Say You Love Me (4 page)

So he said, “Perhaps he’d understand, though you’ll have to admit, Uncle James is much more conservative now that he’s married. And besides, it’s my father I’d be answering to. Furthermore, where the deuce would you keep a mistress, when you’re still in school and still living with your father when you’re home?”

Jeremy finally gave a look of disgust, self-directed. “Damn me, didn’t think of that.”

“Besides, a mistress can bloody well be as demanding as a wife,” Derek pointed out. “Tried one myself once, and didn’t care for the arrangement a’tall. You want to be tied down like that at your age?”

Jeremy now looked appalled. “Hell no!”

“Then be glad I’m not going to let you waste
my
money on a silly whim.”

“Oh, I am, indeed. Can’t thank you enough, cousin. Can’t imagine what I was thinking.”

“Twenty-three thousand” was called out, drawing their attention back to the gaming hall.

“Now there’s another reason to be glad you came to your senses, Jeremy,” Percy said with a chuckle. “Sounds like the bidding ain’t going to end.”

Derek wasn’t amused, had, in fact, stiffened
upon hearing that bid, and not because the ridiculous price was still escalating. Bloody hell, he
really
wished he hadn’t recognized the voice behind that last bid.

4

“
Twenty-three thousand.”

Never would Kelsey have believed the bid could have gone that high. But knowing she could fetch such a price did nothing for her vanity. In fact, she couldn’t even be pleased that it would solve her aunt’s and uncle’s problems for a
very
long time. No, she was too horrified to be pleased.

He looked…cruel. That was the single word that kept coming to mind. She wasn’t sure why. The slant of his thin lips perhaps? The narrowed, cold gleam in his light blue eyes as he watched her squirm beneath his gaze? The chill that had run down her spine when she first caught his eyes on her?

He was in his early thirties, she would guess, with coal-black hair and the patrician features common to many lords. He wasn’t ugly. Far from it. But the cruelty in his looks detracted from the handsomeness that might have been found there. And Kelsey was hoping that the old man who had started the bidding, even with his disgusting leers, would continue to outbid that one.

And Heaven help her, it had come down to just the two of them. The few others who had offered a bid or two at the beginning had dropped out when they’d noticed the frigid looks coming their way from that other lord, looks ominous enough to chill the most hardy soul. The old man was still bidding because he simply hadn’t noticed, possibly due to poor eyesight or because he was barely cognizant; he appeared foxed.

And then she heard a new voice upping the bid to twenty-five thousand, followed by a yelled-out question from another man nearby, “What do
you
need with a mistress, Malory? I hear you’ve got the ladies standing in a line waiting to get into your bed.”

That remark produced a lot of laughter, and even more when the new bidder replied, “Ah, but those are
ladies
, m’lord. Perhaps I’m in the mood for something—different.”

Which was an insult to Kelsey, but perhaps wasn’t meant to be. He didn’t know, after all, that she’d been every bit the lady until she walked into this house. In fact, there was nothing about her at the moment to indicate that she was other than what they all thought her to be, which was no lady at all.

She had been unable to see who the new bid had come from. The voice had sounded from the general direction of the doorway, but the exact position of the speaker was hard to distinguish with so much noise going on in the room. And there were more than a dozen men in that area, sitting as well as standing. It was
impossible to tell. Yet the man she
didn’t
want to buy her apparently knew who the new offer had come from, because he was now glaring in that general direction. But again, Kelsey couldn’t tell exactly who had drawn his murderous look.

She held her breath, waiting to see what he would do. A glance at the old man showed that he likely wouldn’t be bidding anymore. He’d actually nodded off, and no one seemed inclined to wake him. Well, he’d sounded pretty foxed when he had been bidding. Apparently the drink had done him in. But her savior, whoever he was, would he continue to bid against that other lord? Or would he be intimidated like those others?

“Do I hear twenty-five five?” Lonny called out.

Silence. And Kelsey suddenly realized that all of the other bids had jumped by five-hundred-pound increments—except the last one. The man called Malory was the first to raise the amount by two thousand. An indication that he was very serious? Or too rich to care? Or perhaps he was too deep in his cups to have been paying much attention.

“Do I hear twenty-five five?” Lonny repeated, a bit louder so as to reach the back of the room.

She kept her gaze on that blue-eyed lord, waiting, praying he’d sit down and bid no more. Veins were standing out on his neck, he was so furious. And then, amazingly, he stalked out of the room, knocking one empty
chair over in the process, shoving men aside if they didn’t step out of his way in time.

Kelsey looked to the owner of the house, to see his reaction, and Lonny’s disappointment confirmed it. The departed lord was bidding no more.

“Twenty-five thousand then, going once…” There was only a brief pause before Lonny added, “Going twice…” Another pause, just a tad longer. “Very well, sold to Lord Malory. And if you will step into my office just down the hall, m’lord, we can conclude this business.”

Again, Kelsey tried to see who Lonny was talking to. But he was lifting her down from the table, and short as she was at only five feet, three inches, she couldn’t see beyond the men just in front of her.

She was thankful that the ordeal was finally over. But the relief she ought to be feeling wouldn’t come, because she still didn’t know who had bought her. And keeping her trepidation high was the thought that, good God, he
could
be just as ghastly as those other two. After all, the remark made to him, insinuating that women desired his company because they were lined up to get into his bed, could have been said in sarcasm, meaning just the opposite. Sarcasm of that sort would have drawn just as much laughter from this crowd.

“You did good, dearie,” Lonny whispered to her as he escorted her out into the foyer. “Surprised me, it did, the price going that high.” He chuckled then, more to himself.
“But these nabobs, they can afford it. Now, run along and fetch your things, and don’t dally. Come to my office, just over there”—he nodded to an open door at the end of the hall—“when you’re ready.” And he patted her backside to push her toward the stairs.

Dally? When her paramount concern was finding out who had bought her? She practically flew up the stairs. And she had nothing really to gather, not having unpacked much from her small valise the day before. So she was back downstairs in less than ten minutes, closer to five.

But one step from that open doorway she stopped short. Her desire to see who had paid such an exorbitant sum for her was abruptly superceded by her fear. It was a done deal. She had to honor it or deal with Lonny’s subtle threat, which she didn’t doubt for a minute had been life-threatening. But the unknown was paralyzing her. What if this man who had bought her wasn’t even fit to be called decent but was a cruel, vicious man just like that other lord had seemed to be? Or what if he was a grotesquely ugly man who couldn’t get women any other way than to purchase them like this?

What would she do? Horribly, there was nothing she
could
do. She’d either hate him or like him—or feel nothing at all. Actually, she hoped to feel nothing. She certainly didn’t want to become attached to a man she could never marry, even if she was going to have to be intimate with him.

“I’m sure you will find you’ve made an excellent purchase, m’lord,” Lonny was saying as he backed out the door of his office, then noticing Kelsey there, he pulled her into the room, adding, “Ah, and here she is now, so I’ll bid you a good evening.”

Kelsey almost closed her eyes, still not ready to face her future. But the contrary, brave side of her, small portion that it was, refused to put it off another second. She looked at the people in the room. And because of that, she got to experience her relief immediately. Immense relief. She still didn’t know who had bought her, because there was not one man waiting in Lonny’s office, but three. Yet of those three, one was handsome, one was very handsome, and one was incredibly handsome.

How could she have gotten this lucky? She couldn’t credit it. Something must be wrong. Yet for the life of her, she couldn’t tell what that might be. Even the least handsome of the three, who seemed to be the oldest, she felt she could deal well with. He was tall and lanky, with gentle brown eyes and an admiring smile. The word
harmless
came to mind when she gazed at him.

The tallest of the three also appeared to be the youngest, no more than Kelsey’s age, though he had such broad shoulders and an expression that was clearly on the mature side, that he seemed much older. He was also too handsome by half, with raven-black hair and eyes the most beautiful shade of cobalt blue, just slightly tilted for an exotic slant. She had
a feeling she could deal exceptionally well with him, and she was hoping, praying, that he was the one who’d bought her. Heavens, she could hardly take her eyes off him, he was so appealing to every one of her senses.

But she did force herself to look away to examine the third man standing in front of her. If she hadn’t glanced at that blue-eyed young man first, she could have honestly said she’d never seen a man as handsome as this one. He had thick blond hair in an unruly, fly-away style. His eyes were hazel—no, green, definitely green—and the look in them was a bit disturbing, though she couldn’t say why exactly. He was shorter than the other two, though not by much, and certainly still taller than her by half a foot or more.

And then he smiled, and Kelsey’s stomach fluttered—for the first time in her life. What a strange feeling. And the room had suddenly become too warm. She wished she had a fan, but she hadn’t thought to pack one, hadn’t thought to need one in the heart of winter.

“Might as well set that down…?” he said to her, glancing at her valise. “And do hurry up, Jeremy, and do whatever fetching you intend to do.”

“Gad, forgot all about the chit he came here for,” the older of the three said. “Yes, do hurry it up, Malory. Interesting as this evening has been thus far, it still ain’t over.”

“Damn me, forgot about Flo m’self,” Jeremy admitted with a sheepish grin. “Won’t take me long to fetch her, though—if I can find her.”

Kelsey watched the youngest of the threesome saunter out of the room. So she’d got her wish after all. He’d just been called Malory, and the man who’d paid such an exorbitant price for the privilege of having her for his mistress had been a Lord Malory. So where was the relief she’d been positive she would feel?

“Kelsey Langton,” she said, having finally realized, long after the fact, that the blond man had been asking her name when he’d suggested she set her valise down.

Now she blushed, however, to have blurted it out like that. And she still hadn’t set down the valise, hadn’t even realized she was still holding it, until that same blond man stepped forward and took it out of her hand.

“My name’s Derek, and the pleasure is mine, Kelsey, you may be sure,” he said to her. “But we’ll have a bit of a wait while the youngun attends to the business that brought us here. So perhaps you’d like to sit down?” And he indicated one of the chairs next to Lonny’s desk.

Not only handsome but kind. Imagine that. Yet still disturbing in some way. Her heart had fair tripped over when he’d come so close and his fingers had touched hers as he took the valise from her to set it aside. She had no idea what it was about him that was causing these strange reactions in her, but she was suddenly
very
glad he wasn’t the one she’d be going home with.

She’d have enough to deal with just in be
coming a mistress at the end of the day, the thought of which she had put in the far back of her mind or she never would have survived up to now. She didn’t need any extra worries. And at least with young Jeremy, she imagined the worst problem she’d have would be to keep from staring at him like a ninny. But that, undoubtedly, was something that particular young man with his mesmerizing looks was very used to.

“Knew an earl over Kettering way by the name of Langton,” the other man said suddenly. “Nice enough chap, though ended bad, I hear. ’Course, you wouldn’t be any relation.”

Thankfully, he hadn’t put it as a question, had stated his own opinion, so she didn’t have to lie. But that had been a horrible moment, when he’d mentioned her father. What could she have been thinking, to give her real name? Obviously, she hadn’t been thinking, and it was too late now.

“Since she isn’t any relation, Percy, why mention it?” Derek said a bit dryly.

Percy shrugged. “Was an interesting tale, is all, and her name reminded me of it. By the by, did you see the look on Ashford’s face when he passed us?”

“Could hardly miss it, old boy.”

“You don’t think there’ll be trouble from that quarter, d’you?”

“The man’s a rotter and a coward. I
wish
he’d cause trouble, damn me if I don’t. Give me a reason to wipe the floor with him again.
But chaps like him only bedevil those who can’t fight back.”

Kelsey shivered at the anger she felt from the one called Derek. She wasn’t sure, but she had a feeling they were speaking about the blue-eyed lord who had been bidding on her but had left in such a fury. And if that was so, then apparently these gentlemen had crossed paths with him before.

She wasn’t going to ask, however. In fact, she moved over by the desk to sit down in the chair that had been offered, hoping to stay out of their notice. But that was a mistake, drawing both of their eyes back to her. She started to squirm, but was really sick and tired of the nervous, fearful state she’d been in all day.