A Scandalous Proposition Read online

  “It was a terrible blow when poor Julia passed away.” Her voice shook with emotion but whether real or feigned Adam was unable to judge. “I did all I could to help, naturally.”

  “Oh, naturally.”

  “You’re angry with me. I know you’re disappointed but I need to explain what I—”

  “There’s nothing to explain.” Adam turned to face her. “You were free to marry whomsoever you pleased. I wish you and the future heir to the duchy great joy.”

  “You think I did this for myself!” She leaped from her seat and launched herself rather clumsily in his direction. Adam put out an arm to prevent her from tripping over the edge of the rug. She clearly took it as an invitation and threw her arms around his neck. “You and the future of your family were my only concerns.”

  “Of course they were.” He disengaged her arms and stepped away from her.

  “But it’s true, you must believe me!” She started to cry but Adam remained unmoved. Philippa required little provocation to produce tears and employed that talent whenever it suited her purpose. “You know I’ve never loved anyone but you. How can you doubt it?”

  “Stop it! You’re now the Duchess of Southsea and hopefully will soon provide the duchy with an heir. My mother has explained all the…er, finer details so you need not embarrass yourself by repeating them.”

  “Oh, your mama! I so wanted to talk to you before you saw her but I didn’t anticipate that you would arrive before cockcrow.”

  Adam was briefly tempted to tell her where he’d spent the night, thus facilitating his early arrival. Fortuitously common sense prevailed and he remained silent on the point.

  “She’s changed considerably towards me, Adam. I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve her disdain.”

  Adam elevated a brow. “Taken her place in this house and relegated her to the dower house, perhaps?”

  “I didn’t wish for her to go. She insisted.”

  “But she didn’t feel that need to absent herself when Julia was alive.”

  “You see!” Philippa cried, pouting. “You blame me, too, when I’ve done nothing to deserve it. The fault lies with that dreadful woman she’s taken in.” She turned away in a swirl of blue muslin and heightened indignation. “That Mrs. Grantley, as she calls herself, is a fraud and a wicked influence. She’s poisoned your mama’s mind against me.”

  Her deep-rooted antagonism toward Florentina surprised him. She could hardly be aware of her true occupation. “Why ever would she do that?”

  “Because she thinks far too well of herself but I trust you’ve already discovered that for yourself. Indeed I’m sure you must have because I noticed the way you abandoned her in the park earlier. No matter, together we ought to be able to persuade your mama to be rid of her. She won’t listen to my advice and seems to think I’m interfering. But we can’t have such people sullying the good name of the duchy.”

  Adam was silent for a moment. He agreed that a courtesan was an unsuitable companion for his mother but was loathe to remove her on Philippa’s suggestion. She’d been watching for him, had seen him and Florentina together and didn’t want them to form a friendship. He wasn’t entirely sure what to make of that any more than he could explain his instinctive desire to protect Florentina against the spiteful tirade of a jealous woman.

  “My mother is quite capable of selecting her own companion,” he said evenly, “and I have no intention of interfering.” Well, that wasn’t entirely true. He had every intention of involving himself with Florentina’s affairs before evicting her from the estate but not in a fashion that would earn him Philippa’s approval.

  “Well, we’ll see about that. But we were discussing the situation that arose whilst you were gone. When you know all the particulars you’ll thank me. I sacrificed myself for the sake of your family and none of you are the least bit grateful.”

  Adam had heard enough. “You’ve got what you wanted,” he said, a hard edge to his voice. “Let’s leave it at that.”

  “Perhaps that’s the way it seems but you will understand better when I tell you that Julia confided in me before she died.”

  “That must have been pleasant.”

  “Adam!” Philippa stamped her foot. “This is very hard for me. I’m trying to make you understand what it was like. Just before her accident Julia told me the physician had advised her against having more children. He didn’t think she would survive the confinement. There, what do you think of that?” She stood, arms akimbo, a triumphant expression on her face.

  “I feel very sorry for her. I know she lived in hope of producing a son.”

  “But that’s just the point. Don’t you see? She wouldn’t have been able to give James a son. James’s health is very fragile and in time you would have become duke.” Her eyes sparkled with pride at her twisted logic.

  Adam had been making herculean efforts to hold on to his temper, but this latest display of her naked ambition was too much and he gave up the unequal struggle.

  “Of all the conniving, irresponsible—”

  “Don’t be angry with me.” She clutched at his sleeve but he shook her hand off with considerable force. “You can have no notion what it was like, trying to decide what best to do when there was no one here to advise me. Never had I been in need of you more. The matchmaking mamas were gathering, you see, even before poor Julia was cold in her grave. James was so devastated by his loss that he was been blind to their stratagems and would have been an easy victim.”

  “Nothing could have been done whilst he was in mourning.”

  “Oh, don’t be so naïve! All sorts of excuses were being made by matrons to call at the Court with their daughters in tow. Would you have seen Samantha Parsons as mistress of this house?” Philippa gave a little shudder. “Believe me, that’s what would very likely have happened had I not acted to prevent it.”

  “That was a matter for James to decide.”

  Philippa pulled at her hair. “But that’s precisely my point! He was in no fit state to decide anything. I couldn’t stand by and see your inheritance, your rightful situation as the Duke of Southsea, taken away from you. And so I did the only thing I could.”

  “You allowed my brother to seduce you.” Adam curled his lip. “How many times was it necessary for him to do so before he impregnated you?”

  “You’re jealous. I can see that.” She touched his arm. “But there’s no need to be. My relationship with James is more by way of being platonic nowadays. He relies upon me a great deal and we are the best of friends. But there would be nothing more natural in this world than for you and I to also enjoy a congenial relationship.” She looked up at him, smiling through her tears. “We are, after all, brother and sister now. Having someone to talk to in the evenings will be a great comfort.”

  Adam inclined his head, at a loss to know what to say. Unsure what exactly she was asking of him. Worried about the hungry expression in her eyes and what it might mean. There was more behind her request than the desire for friendship. She was attempting to manipulate him in some manner but he was damned if he could figure out what it was she wanted. A feeling of acute discomfort curled its way through his bloodstream, and his immediate thought was to distance himself from Philippa.

  “Certainly we ought to be friends,” he said, reluctant to antagonise her. “But now, if you’ll excuse me, I ought to pay my respects to James.”

  “By all means.”

  Determined to be polite to her, Adam left the room, unable to shake off the feeling that he’d somehow played straight into her hands.

  The brittle swishing of Florentina’s petticoats whipping about her ankles perfectly reflected her agitated state of mind as she paced frantically in front of Christine’s fireplace. Christine herself was seated in an armchair, a calm expression on her face, patiently waiting for an explanation for Florentina’s unexpected arrival.

  “Of all the arrogant, dictatorial, high-handed, presumptuous individuals it’s ever been my misfortune to encount
er.” Florentina’s English became more heavily accented in direct proportion to her increasing anger. She ran out of invectives and resorted to shaking her head. “Lord Fitzroy takes pride of place.”

  “Adam.” Christine appeared surprised. “What’s he done to overset you?”

  “What’s he done, you ask!” Florentina, who thought that ought to be obvious, paused long enough to spread her hands. “His price for his silence. Oh, I beg your pardon, even then his silence isn’t guaranteed unless I please him. His price is that I should meet him in the summerhouse this evening.”

  Christine laughed. “Oh, is that all.”

  “Is that all?” She placed her hands on her hips and glared at her friend. “To me it’s a very great deal. I’m not exactly a prude. How could I be after some of the things I saw in the war? But, even so, I expected you to understand the difficult position he’s placed me in and be a little more sympathetic.”

  “Yes, I’m sorry. I ought to have anticipated that you’d view the matter in that light. I can see that he’s made things awkward for you. But, to be fair to him, he doesn’t know that you’re not a courtesan. Since he believes you to be one, his request probably seems quite reasonable to him.”

  “Put like that I suppose it does.” Florentina threw herself into the chair opposite Christine’s and blew air through her lips. “But why is he being so insistent when it must be obvious to him that I find the notion odious? And, more to the point, what am I supposed to do about it?”

  “As to why, I should have thought that was clear enough.”

  “Not to me.”

  “My dear, he desires you.”

  “Does he?” Florentina opened her eyes wide. “How can you possibly know that?”

  Christine chuckled. “He couldn’t take his eyes off you when you entered this room last night.”

  “Only because he was surprised to see me here.”

  “No, it was more than that.” Christine shook her head decisively. “I’ve seen that look on too many gentlemen’s faces to mistake it. I’ve been acquainted with Adam for more years than I care to admit and I’ve never known him to turn down the offer of my services in favour of another lady’s, as he would have done last night if I hadn’t pretended to be insulted.”

  Florentina tossed her head. “If he desires me, he has a very strange way of showing it. He has scarce uttered two polite words to me in all of our conversations. In fact, he’s been deliberately insulting.”

  “That’s because you’ve disappointed him.”

  “How?” Florentina sighed. “I don’t have time for riddles.”

  “Well, he thinks you’re a courtesan but you’re also acting as his mother’s companion. It would be enough to anger any gentleman. And he’s angry with himself because he wishes you to be respectable. But at the same time, he can’t rein in his desire for you and so is glad that you’re a lady of loose morals. You’re not responding to his overtures as you ought, which has intrigued him all the more. He’s been reduced to manipulation, which can’t sit comfortably with him.” Christine smiled. “And so, my dear, if you’re confused, find it in your heart to spare a thought for poor Adam. He must be almost as bewildered by it as you are.”

  “Then it would better serve all our purposes if he left me alone.”

  Christine chuckled. “You have much to learn about the male character if you think it’s that simple.”

  “Well, if he’s as honourable as you imply, he ought to reveal what he thinks he knows to his mother and have me dismissed. If I really was a courtesan he would still be able to use me, and his mother would be safe from my corrupting influence.”

  “You don’t mean that, surely?”

  “No, I suppose not.” Florentina pouted. “But I dislike being blackmailed.”

  “Obviously, and so we’ll not waste precious time by arguing the point. What are you to do about his request is, I believe, what you asked me?”

  Florentina nodded. “Yes, what?”

  Christine paused to refill their teacups, offered Florentina a selection from the plate of pastries in front of her and then took one for herself. “Well, as far as I can see, there’s only one thing you can do. You’ll have to go through with it.”

  Florentina leaped from her seat, spilling tea over her gown. “The devil I will!”

  “What choice do you have?” Christine remained implacably calm. “Dare you call his bluff? Just think of the consequences to others as well as yourself if you do.”

  “Yes, I suppose you’re right.”

  “And, for what it is worth, Adam doesn’t disappoint.”

  “Huh, what’s that to me?”

  “You might be agreeably surprised. I’ve told you before, you’ve deprived yourself of the pleasures of the flesh for too long. You can’t mourn your husband forever, and it’s not as if you haven’t received enough eligible offers.”

  “But he supposes me to be a harlot, Christine, and I don’t have much idea how to play that part.”

  “Then I’ll give you a few pointers. That, presumably, is why you’re here? You must have known deep down that you have no choice but to go along with his request.” Christine smiled. “Perhaps you even return his lordship’s desire just a little.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous!” She spoke a little too sharply, ignoring the fluttering feeling that had been twisting her insides into a tight knot of expectation since receiving his lordship’s scandalous proposition. “But you’re right about my visit. The dowager sent me on an errand to the village and so I made a detour here on my way home. I came by the back track and encountered no one.”

  “That’s what I supposed. Now, what shall you wear in order to seduce the handsome major?”

  “That’s another subject upon which I crave your advice. I have nothing suitable in my wardrobe.”

  “Then it’s fortunate that you and I are of a similar size. Come with me, darling.”

  Christine extended a hand and they entered her boudoir together. Florentina hadn’t considered her situation to be the slightest bit diverting but was soon in gales of helpless laughter at some of the more outrageous gowns Christine made her try. She eventually settled on scarlet silk, the bodice cut daringly low and the décolleté edged with black lace that barely covered her nipples. The flimsy petticoats designed to accompany the gown were also fashioned from sheer black lace. The red silk clung to her legs and whispered about them as she moved, making her feel truly decadent. And half-naked. The gown had a demi-train, which slithered in her wake, and thin straps in lieu of sleeves. It was scandalously revealing. But it was the most respectable of the garments Christine produced for her to try so she’d just have to make the best of it.

  “A truly scarlet woman,” she remarked wryly, examining her reflection from all angles and grinning in spite of her doubts.

  “He’ll be overwhelmed, darling. After he’s seen you in this, all thoughts of denouncing you will flee from his head, you just take my word on that.”

  “If you say so. But please tell me how I’m supposed to make the wretched man think I know the first thing about seduction.”

  “Well, you do know something, my love. You were, after all, married and so you’re aware what Adam will require of you.”

  She grimaced. “Only too well aware.”

  “It won’t be so bad.”

  “It will be a blatant betrayal of Simon’s memory. He’s the only man I’ve ever known and it ought to remain that way.”

  “Simon has been dead these two years, and you said yourself that you saw a lot of intimacies being played out whilst you were still in Spain. Now, come along and pay close heed to what I have to say.” Christine observed Florentina critically through narrowed eyes. “You move with a natural sensuousness, so there’s no need to alter anything there. The sight of your slender hips in that tight-fitting silk will enthral him.”

  “Hmm, well, at least I don’t have to wear a corset. For that, I suppose I ought to feel grateful.”

  “You�
��ve not grown accustomed to the restrictions of that garment since living with the dowager?”

  “No.” Florentina screwed up her nose. “All those years dashing about Spain, following the drum, and then in service of the British I mostly wore men’s clothing. It was liberating.”

  “You must have shown your feminine side sometimes.”

  “Only at formal occasions. With Simon. We danced at regimental soirées and tried to forget about the madness of the war for a few short hours.” She paused, momentarily overwhelmed by the memories this admission invoked. “But those interludes were rare.”

  “And now you face a different sort of challenge.”

  “Sí, es verdad. For which I must wear your gown but I can hardly move naturally without falling out of the cursed garment.” Florentina glanced mutinously at her all-but-naked breasts.

  “Nonsense, you’ll not fall out of it.”

  “Well, I suppose it doesn’t much signify if I do. The first thing his lordship is bound to do is to remove the shoulder straps anyway.”

  “Oh no, Adam won’t do that. Most gentlemen wouldn’t be able to control their passions with you standing before them dressed so provocatively, but Adam takes his pleasures very seriously. He won’t wish to rush. He’ll enjoy the sight of your breasts almost concealed and will delay the moment when they’re actually revealed.”

  “Oh dear.” Florentina was hugely discouraged. “I thought this would all be very straightforward. And rapid.” She pursed her lips. “Will he expect me to know what to do as soon as I arrive?”

  “Possibly, but Adam isn’t the submissive sort. You should merely appear confident and allow him to dictate terms.” Christine’s forehead was creased with a delicate frown. “What in the world have you done to your hair?”

  Florentina grinned. “I wanted to look as little like a courtesan as possible when I met his lordship at the dower house this morning.”