Shayla Black (39 page)

Aimee scampered to his side and held up her arms. Brock lifted her against him and held the girl tight. Soon she would know the truth; Maddie had agreed they would tell her together before the month was done. As soon as the girl had settled into her new life in London with a man in the midst, she would know. Despite the turmoil and the lies, he was thankful for Aimee.

The little girl wrapped her arms about Brock’s neck and placed a dainty kiss on his cheek. The fury holding his heart receded for the moment as he held tight to his daughter.

“
Mr. Jack says I can call him grandpapa,” Aimee offered.

“
Of course.” Brock smiled at the girl’s simple happiness in the occasion. Clearly, she felt none of the tension in the room, only noted that her family had expanded.

How he wished he could view the matter as simply.

“
Should I call you papa?”

Brock sucked in a breath. Could Aimee’s acceptance be that easy? Perhaps. Children tended to be resilient and accepting.

Before he could reply, Brock spotted Maddie and her warning stare. Now was not the time for the truth, he agreed. But Brock wanted to disregard Maddie’s wishes. Certainly she had never thought of his when she had failed to tell him the truth about Aimee. But as of today, Aimee’s whole life would change through no doing of her own. Brock wanted her wishes met.

“
Would that please you?” Brock asked the child.

“
Yes!” Aimee squealed, oblivious to her mother’s anxiety.

The girl gave him a quick hug, then shimmied down from his grasp over to her mother. Maddie picked Aimee up and held the little girl against her chest, palm splayed protectively over her little golden head.

“
If you upset her or abandon her,” Maddie whispered, “I will ruin you and your railroad.”

Brock reared back, appalled. “Upset her? Abandon her?” he drilled at her in low-voiced disbelief. “Why would I? I’ve just found her.”

Maddie turned away, and he glared at her back, uncomprehending. She must think him low and callous indeed to want to upset the child. And abandon her? That would mean abandoning Maddie. Not bloody likely after chasing the woman for years. Not after discovering he had a daughter and yet expected another babe. A bomb could not pry him loose from her now.

“
Mr. Taylor?”

Brock turned to find Lady Litchfield, wearing a cool smile and offering her hand. Automatically, he took her gloved fingers and bowed over them. “My lady.”

The woman’s smile widened, and Brock knew she enjoyed her social power over him. Normally, people like Lady Litchfield grated on him. Today, he found her a mere irritation.

“
Felicitations on your marriage.” She paused, gathering the strings of her reticule about her wrist. “It’s a good match, for she is beautiful, and you are rich.”

Brock began to believe it was a terrible match. Maddie was deceitful, and he was a sap for wanting her in spite of it. But he merely nodded. “Thank you.”

“
In two weeks, I will have my annual ball. You and Lady Taylor will be there, I hope.”

An invitation to the widow’s ball was the most coveted invitation of the season. And marriage to someone of Maddie’s ilk had opened that door, for Brock knew well that invitation would not have come his way without her at his side.

He wanted this—had wanted this sort of acceptance for years. Again, the fruition of his hard work tasted worse than the most bitter brine. But he could not afford to refuse her.

“
Naturally, my lady. We would be honored.”

She pulled something from her reticule and handed it to Brock. To his astonishment, it was a bank draft for ten thousand pounds. “My lady?”

“
Gavin may be put off with you, but consider me one of your subscribers.”

How much did the lady know of his row with Cropthorne? Not much, he imagined, or all of London would know, too.

He pocketed the draft. “Thank you. I will invest it well for you.”

“
A little more fortune would be most welcome, Mr. Taylor. And unlike Gavin, I enjoy a little scandal every now and then.”

With that cryptic smile, she turned away. A moment later, she and Cropthorne left, the duke not having said a single word to him.

Brock sighed. He had more meddlesome problems to worry about now. Turning, he sought out his wife, only to find her by the window, staring out into the street.

Yes, he would have to deal with her very shortly. And he knew it would not be pretty.

At a sudden slap on his back, Brock turned to find his father, who wore a wide smile.

“
You look miserable.”

And Jack didn’t look too distressed by that fact.

“
I’m elated,” Brock intoned. “Doesn’t it show?”

“
You’re going to have to forgive Maddie, son. She made a mistake.”

Brock felt his jaw drop. His own father was siding with Maddie?

“
No, a mistake is misplacing your gloves. It’s dribbling food down your frock coat in a roomful of people. It isn’t neglecting to tell a man that he’s become a father.”

“
She was young,” Jack soothed. “More than likely scared witless. And after she married, she would likely have found it difficult to leave her husband to seek you out. That would not have pleased Sedgewick.”

“
Perhaps not,” Brock snapped. “But better his temporary displeasure than completely withholding the truth from me.”

Jack shrugged, clearly unwilling to debate the point further. Instead, he patted Brock on the shoulder and cast his gaze across the room to Aimee as she tugged on Maddie’s skirts.

“
Too bad I did not see the child sooner,” Jack said. “I would have told you immediately that she was your daughter.”

Brock turned in surprise to his father. “How?”

Something wistful overtook Jack’s lined face. He gazed into the distance, as if seeing the past, rather than the present. “She looks so much like your mother. Same hair, same face, same sunny disposition. Your mother, rest her soul, would have been so thrilled to see you blessed with Aimee. Enjoy her.”

Stunned, Brock stared at his daughter. He had never seen a likeness of his mother; his father had been too poor to afford such a thing. Looking at Aimee gave him some idea how wonderful his mother must have been.

It also made him all the more angry that Maddie had deprived him of the girl.

“
I intend to,” he vowed to his father.

“
Then start by making peace with her mother,” Jack offered sagely.

Why did everyone behave as if this breach between them was his fault? “Not bloody likely.”

Jack shrugged, his face clearly stating Brock was making a mistake. Then he retreated and made his way to Aimee again.

Within minutes, the family settled in for a celebration breakfast. Brock had never felt more somber in his life. Merely looking at Maddie hurt. His chest buckled, ached. Like a fool, he still wanted her, naked, writhing, moaning, taking him deep inside her. No, he wanted more than that. He wanted that fleeting bond he had felt with her to last forever. But she disdained him, and now he distrusted her.

Brock stared absently at the fruit and eggs on his plate. Everything inside him was a tangle. But in some dim corner of his mind, however, he feared that he still loved Maddie.

He was less certain if he could forgive her.

Breakfast ended mercifully soon. Mrs. Bickham and Vema kissed Maddie and Aimee, then set off for Hampstead once more. Jack and Aimee disappeared to the new rooms Brock had prepared for the girl, hopefully to play with the mountain of toys he had bought.

That left him and Maddie alone.

She fiddled with the ribbon that had tied her bridal flowers, wrapping and unwrapping the satin length from about her finger. He straightened his blue frock coat.

Abruptly, she stood. “I should like to unpack my belongings.”

“
I imagine the servants have already done so.”

Maddie shrugged. “I’m sure you’ll agree it’s been a trying morning. I think I shall rest.”

“
Don’t avoid me.”

She shot him an incredulous stare. “What can we possibly have to say? You’ve acquired the land you need to finish the railroad. You have Aimee and me under your roof. No doubt, you’re feeling smug in the knowledge you manipulated me until you won you everything you wished for. I would rather not be witness to your glee.”

With that, she made her way out the door and started toward the stairs. Brock watched her go, his anger rising. Manipulating? He had made her a wager. She had agreed to it, by God. She had come to him wanting marriage for the coming baby. Why did she blame him? Because he’d left her to seek fortune. He’d handled that day badly, but he’d assured her that he would return.

Brock rose and stalked after her. “We aren’t finished yet, my dear wife.”

Maddie, standing two stairs above him, turned to him with contempt in her eyes. “We’ve done our duty to one another for the day. We have nothing left to say.”

“
It is our wedding day,” he said silkily.

“
Yes, and you have already enjoyed all the benefits our marriage bed will afford.”

With a frosty glare, Maddie turned and began climbing the stairs again. He stared at her retreating back, her hips swinging, his fury mounting. Hadn’t she enjoyed the nights they had spent locked in one another’s arms? Did she mean to imply only he had found pleasure?

Brock darted after her, taking the stairs two at a time. He reached her at the top of the landing and grasped her arm.

When he spun her around, her gray eyes sizzled enough to spit fire. She jerked from his grip. “Leave me be. You’ve already ruined the rest of my life.”

“
By marrying you?”

“
By forcing your way back into my life. You made yourself clear when you left me for London that wealth, not a wife, was your priority. Oh, but when you realized I held that land you needed, suddenly I was important again. And no matter how I refused you, you turned my life—and Aimee’s—upside down. You cornered me until I agreed to your ridiculous wager. Even then you weren’t satisfied until you had reduced my pride and made me your mewling wanton. I have yielded to you time and again, and I am done with it.”

Once more, Maddie turned her back on him. Brock found himself stomping after her.

How could she understand so little? She had always been important, even when he’d fooled himself into believing their wager was about the land. Even then he had known he wanted her again. Nothing had changed. He’d always loved her.

When Maddie opened the door to the room that adjoined his, he barreled his way in behind her and shut the door, locking the world out.

“
We have a marriage to consummate.”

“
So you want a willing wife because the law commands it? Regardless of my wishes,” she said sharply.

“
It is my right.”

She laughed bitterly. “You’re not so unlike Colin after all.”

Brock stared at her, his eyes widening with fury. She had delivered him the ultimate insult, as far as he was concerned. Her contempt could not have been more plain.

“
Damn you! I would never raise a hand to you, no matter what. And I adored Aimee even when I believe her to be Sedgewick’s daughter. And the other difference? I know I can make you melt, but I won’t force you to share a marriage bed.”

Hell, after her slur, he wouldn’t even take her if she begged.

Brock glared at Maddie in the wake of her surprise before he turned to the door connecting their rooms and slammed it shut between them.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

A week passed in silence. Other than Aimee’s happy laughter, the townhouse was quieter than a gravesite after a funeral. The icy civility between he and Maddie disturbed Brock. By comparison, his office seemed relaxing.

Since the wedding, he’d spent each day, as well as half the night, there. Now that the railroad was in production, he had dozens of details to oversee. Additionally, since the announcement of his marriage in the
Times
Friday last, he had received new calls from titled clients, inquiring about his financial services. Every memory of childhood hunger and cold drove Brock to cultivate them all. He nearly had more appointments than he could keep.

He didn’t spend eighteen hours a day at his office to avoid Maddie.

Brock pushed away the dissatisfaction that pressed in on him and searched for the triumph he had hoped for. So far, he’d had no luck finding it.

“
You’ve arrived early,” his father said, strolling into Brock’s office with a cup of tea. “Again.”

“
I’m busy.”

“
You removed the majority of the papers off my desk and saw to those matters yourself. For some purpose?”