Never Kiss a Laird (5 page)

Lady Greenly’s face assumed a look
of false understanding, and she clucked her tongue sympathetically.
 
“I understand completely, Miss Denham,” she
assured Sally in saccharine tones.
 
“I
wouldn’t betray your confidence for the world.
 
You can rely upon my discretion!”

But Lady Greenly had not kept her
word.
 
Whisperings began immediately, and
then louder rumors.
 
Sally, who had been
the most sought-after partner in the neighborhood, was left without a single
partner at the next ball she attended.
 
Her
mother, who had great hopes for finding a brilliant match for her daughter,
started to realize that her daughter would be lucky with any match at all.
 
She banished her daughter to the schoolroom
at Denham Park, and it was there she came to find
her on the day that Sally made her fateful decision.

Lady Denham was still a very
handsome woman at fifty years of age.
 
Of
her three children, she was most proud of Harry, her oldest son, and smiled
upon his wildness. Harry had made his debut several years earlier, and figured
as a handsome and very wild young man about town. He rarely came into the
country, except to hunt, or attend a prize-fight. But high spirits were
tolerated in good-looking and wealthy young men who moved in the highest
circles.
 

Her second son, Rupert, was equally
handsome, but had a quieter nature and a preference for country life.
 
He had no love for society parties, and would
much rather spend his time hunting, fishing and riding on the estate, a
tendency that his mother could not understand and did not like.
 
He, too, had been presented, but now spent
all but the high season at Denham
Park.
 
 
Lady
Denham did not have a close relationship with her daughter, but she was pleased
that she was a pretty girl, and had been looking forward to achieving a
brilliant match for her.
 
The knowledge
that her daughter had been found by Lady Greenly, of all people, in a situation
that looked for
all the
world as if she had spent a
clandestine night at an inn in the company of a man, had been enough to wipe
out the last vestiges of her regard for her daughter.
 
 
The
fact that she believed in Sally’s innocent explanation changed nothing.
 
As she looked upon her daughter now, Lady
Denham felt nothing but disgust.

Hiding these emotions, as she hid
all her emotions, Lady Denham spoke.
 
“Your
father wishes to see you immediately, Sarah.”
 

“Yes, Mama.
 
What does Papa want to say to me?”
 
Sally asked, gripping her hands together.
 

“I imagine he will tell you that
himself.” Her tone was cold and Lady Denham had already turned to the
door.
 
She left the room without further
conversation, and Sally ran lightly down the stairs to her father’s library.

 
“You wanted to speak with me, Papa?” she
asked.
 
Viscount Denham sat in his
habitual place, in the imposing brown leather chair that reposed behind the
handsome oak desk that was piled high with all his favorite tomes.
 
He was fifteen years older than his wife, but
was still vigorous, and an intrepid rider.
 
Denham was a peer with the attribute of wealth, which had attracted to
him a wife with impressive social aspirations.
 
Where her mother preferred her handsome sons, Sally’s father had always
been the parent who gave attention to the couple’s only daughter.
 
He had been the one who encouraged her
brothers to let her join their games, and had been her advocate and supporter.
He had always been strict, but fair, and even in this extreme scrape, Sally was
confidant that her stern Papa would stand beside her and weather the storm with
her.

He was smiling at her now, and
while there was sadness in his smile, there was also a great deal of love. He
seemed to have aged drastically in the last few weeks.

“Oh Papa,” Sally began
contritely.
 
“I do apologize for putting
you in this horrid situation.”
 
But the
words died on her lips as she recognized the other occupant of the room.

Simon Atherly, gorgeously attired
in a well-cut riding jacket, tight-fitting buckskins and shining riding boots,
his blond hair in careful seeming disarray, stood silhouetted against the
French doors.
  
He looked very handsome,
entirely at his ease, and he flashed a practiced smile.

“Hallo, Sally.”

Unable to think of anything to say
that could be uttered in front of her father, Sally regarded him coldly and
said nothing.

Lord Denham cleared his
throat.
 
“Ahem.
 
Sally, Mr. Atherly has come here today to ask
you a very important question.”

An inkling of the truth dawned in Sally’s
astonished mind.
 
Surely her father did
not think that she would accept an offer of marriage from Simon Atherly of all
people?

Her father stood up and came around
the side of the desk taking both of his daughter’s hands in his own.
 
“He has asked my permission to pay his
addresses to you, and I have given my consent.”

“But, Papa!”
 
Sally exclaimed, her eyes widening in
disbelief.
 
She got no further as her
father placed a finger on her lips.
 

“No, you must listen to me,
child.
 
I know I can speak plainly in
front of Simon.
 
He and I have had a very
frank conversation about the situation in which we find ourselves, and he
agrees with me that this is the only honorable course of action.”

Sally spun around and glared at
Lord Atherly.
 
“What have you to say
about honorable actions, Mr.
Atherly.
”

Simon straightened his shoulders
and regarded her with a smirk.
 
“Why,
that we will suit very well, Sally,” he responded calmly.
 
“Lord Denham, will you allow me a few moments
alone with my affianced wife?”

Sally choked at the appellation,
but the Viscount nodded.
 
“I see no harm
in that.”

Under normal circumstances Sally
would have caviled, but she had a few choice words for Simon Atherly that would
be best spoken without a witness, so she stood without comment as her father
left the room.
 
Once the door was firmly
closed behind him, she turned and faced Simon.

“Now Sally,” Simon began.
 
“We really have no choice, either of us.
 
I didn’t expect to get leg-shackled at the
age of twenty-four, and certainly not to a nineteen year old chit who has not
even had her first season.
 
But we were
fairly caught, you know.”

“I would rather die an old maid,” Sally
informed him baldly.
 
“I do not accept
your obliging offer, Mr. Atherly.”

“May as well call me Simon now,” he
uttered sardonically.
 
“I won’t say I
didn’t have the exact same reaction when your father and mine informed me that
I could consider myself betrothed to you.
 
Not that you’re not a prime piece, but I had
no notion of becoming a tenant for life this young.
 
I wanted to play the field a bit before settling
down, but you know that I’ve always had my eye on you.
 
I’ve reconciled myself, and you had better do
the same.”

Sally gave vent to her rage by
striding across the
room,
and throwing open the French
doors.

Simon crossed behind the desk and
sank down into Lord Denham’s favorite chair.
 
He leaned back, and put his feet up on the oaken desk, ankles
crossed.
 
“You look devilish fine there, Sally,
but we’ll both catch our death if you don’t close that door.”

“Hmm, there’s an idea,” Sally
muttered to herself, but she pulled the door to.
 
“Mr. Atherly, I wish you to understand
me.
 
I know the value of your offer,” her
sardonic tone rivaled his own.
 
“But I
refuse it.”

“You can’t,” he informed her with a
complacent smile.
 
“Your reputation is
ruined.
 
No other man would have you.”

“But we did nothing wrong,” Sally
spoke bitterly.
 
“You know as well as I
do that there is no truth in this rumor.
 
If you would go to Lady Greenly and convince her that she is mistaken,
this might still be reparable.”
 

Simon shook his head.
 
“It’s too late.
 
It would just be seen as a poor excuse.
 
Besides, I need something in my pocket to get
you onside, my dear.
 
You have not fallen
for my charms, and so I must use what I can to secure your hand.”
 
He crossed the room to stand before her.
 
“Come, Sally, you’re lucky I have agreed to
this arrangement.”
 
He paused and an oddly
satisfied look came over his face.
 
“I
knew that your portion would be handsome; it was not just your charms that made
me pursue you, you know.
 
But when your
father told me it was thirty thousand pounds!”
 
He stopped and whistled.
 
“Well,
you’re a beauty, Sally, but that was a clincher.”
 
He walked over to her father’s chair and sank
down into it, a smug smile on his face.

Sally’s cheeks darkened at his
insulting words, but she clenched her teeth and made no reply.
 

“Besides that, there’s the money
your paternal grandmother left to you.
 
I
had no idea the old harridan held you in such high esteem.
 
I had assumed that her personal fortune would
have been split between the three of her grandchildren, but no, it all went to
you.
 
And that fortune makes your portion
appear small.
 
So given some rather
pressing debts of my own, and the fact that my father whistled his fortune down
the wind before he cocked up his toes, this comes under the heading of a honey
fall for me.”

“And under what heading does it
come for me?”
 
Sally enquired in sweet
tones that would have set her brothers’ protective radar humming.

“Well,” Simon drawled, getting to
his feet.
 
“I’m a handsome fellow, Sally,
you must admit that.
 
And you won’t find
me to be a strict husband, always yelling about the bills, or any little
peccadilloes.
 
And with your reputation
in tatters, unless you marry me no one in the county will recognize you.
 
I’d say it was a honey fall for you too.”

Sally’s eyes emitted little sparks
of rage.
 
“I would not term it thus, Mr.
Atherly.”

“Simon,” he repeated, this time
with an edge to his voice.
 
“You know, Sally.
 
You can be a tiresome chit.
 
I could walk away from this situation.
 
I might be eyed askance by the mothers of
young girls for a year or so, but believe me, I could overcome that once it was
known that I made an honorable offer of marriage.
 
But you are ruined.
 
Do you understand what that means?
 
No man will ever marry you.
 
You will never be invited into anyone’s home
again, given the cut by your acquaintance, destined to live here as the disgraced
aunt to your brothers’ children.”

Sally blanched at his words, but she
lifted her chin, refusing to drop her eyes.

Simon smiled triumphantly.
 
“Now contrast that with marriage with me; as
much pin money as you can spend, a town house in London for the Season, beautiful clothes,
your reputation restored.”
 
He crossed to
Sally and took her hand.
 
“A handsome, young husband.”
 
He bent his head as if to kiss her wrist, and Sally snatched her arm
away, almost involuntarily forming her hands into fists.
 

“Remember what happened last time
you laid hands on me, Mr. Atherly,” she warned.

A quick laugh sprung into Simon’s
eyes.
 
“I will serve you trick and tie
for that, my girl.
 
And I have a very
special punishment in mind for you,” he informed her in voice that held no
laugh at all.

Sally backed away from him, a look
of pure dislike on her face.
 
This only
caused Simon to laugh again.

“You have no idea what I am talking
about, have you?” he marveled.
 
“How delicious.”
 

But country-bred Sally, having been
raised with two brothers, had a pretty fair, if not detailed, idea of what he
had in mind, and her resolve strengthened.
 

So she would have a life of
disgrace.
 
Weighed in the balance, she
would take it.
 
It would be hard, but not
impossible, to convince her father of her choice.
 
He had never been able to hold out against
her wishes if she really put her mind to getting her way.