “I trust we can rely on your discretion in

turned to Wetherald. “I trust we can rely on your discretion in

this matter, sir?”

Wetherald bowed. “Of course, my lord. Lady Vanessa,” he said

bowing to her as wel. “As I told you, this would have been an

advantageous match for me. And as you may have guessed, my

heart is not engaged elsewhere.” The smile he gave her was

rueful. “The fact is, Lady Vanessa, that I’m fairly sure, given the

chance, my heart would gladly have engaged itself to you.”

Vanessa laughed a little tearfuly while Nick put his arm around

her shoulders. “Then I pity your heart. I would make a poor

anchor for it, I think.”

Wetherald smiled gently. “Nonsense. I don’t think Mr. Wilkes is

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“Thank you, no,” Vanessa’s father said. “I’m sure I shal have no

trouble.”

Wetherald saluted Nick and then, after a brief hesitation, turned

to Oliver and inclined his head. “Good afternoon, gentlemen.”

From his expression it was clear Wetherald had a very good

idea of what was going on.

After Wetherald left, her father sighed. “Good,” he said,

nodding. “The sooner we have the wedding the better, then. The

timing wil work. How long do you need to prepare?”

Vanessa quickly calculated in her head. “Two days,” she told

him. That would mean she would marry on Twelfth Night. She

smiled at how fitting that was. This marriage was the greatest gift

she would ever receive. To be Mrs. Nicholas Wilkes by

Epiphany was the perfect end to this magical holiday season.

She looked over at Nick and Oliver. They were looking back at