Intimate 02 - Intimate Surrender (20 page)

Lilly was asleep now. At first she huddled in the corner, but when the carriage hit a bump that jarred them all, Rafe pulled her against him and held her close. Lilly didn’t fight him or move away from him.

That should have surprised Hannah, but it didn’t. Rafe had a gift. He had a way with people, especially those who were hurting. He could comfort them like no one she’d ever seen.

Rafe, however, was a concern to her. He’d improved since he’d been attacked, but he wasn’t completely recovered. Some of the cuts where he’d been beaten hadn’t fully
healed and needed care, and the bullet wound on his back still pained him, although he tried to hide the pain from everyone—especially Hannah. But she knew he suffered from a great deal of discomfort. She’d be glad when they reached Coventry Cottage and he could rest.

Hannah looked out the carriage window and recognized the familiar countryside. “We’re almost there,” she said. “Just a few more minutes.”

Rafe gave her a blinding smile. “I can’t say I’ll be sorry.” He rolled his shoulders and moved as much as he could, then looked down at a sleeping Lilly. “What will happen to her now?”

“We’ll take care of her and train her to survive on her own.”

The frown on Rafe’s face said he didn’t understand. Thankfully, they’d turned down the long drive that took them to Coventry Cottage.

“We’re here,” she said as they drove down the long rows of beautiful linden trees that lined the drive on both sides. She loved coming here, loved the peaceful feeling that consumed her each time she passed beneath the spreading boughs. She felt sheltered here, protected. Safe.

Humphrey stopped the carriage in front of Coventry Cottage, and Rafe was able to look at it for the first time.

Hannah took great pleasure in watching his reaction. The drop of his jaw and the lift of his brows evidenced his shock. But his amazement soon turned to admiration. This reaction was the same for everyone when they saw Coventry Cottage for the first time.

“I don’t believe this,” he whispered in awed incredulity. “I expected a—”

“I know,” Hannah finished for him. “A
cottage
. And it is. It’s just a very
grand
cottage.”

Rafe laughed. His eyes sparkled with enthusiasm and appreciation. “Coventry Cottage is a mansion. A magnificent and beautiful mansion.”

Hannah sighed in approval of his assessment. “Yes, it is, isn’t it? A magnificent and beautiful mansion.”

Rafe looked back out the window. “How did you ever find it?”

Hannah laughed. “I didn’t. It found me.”

Rafe frowned.

Hannah moved to the door. “Let’s go inside. We’ll get where it’s comfortable, and I’ll tell you how my owning it came about.”

A footman opened the carriage door, and the disturbance woke Lilly. She opened her eyes with a start, then buried herself deeper into Rafe’s side.

“It’s all right, Lilly,” he said. “We’ve arrived. Come, look at your new home.”

Lilly’s initial reaction was the same as Rafe’s had been—awestruck admiration. Her gaze constantly shifted back to the Cottage as if she needed to check to make sure it hadn’t disappeared.

A footman held the carriage door, and the Cottage’s longtime butler, Danvers, assisted them from the carriage.

“Is Mrs. Grange ready for our guests, Danvers?” Hannah asked when she stepped onto the shelled drive.

“Yes, Miss Genevieve. She’s been ready since she heard you was coming. And Mrs. Rosebury is anxious to meet her new charge.”

Hannah looked up as Rosie—as Francine Rosebury was called by the girls—rushed toward them.

“Mrs. Rosebury, I’d like you to meet our newest guest.” Hannah reached for Lilly’s hand. “Lilly, this is Mrs. Rosebury. You may call her Rosie when you feel more comfortable here. All the girls do. Mrs. Rosebury, this is Lilly. And this,” Hannah said, turning to Rafe, “is Lord Rafe.”

“My lord,” Rosie greeted, then turned back to Lilly.

“Oh, gracious be,” Rosie said, clasping her hands over her ample bosom, “aren’t you a pretty one. We’re so glad to have you with us, Lilly. The other girls can’t wait to meet you.”

The uncertainty on Lilly’s face eased a little. Rosie had a way of making that happen.

“You’ll be sharing a room with Mary for at first,” Rosie explained.

“Very good,” Hannah said. Mary was the perfect choice for Lilly.

“Are you ready to see your room, Lilly?”

Lilly nodded, and Rosie wrapped her arm around the girl’s shoulders and led her into the house.

Hannah watched Lilly go with a sense of relief and satisfaction. Lilly may have had it rough for a while, but her time at Coventry Cottage would help her heal. The days she spent here would be good for her.

Hannah turned to Rafe. His gaze was focused on her. She tried to read the expression on his face but couldn’t. “Are you all right?” she said, thinking maybe he wasn’t well.

“I’m fine. Actually, I’m more than fine.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I’m sure you don’t. I’ll explain it to you sometime, but not right now. Right now I’d like to find a soft place to lay my aching body. Do you suppose this magnificent mansion might have such a place?”

Hannah laughed. “I’m sure it does. Let’s go inside. I promise you the softest bed in all of England.”

Rafe held out his arm for her to take. “That sounds wonderful,” he said as they walked into the house.

Hannah suddenly felt as if she owned the world. As if nothing was beyond her grasp. As if she’d been given the greatest gift anyone could receive.

She continued to rest her hand on Rafe’s arm, knowing the man she was holding on to had the power to make all her dreams come true.

Hannah woke the next morning more rested than she’d felt in months. She’d shown Rafe to the room Mrs. Grange had readied for him, then went to her own room. As usual when she came to Coventry Cottage, she was asleep as soon as her head touched the pillow. She hoped that Rafe had slept well too. She also hoped he’d stayed awake long enough to eat the food she’d had sent to his room, but she doubted it. As long as he got a good night’s rest, though, that was all that mattered.

Hannah walked into the breakfast room and stopped short. Rafe sat at the table with a plate in front of him piled high with food. When he saw her, he placed his fork beside his plate and rose.

She hesitated to call any man beautiful, but she couldn’t think of another word that described him as accurately. Especially when he looked at her. Especially when he smiled. Especially when the expression in his eyes changed from blatant admiration to something so obvious that it could only be called what it clearly was—love.

“Good morning, Hannah. You look radiant this morning.”

“You look like you had a good night’s rest,” she answered, sitting in the chair he held for her.

“Excellent. Your staff has made sure I wanted for nothing.”

She smiled as she reached for the cup of hot tea one of the servants poured for her.

“May I fill your plate?” Rafe asked.

Hannah glanced at his heaping plate and laughed. “I wouldn’t dare trust you to fill my plate. I’d be so stuffed I wouldn’t be able to do any work for the remainder of the day.” She nodded to the footman who stood beside the serving table. “Graves will do it. Just some coddled eggs and toast, Graves.”

“Yes, miss,” Graves answered.

Hannah turned her attention back to Rafe. “I’m glad your appetite has returned. You went without a proper amount of food for too long. You need to eat in order to build your strength.”

“Is that why you allowed me to come here with you?”

“Partly.”

“There’s another reason?”

“Yes, but for now we’ll concern ourselves with making sure you eat properly so you build your strength.”

“You don’t have to fear on that account. My stomach is encouraging me to make up for the meals it lost.”

“Good,” she answered as she reached for the marmalade to spread on her toast.

Rafe continued eating, then paused to ask another question. “What are your plans today, Hannah? Do you have anything special in mind?”

Hannah looked out the window and saw that the day promised to be beautiful. The sun was already shining brightly, and there were no threatening clouds anywhere that she could see. “Perhaps,” she said, looking back at the hopeful expression on his face. “I’d like to show you one of my favorite spots on the estate.”

“I’d love that,” he answered with a smile. “So far everything I’ve seen has been impressive.”

“It is beautiful, isn’t it?”

“Yes, I’ve never seen an estate like it. The windows in my room overlook the garden, and the view is remarkable.”

“Then you have several more to discover. There are five gardens in all. Each of them is unique.”

Rafe put another fork filled with sausage and eggs in his mouth and chewed. “However did you discover this estate?” he asked when he finished chewing.

“I didn’t find it. It was a gift. It was given to me,” she said, then watched to see the surprise on his face. He was obviously trying to decide who would have gifted her such a magnificent estate—and why. She realized the moment he understood.

Hannah nodded in Graves’s direction, and the room cleared. She was alone with Rafe.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to tell the story of how she’d acquired Coventry Cottage in front of the servants. Several of them had been employed by its former owner and knew exactly how she’d acquired it. Which meant that the newer members of the staff were also aware. But she still preferred telling Rafe the story without an audience to listen to her words.

“A gift,” he said. He placed his fork beside his plate. It seemed he’d lost his appetite.

“Yes, Rafe. A gift.”

Hannah lifted her cup to her mouth and took a sip of the tepid tea. She struggled to appear as relaxed as possible. “When I first came to Madam Genevieve’s, I worked as one of her girls. I had different clients every night. Some of them I enjoyed being with. Some of them I prefer to forget.”

Rafe’s gaze lowered to a spot on the table to the side of his still-filled plate. He was uncomfortable when she talked about her life as a prostitute, but she refused to pretend it had never happened. She’d accepted the life she’d been forced to live, and Rafe would have to as well. Or…

Perhaps this was the ugly truth he needed in order to realize how different they were from each other, and that there was no hope for a future between them.

“One of my favorite clients was an elderly gentleman who visited me regularly every week. Sometimes more than once a week. He was a very special person, very intelligent as well as extremely wise about all things. I enjoyed talking to him and learning from him. He deserves the credit for encouraging me to purchase Madam Genevieve’s.”

“You don’t have to go into detail about your former life, Hannah. I know who and what you were. You don’t have to remind me.”

“
Am
, Rafe. Who and what I
am
. I am Madam Genevieve. I am one of London’s most well-known courtesans. Being a prostitute isn’t an occupation you can pretend you never had. You can lose many things in life and find them again. But your good name isn’t one of them. Once you lose your reputation, it’s impossible to get it back.”

Rafe’s features hardened. Hannah knew she could stop. She’d made her point. But she wasn’t finished. It was important that Rafe knew all about her. And about Coventry Cottage.

“Coventry Cottage’s former owner was the gentlest of men. He was slight in build, and his features were often referred to as being on the effeminate side. I think he’d gone through life having his masculinity questioned. A topic that humiliated him.”

Hannah rose from her chair and walked to look out the window. “One evening when I went down to meet him, I overheard the cruel jests made by one of Society’s more outspoken gentlemen, suggesting that my friend return home and let the males who were more adequately endowed satisfy the girls at Madam Genevieve’s.”

Hannah remembered the night as if it had happened yesterday. She remembered how outraged she’d been on her friend’s behalf. She turned to face Rafe. “I lost my composure and suggested that if this bully was concerned with satisfying the girls at Madam Genevieve’s, then he would do all of us a favor and allow my client to take his place.”

Hannah returned to her chair at the table and sat. “My comments were met with uproarious laughter that censured the bully who’d made fun of my friend.” Hannah took a deep breath before she continued. “It wasn’t long after that I noticed my friend seemed to have less energy. He’d always been a small man, but he seemed to be getting smaller. And he’d often spend a great deal of time sleeping instead of talking.

“I wasn’t surprised one day when I received word that he’d passed away. I
was
surprised, though, to get a letter from his solicitor informing me that I’d been mentioned in his will.”

Hannah reached for a glass of water and took a sip. “He’d left me Coventry Estate.” She smiled as she always did when she thought of her benefactor. “His family, of course, contested the will, but as Coventry Cottage and the land surrounding it weren’t entailed, there was nothing they could do about it. Plus, my friend had his solicitor draw up a document and had it signed by everyone, including the queen, stating that he anticipated that his greedy relatives would challenge his will, but he insisted it remain as written.”