Duke of Chance: Lords of Scandal Read online

  Hart let out a long breath of air and then stepped back into the entry closing the door behind him. “I suppose this means I’m staying too.”

  “It does,” Chance said with a bland smile. He had some things to discuss. Not with Hart, but with Daisy.

  His gaze flicked over to her aunt. “We’ll take that champagne, after all. It’s better than nothing.”

  “Excellent.” She clapped her hands together. “Allow me to choose a vintage. I have quite the cellar, you know.” And then she spun on her heel and started for the back of the house.

  The three of them watched her go. “Hart.” Chance pivoted to look at his friend. “Go clean yourself up. You’re a mess.”

  Hart swiped at the blood under his nose as he gave Daisy a long look. “And my sister?”

  “I promise no harm will befall her in the next five minutes.”

  Hart lingered for another moment before Daisy made a shooing motion. “I’m already ruined. Go.”

  With one last frown, Hart started up the stairs. They both watched him leave, and the moment he disappeared from view, Chance grabbed Daisy and crushed her against his chest. He couldn’t help it.

  While he half despised himself for coming to her rescue, she needed some measure of comfort now, even he could see that. He was a sucker for women in distress.

  She was stiff in his arms at first, but after a moment or two, she melted against him. Her arms snaked about his neck as a sob escaped her lips. He only gathered her closer.

  He knew he had a tender place for a woman in trouble, but generally, he’d steeled his heart against such women. Arabella had always been an exception.

  And perhaps because Daisy was Hart’s sister, he hadn’t been able to keep her out either. But he knew he was making a mistake just as he knew he couldn’t let this delicate little flower suffer alone.

  “Daisy?” he whispered against her ear. “Don’t cry. He’s not worth it.”

  She nodded into his chest even as more tears fell from her eyes, and she burrowed deeper into him. He pulled her into the front parlor and sitting in an overstuffed chair, he settled her on his lap as her hand came to his neck.

  Without thought, he placed a kiss on top of her head.

  “I trusted him,” she said between tears.

  “I know.” He closed his eyes. Maybe that was why he’d been unable to resist. Her situation with Edgemere reminded him of his own with Marissa. He’d been fresh-faced and innocent, and she’d seduced him into saving her from the very man she’d used to hurt him later.

  “I’m the fool they say I am, aren’t I?”

  He shook his head. “It’s easy to be fooled when you give of yourself without reserve.”

  “Thank you,” she said, tilting her head up to look at him. “You can’t know how much I appreciate that.”

  Her eyes were red and so was her nose, but she looked achingly beautiful curled into his lap. He hugged her tighter. “You’re welcome.”

  “Chance,” her voice dropped low. “You don’t have to marry me, you know. I can find another way. It hardly seems fair.”

  Fair? Life wasn’t fair.

  Not to him.

  And most definitely not to Daisy.

  Chance’s lap might be the most comfortable place in the world.

  And the most exciting.

  She’d thought that Edge’s kisses tonight had made her wild with desire, but as her body throbbed with need, she felt a stab of guilt. She was in love…or she had been. How could she want Chance?

  But memories of Edgemere’s rejection replayed themselves as did Chance’s actions. He’d swooped in and saved her. Why did she feel guilty?

  Chance was the man she should want.

  The man who’d asked to court her.

  The man she’d likely marry.

  What a strange night.

  She’d been ruined. Saved. And now…now she was in the arms of a man whom she’d dreamed of holding her for years. Not that he cared for her. Chance had helped her out of obligation to her brother.

  That thought was like a kick in the stomach.

  Meanwhile, the man she’d publicly declared her affection for had denied her his hand.

  Chance had been beyond generous. Too much so.

  Which was why she had to offer him a way out.

  “I am well aware of my options, little one,” he said after a moment of silence as if he’d been mulling her offer to end their courtship.

  Little one. There it was again. His nickname for her since she had been a small girl, and yes, she’d hated it even then. But it was a reminder now. He was protecting her and Hart. He did not see her as a woman still and certainly not one he felt anything for other than sympathy.

  At least Edgemere had made her feel…wanted.

  “You’re going to marry a woman you call little one?” she asked, sitting up in his lap.

  He touched her face then, cupping her jaw, and swiping his thumb across her lips, leaving them tingling. “What’s wrong with little one?”

  “You’ve been calling me that since I was five. I’m not a child, Chance.”

  His smile was amused and warm, crinkling the corners of his tawny eyes in a way that stole her breath. “I’m well aware you’re not that little girl anymore.”

  “I’m not.”

  “She only managed to get in scrapes that involved her knees.”

  Her lips parted in surprise and his thumb made a second pass over the fullness of her bottom lip. Her tongue darted out to taste the skin where his digit had just been.

  His tawny eyes narrowed.

  “And now, the scrapes are much larger, but the nickname is the same.” She didn’t even know why she argued with him on this one point. Perhaps she needed to win one small victory in a night that had been filled with loss. She needed to know that if they were to marry, she’d be able to win once in a while. Or at least try.

  “Then it meant you were a small child. Now…” He leaned down, kissing the tip of her nose, which did nothing to make her feel like a woman. In fact, it was the exact sort of kiss a grown man would give a little girl. “You are a delicate flower that must be closely guarded.”

  She lifted an eyebrow, unsure about where this conversation was leading them. “To save me from myself?”

  “No,” he rumbled low and deep. There was something so sensuous about that rumble that it seemed to travel all through her. “To keep some undeserving man from plucking you before you’ve fully bloomed.”

  Her eyes widened as she stared at him. That was a metaphor ripe with meaning. “Are you talking about what I think you might be talking about?”

  He gave her a wicked grin. The sort that made her toes curl in her slippers. “I’m not going to kiss you tonight.”

  She blinked then. “All right.” Was her mind scrambled, or had they changed topics?

  “Because he kissed you tonight and I do not share. Ever, Daisy. Do you understand me?”

  “Oh.” Her breath caught as she looked up at him.

  “But when I do kiss you, you’ll know precisely what I mean.” And then he placed his lips on her forehead. “Have that glass of champagne. It will help you sleep. I’ll be by tomorrow in the early afternoon to discuss some of the details.”

  “You’re leaving?” she asked, her hand automatically tightening where it rested on the base of his neck.

  He kissed her cheek next. “I’m deuced tired. And you’re completely exhausted. And I’m not sure I can take much more of your aunt.”

  “She is difficult.” Daisy tilted her chin higher. “But unlike Hart tonight, she means well.”

  “Are you very angry with him?”

  “Dreadfully,” she answered, her fingers digging into his jacket. “I’m not certain I’ll ever forgive him.”

  Chance sighed. “You’ll have to try. He’s my best friend and you’ll be my wife.”

  Those words made her insides do another funny twist. His wife. She’d never imagined… “I don’t think I can make promi
ses in that regard.”

  He cocked his head to the side. “Are there promises you do wish to make?”

  She nodded, her tongue darting out to lick her lips again. And again, his gaze followed her tongue’s path. The heat glimmering in his eyes made her breath catch again, but she forced herself to inhale. “I think that I do. I’d like to promise you that I shall never allow Baron Edgemere to kiss me ever again.”

  He stiffened against her. His body growing taut. “What makes you say that?”

  “You said you wouldn’t kiss me tonight because I’d kissed him. I just wanted you to know…”

  He relaxed a bit. “I don’t hold kissing against you. Nearly every couple kisses before they’ve wed, and even before they’ve formally begun courting. You and I are the exception. You hadn’t seen me in years when you allowed him liberties. But…” His hand, which had been at her waist, slid down to hold her hip. “You are mine now, Daisy, and I won’t share.”

  She cocked her head to the side, assessing him. “You offered for marriage, did you not?”

  “I did?”

  “Is sharing usually a part of a couple’s marriage arrangement?”

  His brows shot up. “You know it isn’t.”

  Then why had he been so explicit? Was it because she’d seemed of loose morals tonight? He’d said that was completely normal. “I’m not sure I understand.”

  “Why I want you all to myself?”

  “Why you feel the need to articulate it.”

  His brows shot up. “You declared yourself in love with another man mere hours ago.”

  That was a fair point. “My feelings for him died when he rejected me in front of my family.”

  “Feelings can be far trickier than that.”

  Oh, that she knew. But it wasn’t her feelings for Edgemere that were currently playing tricks? “Was my family right? If I hate him now, does that mean we were never in love?”

  “I don’t know.” He shook his head. “But love and hate can often go hand in hand.”

  He stood then, lifting her with him as if she weighed no more than a feather, then he set her back down into the chair. “I’m going to go. Drink your champagne and try to sleep. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  And then he was gone.

  She stood the moment he left and started for her room too. She’d skip the champagne if it meant she could avoid her aunt and Hart.

  And besides, champagne or no, she doubted very much she was going to sleep tonight. Too much had happened and the path that had been so clear was now more confused than ever before.

  Or perhaps it wasn’t. She was going to marry the man she’d secretly been in love with for years. The very same one who only proposed to protect her because she was Hart’s sister. She sighed as she trudged her tired body up the stairs.

  What a mess she’d landed herself in this time.

  Chapter Five

  Chance looked at Lady Mildred’s townhouse as he stood on the bottom step staring at the door. He’d been there for a minute or more.

  He should go inside.

  He’d told Daisy he’d come and they had several points to discuss.

  Instead, he kept staring at the door.

  Out of sight of those bewitching eyes, he’d spent the remainder of the night berating himself.

  He’d been seven times the fool.

  How could he not have seen right from the start that his simple marriage of convenience was actually a repetition of his marriage to Marissa?

  He tightened his grip on the railing. His attraction to Daisy had been instantaneous and consuming. It was the sort of pull that would make him weak and blind to reality leaving him open to hurt.

  He could marry her and she could give him the heir he needed, but he could not allow himself to develop an emotional attachment.

  The front knob rattled and the door swung in. He expected to see the butler or even Lady Mildred.

  But Daisy stood in the doorway in a gauzy blue muslin gown that brought out all the warm tones in her hair and skin. He gazed at her, realizing he’d forgotten how stunning she was. “Hello.”

  And then he nearly cursed at himself. That was all he could think to say. She’d caught him loitering on her front steps.

  “Hello,” she replied back with a bit of a smile. “Would you care to come in?”

  He looked inside to see Lady Mildred attempting to peek over Daisy’s shoulder. It was a warm spring day, the sun hitting his back even as it lit strands of Daisy’s hair. “Perhaps you could come out and join me?”

  Daisy looked down at her dress and he realized she hadn’t prepared for an outing. But as she smoothed out the fabric, she took a step toward him. “May I suggest a compromise? Perhaps we could sit in the back garden?” She gave a pointed stare over her shoulder and loudly added, “We could have my maid chaperone us.”

  Lady Mildred tsked but ceased craning her neck and then disappeared from view, retreating into the interior of the house.

  Chance gave her a relieved smile. Somehow, remaining out of doors made him feel less trapped. And, if he were being honest, the sight of Daisy was helping too. And hurting. Even now, he wished to touch her, hold her close.

  He made his way up the steps, and she slipped her hand into his elbow. They strolled to the back of the house, where they stepped out into the garden.

  “Where’s your maid?”

  She waved her hand. “Aunt Mildred will send her along any moment.”

  He pulled her a bit closer, as he leaned down to whisper. “Alone again?”

  He felt the tension travelling from her hand up his arm as she held it a little tighter. “We are.”

  They stepped outside and he deliberately led them down a path to a bench where the branches of a tree hung low and gave them some measure of privacy.

  Sitting, she settled next to him, her hip brushing his. “How are you feeling today?”

  She shrugged. “Like I’ve been dragged through the streets.” She lowered her chin. “My aunt has refused all other callers. Which will only feed the gossip. She says it doesn’t matter…”

  He winced with a quick shake of his head. “The announcement of our engagement will smooth it all over.”

  “Chance.” His name came out as a whispered plea.

  Damn. He wanted to kiss her. But they had things to say and…he wasn’t ready. Which was ridiculous. He’d kissed women the way most people ate. Often and without abandon.

  But with her…the memories of Edgemere were still fresh in his thoughts and his relationship with Daisy was different from the other women he’d known before and far more complicated, given their history.

  And he didn’t want to share space with that man. Certainly not within Daisy’s heart and mind.

  Not that he was making a bid for her heart. He wasn’t. He’d made that mistake before and he’d never trust another woman with his again. Not even the beguiling Daisy.

  “We have a great deal to discuss,” he said, taking her hand in his.

  “We do.”

  He drew in a breath. “First.”

  “First, you wish to explain why you stood on my steps not knocking on the door?”

  That made him smile and she returned the look, both of them laughing. “I was nervous.”

  Her eyes widened. “Of me?”

  “Yes,” he answered honestly.

  “I’m just a little one, remember?”

  If she only knew.

  What?

  He shook his head. Lifting up her hand that rested in his, he used his other fingers to open hers and turn it over palm up. “Small, soft, finely boned. You are little…but little things can be mighty,” he said looking from her creamy skin to her eyes. Even after a day, she had the ability to crush him forever. And that frightened him near to death.

  Daisy’s lips parted as she stared at him, the question in her eyes. “Mighty?”

  “I’m pretty sure you threw three powerful lords’ lives into chaos last night.” He grinned as he watched
her expression change.

  Her brows rose as she cocked her head to the side. “I doubt that.”

  “Edgemere is surely hurting this morning. I saw your brother. He’s a mess.”

  Daisy lifted her chin at that. “Good.”

  That made him shake his head. Hart had been an ass, but his method had been effective. He’d exposed Edgemere’s deception in a way that gave Daisy a quick and decisive education.

  Placing one hand under her chin, he stroked her cheek with the other. “So now that we’ve established your power, let’s discuss your options.”

  “Options?” She frowned.

  “The most obvious is marrying me.”

  That garnered him another soft smile. “True.”

  “I’d like to discuss my thoughts on the subject.”

  She drew in a deep breath and gave a quick nod of affirmation. “All right.”

  “I know that you have an affection for another man…”

  “Had,” she corrected.

  They’d discussed this last night and he wouldn’t repeat himself. But he doubted very much she’d recovered in a few hours. “My point is that I know you do not love me.”

  She looked at him, her eyes widening. Then her tongue darted out, wetting her lips in that way that made him ache. “Chance. What woman in all of England isn’t half in love with you already?”

  It was a lovely thing to say. He could have pointed out his own wife hadn’t been, but he didn’t. He didn’t really wish to discuss his past in general, but with Daisy, he especially didn’t wish to expose his vulnerabilities. “Regardless. Ours is an arrangement. One that I hope will benefit us both.”

  She pulled back a bit and then her hand came to cover his. “What benefits are you looking for?”

  Daisy’s stomach pitched like a boat in a storm as she stared into Chance’s eyes.

  The reality of her situation had really settled in on her with the light of day.

  And now they were getting to the nitty gritty.

  He cleared his throat. “Well. I need an heir.”

  “Of course.” He was a duke. An heir was as expected as the act of breathing. The idea of making one, however, made her weak in the knees.