Laura Martin - An Earl In Want Of A Wife

‘Maybe we could do this again sometime soon,’ he suggested.

Lizzie found herself nodding, even though she knew she shouldn’t encourage him. It would be so much easier if she never saw him again, if he disappeared from her life and she never had to reveal that she wasn’t Amelia Eastway, but her penniless cousin. Even though she knew this Lizzie found herself agreeing with him.

‘That would be lovely.’

She glanced up at his face and found him smiling at her, and just for a second she thought she saw a flicker of desire. She almost laughed. No matter what had happened in the Prestons’ garden she knew Daniel didn’t really desire her. She’d seen the quick way he’d dismissed her on their first meeting and she knew she wasn’t the sort of woman men fantasised about.

‘Please don’t feel you have to escort me home,’ Lizzie said as they neared the edge of the park. ‘You must get back to your house and get out of those wet things.’

Daniel considered a moment, as if weighing up his gentlemanly duty against his discomfort.

‘Only if you promise to let me call on you again tomorrow,’ he said with a devilish smile.

‘People will talk,’ Lizzie warned him.

‘People will always talk. By this evening there’ll be ten different versions of what happened down by the Serpentine, each more ludicrous than the last.’

Lizzie knew it was true. Already half of society would know that she had spent the afternoon with the Earl of Burwell. She cringed a little. This would make it all that much worse when she had to reveal her true identity to the world.

‘Either you agree to my calling on you tomorrow, or I’ll insist on walking you home now. You’ll be responsible if I catch a fever and spend weeks delirious and at death’s door.’ He said it with a grin on his face and Lizzie knew she wasn’t going to be able to resist.

‘I would very much welcome you calling on me tomorrow, my lord.’

‘I told you to call me Daniel.’

‘Daniel.’ Lizzie uttered his name quietly, nothing more than a whisper between her lips. It seemed too intimate, too informal, but she felt a wicked little chill down her spine as she said it.

‘And I shall call you Amelia,’ he murmured in her ear.

It was enough to force Lizzie back to reality. For a moment she’d allowed herself to live the fantasy, to believe that it was her Daniel wanted, but just the mention of Amelia’s name made all those dreams come crashing down.

She pulled away slightly but forced herself to smile, even though she feared it would look like a grimace on her face.

Daniel looked at her intently for a few seconds, then turned away, as if he sensed she needed a moment of privacy to compose herself.

‘Lord Burwell, whatever has happened to you?’

Lizzie turned to see an attractive young woman gliding towards them. The newcomer looked Lizzie up and down and then turned her full attention to Daniel.

‘Mrs Winter,’ Daniel said. ‘I took a little dip in the Serpentine.’

Lizzie recognised the woman and realised she must have been at the Prestons’ ball the night before.

‘You must look after yourself, Lord Burwell, you would be sorely missed if anything were to happen to you.’

Lizzie didn’t miss the suggestion that Mrs Winter would be the one missing him.

‘Please excuse us, Mrs Winter, Lord Burwell needs to get out of these wet clothes,’ Lizzie said. Immediately she knew she had made a mistake. The older woman turned to her and gave her an icy glare, before catching herself and replacing the expression with a sweet smile.

‘Of course. Take care, my lord. And if you catch a cold and need someone to nurse you back to health, don’t hesitate to ask.’

Daniel said farewell and they continued on, Lizzie feeling rather inferior to the attractive Mrs Winter. They were just nearing the entrance of the park when Lizzie noticed Daniel freeze beside her. One moment he was walking along, seeming like the carefree peer of the realm he’d been all morning, the next he was just frozen. She stopped beside him and waited for him to move. Five seconds passed, then ten. She followed his gaze, trying to figure out what was going on.

His eyes were fixed on a young woman and a small boy about thirty feet away. The woman was pulling the boy along behind her impatiently and the boy was dragging his feet.

‘Daniel?’ Lizzie asked, wondering what exactly about the scene had caused him to turn so white.

He didn’t answer, didn’t even acknowledge that she’d spoken. To Lizzie it seemed as though he was so lost in his own world that he hadn’t even heard her.

The woman and boy were drawing closer and Lizzie wondered whether there would be some sort of confrontation.

Lizzie knew the exact moment the woman noticed them. Daniel stiffened beside her, his eyes met this woman’s and his expression deepened into a frown. The woman stopped in her tracks and looked at them for a few seconds, before smiling sweetly and continuing on her way. Daniel followed them with his eyes for a long minute until they disappeared out of view.

No one had uttered a single word during the confrontation, but Lizzie felt as though she’d just witnessed something monumental.

‘Daniel?’ she repeated.

This time she got a response. Daniel took her elbow in his hand and guided her quickly from the park. He didn’t say a single word to her and Lizzie felt too stunned by this sudden change in character that she didn’t know what to say herself.

They exited the park and walked briskly down the street, Lizzie having to stumble to keep up with Daniel in his frenzied state.

‘Who was that?’ she managed to ask as they reached the corner.

He didn’t answer her, didn’t even acknowledge that she’d asked him a question.

‘Daniel?’

‘Will you be able to find your way home from here?’ he asked stiffly.

Lizzie nodded, stunned at the change in the man who could laugh off ruining his clothes jumping into the Serpentine, but would not even look at her after this latest confrontation.

‘I will call on you tomorrow.’

Again Lizzie nodded, unsure what else she could say. Open-mouthed, she watched as he hailed a passing hackney carriage and jumped in. He didn’t even look at her as it pulled away, let alone bid her goodbye. She stood there motionless for a good minute after the carriage had pulled away, unsure what had just happened. Daniel had changed completely and it had been just as he’d seen that woman.

Shaken and confused Lizzie roused herself and began the walk home, wondering whether tomorrow she would get any answers from him.

Chapter Six

Daniel felt sick. No, he felt more than sick. He felt as though his whole world had collapsed. Up until that point the whole afternoon had been a success. Amelia seemed receptive to his advances, and even if she withdrew every so often, that was something that could be easily overcome.

He’d found her a pleasant companion, they’d talked easily during their walk around the park and he’d managed to convince himself that the desire he’d felt the evening before and when he’d kissed her in the drawing room had been anomalies. When he looked at her in the light of day he could see she wasn’t a seasoned temptress. She was just a normal young woman who shouldn’t drive him mad with desire. And if his pulse raced a little when he glanced at her lips, then he could put it down to the memory of their kiss and nothing more.

He’d even not minded his little dip in the Serpentine. Of course, he’d had no choice, he couldn’t have let the young boy drown, but he knew Amelia had seen his act as heroic and that could never hurt a man’s chances.

Everything had been going swimmingly well...until he’d seen them.