A Reckless Promise. Кейси Майклс

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СКАЧАТЬ have to admit it certainly eased us through your small deception without much trouble, as the ladies were so delighted to hear our other news. Apparently you’ve found new friends there.”

      “Your friends were no help when they arrived with their ladies. Patting you on the back and congratulating you. I would think gentlemen would stand together.”

      “You mistake them. They did stand together, believing they know what’s best for me, most especially since their ladies, as you refer to Thea and Dany, clearly approved. If each of them weren’t so obviously in love I’d think they were of the belief that misery enjoys company.”

      “Or perhaps it was revenge for the puppies.”

      Darby smiled. Gabe, Coop and Rigby had all arrived during the time he and Sadie had been absent. With them, they’d brought their gifts from him, the remaining spaniels in the litter, just so recently delivered to each of their domiciles with the viscount’s compliments.

      The ladies were delighted. Marley was nearly over the moon when all the puppies were put on the carpet and they immediately began crawling over her, licking her, reducing her to helpless giggles.

      It had felt so strangely wonderful to hear Marley’s giggles. That was what childhood should be. A time of giggles and puppies. And innocence. Or so he would like to believe.

      “Shameless toadeater,” Gabe had said to him jokingly as the four men stood together, away from the fray, “making certain all the ladies love you. Now explain yourself. How the devil did you go from reluctant guardian to engaged man in five short days?”

      Later, he’d promised them, over drinks at their club, and before Sadie was happily attacked by the ladies, much like Marley had been by the puppies, he managed to extricate her and, well, here they were.

      He’d left Sadie to contemplate her future, their future, as they circled the square, but now it was time to move on to the next step. She hadn’t responded to his whispered announcement to her that he expected an heir from their bargain, but he was in no rush to push her on the subject. After all, he did know how to nudge...

      “I gave the ladies only vague instructions. How many gowns did you order?”

      “I have not ordered any gowns. I never asked for any gowns. Or the shoes, or the gloves or the bonnets or the scarves or the cloaks or reticules. I did not agree to having my hair trimmed, nor my fingernails buffed. I neither need nor want anything.”

      “All right,” he said, trying not to smile. “Let me rephrase that. How many gowns—and the rest of it—have the ladies ordered for you?”

      Sadie sighed. “Too many, too much. And for Marley, as well, but I saw the point in that, as she is growing very quickly right now and complained that her half boots have begun to pinch. The duchess assured me every piece was necessary, or else I would be an embarrassment to you, as your ward’s aunt. All the bills for the small army of tradespeople who have been tracking in and out of the mansion these past days will be sent to your direction. I should thank you, I know, and I do, but please understand I only agreed because of Marley.”

      “Yes, Marley appears to be at the center of everything you and I have done these past days. So young and defenseless, and so clearly troubled. John’s death affected her greatly, didn’t it? I would imagine it would, at her age.”

      I know it would, at her age. But I won’t think about that. I never think about that.

      He guided Sadie to one of the benches situated along the square and invited her to sit down, then spread his coattails and sat beside her.

      “She’s afraid. You’ve noticed that, as well. Susan, Marley’s mother, passed away when Marley was only just three, and she barely remembers her, which is sad in itself. I did my best to step in for her, coming to live with them, helping in John’s surgery, taking it over for the time he was away and...and until he died.”

      She seemed open to telling him things now, so he decided to see just how much information might be forthcoming. “You never mentioned where John and Marley lived. Where he had his surgery.”

      She looked up at him curiously, and he noticed that her eyes were shining with unshed tears. It hadn’t been the best of days for her, not for a many number of weeks and months, and he felt his heart soften toward her. She was quietly brave, and he admired her for that, as well. He could even forgive her lies—her one lie, for that’s all it had been, really. She had done what she had thought best under the circumstances. As had he, come to think of the thing.

      Careful, Darby, you’re in danger of turning into a softhearted ninny. What would your friends have to say if they suspected any such nonsense? Well, that’s simple enough. They’d think you’d once again fallen into a mud puddle only to come up smelling like the first roses of spring, that’s what they’d think, because Sadie Grace is an exceedingly beautiful woman, apparently both inside and out.

      “I didn’t? I certainly wasn’t hiding that information. We resided in Dibden, in Hampshire. I doubt you’ve heard of it.”

      Darby shook his head slightly, for he’d gotten lost in his own thoughts and for a moment didn’t have the faintest idea what Sadie was saying. “Oh, Dibden. No, I can’t say that I’ve heard of the place. Not quite the thriving metropolis, I’ll assume. But you didn’t always live there?”

      “No. I remained in our parents’ cottage in Huyton, not much distance from Liverpool, after they’d passed, happy with a small allowance. Papa had been a tutor and Mama a fine seamstress, and they left me as well-provided-for as they could. But that was only until Susan died. I’m a country mouse, and content. I’ve really never been anywhere, and yet now here I am in London, and soon to be a viscountess. I still can’t quite imagine it. You’re marrying quite beneath you, my lord Nailbourne, but with your friends’ support, I believe there’s still time for you to come to your senses. Ah, and here they come now, marching to your defense, I should hope.”

      Darby looked across the square to see Gabe and Coop approaching, Rigby and his Clarice bringing up the rear. He suppressed a smile at the sight of Rigby’s betrothed, who apparently had discovered a love for furs, as the ermine muff she carried rivaled the size of a bandbox. She certainly had adapted well to her new station in life.

      “Miss Hamilton,” Gabriel Sinclair intoned, bowing in her direction, as did the others, while Clarice shooed Darby from his seat and quickly occupied it, giving a surprised Sadie a quick hug that left her to surreptitiously pick a few bits of ermine fluff from her tongue.

      “Excuse us, Sadie,” Darby said as he joined his friends a safe distance away from Clarice’s happy chatter. “Gentlemen? You’ve come to thank me for the puppies?”

      “What?” the red-haired Rigby said, momentarily confused. “Oh, yes, yes, indeed, the puppy. Quite the surprise, that. Not so much as Gabe’s birds, but Clarice is happy enough. Can’t walk a parrot in the park, you know, although Lord knows we did the next best thing. Clary’s already named him Goodfellow. Er, yes, thank you very much.”

      That was the beauty of Jeremy Rigby; he was easily distracted.

      Gabe and Coop, however, were not.

      “You want to tell us what the devil’s going on?” Gabe asked.

      “Why, Gabe, gentlemen, whatever would make you think something is going on? I will admit I have only a faint hope that the ladies swallowed that farradiddle СКАЧАТЬ