The Earl's Mission: Defiant Brides Book 4 Read online

  “Very good,” the tutor said as she walked back to stand beside the couch. “Now, I would like you to sit here.”

  Rachel furrowed her brow, walked over to the couch, remembering to keep her shoulders back, and lowered herself onto the seat. Madam Louvette, however, did not seem to believe that she had done that any better than she had walked earlier.

  “Mon cher,” she drawled in that thick French accent. “One does not drop herself into a chair, one lowers herself, like this.” The woman did, in all actuality, lower herself into the seat. It was a slow, fluid motion that pained Rachel’s legs simply watching. However, Rachel was not going to be outdone. She stood once again, remembering her shoulders, and then replicated the tutor’s actions exactly. It was not as difficult as she had expected.

  “Well, there is hope for you yet,” Madam Louvette said.

  The door opened again, and Rachel expected Leah with the tea tray. Instead, Lord Linfield stood in the doorway. Rachel wondered why Sherman did not present the Earl as he would have any other visitor, but she imagined that he saw himself as a member of the household at this point rather than a visitor. However, she still wished he would treat her like the person he wished her to be—a lady.

  “Ah, My Lord Linfield,” Madam Louvette said in a cloying voice. “How wonderful to see you again.” She gave him a deep curtsy and he returned it with a nod.

  “And how is our pupil doing today?” he asked in a buoyant tone.

  “She is making progress, My Lord,” the tutor replied. “We still have work that must be done, but for her first day, she works hard. She will learn much very quickly if she continues as she is now.”

  The compliment surprised Rachel. For all the chastising the woman had given her and the harsh tones she had used, the woman saw potential where Rachel thought none existed.

  “Thank you,” Rachel said to the woman.

  “I am the tutor, you are the grand lady. You do not need to thank me for doing my job.”

  Rachel did not agree with this. Every person deserved to be appreciated, regardless of his or her station in life, and she would not be one of those stiff-necked women who looked down her nose at anyone who was not of her class. She had been a part of the working class and knew all too well how such treatment stung. However, she did not voice her opinions. Regardless of how she felt, the woman would never understand. Once she completed her lessons and the woman was gone, Rachel would do as she wished when it came to showing appreciation for those who did her bidding.

  “Well, I am glad to hear she is doing well,” Lord Linfield said with a smile. “And with your excellent instruction, she will be ready to join society in no time.”

  Rachel felt her face flush, but she remembered Madam Louvette explaining that demureness was of the utmost importance when it came to a woman of the ton and her interaction with a man of the peerage, so she merely acknowledged his words with a slight nod of her head.

  “Well, I must be off, but I hope to see you again very soon,” the Earl said. He stopped before he reached the door and turned back around. “I am very proud of you, Miss Cooper. I hope you know that.”

  The flush Rachel had felt deepened and she sat gaping at him until Madam Louvette cleared her throat. “I appreciate your kind words, My Lord,” Rachel said quickly, but with every attempt to articulate her words precisely as Madam Louvette had taught her.

  Lord Linfield seemed pleased as he bowed his head to her once more and then left the room.

  Madam Louvette stared after him and Rachel almost laughed at the look on the woman’s face. She looked as much a love-struck snit as any young woman would have, only the woman was old enough to be the Earl’s mother. Rachel kept her thoughts to herself, however. She had received too many raps on her palms for missteps already today.

  “Shall we have some tea?” Rachel asked, hiding a snicker behind her hand. This seemed to pull the older woman from her reverie, for she lifted her chin as if in defiance of something unseen.

  “Yes,” the tutor replied. “We will practice the art of serving tea as we do so.”

  Rachel sighed. Bedtime could not arrive soon enough. At least she hoped there were not lessons on how a lady went to sleep.

  Chapter Fifteen

  A week passed since Joseph had convinced Miss Cooper to remain at Elford Estates and maintain the facade of their engagement. After his quick visit on her first day of training, he had spent the majority of his time taking inventory of the various businesses and lands he would inherit upon their marriage. The thought of wedding the woman intrigued him. She was a beautiful woman, but would she learn enough in the short amount of time to stand beside him as a member of the ton? She was nowhere near uncultured, but what could a woman who needed as much training as she did learn in such a short amount of time?

  Once they were married, he could do what he wished with her. However, until the ceremony actually took place, he had to use caution. She was as skittish as a deer, or perhaps as uneasy as a tomcat would be a better description. Regardless, he needed to tread carefully so as not to scare her off. He had allowed his anger to get to him before and almost lost her; he could not allow it to happen again.

  He glanced at his pocket watch, and it almost fell from his hand as the carriage rocked precariously to one side. With the end of a walking stick, he tapped the roof of the carriage so the driver was aware of his annoyance and the carriage slowed. It was not the fault of the drive, Joseph knew, for he had requested that the man not waste any time in getting to Elford Estates. However, he would not wish to lose his life along the way.

  Settling back into the seat, his mind wandered back to Miss Cooper and the previous visit when they had walked the gardens. As a typically tight-lipped man, he was surprised how the woman had been able to bring him to share in aspects of his life he rarely discussed. He also found himself actually enjoying her tales of life at a pub. She truly was a formidable woman, and with the training she was receiving from Madam Louvette, she would make the perfect wife, he was certain of it.

  Then he thought of the day she had stopped the man from swindling him out of ten pounds, the man who claimed to have known Joseph’s father. How could Joseph have been so easily duped? He was ready to pay the man without a second thought to what he was doing, and that bothered him. Granted, ten pounds was not much when he compared it to all he owned, but to have lost it in such a way would have been more embarrassing than losing it on a shaky business venture.

  However, despite these happy thoughts, the voice of his mother rang in the back of his mind, as it was wont to do at the most inopportune times. He was marrying Miss Cooper for the wealth and power he would receive, not for love. Although his intentions went against the wishes Richard had made, Joseph shoved the realization aside. For so many years, Joseph had search for ways to make himself happy, and once he was married and was able to then add the wealth Richard had left him, then he finally would be if not happy, at least content. He would be able to give his mother the life she once had, before his father had lost it all. If he could make her happy, she would love him as a mother should. Between his newfound wealth and the love of a mother who had withheld it for so long, he would finally be at peace in his world.

  Elford Estates came into view and he smiled. He would be dining with Miss Cooper this evening, and the purpose of the meal was twofold. First, he would be able to measure the progress she had made thus far in her training. Second, he would have yet another opportunity to build up the charade to make the woman not leave before they were wed. Both were of the utmost importance, for if she trailed in her lessons, they would have to push out the date of their wedding. And if she were to find out his intentions, he had no doubt she would leave that same day, leaving him once again barely able to keep his own estate afloat.

  The carriage came to a stop in front of the doors to Elford Estates, and a footman opened the door. The sun was close to the horizon and soon would disappear for the night. Straitening his coat, Joseph walked up to
the door, Sherman already at the door giving him a deep bow.

  “My Lord,” the silver-haired man said as he took Joseph’s coat and hat.

  Joseph went to ask where Miss Cooper was when her voice echoed in the foyer. “Lord Linfield, I have been awaiting your arrival.” She wore what must have been one of her new gowns, a deep blue with puffed sleeves and a low-cut bodice. The necklace she had received as a part of her inheritance hung around her neck, the blue gem nestled between her breasts. For a moment, he imagined himself kissing the small of her throat and he had to shake himself to pull his mind back to the present.

  “Miss Cooper, you look lovely,” he said as he took her hand and placed a kiss on her knuckles. “Truly, you look beautiful.”

  She stood with her hand clasped before her demurely, her back straight and her chin high, looking as regal as any queen. “I appreciate you saying so,” she said, maintaining that crisp voice, all signs of her previous life gone, or at least in hiding. Only time would tell if what she had learned would be in the forefront of her actions. “Shall we go to the dining room?”

  He nodded and she waited for him to offer her his arm before taking it and allowing him to lead her. Yes, much better than when he had left her a week earlier. “I must commend you,” Joseph said as they made their way to the head of the table. “Your lessons seem to be going well. Have you enjoyed them?”

  She laughed lightly and allowed him to pull out a chair for her. “I am not certain that ‘enjoy’ would be the correct term; however, Madam Louvette has been most helpful.”

  The woman in question sat opposite Miss Cooper and gave her a nod of approval.

  Joseph took his seat and smiled. The candle flames danced in the middle of the table, reflecting in the woman’s eyes, and Joseph thought he could have lost himself in them. Then he shook his head. He was not here to fall in love with the woman, but only to make her believe he had. Love was reserved for poets and the empty-headed, not for Earls who had estates to run.

  “Madam Louvette believes I still have much to learn, but she has been happy with my progress thus far. We have worked nonstop the entire week to perfect my walk, how I seat myself, and how I express myself.” She shot him a mischievous smile. “What I wonder, My Lord, is why you are late. I have been led to understand that being on time is of the utmost importance.”

  Joseph ignored the gasp that came from the tutor’s lips and stared at the woman he was meant to bring to marriage. “I am never late,” he said curtly, finding it difficult to maintain his cordial outlook. “I was told dinner would be served at six and, as you can see, I am early.” He motioned to the large clock that sat along the long behind Madam Louvette. His voice died out and redness hit his cheek when he saw that the clock showed fifteen minutes past six. “That is…impossible. The trip was not delayed.”

  Her hand came out and rested on his arm. “The Great Lord Joseph Linfield, ruler and controller of time is late. I must leave at once and tell everyone.” Her face wore a wide smile, but inside, Joseph felt his temper flare. However, as she laughed, he found himself smiling almost against his will. She seemed to have a special effect on him.

  “I suppose we should eat and forget about this nonsense of time,” he said. She removed her hand—the tutor had given her a stern look at such intimacy—and Sherman began serving the first course. As the man did so, Joseph studied the woman beside him. Beautiful and witty as she was, he had a job to do. He could not be distracted no matter how desirable she was to him.

  ***

  Joseph took another sip of his brandy as he leaned back in his chair in the drawing room. They had finished dinner an hour earlier, Madam Louvette had retired to her room as Joseph and Miss Cooper sat together to have a drink. Perhaps the correct statement would have said that Joseph was on his third glass of brandy and Miss Cooper her second glass of wine. Although Joseph had sworn to himself to remain alert, the stories Miss Cooper shared had a way of relaxing him, allowing his worries to disappear, much like the sun had outside the window.

  “So, then the man promises to take me to Scotland and marry me!” Miss Cooper said with a laugh as she shared another of her anecdotes of her days at the pub. “I, of course, told him I could not, for he was already married. Not to mention that he was far too old for me.”

  Joseph smiled at her story before taking a sip of his brandy. “It would appear that many men have sought your hand,” he said in an amused tone. “Yet you have never accepted. Why is that?” He genuinely wished to know, for she was stunningly beautiful. Her remaining unwed he found unfathomable.

  She sighed. “Oh, I don’t know. There are various reasons, I suppose. My parents needed my help at the pub for one, though they would not admit it. Also, with most of the men, I could see the desire in their eyes, but none truly wished to know me.”

  Joseph took a deep breath and let it out slowly, her words ringing true in his heart. No one knew who he truly was either, once a young boy crushed by the death of his father and left to be the sole supporter of a mother who was never happy. In fact, he, himself, had not been happy in many years, a fact no one but he knew for he hid it well.

  “My Lord?”

  He looked up at her, not having realized he had drifted off in thought. “Yes?”

  “I had said that I realize you mentioned on our journey from Falmouth that no women held up to your standards and for that reason you had not yet wed. However, I would think a man with your title and wealth would attract many a lady in hopes of a chance of your proposal. I assume there is more to the story than you have revealed to me thus far.” The last was more a question than a statement.

  He sat up in his chair. How he wished to tell her that what he had said before had been a lie. That the idea of loving someone frightened him, for those he had cared for always died. That life was much less complicated when he had only himself—and his mother, of course—to care for. His mother could be more than enough for any one man to handle on his own. How his father had done so for so many years was a testament to who was, and what had driven him to the vices he had acquired later in life. However, Joseph was not about to voice those thoughts to anyone; they were much too private.

  “There might be other reasons beyond that which I mentioned. My work has always consumed all of my time, and although the idea of marriage has been on my mind at times, I have yet to add meeting someone to my schedule.” When he noticed Miss Cooper laughing behind her gloved hand, he asked, “What do you find so amusing?”

  “I find it…sweet how you have declared you must add courting a woman to your schedule,” she said. “I laugh not to mock you, but in admiration for who you are.” A strange look crossed her features when she said this, but Joseph could not identify the emotion behind that look. For some reason it held a fondness to it.

  Rather than continue on this strain of conversation, as it made him a bit uncomfortable that she admired him and saw him with fondness—or perhaps it pleased him—Joseph decided to change the subject altogether. It was not as if he were pleased on all that many occasions, to be certain. “When that man arrived to collect the debt from your father, he spoke of you becoming his bride. Were you to marry him?”

  She stared into her half-full wine glass and nodded almost imperceptibly. “I was,” she replied before looking back up at him. “However, it was not out of love, I can assure you. Two days before our first meeting, Jacob had threatened my father’s life to get the money owed him. I overhead them talking and he asked for my hand in exchange for the payment he was unable to collect. My father refused, but I accepted the exchange on his behalf.”

  “Why would you give yourself to man in this way? The debt was not yours but your father’s.”

  Miss Cooper smiled at him, and Joseph felt his heart skip a beat at her captivating beauty. “My parents had done so much for me,” she explained. “They took me in, a debt they did not owe. Their focus had always been on me, doing the best they could, seeing that I was always fed and clothed despite th
e fact they had little themselves. Granted, I worked in the pub, but it was to do my part, for they were my real family. To think that this man would hurt either of them was too much for me to bear, so the choice was simple.” She wiped a tear from her eye before she continued. “Honoring those you love, those who have cared for you, it is not too much to ask, is it?”

  Joseph found himself thinking of the night of Richard’s death and how he, Joseph, had given his word to find the man’s daughter. Richard had wanted the best for him, and that was evident by the time he had given Joseph when Joseph needed him the most. Much like Miss Cooper’s parents, Richard had taken on a debt of raising a child that was not his own. Guilt tore at him and he stood suddenly, wishing to be gone from the memories that threatened to overwhelm him. What he was doing now, this ruse he was performing, was an insult to the man’s good name.

  Miss Cooper moved to the end of her seat. “Have I upset you?” She rose as well, and Joseph could not miss the worry on her face.

  “No. The hour is late and I must return to Abberton House. I have work I would like to complete before I retire for the night, as well. I am afraid I have fallen behind.”

  It was silent, save their footsteps echoing in the foyer as they approached the front door.

  Her hand caught his arm, and he turned to look at her. “Before you leave, I wish to ask something of you.”

  “Anything you wish,” he said, finding that he did indeed wish to do anything she asked.

  “Will you visit me more often? Perhaps check on my progress?”

  Although he did truly have work to complete, he found the pleading in her eyes too much to refuse. “Very well,” he replied. “I will do what I can.” Her smile broadened and he added, “As long as you do not plan on leaving.”

  “Not at all,” she said easily. “There is all too much to do before our wedding.”

  A moment later, he was galloping down the drive, a smile on his face. She was going nowhere, and the burden on his shoulders had lessened. He finally had her where he wanted her, and although the evening had ended as he had hoped, he found the pleasure of the outcome to come from something different than he had expected. Rather than being pleased that he had convinced her to stay because he needed her for the money he would receive, he found that he was happy because he wished to spend time with her. It was an odd feeling, but not unpleasant in the least. Perhaps their impending wedding could be more than a marriage of convenience for him after all. It was a strange thought, but he found it settled well in chest. And his smile widened.