“Of course I do, but clearly that is impossible. If you marry me, you will become estranged from your family. I don’t want to be the cause of that.” He gazed lovingly into her eyes. “This won’t be so bad, darling. In fact, one could see it as a piece of good fortune. With your influence to further my career, I’ll be in the Cabinet innotime.”
“Is that what matters most? Your career?” she said in a brittlevoice.
“Of course not!” He pulled her close again. “The most important thing is our love, and your mother can’t take that away from us. After you’ve given Thornborough an heir and a spare, we’ll be free to love each other as we weremeantto.”
She went rigid, unable to believe what he wassaying.
Feeling her withdrawal, he said tenderly, “I don’t want to wait, either. If we’re discreet, we can be together as soon as you’re back from your honeymoon. Believe me, I would like nothing better! We’ll have to be careful, of course. It wouldn’t do to foist a bastard on Thornborough.” He gave a wicked chuckle. “Though if the Gargoyle is unable to perform his duty, I’ll be happy to help him. I look more like an Aubrey thanhedoes.”
“In other words, I make you a Cabinet minister, and my reward is adultery in the afternoon,” she said numbly. “No, thank you, Mr. Curzon.” Knowing that she would break down in tears if she stayed any longer, she headed forthedoor.
He followed her and caught her shoulders. “Don’t look at it that way, darling! I promise you that this will turn out all right. We’ll be able to enjoy the very cream of love, with none of the dreariness of daily living that killsromance.”
He turned her around so that she was facing him. He was as heart-stoppingly handsome as ever, his golden hair glowing in the gaslight, his blue eyes limpid withsincerity.
She drew a shuddering breath. How could she have been suchafool?
His voice richly confident, he said, “Trust me, darling.” He started to pull her toward him foranotherkiss.
She slapped him with all her strength. “You’re right that this is a fortunate turn of events, because it’s given me a chance to see what a swine you are!” she said, her voice shaking. “I hope never to see you again, though I don’t suppose I’ll be so lucky. Goodbye, Mr. Curzon, and goodriddance.”
As he gaped with shock, the imprint of her hand reddening on his face, she spun on her heel and bolted from the room. When she was outside the cottage, she took refuge in the shadowy lee of a huge hedge. There she fell to her knees, heart hammering and tears pouring downherface.
Ever since her childhood, she had dreamed of finding a man who would love her forever. She had wanted a marriage different from the carefully concealed hostility between her parents, or the bored civility common between many other fashionable couples. In Paul, she thought she had found the man she wasseeking.
But she had been wrong, so wrong. Oh, he desired her body, and he lusted after her family’s money and influence, but that wasn’t love. She doubted that he knew what love was. Obviously she didn’t know much about it, either. Perhaps the love she craved had never been more than a romantic girl’s futilefantasy.
Blindly she stumbled to her feet and began the slow walk to The Tides. After Paul’s betrayal, there was no reason to goanywhereelse.
* * *
The next morning,when a maid delivered a half loaf of freshly baked bread and a crystal pitcher of water on a tray decorated with a fresh rosebud, Sunny summoned her mother and said that she would accept the Duke of Thornborough’soffer.
Chapter3
Justin foundAmerica a mixture of the sublime and the ridiculous. He liked the bustling energy of New York City and the cheerful directness of the average citizen. Yet in what was supposedly a nation of equals, he found people whose craven fawning over his title would have shamed aspaniel.
Newport society, which considered itself the crème de la crime of America, apparently wanted to out-Anglo the English when it came to formality and elaborate rules. Augusta Vangelder was in her element as she escorted him to an endless series of social events. She invariably referred to him as her “dear duke.” He bore that stoically, along with all the other absurdities of thesituation.
But the habits of the natives were of only minor interest; what mattered was Sunny Vangelder. He had hoped that she would greet him with the same sweet, unaffected good nature that she had shown at Swindon, perhaps even witheagerness.
Instead, she might have been a different person. The laughing girl had been replaced by a polished, brittle young woman who avoided speaking with him and never once met his gaze. Though he tried to revive the easy companionship they had so briefly shared, he had no success. Perhaps her stiffness was caused by her mother’s rather repressive presence, but he had the uneasy feeling that there was a deepercause.
His fifth morning in Newport, he happened to find Sunny reading in the library during a rare hour when they were at home. She didn’t hear him enter, and her head remained bent over her book. The morning light made her hair glow like sun-struck honey, and the elegant purity of her profile caught at hisheart.
It was time to make his formal offer of marriage. A flurry of images danced through his mind: him kneeling at her feet and eloquently swearing eternal devotion; Sunny opening her arms and giving him that wonderful smile that had made him feel as if he were the only man in the world; a kiss that would bring them togetherforever.
Instead, he cleared his throat to get her attention, then said, “Miss Vangelder—Sunny—there is something I would like to ask you. I’m sure you know whatitis.”
Perhaps she had known that he was there, for there was no surprise on her face when she lowered her book and looked up. “All of Newport knows,” she said withoutinflection.
She wasn’t going to make this easy for him. Wishing that he was skilled at spinning romantic words, he said haltingly, “Sunny, you have had my heart from the first moment I saw you at Swindon. There is nooneelse...”
She cut him off with an abrupt motion of her hand. “You needn’t waste our time with pretty lies, Duke. We are here to strike a bargain. You need a fortune and a wife who knows what to do with a dinner setting that includes six forks. I need a husband who will lend luster to my mother’s position in society, and who will confirm our fine American adage that anything can be bought. Please get on with the offer so I can accept and return tomybook.”
He rocked back on his heels, feeling as if he had been punched in the stomach. Wanting to pierce her contemptuous calm, he said with uncharacteristic bluntness, “We’re talking about a marriage, not a business. The first duty of a nobleman’s wife is to produce an heir, and knowledge of which fork to use will not help youthere.”
“I’ve heard that begetting children is a monstrously undignified business, but didn’t the Queen tell her oldest daughter that a female needs only to lie there and think of England?” Sunny’s lips twisted. “I should be able to manage that. Mostwomendo.”
