I Know You Page 7

  “I just arrived this week. Last night’s ball was my first. Ironic that it turned out to be my… betrothal ball.” She tried so hard to keep her voice from catching, but it was for naught. The full realization of what she’d done was now upon her.

  “Shhh.” Geoff was by her side once again, holding her face with shaking hands, betraying his own frayed nerves. “Let’s not think about this quite yet. We can start slowly.”

  This made Anne laugh, but she could feel hysterics starting to crack through, so she reached for a calming point. “I think we bypassed ‘slowly’ about half an hour ago.”

  “Ok,” he smilingly conceded. “Then why don’t we continue slowly, and maybe clothe ourselves in the mean time.”

  She couldn’t help blushing at the thought of standing up and revealing what was surely beneath her. “I’m afraid Lord Ridgley’s settee might be irrevocably ruined.” She rose from her seat to prove her point. Where they had been laying was now streaked with the unmistakable stains of her previous state. “What are we to do?”

  Before she could even finish the sentence, though, Geoff had strode across the room, picked up a decanter of a dark red wine and splashed in onto the settee. Anne gasped and stepped back, attempting to quell an outraged shriek. Then she realized why he’d done it.

  “I will alert the maids that an accident occurred the settee will need to be cleaned - if at all possible - or replaced.”

  Anne threw her hands over her mouth to stop a giggle from slipping through her lips. It had been a brilliant idea, but she didn’t want Geoff to consider her a dizzy schoolgirl. Not after he’d just shown her what it felt to be a woman.

  Methodically she picked up her clothing, slipping into her chemise and stockings by herself before turning around to find Geoff holding up her dress, ready to play lady’s maid. “Your hair is in quite a state as well. Luckily I had an excellent tutor in the ways of hair arrangement.”

  “Oh really?” She almost didn’t want to know which of his previous lady loves had taught him how to do their hair.

  “It was Secily, Anne. She was always pulling her hair down while climbing and needing it fixed before Father discovered…” His words cut off and she could almost feel the hurt that restricted his throat.

  Once he had her hair neatly done up once again she turned to him and smiled. “He would be happy to know that you’ve found a place for yourself.” It was an odd sentiment, but she knew for a fact that the old Earl would have wanted his son to be happy, regardless of what placement he took in life.

  “I know.” It was all the answer Geoff was willing to give, but that was okay with her. “Now, let us catch up to where we need to be.”

  She took a deep breath and started the only place she could think to start. “After Mama died, Papa started realizing that my place in the world wasn’t as secure as it seemed. Though I would have his fortune and unentailed properties after his death, I would have them as a woman in a world where women - even smart, independent women - had no real say in their futures. He started obsessing over having to wait another season to present me to society, and in the midst of it all he…drifted further away from me.”

  Her heart still ached, thinking of the stranger that her father had become. Had they remained close she might have realized where his mind was going in terms of her future, but instead he’d kept his own council and had made agreements without her being any the wiser.

  “A month ago Papa came home from London more cheerful than I’d remembered seeing him in a long while. He told me that he just knew I was going to be the talk of the ton at my first ball. It wasn’t until the day I arrived that I discovered that it was because my first ball was to be my betrothal ball.”

  Geoff was strangely calm as he listened to her tale. He nodded and squeezed her hand at all the right parts, and when she was done he sighed and said, “So your father made an agreement with the Duke of Marshbane to marry their children off to each other.”

  “How did you know it was the Duke his agreement was with, and not Lord Ridgely?” The guilty turn of his head and the manner in which he closed his eyes clued Anne into the fact that Geoff had yet to explain his presence here. “In what role does Lord Ridgely employ you?”

  Geoff let out a beleaguered sigh before meeting her eyes once again. “I am his valet.”

  “And how did you come to be in this role?”

  “I met Lord Ridgely right before I left the March. At the time he was known as Lord David Stallman, an older student who still consulted with a professor I was residing with. The professor introduced me, though I am sure I made no sort of impression on him at the time. However, just before I sat my final exams Lord David returned from the continent and visited the professor again. This time I made myself scarce, not wanting to find myself face to face with an aristocrat with the uncertainty of my future so near.”

  With a sad shake of his head, Geoff continued. “A month later my professor told me that Lord David was now Lord Ridgely and was in need of a valet. I was on the verge of losing my residence at the school as I couldn’t afford to become a scholar, and didn’t have enough experience to become a Don. So, I took the job, never questioning why I was the one being offered it.”

  “And you knew it was the Duke who arranged my marriage, because…?”

  Geoff took a moment to answer this question, but when he did she could tell there was something he was hiding. “Lord Ridgely was only informed of his betrothal two nights ago.”

  Though part of her very much wanted to ask how the Marquess had reacted to the news, the tone of voice Geoff used told her that she didn’t really want to know. However he’d reacted, it hadn’t been with joy.

  Yet, she knew all of this. She’d known almost the minute that she’d met Lord Ridgely that he’d not been thrilled with the idea of getting married. Yet he’d made the most of it. He’d sat through dinner with her father and her and answered all of their questions. He’d even talked about his time in the Army, despite the fact that he looked ridiculously uncomfortable with the subject at times. He was determined to make an effort to please his father, yet it had always been clear that it wasn’t his idea. Why did this bother her now?

  “I’ll cry off if that is what he wants.” The words were out of her mouth before she even realized she was going to speak them.

  “No!” Geoff was in front of her in an instant. His vehemence surprised her, considering what they’d just done.

  “Why…”

  “David - Lord Ridgely is a good man. He doesn’t deserve to be cast off. He will make a good husband, and he needs someone like you in his life. Someone kind and smart, willing to overlook his eccentricities.”

  Anne couldn’t help but look at Geoff with a puzzled expression. “But what about…”

  “I know.” The words sounded like they cut him to the quick. But he also sounded just as solid in his defense of Lord Ridgely. Or David, as he had just called him. “I can’t give you what you need Anne, you must see that.”

  “But…”

  “No.” He brought his finger up to her lips to quiet her argument. “You see where I am in life. You deserve far more than to be the wife of a servant. You were raised a lady. You deserve to be a Duchess.”

  Tears began falling rapidly down her cheeks, but she couldn’t be bothered by the shame of it. He was turning her away…again. “You promised me that you would come back to me. Are you telling me that you lied?”

  “It wasn’t a lie. Not in here.” He grabbed her hand and placed it on his chest. “We were so young. Despite what was happening to me at the time, I still held on to the hope that the world would be kind to me. It was not. I was shunned. The moment it was learned that my family had turned me out, I was treated like the bastard I was. No longer acknowledged. No longer fit to be in the presence of gentlemen. If it hadn’t been for Professor Hardy…well, I’m not sure I would have even been welcome to sit the exams.”

  Now the tears were that of anger. “They would have kicked
you out just because Reggie was an ass?”

  The laugh that tore from his throat caused Anne to take a step back, but Geoff was still holding tight to her hand. “Reggie is a peer of the realm. The Earl of Cressledown. No Cambridge Don was going to stand up to an aristocrat if he was told to toss me.”

  “But your Professor Hardy did?”

  “He applied to Penelope, Lady Cressledown.” It was odd hearing her called by her first name. In all her life Anne had only ever thought of her as Lady Cressledown or the Countess. “Penelope held Reggie off. But you already knew this.”

  Suddenly it came back to her. The last day they were together, Geoff had tried to give Reggie credit for his continuing education, but Anne had vehemently explained that they both knew it was Lady Cressledown who was really to thank. At the time she had thought it was because Reggie was going to refuse to pay for school. She hadn’t considered the fact that Lady Cressledown had actually kept Reggie from forcing Geoff out of school altogether.

  With a shake of her head Anne came back to the matter at hand. “So we just pretend that this didn’t happen? We go on like we mean nothing to each other, while you serve as valet to my husband?”

  “No,” Geoff admitted, with a sad shake of the head. “I don’t believe there is any way to go back or pretend what is between us doesn’t exist. But I am begging you not to cry off. Give me time. I will explain to David…Lord Ridgely what happened.”

  “You are going to tell him?” Her shriek could have broken glass, but she was that terrified that Geoff was about ready to cut his foot off to save his toe.

  “He needs to know. I will not lie to him.” He resolve was firm. There would be no shaking him now that his mind was set on being honest with Lord Ridgely.

  “Ok.” Anne turned and reached for the door before turning back. “Let me know what I need to do.”

  “Wait!” Geoff slammed his hand over her head to prevent her from exiting the room. “How are you getting home? Do I need to summon a coach?”

  The smile that built up inside was a relief. He was going to be angry once he realized just how close she was this week without him knowing. “I only live two houses down.”

  A knot gripped Geoff in the gut as he entered David’s bedchamber. He’d gone downstairs more than an hour ago on a trivial task and hadn’t returned when he normally would have. While there could have been any number of explanations that would have satisfied David as to Geoff’s activities, Geoff knew that none of them would cross his lips.

  The truth. David deserved the truth no matter how painful it would be to hear. However, the fact was that he hadn’t exactly given Anne the whole truth either. He had withheld the very key fact that he and David were far more than Master and Servant.

  As Geoff closed the door and turned around he found David not in front of the fire as he believed he would be, but sitting on the bed, seemingly waiting for him. Though it had been the same last night, Geoff had thought that last night was because David needed the relief from enduring a stressful night. Maybe things really had changed fully.

  “You were gone for a long time. Did you find the coat?” Was that what he’d been looking for? Good grief, he’d completely forgotten the coat downstairs after…well, after he’d seen Anne again.

  “I did not.” The lie didn’t sit well with him, but as he didn’t have it on him, David would never know it was a lie.

  The awkwardness between the two of them was almost suffocating. But oddly, it didn’t feel like it was just Geoff who felt odd. David seemed to be just as uncomfortable about something. Maybe just blurting out the truth would make the difference.

  “I…ah…you see…” Damn! This was going to be a lot harder than he’d thought it would be.

  David rose from his bed and strode across the room to stand in front of Geoff, grabbing his chin between his fingers and caressing his jawline. It was an intimate touch that David was becoming good at. Over the last couple of days, he’d made huge strides toward learning how to interact with people…or at least Geoff - on a more personal level.

  “David…” He didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence before David’s mouth descended on his in a gentle kiss that had Geoff’s loins springing to attention yet again.

  Though the kiss didn’t last long, it left Geoff feeling light headed and more than a little guilty. He’d just come from fucking David’s fiancée and now David was treating him like the loyal lover he still believed him to be.

  It was that thought that wrenched Geoff out of his daze. “I slept with Anne.”

  David stepped back and surveyed Geoff, but not with anger. His eyes were shuttered. Almost sleepy. “I know.”

  What!? “How could you know?”

  “I saw you.” The statement was delivered with such calmness that Geoff couldn’t believe the words were really being spoken. “When you didn’t return after a while I went out looking for you. I’d gotten tired of avoiding you today and knew that I needed to talk to you. I ran into a footman who told me that you had answered a call at the door and were seeing to the visitor.”

  Geoff’s head felt cold once he realized the next words would be his doom. “I saw that a light was on in the back parlor so I went to investigate and heard your voice, followed by Anne’s.”

  “We could have just…”

  “Don’t waste your breath lying.” David’s fingers tightened on Geoff’s chin and it almost hurt. “I didn’t walk away at that point. I…watched.”

  That was honestly the last thing that Geoff had been expecting to hear. Not only had David discovered him in a compromising position with the woman David was meant to marry, but he’d actually watched the betrayal happen.

  “How much…”

  “All of it.” There was an odd note of excitement in his eyes that Geoff couldn’t be sure he was seeing correctly. “I watched as you plunged into her, taking what should have been mine to take, and then racing to then end, both of you grunting out your climaxes. I hit mine at the same time.”

  It was too much to imagine. David had not just watched them, but in a way, he’d been with them the whole time. And in more ways than even David knew. David had already been a link between him and Anne tonight, so it was perversely fitting that David had gotten just as much enjoyment from the act of love Geoff and Anne had shared. However, what did that mean for their futures?

  “David, I’m…”

  David’s mouth crushed his again, not letting him apologize for the betrayal or any hurt that had come from watching the two people he trusted have sex in his own house. When the kiss broke, David’s eyes shone with a fire that burned hot, but it wasn’t anger. It was need.

  “I want the wedding moved up.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “If you started a baby in Anne tonight I don’t want her to suffer the consequences. I want the wedding moved up to protect her and the babe.”

  The logic behind David’s statement just wasn’t sitting neatly in Geoff’s world view. He was telling Geoff that he wanted to marry Anne now even though any baby she was carrying would be Geoff’s not David’s. It was crazy.

  “So you won’t even consider the fact that maybe I love her and want her for myself?” The anger Geoff felt was irrational, he knew. This was the very argument that he’d shut down when Anne had brought it up. Yet to have it thrown in his face by David stung more than he could imagine.

  David took a deep breath and then stepped away from him. “You are not in a position to marry a lady. She is gently bred and as such needs a place in society. While I’m not arrogant enough to claim that as a future Duke she couldn’t do better than me, the truth is she can’t marry a valet and still be accepted in the world she knows.”

  The words were a more gracefully spoken version of the reasoning he had just put to Anne. Again, the irony stung.

  “I know that you love her, Geoff. I also know that she loves you.”

  This admission came as a surprise. “How could you possibly know how she feels about
me?”

  “The letter.” David walked over to the side table and picked up the note Geoff had spied two nights ago. “She wrote me about you, requesting help locating you. Even last night, she spoke of you with love and longing. It was probably why she came here tonight in the first place, to ask me once again if I really thought I could locate you.”

  Geoff read the words over and over again. Written in a hand that was familiar to him, but not enough for him to have recognized it the night his world changed. “You knew it was me?”

  “I believed it was you. The name change could have made it any number of people, but it would have been too much of a coincidence that a man bearing your first name and the Earl of Cressledowns’ family name also attended Cambridge at the same time.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  David shrugged, taking the note from his hands and placing it on the end of the bed. “I didn’t know how to broach the subject. To be honest…I was afraid of losing you.”

  The words that Geoff had really wanted to hear had finally been uttered, but he didn’t really know how to process them now. David was telling him that he wanted him, but at the same time he wanted to marry Anne. None of it made any sense.

  “You can’t have it both ways, David. Anne deserves better than living with an unfaithful husband.” Geoff swallowed before adding “I deserve better, too.”

  “You will not have to worry about any of that. I will not be unfaithful. Nor will she.”

  Geoff’s heart broke in a thousand pieces in that instance. “So you are going to send me away.” It wasn’t a question. Geoff knew that it was the only way it could be.

  “No.”

  That was it. Just one word. One word that was supposed to answer every question that was torturing Geoff and making him want to curl up and die. One word that explained absolutely nothing.