Kane, Samantha - Brothers In Arms 4 (3 page)

BOOK: Kane, Samantha - Brothers In Arms 4
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“I swear to you, Mr. Witherspoon,” she said fervently, her voice rising, “I will be a good, biddable wife. I will do whatever you want, I swear it. You can send me away once you don’t need me anymore. You can send me to the country—I’ll go quietly. I know I’m not much of a bargain, but you’ll never regret marrying me, I promise.” She hesitated, but rushed on when Ian started to speak. “I know about your lover, about Mr.

Knightly. I don’t mind, I swear it. I’ll stay out of your way, I won’t complain. I’ll just give you an heir if that’s all you need me for and I’ll fade into the background.” She 12

At Love’s Command

obviously didn’t realize that the revulsion she felt at the idea of Ian getting her with child showed on her face.

“Please, please, don’t send me back. Don’t, I beg you.” The last was said with a sob as she collapsed and Ian bodily lifted her off the floor and sat her down on the chaise.

He sat next to her, still holding her shoulders, and she visibly flinched.

“Sophia, I have every intention of marrying you if that is what you wish. Shh, my dear,” he crooned, pushing a handkerchief into her hand, “stop crying. I will not send you back, even if you don’t want to marry me. I will find a place for you. You needn’t ever go back, Sophia, I swear.”

“Sophie,” she whispered so quietly Derek almost didn’t hear her.

“What?” Ian asked, confused.

“My name is Sophie,” she said, wiping her eyes. She looked at Ian as if he hung the moon. “And I want to marry you, Mr. Witherspoon.”

Ian took her hand in his. “Then we shall, Sophie,” he told her quietly, “as soon as possible.” He gently held her hand between his. “Will you do me the honor of being my wife, Sophie?” She nodded stiffly and started crying again. Ian rose to sit next to her, awkwardly patting her on the back as she sobbed into his kerchief.

Derek quietly moved away from the door and leaned back against the rough brick

wall. Bloody hell, how did he fight that? Miss Middleton was turning out to be a more formidable foe than he could ever have imagined.

He stalked off across the terrace and down into the gardens on the back lawn. Why did Ian bring her here? Why did he insist on changing everything? They’d been happy the way they were, hadn’t they? They lived quietly, enjoying their free time, and they had plenty of it! Why would any man give that up for a wife and a squalling infant? Ian had tried to tell Derek this marriage was as much for him as it was for Ian. That Derek needed a woman in his life, a family of his own. With Miss Middleton, Ian claimed, they could have those and still stay together, just like Jason and Tony and Kate.

Derek sat down on one of the benches, and then turned and lay down on it. He

rested one booted foot on the bench and raised his arm across his forehead, blotting out the sun while he stared at the clouds. His inner turmoil made a mockery of the relaxed pose. He thought again of Ian’s reasons for this marriage. Was Ian so very unhappy then? Perhaps their life had no highs or lows, so what? He’d seen enough of those in the war. He deliberately blocked the memories. And if Derek had no thought of the future, again, so what? The war had certainly taught them that any future was uncertain. It was best to live for the present and let the future take care of itself.

He liked his life this way. People left him alone and he left them alone. He had time for his books, and Tattersalls. Perhaps one day he’d buy some racers. Yes, that’s what he’d do some day. And it wasn’t as if they needed Miss Middleton’s money now. Brett Haversham had made them a tidy little fortune on the ‘Change, and Derek had learned enough from him to continue to do quite well there on his own. He’d parlayed the modest inheritance from his father into a rather immodest income.

13

Samantha Kane

That was another thing. Family, family, family. Ian was always going on about

wanting a family. Derek didn’t understand it. He’d been an only child, as had his parents. His mother died when he was young and he and his father hadn’t been

particularly close. When he’d died before Derek came back from the war he felt a small measure of regret, but it certainly hadn’t devastated him. It wasn’t as if Ian’s numerous relations had done so well by him. They’d broken off with him over Derek. Derek felt a stab of guilt over it every now and then, but it had been Ian’s decision. Derek knew Ian missed his brothers, missed the huge gatherings of the Witherspoon clan that occurred several times a year. He’d grown up with so many relatives he couldn’t go to the loo without tripping over one. And now there was just the two of them.

Derek sat up suddenly as a horrific thought occurred to him. Good Lord, how many children did Ian want? Surely not enough so they’d be tripping over them. He moaned and hung his head. What the fuck was Ian doing? Had he lost his mind?

14

At Love’s Command

Chapter Two

After their emotional meeting in the study, Ian suggested Sophie go upstairs to rest.

He didn’t even bother informing Sir Middleton that they were done. He sent a footman to tell him Ian and Sophie would be busy the rest of the day. If he saw him, Ian was afraid he’d kill him, literally. He could almost feel the man’s throat slowly being crushed beneath the pressure of his hands, silencing his crude, vicious words forever.

He hadn’t pressed Sophie for details about why she would beg a virtual stranger to marry her. It was enough she had done so. She was his responsibility now.

Not wanting the wedding to be too much of a burden on Sophie, Ian penned a note to Kate, Lady Randall, the wife of an old friend. In it he informed Kate of his upcoming wedding and asked her to please help his fiancée get ready. He knew Kate would come.

Then he went in search of Derek.

He found Derek upstairs in his bedroom. Derek hardly ever used it. When he slept, which was rarely, he slept with Ian in Ian’s room each night. It was not a good omen to find Derek haunting the little-used chamber.

He closed the door behind him when he entered. If he and Derek were going to

have a row, he’d rather not advertise it to the servants or Sophie. Derek surprised him by turning away from the window he had been rather assiduously staring out of.

“So is it all settled, then?” Derek asked in an uncharacteristically neutral voice. Ian’s sixth sense for trouble was sounding the alarm immediately.

“Yes, Sophie has agreed to be my wife,” Ian answered cautiously. “I’d like to

proceed with all due haste actually. I was thinking of getting a special license.”

Derek looked at him for a few moments as if expecting him to continue. When he

didn’t, Derek looked away, his façade cracking just enough to show Ian a hint of frustrated anger. He looked back at Ian after gaining control. “Nothing interesting happened, then?”

Ian debated telling Derek about the scene in the study but decided against it. Derek despised weakness in anyone. He’d learned that in the war. Weakness meant you didn’t live very long. He didn’t want Sophie to start out with a mark already against her, so he shook his head.

“No, not really. Her father is a boor, however. The sooner we can get rid of him, the better.”

Derek angrily undid the buttons on his coat, placing his hands on his hips

aggressively. “So you’re quite eager to marry her just to get rid of her father. There’s a good reason. Yes, I can support that logic.”

15

Samantha Kane

Ian sighed. “Derek…” His voice trailed off because he didn’t know what to say

anymore. He’d said it all and Derek hadn’t listened.

“Don’t ‘Derek’ me.” He stomped over to a chair beside a small reading table in the corner and threw himself down on it. Ian winced. The chair was Louis XV and looked as if it would snap in two at Derek’s rough treatment. Derek gestured wildly about the stale, impersonal bedchamber.

“Am I to be banished here, then? Shall I move my things today?”

Ian barely stopped himself from barking an affirmative at him. Why was Derek

making this so hard? Ian had tried everything he could think of to get Derek to talk about this marriage but Derek refused. He ran away every time, not willing to hear Ian’s explanations. Ian had stopped trying. He was desperate and damn frustrated now.

He didn’t know how else to make Derek accept it except to just do it and deal with the consequences later. He knew in his heart it was right for them. Why wouldn’t Derek trust that Ian was doing this for both of them? Hadn’t Ian always taken care of Derek, done what was best for him?

“No,” he forced himself to be patient yet again, “I don’t want you to move in here. I want you to stay in our room, where you’ve always been welcome and will continue to be so.”

“By ‘our room’ are you referring to your new wife? I know how you prefer to keep your lovers close at hand. But she may not be so eager to share her lodgings with me.”

Derek came up off the chair with the same violence he’d used to sit down. He began pacing in front of Ian. “She’s going to take over, it’s what women do. Pretty soon you’ll be dancing to her tune. ‘Yes, Sophie,’” he simpered. “‘No, Sophie.’ It’s enough to make me sick.”

Ian’s denial died in his throat. Instead he asked, “How did you know her name was Sophie?”

Derek spun around to look at him guiltily. This time Ian did sigh. “So you heard the entire conversation?”

Derek immediately went on the attack. “It’s a good thing I did, since you clearly were not going to share it with me. I can’t believe she begged you to marry her! And you fell for it, every word. I pity you for a gullible fool. And if she really is that pathetic, I pity you more.” He ran his hands through his hair in frustration. “I’m trying to save you, Ian, from making a terrible mistake! Pay her off and send her away. If you marry her we will all be miserable.”

Ian wearily walked over and sat on the edge of the bed. It smelled musty from

disuse. “I can’t, Derek. If what I suspect is true…I just can’t. You didn’t see her face. She was desperate. She needs me.” He looked up at Derek hopefully. “She needs us. And we need her.”

Derek backed away, waving his hands defensively. “Oh no, don’t drag me into this.

You wanted to get married, not I. I am the victim here. She’s the spider luring the unsuspecting fly—that would be you—into her web of guilt and pity. I see through her.

16

At Love’s Command

Ian, she won’t be able to resist you, no one can. You watch, she’ll be after you to get rid of me next.” He stopped backing away and shook a finger at Ian. “Oh yes, that was a very affecting part of her little speech you know, where she claimed not to mind that you had a lover.”

“Derek—”

Once again Ian was cut off. “Don’t,” Derek warned, narrowing his eyes at Ian.

“Don’t try to make me feel sorry for her. She’s fucking marrying you, isn’t she? What the fuck have I got to feel sorry for her for?” Derek ripped off his coat and threw it across the room.

“I’m well aware—”

“You are completely oblivious!” Derek shouted. “She is manipulating you. I’m not arguing that her father isn’t a horse’s arse and has probably browbeaten her from the cradle. But she’s using you, Ian. To her you’re just a way out of her personal hell. Damn it, you could be me and she wouldn’t give a damn. You’re a warm body to drag in front of a parson and unlock her jail cell. She doesn’t know
you
, she doesn’t love
you
.”

“I fail to see—”

“Exactly! You fail to see everything!”

Derek continued to rail against Sophie and the marriage. Ian had been listening to the same arguments for months now. Derek wasn’t saying anything new. Ian got

distracted watching Derek. God, sometimes he forgot how incredibly handsome Derek was. He was extremely tall—no matter where they went he was the tallest man there.

He had thick, wavy, dark brown hair and hazel eyes, a beautiful mix of green and gray.

His arms were thick with muscle, his shoulders broad, his chest deep. Derek’s waist and hips were lean, but his ass cheeks were nicely rounded and firm with muscle. They fit perfectly in Ian’s hands. The dark hair on his chest tapered down to a thick nest around his cock. Ian loved to bury his nose there and smell that musky Derek scent that drove him mad. Derek’s legs were a mile long, thick with hard muscle and covered in coarse, dark hair. When Ian was riding Derek tight and hard, the hair on his legs rubbed Ian’s smoother thighs and sent shivers straight to his cock. Derek was all man and all his.

Suddenly Ian realized Derek had stopped talking.

“God damn you,” Derek whispered. “How can you marry her when you look at me

like that?”

“Are you actually going to let me speak?” Ian asked teasingly.

“If you’ve something worthwhile to say,” Derek replied, his belligerence returning.

He held out a hand and gestured for Ian to speak.

Ian smiled. “I love you.” Derek snorted and Ian’s smile became a lopsided grin. “I have nothing else to say. I can hardly think straight. I was sitting here thinking how incredibly attractive you are, and that you’re mine, and now I’m hard as a pike and can’t think at all.”

“Aargh!” Derek growled. “I’m ready for battle and you disarm me again with your fucking charm. That really pisses me off, Ian.”

17

Samantha Kane

“I know. Come and do something about it.” Ian leaned back on his elbows on the

bed, his erection straining against the front of his trousers.

Derek ripped his cravat off and threw it to the floor. As he was opening his shirt he snarled, “If you think I’m going to come over there and suck that hard cock you’re showing off, you can think again.”

“All right.” Ian was being very agreeable. “If not here, then where?”

Derek was standing in the middle of the room with his shirt open and hanging off his big shoulders, framing the perfection of his chest and stomach. His trousers were riding low on his hips and when Derek put his fists on those hips it pushed them lower so that Ian could just see the beginning of the bush of pubic hair he so loved. Ian felt his cock jerk. He looked up at Derek and raised an eyebrow. “Are you done showing off that body for my benefit? I’m already hard. Are you trying to make me come all by myself over here?”

BOOK: Kane, Samantha - Brothers In Arms 4
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