Seduction - Guilty Pleasures Part 5

"Good. Then I think I will go on to Chiswick in the morning, so that I do not get involved in this any further."

"Excellent." He paused in the doorway to look at her over his shoulder. "I shall be down to London in a few months, and will pay a visit to Enderby to see you then. In the interim, if Hammond does anything-"

"I shall inform you at once."

"Good."

Viola watched her brother go, and she hoped her notion to bring Daphne and Anthony together would succeed. Matchmaking was a tricky business, but she thought this match at least had a chance. Granted, Daphne wasn't beautiful like Lady Sarah, but she was attractive in her own way. She shared Anthony's most important interests in life. She had the intelligence and good sense necessary to run the vast households of a duke with ease. She had pa.s.sion and a warm, tender heart. Though he did not realize it now, Daphne was a woman who could make him happy. If it came about, theirs would be an excellent match.

She summoned Celeste to begin packing her things. She had done all she could to ensure Anthony's future happiness, and she would have to content herself with that. Perhaps she would write a letter or two along the way to move the pair in the right direction, but love, if it was destined between these two, would have to happen on its own. She knew the best thing she could do for now was get out of the way.

In addition to helping Anthony find a loving wife, there was also the benefit of prevailing over Lady Sarah Monforth, one of the most worthless young women in England. The idea of that sweet triumph made Viola smile.

Daphne watched as a pair of workmen carried a large section of mosaic flooring through the doorway into the antika. She winced as the corner of it hit the door jamb, chipping off a tiny piece of the pavement. "Oh, please be careful."

"Never say please to the workmen," a low voice murmured in her ear. "If you do, they will not respect you."

The sound of Anthony's voice right behind her almost made her jump, and Daphne turned around. "I appreciate the advice, your grace," she said, "but since I have been around workmen all my life, I believe I can manage to get a pair of them to move a mosaic pavement without a.s.sistance."

She walked away, but she could still feel Anthony's gaze on her back as she followed the men inside the antika. "Thank you," she said as they laid the pavement on her largest worktable. "Now, I need-"

"Leave us," Anthony interrupted from behind her.

The two men immediately moved to obey, ignoring Daphne's sound of protest. She frowned at him as the workmen left the building. "I do not suppose it occurred to you to inquire if I had any further need of their help before you dismissed them?"

"No," he answered with characteristic bluntness. "I wanted to speak with you in private, so I sent them away."

"Do you always get what you want?"

Daphne watched his dark brows lift in surprise at her impertinence, and she could not suppress a hint of satisfaction. Being indifferent to him was so easy, now that she didn't care for him any more.

"Usually," he answered. "Perhaps because I am arrogant, inconsiderate, and selfish. Or so I have been told."

Having her own words quoted back to her was a bit disconcerting, but if he expected an apology, he was mistaken.

"All dukes are like that," he went on. "It is the way we are raised, you see. It comes from a lifetime of being surrounded by people who wait to gratify every whim and obey every order without question. Do not expect any duke to behave otherwise."

She bowed her head in deference to his superior knowledge of dukes. "With you as my example, your grace, I a.s.sure you I will not."

He made a choked sound that sounded suspiciously like a laugh, and Daphne's sense of satisfaction evaporated. She had wanted her words to sting.

"I see you have found your tongue at last, Miss Wade," he commented, a wry note in his voice.

"I was unaware I had lost it," she answered at once. "To my knowledge, it has remained in my mouth for the whole of my life."

"A fact I am just now discovering," he murmured, and took a step closer to her, but she refused to step back. She returned his study of her with a level, steady gaze of her own.

"Your eyes are not blue," he said, sounding as if he had just discovered something unexpected. "They are lavender."

Daphne's heart slammed against her breastbone and all her newfound confidence deserted her. There was something in his eyes, something in his voice, that hurt, that made her remember the woman she had been yesterday, a woman blissfully unaware of how heartbreak felt.

She drew a deep, steadying breath. That woman was gone, and the woman who had taken her place was not going to feel any pain because of him. Not ever again. "Surely your grace did not seek me out to comment on the color of my eyes."

When he did not reply, she turned away. Over her shoulder, she added, "Whatever you wish to discuss, I hope you don't mind if I work while we talk."

Daphne took his silence for acceptance. She did not make any attempt to guess why he wanted to speak with her. It could be about her resignation, or something to do with the excavation. She really did not care. She just wanted him to go away.

She walked to the table where the mosaic the workmen had brought in lay waiting for her to begin repairs. She examined the pail of resinous cement she had mixed a short while earlier, stirring it with a wooden paddle to make certain it was the right consistency. Satisfied, she lifted the lid of the large wooden tile box that rested on the table to the right of the mosaic. All the loose floor tiles that had been sifted from the excavated ground of the villa where this mosaic had been found were sorted into the various sections of the boxes by color. Now she needed to begin selecting the ones she would use to fill in the missing places of the mosaic.

As she pulled out various half-inch cubes of blue and green marble and compared them to the oceanic background of the mosaic, she waited for Anthony to speak, but when he did not, she looked over at him to find he was still watching her. "You said you wanted to talk with me," she prompted.

"Yes, of course." He seemed to come out of his reverie and walked to her side. "My sister has left Tremore Hall for Chiswick."

"Yes, I know," Daphne answered as she selected two tiles of serpentine green and cobalt blue from the box. "She said good-bye to me a short while ago as her carriage was being brought round." She could not resist adding, "I shall see her again in a month."

"That is why I wanted to speak with you." He paused, then said, "Miss Wade, despite the fact that you are a woman, I have come to have a high regard for your abilities as an antiquarian and a scholar."

Daphne thought of all the hours she had worked to prove herself and gain his respect. And now, when it was too late, he was finally giving her a tiny sc.r.a.p of that respect. Was she supposed to be impressed by such condescension? "Thank you, your grace. And despite the fact that you are a duke, you appear to have some actual knowledge of antiquities."

This time, he did laugh, making no effort to smother his amus.e.m.e.nt. "Yes, you have a tongue, indeed, for now that you are leaving, you are not attempting to curb it for my sake."

No reply was required of her, and she did not make one. Instead, she kept her attention on her work. She began comparing the tiles in her hand to the ones already set in the mortar by the gap she would fill in, choosing those she felt made the best match. As she worked, she tried to ignore the man standing beside her. She wished he would say whatever he had come to say and then leave. It seemed an eternity before he spoke.

"I would like you to stay."

Her left hand tightened around the tiles in her palm, but only for a moment. What he wanted did not matter to her any longer. "No."

Hoping the matter was now resolved, Daphne bent down for a closer comparison of two tiles. "A bit too green, I think," she murmured as she straightened and set the discarded cube aside. She reached toward the box, but before she could select a new tile, Anthony's fingers curled over her wrist, stopping her.

"You cannot refuse to at least give me the opportunity to change your mind," he said.

"It would be a waste of time. I am leaving."

"What has prompted this sudden desire to go?" His thumb caressed her wrist, and Daphne felt her pulse quicken in response. Angry with herself, she pulled her wrist free of his grasp.

"My reasons are not your concern."

"Viola told me about your grandfather. If you wish him to acknowledge you, I can be of a.s.sistance in that regard. If you stay long enough to finish my excavation, I would use my influence to bring him to heel."

She would die before she would accept help from him. "I do not need any such a.s.sistance from you, your grace. I should like my grandfather to acknowledge me because it is the right thing for him to do, not because he was intimidated into it by a man of higher rank. Besides, I do not want to stay here. I have been working on excavation sites all my life, and I want a change of scene. I want to make new acquaintances."

"And find a husband as well, I hear."

Daphne stiffened at those words. She could not detect any hint of ridicule in his voice, but he must be laughing at the very idea that someone might want to marry her. "I see nothing wrong with that."

"If marriage is your goal, Miss Wade, pray let me dissuade you from it. It is far better in life to remain unenc.u.mbered if possible."

"Thank you for your cynical view on the subject, your grace, but it is not a view I share. I would like to believe that marriage is a partners.h.i.+p of mutual love, respect, and companions.h.i.+p, not an enc.u.mbrance. And as I have said, there are several reasons why I am resigning my post."

"Then I won't waste words trying to convince you to abandon any of them. All I wish is to convince you to delay them until my excavation is finished, or at least until the museum is opened."

When she did not reply but continued sorting tiles as if he had not spoken, he moved closer to her, close enough that every time she moved her arm, her elbow brushed against him. "I thought you enjoyed your work, Miss Wade," he murmured. "I thought you were happy here."

Daphne went still, seized by a sudden doubt. She had been happy, she had enjoyed her work, work that was comfortable and familiar, work in which she took great pride. She was about to leave all that and enter a very different world. With his words, she couldn't help wondering if she was doing the right thing.

But all that had changed yesterday, her happiness had been spoiled, and she did not want to work for a man who regarded her with so little respect. "There is nothing you could say or do that would convince me to stay here longer than one more month."

"I will double your wages."

"No."

"I will triple them."

She paused in her task with an exasperated sigh and turned her head to look at him. "Are you simply unable to comprehend the word no?"

"I do have a difficult time with that particular word," he conceded.

"I'm not surprised," she answered, resuming her work. "You probably do not hear it very often."

"Rarely," he agreed. "I am arrogant, I daresay," he went on, "and everything else of which you accused me. I admit it freely, Miss Wade. I ask that you overlook my flaws, accept my offer to triple your salary, and stay."

Daphne was not impressed by his insincere attempts at self-deprecation, and she would not give an inch with him ever again. "When it comes to persistence, your grace, the children selling sham lapis beads in the streets of Cairo could take lessons from you, but my answer is still no."

"Can you not stay at least through March? I have promised my colleagues that this museum will be open by the fifteenth of that month. I need the best people I can find for this project. You are your father's daughter, and as you once a.s.sured me yourself, you are the best restorer available. I could not possibly find anyone to replace you whose skills are equal to yours."

She was unmoved by flattery. "That," she said coolly, "is your problem."

"True." He took a step back from her and said nothing more. The silence lengthened, and she hoped he had finally accepted her resignation. But after a moment, he spoke again, and his words made her realize he hadn't accepted it at all.

"I would like to propose a compromise."

Chapter 7.

The man truly was impossible. Daphne tossed down the tiles in her hand, scattering them across the chipped, cracked surface of the mosaic and turned to face him. "I have no intention of making any compromises with you."

"Hear me out. If you stay, I will not only triple your salary, I will also pay you a bonus."

She made a sound of disdain. "That is not a compromise. That's you thinking you can buy anything you want."

"I usually can. Another characteristic of dukes, I fear."

The prudent, practical side of her character was tempted to ask how much of a bonus, but she did not.

"You cannot buy me."

"Proud words, Miss Wade. And what if you do not find your family? If you do not find a husband

with whom to have this partners.h.i.+p of mutual love and companions.h.i.+p you seek? What then? You cannot stay with Viola forever."

"Then I will find employment. I will learn all I can of good society and become a

governess."

"You already have employment, and the work you do here is far more interesting than that of a

governess. I a.s.sure you that governesses earn far less than I am paying you and they have a very difficult time of it. You would not wish to be a governess. Trust me on that, Miss Wade."

"I would not trust you on anything, your grace."

"Because you do not like me?"

"Precisely."

He did not seem at all put out. "Then, if I wish you to remain, I am forced to make myself more

likeable to you and more worthy of your liking and trust."

"Do not waste your time. I will not stay. If I have no other choice, I will find another excavation on which to work. I am sure your sister knows many wealthy people who have buried Roman ruins on

their country estates. I am sure a few of them would like those sites excavated. It seems to be quite the fas.h.i.+on in Britain."

"And you think any of them will hire you?"

"Why would they not?" she countered smoothly. "You did."

"This is ridiculous," he said, impatience with her inflexible resolve creeping into his voice.

"Why go off to Chiswick and London when any and all of your goals can be met during the remainder of your time here? You have your Sundays out to make new acquaintances. I am certain Mrs.