Page 37 of Road Trip With a Rogue (Her Majesty’s Rebels #3)

Daisy sank onto the bed next to Ellie and drew up her knees. “First of all, tell me exactly what rumors you’ve heard concerning myself and Vaughan.”

“There were a score of them flying around Cecelia Lambert’s card party last night,” Tess said. “You’re either his mistress, his fianc é e, or his wife, depending on who you ask. Everyone kept asking Ellie and me to confirm something, but of course we pleaded ignorance.”

Daisy groaned. It was as bad as she’d feared. “Thank you. But I’m afraid there’s no stopping this now. You’ve already seen the happy couple, Peregrine and Violet, downstairs, so you know I failed to catch them before they tied the knot at Gretna Green.”

Tess shrugged. “Who cares about them? We care about you . What’s going on? Are you having a torrid affair with Vaughan? Please say yes. That man is glorious.”

Heat warmed Daisy’s cheeks. “Not exactly. I mean, I did allow him to seduce me. Just once—I mean, on just the one occasion—one night—”

Ellie’s mouth opened as if she were about to ask a question, or ten, but Daisy rushed on.

“—but the real disaster happened when Letty Richardson saw us together at Gretna Green. Vaughan told her we were engaged, thinking that would save my reputation.”

Ellie’s eyes widened behind her gold-rimmed spectacles. “Oh goodness.”

“So what did you do?” Tess demanded, her voice rising in excitement. “Go to the blacksmith and say ‘I do’? Are you Her Grace, the Duchess of Cranford?”

“I am not. Before I had the chance to think, I was kidnapped by three idiot brothers who’d overheard Vaughan saying I was to be his duchess. They planned to hold me for ransom.”

Daisy recounted the subsequent events in as much detail as she could remember, and when she was done the two of them stared at her in bemusement.

“So now I don’t know what to do,” Daisy finished. “I’ve gone through all the possible options, and not one is satisfactory.”

Ellie wrinkled her nose. “Wait a minute. Can someone explain to me why marriage to Lucien Vaughan—Duke of Cranford, handsome as sin, rich as Croesus—is unsatisfactory ? I’ll admit he’s tall, dark, and terrifying, and known to shoot people at the slightest provocation, but I’ve never heard of him mistreating a woman.

Far from it. He has the reputation for keeping women extremely satisfied.

At least until he gets bored and leaves them.

What happened? You say he seduced you. Was it a disaster? ”

“A complete disaster,” Daisy admitted. “But not in the way you mean. It was a disaster in the sense that I hoped it would banish the ghost of him from my foolish brain. I thought one night with him would prove that he was nothing special.”

“Ah.” Tess managed to imbue the single syllable with a world of meaning.

Daisy sighed. “I thought it would work in the same way as those inoculations invented by Dr. Jenner. If I deliberately infected myself with a small dose of the disease—Vaughan, in this case—I’d be able to fight off a much more serious case in the future.

But I was wrong. I didn’t make myself immune.

All I did was give myself a full-blown case of him.

He’s all I can think about. All I want. I am infected , and the worst of it is, I don’t think it’s simply incurable lust. I have all sorts of other complicated feelings about him. ”

Tess and Ellie were both regarding her with fascinated, rapt expressions.

“What other sort of feelings?” Tess asked.

“I like him. Even though he’s an absolute monster.” Daisy shook her head, disgusted with herself. “He fought for me, risked his life for me. Cared for me when I was ill. He was kind.”

Ellie frowned. “Well, that’s not fair. It’s bad enough him looking like he does, and being all brooding and masterful, but if he’s secretly nice beneath all that sarcasm, how were you supposed to resist?”

“Everything conspired against me,” Daisy wailed. “There was only one bed. Only one horse. He bathed in front of me, for heaven’s sake.”

“Oh, bloody hell,” Tess muttered. “Baths are notoriously dangerous. There’s not much he could do to make you change your opinion now either. Maybe if he went about kicking dogs, or assaulting his staff?”

“He doesn’t,” Daisy said dismally. “His staff all dote on him, and so does his nephew. And he’s kind to animals. He refused to let the carriage horses be overworked, or travel at night, and I saw him give the crust of his pie to one of the dogs in the yard at the White Horse.”

“He did lie to you all the way to Gretna,” Tess rallied.

“But then he proposed to save her reputation,” Ellie countered. “That was very noble.”

“Exactly!” Daisy cried. “He only offered out of duty. He doesn’t want me, except physically. If we marry, it will be nothing but a marriage of convenience, and after my mother’s experience, I always said I’d only marry for love. And he doesn’t love me.”

“It sounds as if you’re already halfway there, though,” Ellie said bluntly. “You’re in love with him, aren’t you?”

Daisy gave a heartfelt groan. “Ugh. Yes. Not that the idiot deserves it. He’s arrogant and overbearing and positively riddled with flaws. It’s not fair.”

“Love isn’t fair,” Tess said with a grin. “It’s inconvenient and disruptive, but life would be very dull without it. People were moaning about it a thousand years ago, and they’ll be moaning about it a thousand years from now.”

She tilted her head. “You know, Justin only wanted a marriage of convenience when we first met, but he ended up falling for me. Couldn’t that happen with Lucien? Why can’t you make him love you?”

“A strong physical attraction is an excellent start,” Ellie agreed.

“But physical attraction doesn’t last. He’ll tire of me eventually, and then I’ll have the agony of knowing he’s seeing other women.”

“Perhaps. But you’d have the protection of his name and the cushion of his fortune.

You’d still have your friends and your job.

And you could always take a lover of your own,” Tess suggested.

“Besides, there’s no guarantee that he’ll be unfaithful.

Men like Vaughan don’t fall easily, but when they do, there are no half measures. It’s all or nothing.”

“And you’re not the sort of woman to accept defeat either,” Ellie said bracingly.

“You like nothing better than a challenge. Why not see marrying Vaughan in the same vein? Think of him as a case you have to crack, or a puzzle you need to solve. You’re inventive, clever.

Fascinate him. Be like Scheherazade, in The Arabian Nights .

Be so brilliant that he won’t look at another woman for as long as he lives. ”

Daisy bit her lip. “You think I should just marry him, then?”

“I don’t see a better alternative. Not unless you want to be banished from society.”

“I could take an extended trip to go and see my mother in Italy. Maybe by the time I come back people will have forgotten?”

“Unlikely. The ton has an incredibly long collective memory. Besides, if you’re married to Vaughan, you won’t have to worry about your father trying to foist you off on someone worse.”

“That’s true.”

Tess got to her feet. “So, we have a plan. You’re going to bring Vaughan to his knees, both literally and metaphorically.”

“He hasn’t actually proposed, you know,” Daisy said crossly. “He just keeps announcing that we should get married. I’d give one of my knives to see him on his knees, begging for my hand.”

“You’ve seen my hand, Hamilton. What woman would want something so scarred and unsightly?”

Daisy bit her lips as his previous words rose up to haunt her.

She’d laughed at him then, deflected him with a flippant joke.

Now, she’d do anything to have him ask again.

Tess caught her hand, interrupting her reverie.

“The first step in your campaign can be to dazzle him at dinner.” She sent the hastily altered riding habit a scathing look.

“Lucky for you, we squeezed in a trip to Madame Lef è vre’s before we left town.

She gave us that new dress you ordered last month. We’ll help you get ready.”