Page 26 of Road Trip With a Rogue (Her Majesty’s Rebels #3)

Daisy cursed her monumental bad luck as a litany of excuses ran through her brain. Madness. Amnesia. Kidnap. A lost twin. Sadly, none of them sounded remotely plausible, so she squared her shoulders and lifted her chin.

“Letty, what a surprise!” Her tones indicated it was anything but pleasant. “I say, you’re not here to commit bigamy, are you?”

Letty let out a fake little laugh, even as her eyes narrowed. “Of course not. I’m on my way back from visiting my sister. She lives up past Dumfries.”

She waved vaguely northward with her white-gloved hand, but her eyes glittered with malicious delight. It was clear she suspected a scandal.

“But this is marvelous!” Her eyes roved Daisy’s features again and she gave a gleeful chuckle. “From the looks of you, I do believe I’ve stumbled onto an elopement! How famous. You’ve finally found someone to marry you.”

Her tone was so condescendingly saccharine that Daisy clenched her fingers into her palms against the urge to shove Letty into the steaming pile of horse manure just to her left.

“Who’s the lucky man?”

Daisy opened her mouth to tell Letty to mind her own business when she felt a presence behind her and saw Letty’s eyes widen to the size of saucers.

“I am.”

Vaughan’s deep, amused tone made Daisy’s heart stop in her chest.

“What?” Letty squeaked. She recovered from her surprise almost immediately and sank into an obsequious curtsey. “I mean, Your Grace! How wonderful to see you again.”

She couldn’t seem to decide where to look; her eyes kept bouncing between Daisy and Vaughan.

“But I’m not sure I understand,” Letty simpered. Her entire attitude had become flirtatious and cloying. “This must be the most bizarre coincidence. You’re not here with Dorothea, are you?”

She made it sound as though associating with Daisy was one step worse than contracting the bubonic plague.

Daisy stood stock-still as Vaughan casually slipped his hand around her waist and tugged her back into his chest in a move so naturally possessive it was as if he’d done it a thousand times before.

“You heard me. Yes, you’ve stumbled on an elopement. And yes, I’m the lucky man. Daisy, here, is going to be my duchess.”

Daisy kept her expression completely serene as Letty gaped at her. Her brain didn’t seem to be able to come up with an alternative suggestion.

“So you’re not married yet?” Letty managed.

“Not yet. But we will be,” Vaughan said.

Letty’s forehead wrinkled. “Is this true?”

“Of course it is.” Vaughan’s other hand stroked Daisy’s cheek in a gentle caress. “I’ve been in love with her for years. It’s just taken me this long to convince her to accept me.”

Letty looked as if she was about to expire. She gaped at Daisy as if seeing her for the first time. “Years?” she croaked. “You’ve been asking her for years? And she refused you?”

Daisy lifted her brows, as if she was the sort of cool, irresistible female who refused offers from gorgeous, wealthy dukes like Vaughan on a weekly basis.

“Years,” she lied firmly.

“Luckily, I’m very stubborn,” Vaughan drawled. “And very persuasive.” There was no mistaking the amused innuendo in his deep voice.

Letty’s mouth dropped open in a perfect little O , and Daisy would have relished the sight if her own reputation wasn’t being comprehensively shredded by this little charade.

Vaughan’s hand tightened on her waist as he gave her a little squeeze. “Now, if you’ll excuse us—”

“Do you need a witness?” Letty blurted out.

Her eyes shone at the prospect of playing a key role in what she obviously believed to be the scandal of the century.

She was doubtless cataloguing every single detail to recount it to anyone who would listen when she got back to London. “I’d be more than happy to—”

“That won’t be necessary, Lady Richardson,” Vaughan said firmly, cutting her off. “My nephew and his wife have kindly agreed, and we’re not having any other guests.”

He pressed Daisy’s waist and pulled her gently to one side so that the doorway was clear. “I’m sure you’re desperate to get to your room and rest after your journey. You look a little tired. We won’t detain you any longer.”

Letty looked as though she’d happily stay forever, but she must have realized that she’d been neatly dismissed, as well as deftly insulted, and gave a little shrug.

“Yes. Of course. In that case, please accept my congratulations.” She bobbed another curtsey and swept past them with a final disdainful glance at Daisy’s outfit.

“Perhaps when you’re a duchess you’ll give some thought about improving your wardrobe, Dorothea,” she said snidely. “Do let me know if you’d ever like some pointers.”

She sailed past them before Daisy could say that she’d rather leap naked into a vat of boiling oil than go shopping with the likes of her.

Daisy waited until the sound of Letty’s footsteps had disappeared behind her before she stepped out of Vaughan’s hold and whirled around to face him.

She’d thought she’d been angry before, when he’d revealed his role in the elopement, but this was beyond the pale.

Blood seemed to pulse in her throat and swish in her ears.

“What the bloody hell was that?” she hissed, almost incandescent with fury. “Letty’s the worst gossip in the whole of England, and you just told her we’re about to be married !”

She turned and stormed toward the stables, certain that he would follow. “She’s going to be charging back to London as fast as she possibly can to share that delicious piece of news.”

Vaughan caught her shoulder and swung her back round to face him.

“I was trying to save your reputation!” he countered crossly. “What else would you have had me say? That you’re my mistress? That we’re having a torrid affair?”

“Yes!” Daisy fumed. “That would have been better. Everyone knows I don’t give a fig about getting married, and nobody in the ton will be surprised to hear that I’ve become your mistress.

They’ve been expecting me to do something like that for years.

I’ve heard the whispers. They say I’m just like my flighty mother, a slave to my passionate nature, a scandal waiting to happen. ”

He reached for her again, but she stepped back, away from his touch, and took a deep inhale, trying to calm her hectic breathing and her pounding heart.

“Now everyone’s going to think we’ve married in secret, even if we don’t announce it to the world. Letty’s more efficient at spreading news than a full-page advertisement in The Times !”

Vaughan shook his head, but she wasn’t finished.

“I don’t care if I’m ruined. I’m not marrying you. You’re going to go straight back to London and tell everyone that we’ve broken off our engagement.”

“And what good will that do? I’ll be branded a wicked cad who seduced then abandoned you—and get hounded by your brothers who’ll probably shoot me before asking for an explanation—or, worse, I’ll be seen as an object of pity and scorn because everyone thinks you’ve jilted me at the altar.

Neither of those options particularly appeal to me, Hamilton. ”

He raked his hand through his hair. “And what about you? If you return to London unwed, you’ll be branded a harlot. You’ll be blacklisted from society.”

“I can lay low until all the fuss has died down,” Daisy muttered.

“Tess will let me stay at Wansford Hall. And when everyone’s forgotten about me and moved on to another scandal, I’ll quietly move back and start working for King and Company again.

I can live above the office. Tess bought the building years ago. ”

“What about your father?” Vaughan demanded. “Or have you forgotten about him? Because I’m sure he’ll have something to say about his daughter disgracing the family name.”

Daisy’s spirits plummeted. Oh God. Her father would be livid.

He didn’t care what she got up to in private, but he’d abhor having the whole world gossiping about her.

What if this proved the final straw and he forced her to marry some doddery old letch just to salvage her ruined reputation?

She could end up with someone as dreadful as Letty’s husband.

And what about Tess and Ellie? Word would come out if she returned to London, even if she waited a whole year, and she’d rather live in seclusion forever than have the business they’d all worked so hard on sullied by her involvement, or her friends shunned because of their continued association with her.

Bloody Vaughan.

The man in question tilted his head and the thoughtful, calculating expression on his face made her pause.

“What?” she demanded.

“Is it really that bad an idea? Getting married, I mean. Socially we’re equal. I’m a duke, you’re a duke’s daughter.”

It was Daisy’s turn to gape at him. “Of course it’s a bad idea. The worst.”

“It would save both our reputations.”

Disbelief and humiliation roiled inside her. God, was there anything worse than his pity? “I’m not entering a marriage of convenience just so you can be seen to be doing the honorable thing, Vaughan.”

“It’s not just that. I have to marry sometime.

I’m expected to make an effort to keep the ducal line going.

” His dark gaze burned into hers, and she ignored the little frisson of awareness his attention always produced.

“I honestly don’t care about producing an heir, but I’m more than willing to enjoy the attempts to make one with you. ”

Her stomach somersaulted at the tantalizing thought of making love with him again—multiple times, over several months, years possibly—but she ignored it. She had too much to lose.

“I’m not denying the physical chemistry between us,” she said, as calmly as she could.

“But passion like that doesn’t last. There needs to be something more.

A deeper respect and enjoyment of the other person’s company.

Shared humor and interests. If I’m going to marry and have children it will be because I love the other person, and know that they love me. Not because society demands it.”