Название: Australia: In Bed with Her Groom: Mischief and Marriage / A Marriage Betrayed / Bride of His Choice
Автор: Emma Darcy
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Современные любовные романы
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‘Thank you, William, but I’m here as a butler, not an uncle,’ Harry said firmly. ‘I think your mother would be very upset if you referred to me as an uncle. It would give people the wrong idea.’
‘Oh!’ William’s face fell. He reconsidered the situation and presented another argument. ‘But you are going to stay here for a while. I mean there’s the cricket and Mrs. Stanton’s party and it would be real good if you took my side on a few things. Like you did yesterday about the photos. Mum gets a bit fussy. Not like Mrs. Stanton. But, you know…she worries about small things that are really okay.’
Harry smiled his understanding. ‘Good parents are like that, William. You’re very lucky to have a mother who cares so much about your well-being.’
‘It can be overdone,’ William muttered.
Harry cocked a reproving eyebrow. ‘William, I have a lot of respect for your mother. She’s achieved a great deal by herself. It couldn’t have been easy being a young widow with a young child to take care of.’
‘She had me to help.’
‘Of course.’ Harry smothered a smile. ‘That slipped my mind for a moment.’
‘But she could do with a lot more help. It would be a good idea if you stayed as long as possible,’ William pressed, obviously seeing many advantages to himself in having Harry at hand. ‘I’d like to get my soldiers painted and have a few regiments ready to move by next week. Otherwise I can’t pretend to be Napoleon.’
‘Wouldn’t you rather be the Duke of Wellington?’ Harry couldn’t imagine William wanting to lead the losing side in any war game.
There was a gleam of pure animal cunning in William’s blue eyes as he answered, ‘I thought you’d rather play Wellington, Mr. Cliffton, being English and all that.’
William was clearly a master at holding out carrots. Harry was quite a dab hand at it himself.
‘Whether I stay or not will be your mother’s decision, William. Right now I’m going to make her coffee and take it up to her.’ Harry winked conspiratorially. ‘Show her what a good butler I am.’
The boy laughed his delight in their mutual understanding. ‘That’s how I get into favour. Especially when I want something a bit tricky.’
Tricky was definitely the word, Harry thought as he set a tray for the coffee. As William had pointed out, he was already involved here to the extent of taking him to the cricket match and transporting Ashley in the Rolls to Olivia Stanton’s party. Letting either of them down after giving his word went against Harry’s grain.
He had to maintain the role he had cast himself in until a decision about the future was made, either by Ashley or himself. Confession might be good for the soul, but Harry had little doubt that he would be banished from the household before he could blink if he stopped being the butler. That would not serve the purpose of getting George an heir for Springfield Manor, nor the purpose of getting to know Ashley Harcourt better.
The latter purpose was far more on Harry’s mind as he carried the coffee tray upstairs. He had picked a red rose from Ashley’s garden and laid it beside the coffeepot. The romantic touch appealed to him. He hoped it would appeal to her, too. It was wrong that so much of her life had been barren of romance.
He heard the clock alarm go off as he approached her bedroom door and waited until it clicked off before knocking.
‘Yes?’ A drowsy question.
‘It’s Harry with your coffee,’ he answered.
‘Oh!’ A pause filled with rustling movement. ‘Come in.’
Harry fixed a bright smile of greeting on his face as he opened the door. ‘Good morning, Ashley.’
It was just as well he had the words ready to trip off his tongue, because desire hit him in the solar plexus with breathtaking speed, stopping him in his tracks. She was sitting up in bed, a sheet pulled up to cover her breasts but not the two red lace straps that were obviously attached to a very feminine nightie. The pale silk of her hair fell in tangled skeins around the smooth roundness of her bare arms and shoulders. Her face was no less lovely without makeup, and her eyes held a soft, uncertain appeal that pummelled his heart.
Harry knew in that moment it was criminal to deceive this woman in any way whatsoever, yet he was trapped in his own contrived scenario. He didn’t want her to reject him. He wanted to take her in his arms, assure her that she was safe with him. He wanted to kiss the slight quiver from her lips, wanted to fill the emptiness inside her with the wonder and pleasure of not missing out on anything. He wanted to give what Pen had given to him.
Perhaps it was another mad impulse, a quixotic urge that could backfire with disastrous consequences. This was not a time for dancing on the edge, he cautioned himself. This was a time for taking things slowly, but his hastily summoned control was severely tested by the sad searching in her beautiful grey eyes. He felt her need and wanted to answer it. Common sense hammered out that it was too soon to know if he could.
Keep it light, Harry, he sternly advised himself, pushing his feet forward again. ‘William told me you preferred coffee first thing. Did you sleep well?’
‘Yes. Yes, thank you,’ she answered distractedly, her cheeks pinking as she turned to clear some space on the bedside table for the tray. ‘And you? Were you comfortable enough?’
‘Very much so.’ He set the tray down and proceeded to pour her coffee. Best to keep his hands busy. It was so tempting to reach out and touch her hair, feel its silkiness sliding between his fingers. Her warm, womanly fragrance was, fortunately, superseded by the aroma of coffee. ‘Bacon and eggs and toast for breakfast?’ he asked, hoping to put her at ease with him.
‘I usually have a bowl of muesli. But please help yourself to whatever you’re used to, Harry,’ she added quickly.
‘It’s just as easy to cook for two.’ He raised a quizzical eyebrow. She was more composed now. ‘Is the muesli a matter of healthy conviction or a symptom of not wanting the bother of cooking and cleaning up afterwards?’
It drew a rueful smile. ‘A bit of both.’
‘Well, let the bother be mine. I’m here to serve you, Ashley, and I want you to enjoy the pleasure of being served.’
‘Then I guess I might as well…once in a lifetime,’ she added with a self-mocking twist.
‘It needn’t be,’ he reminded her. ‘It could be your lifestyle if you choose to take up residence at Springfield Manor. Everything should be tried…once in a lifetime,’ he repeated, feeling somewhat exonerated.
She shrugged. ‘What would I do with myself there?’ Her eyes flashed derisively. ‘In between being waited on hand and foot.’
‘Interest yourself in the occupations of others. As you do now. There are estate farms and a village and—’
‘I’d be welcome to poke my nose into their business?’
‘Helping and interfering are two different things.’ ‘I’d be an outsider, Harry. A СКАЧАТЬ