The Widowed Countess (22 page)

Daniel frowned. “Does he ... visit you in your bedchamber?” he asked, remembering her words to Lady Torrington when she had mistaken him for David.

Clarinda’s face suddenly reddened with embarrassment. “A few times, although it was usually to tell me ...” She stopped. She couldn’t tell Daniel what David had said. She couldn’t tell him that David insisted she marry Daniel! “To tell me about the babies,” she managed to get out.

Daniel was about to ask about her feelings on the subject when his mother appeared in the doorway.

“What, pray tell, is going on here?” Dorothea Fitzwilliam demanded as her fists took purchase on her hips. Somehow her face managed to display an expression that made her appear both scandalized and extremely satisfied by what she was witnessing.

How does she do that
? Clarinda wondered, suddenly realizing her thigh was pressed rather solidly against Daniel’s thigh while the edges of her petticoats and most of her calves were on display. She decided to leave her thigh exactly where it was.
Let my mother-in-law think what she will
. Reaching over her knee, she shook out her skirts so they would settle back down to her half-boots. At least she could display some sense of propriety.

How does she do that?
Daniel wondered at seeing his mother’s expression. He considered moving his thigh a bit to the right, but decided his thigh rather liked where it was. He made no move to move it. He felt a bit of satisfaction when he realized Clarinda didn’t mean to move her thigh, either. “Is everything alright, Mother?” Daniel wondered, realizing just then that his thigh had to move – a lady had just entered the room. He stood, reluctantly, and gave a bow in his mother’s direction. Clarinda, bless her heart, remained exactly where she was.

“Well, obviously,” Dorothea responded, her arms spreading out to her sides. “Why, this is the best news I’ve had since Wally said he was paying a visit to Rundell and Bridge!”

“Wally?” Clarinda repeated in a whisper, remembering when she’d last said the name. Adele had overheard it when she came to see her off the day before.

“Wallingham,” Daniel clarified, his own voice barely a whisper. He had to suppress a shudder at the realization that the viscount might soon be his step-father. The man may have been responsible for the shot that killed his brother.

“What news is that, my lady?” Clarinda called out, her brows furrowing in confusion.

Dorothea frowned as she gave her son one of those Meaningful Looks. She had obviously jumped to an incorrect conclusion. Although, Daniel realized later, if he thought about it just a bit more, he could have used the opportunity to inform Clarinda she would be marrying him. He was rather glad that he didn’t inform her of the fact just then, though – she would have been incensed at being
informed
she was to marry him. No, it was far better that they have the opportunity to discuss the issue in private, perhaps when they were naked in bed, when she was replete with having been pleasured within an inch of her life and was unable to argue convincingly. Of course, that would require that he be of sound mind, and he rather doubted he could ever be accused of having a sound mind and certainly not a sound body when he had just made love to her. He wasn’t sure he was recovered from their last encounter. Since Clarinda seemed to believe David had been the one to visit her in her bedchamber, Daniel thought he could just consider that last encounter a practice session.

Dorothea realized she needed to come up with some answer to Clarinda’s query. “I meant, I have good news, of course,” she hedged. “Lord Wallingham visited his favorite jeweler because I have accepted his offer of marriage,” she announced with a slight curtsy.

Clarinda stood up just then and hurried to embrace her mother-in-law. “Best wishes!” she exclaimed as she hugged the older woman. “My goodness, when did this happen?” she asked then, thinking the viscount hadn’t yet made an appearance at Norwick Park. That meant he had to have proposed the day of the funeral.
Ewww
. Or maybe he had paid her a call prior to their departure from London.
Or perhaps he had sneaked into Norwick House and spent the night in Dorothea’s bedchamber.
The last possibility was the most likely, Clarinda realized. She was pondering these possibilities as she returned to her seat on the Greek lounge.

Dorothea’s eyes widened just a bit, seeking Daniel’s for help. He shrugged, not about to guess what she was about. But he was rather happy that Clarinda had returned to sit exactly as she had been doing so that his thigh would once again be pressed against hers just as soon as his mother either saw fit to be seated or, preferably, left the room entirely. “Why, early yesterday morning, before we left to come here, of course,” she replied carefully, not wanting to admit it had been so early, it was essentially the middle of the night. Given the location of the Blue Room in Norwick House, it had been quite easy to sneak Lord Wallingham into the house and up to her bedchamber. “Although, he has been hinting he would do so for some time,” she added with a flutter of her eyelashes and a wave of one hand – the hand that clearly displayed a sapphire of some considerable size.

“He probably needs her funds to pay gambling debts,” Daniel murmured under his breath, hoping Clarinda would hear him and his mother would not. The quelling look his mother gave him was the only indication his words carried too far.

“Have you set a date?” Clarinda asked, hoping to cover Daniel’s gaff. She wondered how Dorothea had managed to keep news of her engagement a secret during the entire trip to Norwick Park.

Dorothea finally moved into the room and took a seat in the chair nearest them. Daniel sat down, making sure his thigh ended up right against Clarinda’s. Although her eyes closed for an instant, as if she was either very excited by his improper move or very offended by it, Clarinda made no move to move her thigh away from his.

“I think he’ll just get a special license so we can wed wherever and whenever we wish,” Dorothea replied, her hands settling onto her lap.

“Do you expect that will be somewhere near here?” Daniel wondered. “I ask only because we really should be getting back to London,” he added, waving his hand to indicate Clarinda and himself.

A jolt of excitement shot through Clarinda. The thought of Daniel sleeping in the chamber next to hers had her thinking of how often their thighs might be pressed against one another. He must know how her thigh looked – a painting featuring one of her bare thighs hung right above where he slept. She wondered what he thought of that painting, wondered if he found it pleasing to the eye.

“Already?” Dorothea questioned, surprised her son would be anxious to return to London so soon.“We only just got here yesterday.”

Daniel nodded. He’d spent the past two years, and several months of the two years before that, sequestered at Norwick Park working on the earldom’s books and overseeing the estate. He could do that just as well if he was in London, and even enjoy doing it knowing Clarinda was under the same roof. They could always return to Norwick Park for the summers. “And, yet, we’ve already stayed too long,” Daniel countered, one hand seeking Clarinda’s. When he had it securely wrapped around hers, he lifted her hand to his lips and kissed the back of it.

Stunned at the intimacy of his kiss, Clarinda’s eyes widened. “I suppose I can be ready to leave ... the day after tomorrow, let’s say,” she offered, wondering what Daniel had in mind.

“Well! I cannot be ready so soon,” Dorothea countered, her hands going to her hips. Since she was sitting down, the action didn’t hold as much menace as it would have if she’d been standing. “Besides, Wally is due here tomorrow. You were supposed to escort me home sometime next week.” From the glare she directed in her son’s direction, Clarinda knew Dorothea to be incensed.

“Perhaps Lord Wallingham would allow you to join him for the trip to Bognor in his carriage?” Clarinda suggested. “You could enjoy a bit of privacy before you two have to return to London. Once you’re back there, you won’t have the opportunity to spend much time together since there will no doubt be balls and soirées in honor of your betrothal,” she added, making her words sound ever so innocent.

Daniel could have kissed her just then. Almost did, in fact, but remembered where they were and who else was in the room with them. “Clare’s idea holds merit, Mother,” Daniel affirmed. “And, if Lord Wallingham arrives on horseback, or in a gig that doesn’t afford room for all those trunks of gowns you brought from London, you can always take one of the conveyances in the carriage house here. Mr. Hammond mentioned there are several.” He was imagining the barouche, the one his brother had described as a piece of ...

“Why, what a splendid idea!” his mother agreed, her face brightening. “Oh,” she stood up suddenly, as if she’d just remembered something. “I just remembered something!” she announced. “I really must get back to my room. I have so much to do before Wally arrives,” she said over her shoulder as she hurried out of the parlor.

Daniel barely had a chance to stand as his mother took her leave. He seated himself just as quickly, making sure his thigh returned to what he had decided was its rightful place against Clarinda’s.

“What do you suppose she meant by that?” Clarinda wondered absently, suddenly overcome by exhaustion.

Taking her hand in his again, Daniel shook his head. “I can only imagine,” he murmured, “Not that I really want to, mind you. In fact, I’d rather not think of what she does with the manacles and rope she brings along on these trips.” Clarinda’s eyes widened, then blinked. “I’m teasing,” Daniel said, his deadpan manner making Clarinda wonder if he really was teasing. For some reason, it seemed perfectly reasonable that Dorothea would tie up her lovers or handcuff them to bed posts and have her wicked way with them. “And don’t even imagine it,” Daniel added, suddenly afraid he was too late with his directive.

“Too late,” Clarinda countered, her head tipped back and her eyes closing to try and erase the image from her memory. She sat like that for a very long time, suddenly wondering if her husband had engaged in such activities prior to their marriage. It would have been legendary if David had engaged in that kind of hedonism, she thought. His string of mistresses would have been rather daring women who thought nothing of being tied up or handcuffed or tumbled every which way.
However had he reformed to marry me
? she wondered. He’d had to sell his brothel and gaming hell, give up all his mistresses, and swear off whores in favor of marriage to her. And he had done so, quite completely. For she knew he had been faithful to her; the two investigators she’d hired over the past four years had reported on his every move. And lack thereof.

“He loved you,” Daniel stated suddenly, as if he’d overheard her every thought.

Clarinda’s slight inhalation of breath suggested he had guessed correctly as to her line of thinking.
Like mother, like son
, he thought, secretly glad he hadn’t been the older brother. Sometimes, there was something to be said for being second.

“He must have. I had investigators following his every move,” she replied in a quiet voice.

Daniel’s eyebrows nearly climbed into his hairline. “What?” he responded suddenly. “You didn’t ... you didn’t
trust
him?”

Sighing, Clarinda considered how to respond. “Would you? Had you been me?” she asked instead.

Daniel started to answer but then stilled himself.
Clarinda agreed to marry me. I was the  one who courted her.
And yet, all that time, she thought she was being courted by his brother. She knew what a rake his brother had been, and yet she still agreed to marry
him
. “Why did you marry him, then?” he asked, struggling to reign in his temper, a temper definitely directed at her instead of his brother.

“We’ve been over this Daniel,” she warned, her own indignation suddenly apparent. Her anger dissipated quickly, though, as if the volcano that had threatened to erupt suddenly settled into dormancy. In its place, there was a sad visage and tears limning her eyes.

Daniel covered her hand with one of his. “Well, there’s no need to cry about it,” he managed to get out before he gathered her into his arms, holding her on his lap and burying his head into the space between her head and her shoulder. “David doesn’t deserve your tears.”

“I can’t help it,” Clarinda whispered, tears suddenly flowing down her cheeks. “I’m with child ... with children,” she amended, causing the tears to flow faster. “I just buried my bastard of a husband. I’m a widow with a year of mourning to endure. And I’m
hungry
. So, I think I’m entitled to cry,” she managed to get out between sobs.

Chuckling softly, Daniel grinned as he held Clarinda’s body against his own. “Dinner will be served in just a few minutes,” he murmured, noticing the mantle clock was about to strike seven. Once it did, their moment of privacy would be gone. Daniel suddenly dropped to the floor, one knee down and the other supporting an elbow as he reached for her hand. “Marry me, Clare,” he whispered, his hold on her suddenly firmer. “Say you’ll be my wife.”

Clarinda pulled her hand from Daniel’s grip, stunned at his words. “I cannot marry you,” she countered, shaking her head as she struggled to back away.

Daniel let her go, his face displaying his surprise at her refusal. “And why not?” he countered, stunned that she would give him an answer so quickly. And not the answer he was expecting.

“You despise me. You probably hate me ...”

“I do not hate you, Clare,” Daniel managed to get out. “In fact, I’m ...”

“... And I’m supposed to be in
mourning
,” she went on, apparently not hearing his rebuttal. “For a year!”

“I’m sure we can work around that if you’ll just hear me out,” he responded, rising to face her. He took her hands in his again. “Please, Clare,” he whispered.

The dinner gong sounded. Clare shook her head as she pulled one hand from his and placed it over her belly. “I have to get something to eat,” she stated. “Right now,” she added. Then she turned and practically ran from the room.

Bereft and just a bit angry, Daniel cursed as he stood in the middle of the salon and pondered what to do next.
Damn you, David Fitzwilliam
!
Damn you to hell
! He half expected his brother to reply with “I’m already there,” or “I’m on my way,” but there was only silence surrounding him as Daniel made his way to the dining room.