Love Only Once

  “We’ve crossed each other’s paths in the clubs from time to time,” Nicholas replied, making no move toward Anthony.

  Anthony didn’t acknowledge him at all except to fry him with his eyes. He was as tall as Nicholas, and just as broad in the shoulders, too. A hellion since he was sixteen according to Derek. Nicholas wagered there were worse scandals in Anthony’s past than this silly flap over Regina. What the hell did Anthony have to look so condemning about?

  “That one wants your head on a platter, scamp,” his grandmother spoke in the growing silence. Ellie tried to shush her, but she wouldn’t be shushed.

  “I am already aware of that, madame,” Nicholas said, facing Anthony. “Do we name the time, my lord?”

  Anthony chuckled wryly. “By God, I really think you’d rather. But much as I would love to accommodate you, I have promised to let them deal with you first.”

  Nicholas looked around at the others. Sympathy poured from Ellie’s brown eyes, and Edward looked resigned. Nicholas’ nervousness increased suddenly, and he fixed his gaze on Anthony again.

  “My lord,” he said stiffly. “I would like to settle with you.”

  “My niece would have it otherwise.”

  “She what?”

  “She’s too kindhearted by half,” Anthony sighed. “Doesn’t want to see you hurt—more’s the pity.” He shook his head.

  “Nevertheless, I do believe—”

  “No, by God!” Rebecca thundered. “I wasn’t around to stop those other duels you involved yourself in, but I’ll stop this one. I’ll have you thrown in jail first, my boy; see if I don’t.”

  Nicholas tried to smile. “The man wants satisfaction, madame. I can offer no other.”

  “Lord Anthony will settle for something other than a duel because he loves his niece. We may be thankful for that.”

  “We? I cannot be thankful, madame.”

  “We can do without your satirical wit, too,” she said. “You may be a damned arrogant, irresponsible pup, but you are the last Eden. You will get yourself an heir before you go throwing your life away on a dueling field.”

  Nicholas flinched. “Nicely put, madame. But what makes you think I don’t already have an heir to give you?”

  “I know you better than that. Although it often looks as though you’re trying to populate the world, you have no bastards. And you know I would never accept one, anyway.”

  “Is this necessary, Rebecca?” Eleanor asked hastily.

  “Yes, it is,” the old woman replied, looking pointedly at the two Malory brothers.

  “Nicky?” Eleanor beseeched him, and Nicholas sighed.

  “Very well, I admit I have no bastards, either male or female. You are quite correct, madame. It is one thing I am most careful about.”

  “The only thing.”

  He gave her a slight bow but made no reply. His manner was casual, even bored, but Nicholas was seething inside. He enjoyed verbal battles with his grandmother when they were alone, but not in the company of others. She knew it and was baiting him just to be ornery.

  “Oh, do be seated, Nicholas,” Rebecca said testily. “I’m tired of craning my neck to look at you.”

  “Is this going to take long then?” He grinned maddeningly before taking the chair across from her.

  “Please don’t be difficult, Nicky,” Eleanor beseeched again.

  He was taken aback. This, from Ellie? She had always been the one he could talk to, the one who understood the bitterness just below his surface. While he was growing up, she’d always been a shoulder to cry on. How many times had he ridden the long road between Hampshire and Cornwall in the thick of night just to see her? After he grew up, she was still closer to him than anybody. She never even scolded him for the way he lived. It was almost as if she knew why he did the things he did.

  She didn’t, of course. Only Miriam knew the reason he was so reckless, why he forever walked a tightrope, never easing up.

  Nicholas looked at his aunt tenderly. At forty-five, she was still good-looking, with light blond hair and soulful brown eyes. Her older sister Miriam had once been the prettier of the two, but bitterness had helped ravage Miriam’s beauty. He liked to think Ellie’s goodness had kept her so nicely.

  This was the woman he had secretly pretended was his mother, all through childhood. Her expression told him many things, and she was as easy to read just then as she’d always been. She was sorry for his predicament. She was praying he wouldn’t cause trouble. She was also in agreement with whatever had been decided behind his back. But would she side with his grandmother against him? She had never done that before. Did she really think he had ravished Regina Ashton? Oh, he might have seduced the girl if she’d been willing, yes, but the fact was that he hadn’t seduced her. His conscience could overlook his intentions.

  “Did they tell you all of it, Aunt Ellie?” he asked her.

  “I believe so.”

  “They told you it was all a mistake?”

  “Yes.”

  “And that I returned the girl unmolested?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then what are you doing here?”

  Rebecca frowned. “Leave her alone, scamp. It’s not her fault you got yourself into this.”

  “We know whose fault it is,” Anthony’s contemptuous voice sounded behind him.

  Nicholas had had enough. “What is it to be then?” he demanded, turning around in his chair to look at Anthony.

  “You already know what must be done, Nicky,” Eleanor said with gentle reproof. “It is unfortunate that any of this happened. No one here believes that you meant to harm the girl, but the fact remains that her reputation has been irreparably damaged. She should not be made to suffer the humiliation of vicious gossip because one of your escapades went awry. You do see that, don’t you?” She took a long, steadying breath. “You can do no less than accept responsibility for your actions. You must marry her.”

  Chapter 10

  “I CAN’T stand it, Meg, I really can’t!” Reggie cried, agitation overcoming her.

  The maid ignored the wail, just as she had ignored all the others. “Are you going to sleep in that scarf?”

  Reggie put her hands to her throat. “Yes, of course. Uncle Edward may come to tell me what happened instead of Uncle Tony. I don’t want anyone else to see it.”

  Meg frowned and went back to the sewing in her lap. She had seen the lovebite herself. Reggie couldn’t hide anything from her, not for long anyway. She was outraged by the whole affair, and for once she was in complete accord with Anthony Malory instead of siding with the girl who sat cross-legged in the center of her bed, wringing her hands in an agony of suspense.

  The Viscount Eden of Montieth should be shot, not given this treasure for a wife. Meg had never heard of anything so grossly unfair. Did you give the petty thief your purse with a thank-you-kindly? How could they give her precious Reggie to the man who was responsible for her shame?

  “Will you go downstairs and see if you can hear anything, Meg?”

  “No, I will not.”

  “Then I will.”

  “You will not either. You’ll sit right there. Keep on worry in‘, if you like. Soon enough you’ll be told he said yes.”

  “But that’s the trouble.” Reggie pounded her knees for emphasis. “He’s going to say no.”

  Meg shook her head. “You won’t convince me that you want him, my girl, so you can stop tryin‘.”

  “But it’s true, Meg.”

  “I know you too well, Reggie. You’re just puttin‘ a good face on it, pretendin’ for your uncles’ sake, because this seems to be the only solution.”

  “Stuff.” Reggie giggled, her humor breaking through. “You just won’t admit that I’m wicked and shameful in wanting a man I only just met.”

  Meg looked up at her. “Now I see what you’re about. You’re for this because it will get you a husband quick and you won’t have to be lookin‘ for one anymore. Admit it, my girl.”

  Reggi
e grinned. “That’s an added bonus, yes.”

  “A bonus!” Meg snorted. “That’s the only reason you want him. It must be.”

  “You won’t say that after you get a look at him, Meg. I think I’m in love.”

  “If I believed that, I would go down there and kiss his feet. But you’ve got more sense than to think you’re in love after one meeting.”

  “I suppose so,” Reggie sighed, but her eyes twinkled. “It won’t take long, though, Meg, really it won’t. You wait and see.”

  “I hope I don’t see it. I hope I don’t see you married to him. It will be the sorriest day for you and if it happens, mark my words.”

  “Stuff,” Reggie retorted.

  “Just remember, I warned you.”

  “I won’t marry her.”

  “Good.” Anthony’s smile was full of wicked pleasure. “I was against the idea from the start.”

  “Be still, Anthony,” Edward warned him. “Nothing has been settled.”

  “I repeat, I won’t marry her,” Nicholas said evenly, managing just barely to keep calm.

  “You will be good enough to tell me why?” Edward’s voice was also a study in tranquility.

  Nicholas said the first thing that came to mind. “She deserves better.”

  “Agreed,” Anthony put in smoothly. “Under normal circumstances, you would never be considered.”

  Edward shot him a silencing look, then addressed Nicholas again. “If you are referring to your reputation, it precedes you. I am the first to admit it is unsavory. Yet such things must be overlooked now.”

  “I would make the girl miserable,” Nicholas said quickly, with a bit more spirit.

  “That is pure conjecture. You don’t know Regina well enough to know what would make her happy or unhappy.”

  “You’re just hedging, scamp,” Rebecca said. “You have no good reason not to marry the girl, and you know it. And it’s high time you were married, high time indeed.”

  “So I can produce your heir?” he replied.

  “Now see here, Nicholas,” Edward broke in. “Do you deny that you have embroiled my niece in a scandal?”

  “Your niece?”

  “Who the devil did you think she was, scamp?” Rebecca was exasperated.

  Suddenly Anthony was laughing. “Tell me, Montieth, were you hoping she was illegitimate? A poor relation you could claim we were trying to foist off on you?”

  “That will be enough,” Edward warned again. “Nicholas… well, perhaps I shall have to concede that you didn’t know who Regina was. Not many people remember Melissa, she died so long ago.”

  “Melissa?”

  “Our only sister. She was much younger than Jason and I, the middle child. She was… well, I needn’t elaborate on how precious she was to us, being the only girl in the midst of four boys. Regina is her only child.”

  “She’s all they have left of Melissa,” Rebecca added. “Do you begin to see how important Regina is to the Malory brothers?”

  Nicholas was feeling sick.

  “I should tell you, in regard to my brother’s remark, that Regina is quite legitimate,” Edward went on. “Melissa was happily married to the Earl of Penwich.”

  “Penwich!” Nicholas nearly choked on the name he had cursed so many times.

  “The late Earl, Thomas Ashton,” Edward clarified. “Some obscure cousin has the title now. A disagreeable fellow, but he has no involvement with Regina. She has been under our care for the seventeen years since Melissa and Thomas died together in a terrible fire.”

  Nicholas’ mind whirled. Bloody hell. She was in fact Derek’s first cousin, the daughter of an Earl, niece to the Marquis of Haverston. He wouldn’t be surprised to learn that she was also an heiress. She could easily have landed a husband with a better title than his. Could have. But now that he had linked her name to his, she wasn’t quite the prize anymore, not to those families who wouldn’t touch a girl with a scandal behind her. Everyone in the room knew it, including himself. Yet there were other men who would want her, regardless, men less rigid than some.

  He said as much to Anthony. “You don’t seem to think she has lost her chance at a good match, so why are you willing to settle for me?”

  “Did I say I was, dear boy? No, no. She is the one who wants you, not I.”

  Nicholas cast about for a reply. “And as a favored niece, she gets want she wants?” he said.

  “There is the simple fact,” Edward intervened, “that if she married anyone else, the poor fellow would have to live with the scandal you have created being whispered behind his back for the rest of his life. That is a bit much for any man to take, and certainly wouldn’t make for a happy marriage.”

  Nicholas frowned. “But she would tell her husband the truth.”

  “What does the truth matter when it is the untruth that is believed by everyone?” Edward replied testily.

  “Am I to be held hostage to the narrow-mindedness of others, then?”

  “What the devil is the matter with you, Nicholas?” Rebecca demanded. “I’ve met the girl and she is the loveliest little creature I’ve seen in a long time. You will never get a better match, and you know it. Why are you fighting this?”

  “I don’t want a wife—any wife,” Nicholas said harshly.

  “What you want became irrelevant,” his grandmother retorted, “when you made off with an innocent girl whose family won’t overlook it as others have. You’re damned lucky they’ll let you have her!”

  “Be reasonable, Nicky,” Eleanor chimed in. “You have to marry sometime. You can’t go on forever as you’ve been doing. And this girl is charming, beautiful. She will make you a wonderful wife.”

  “Not my wife,” he stated flatly. In the silence that followed, his hopes began to rise, but his grandmother dashed them.

  “You’ll never be the man your father was. Running off to sea for two years, coming back to live the life of a wastrel, delegating your responsibilities to agents and lackeys. By God, I’m ashamed to admit you’re my grandson. And I tell you now, you may as well forget you know me if you don’t own up and marry this girl.” She stood up, her expression stony. “Come, Ellie. I have said all I will say to him.”

  Rebecca’s face remained coldly unrelenting as she left the room, Ellie beside her. But once the door closed behind them, she turned to Eleanor and gave her a huge conspiratorial grin. “What say you, my dear? Do you think that did the trick?”

  “That was a bit much about your being ashamed of him. You know you’re not. Why, you delight in his wild escapade more than he does. I swear, Rebecca, you should have been a man.”

  “Don’t I know it! But his little escapade is a godsend this time. I didn’t think he would put up this much of a fight, though.”

  “Didn’t you?” Eleanor retorted. “You know why he won’t marry. You know how he feels. Nicky refuses to force the stigma of his birth on an unsuspecting wife. He feels he cannot offer for a decent girl, yet his position makes it impossible for him to wed beneath his station. He decided simply never to wed. You know that.”

  Rebecca nodded, impatient, and said, “Which is why this is a godsend. Now he will have to marry, and into a good family, too. Oh, he doesn’t like it one bit, but eventually he’ll be glad. I tell you this girl won’t give a toot if she ever learns the truth.”

  “Do you really believe that?”

  “If I didn’t, then she wouldn’t be the one for him,” Rebecca said stoutly.

  They both knew exactly what motivated Nicholas, though he wasn’t aware that they knew. To the world, Miriam was his mother, and the day she ended that pretense—as she often threatened to do—was the day he could stop living in dread of the revelation and become the pariah he was trying his best to become beforehand. He wanted to be thought wicked so as to become accustomed to the treatment he could expect if the truth came out.

  “Someone ought to tell him that it probably wouldn’t matter much if the truth did come out,” Rebecca said. “No one would
believe it anyhow, not after all these years.”

  “Why don’t you tell him that?” Ellie asked, knowing the answer.

  “Not me, my dear. Why don’t you?”

  “Oh, no.” Eleanor shook her head emphatically. “He feels too strongly about it.” She sighed. “We’ve been over this a hundred times, Rebecca. And besides, he’s finally going to take a bride and settle down and have his own family.”

  “So we hope,” Rebecca added. “But they haven’t got a yes out of him yet.”