“Of course I can, and I’ll remain your friend,” he told her. “Please remember, I’d never do anything to harm you or frighten you.” He coughed, and his face became ruddy again. “If you didn’t want to have marital relations, I could wait until you did. That wouldn’t be a tragedy. I’m a grown man and not a slave to my appetites. Who knows? With time and with confidence, and confidence in me as well, it might be a thing you could come to-if not want, precisely-then accept. And after that, in time, you could come to actually enjoy it. It’s truth, believe it or not.”
He put up a hand. “I know, it sounds impossible now, but think about it. Don’t worry that I’ll keep asking you to marry me, either, because I won’t. But should you change your mind, I’m here. I always will be, for you. Now, in the meanwhile,” he said more briskly, “stay close. We can be friends, if not lovers, so don’t be embarrassed or shy with me. Let’s pretend I didn’t offer what I did, while remembering what it was I offered.”
He laughed so that she could. “And don’t go on any long trips, or with any strangers,” he warned her. “Send to me if anything unusual happens. We’ll keep investigating.”
“We?” she asked. “Oh! You and the viscount. And that’s what you two were wigwagging your eyebrows about, right? He knew you were going to ask me to marry you, in order to protect me?”
“Let’s say he knew, and leave it at that,” the earl said wryly. “He’ll be surprised at the outcome. It won’t be my manly attributes he’ll think you didn’t appreciate, but he’ll be shocked that you turned down my offer. I am one of the wealthiest men in England now, and he, I’m afraid, is too cynical. This may actually help set him straight and show him all women aren’t interested only in a fellow’s money and titles. But yes, we’ll be working together on your problem. If my boys were here, they’d do the same. It might be that we can stop it here and now.”
“I hope so!” she said, and turned to leave.
“And remember,” he added, “my offer stands.”
She looked back at him. “It stands even though I won’t lie down for you?“ she asked with an attempt at humor.
“Even though,” he said. “I’m not Tanner. I could never be. You have to learn to stop thinking of him and the things he did. Give it time.”
“I know,” she said. “Still, it’s not a matter of thinking anymore, it’s part of me. But Geoff? You are a true friend.”
He bowed. “I will always be one. Depend on it.”
“I’ll remember,” she promised.
“And you’ll continue to see London with me?” he asked. “We’ve tickets for the theater tomorrow night.”
“I look forward to it,” she said.
He opened the door for her, and she stepped out, feeling terrible and wickedly ungrateful and relieved, all at once.
Helena was standing in the hallway, talking to Leland. They both looked up. Daisy’s gaze flew to Leland. His blue gaze locked on hers, sober and cold. His face was unsmiling, his long body, tensed. She didn’t know what expression she wore, but she knew she wasn’t smiling. Neither was Geoff. Leland looked puzzled. Helena, surprised.
“We’re leaving now,” she told Helena. “Good day,” she said to Leland, and then, quickly as she could, she stepped out into the sunshine again, and breathed deep.
“You’ve a guest waiting in the lobby,” Helena said.
Daisy was sitting curled up in the window seat, in her dressing gown, looking down, watching London wake up to a new day. “You know I can’t ask anyone to come up until I know who it is,” she said.
“It’s Viscount Haye.”
Daisy frowned. “Here? Now? This early? That’s peculiar. Unless he’s on his way home from a party. That makes more sense. Did he send a message?”
Helena looked at the card in her hand. “He asks to speak with you.”
“Then it’s probably an impostor,” Daisy said, turning back to the window again. “He never asks, he orders. Did you know how right you were? No lady walks out at this hour. There’s not one in the street. There are lots of maids and vendors, nannies and nursemaids and such, and ladies riding down to the equestrian paths in the park, but not one lady on foot. You said most don’t rise until noon, and I thought you were joking. But there’s not one in sight, and it looks like a glorious day. Sheep, that’s what the ladies of London are. I’m glad I’m not one of them.” Or ever going to be one, she thought, and fell still.
“This is the viscount’s card,” Helena said. “And the manager has been warned and wouldn’t disturb you if he thought it was an impostor. I think you ought to go down and see what he wants.”
Daisy shrugged. “I’ll have to get dressed.”
“He says that he expects to see you in ten minutes.”
Daisy sat upright. “Now that sounds like him.” She went quickly to her wardrobe. “I’ll just drop a gown over my head. What shall I wear? The rose or the new yellow sprigged muslin?”
Daisy was wearing a new yellow gown as she went down the stairs ten minutes later. The gossamer skirts floated and drifted behind her, making her feel young and light. She’d wanted to wait and be late, just to show him she could be. But she decided against it. She was bursting with curiosity.
Leland didn’t look as though he’d come from an all-night party. He was dressed in correct morning clothes. He looked elegant and amused, as ever. His hair was still damp from morning ablutions; his face was freshly shaven, his eyes bright and clear. He was wide-awake in every way.
“Good morning,” he said, bowing to Daisy and Helena. He eyed Daisy’s gown with approval. “Very nice, indeed,” he murmured. “Despite the cliché, I must say that you look fresh as your namesake. It’s good to see you haven’t adopted Town hours. I wanted to speak with you without multitudes hovering nearby. That let out most of my usual haunts: soirées, musicales and parties, and the theater. But we can go for a stroll in the fresh morning air. Will you come for a walk with me?
“Helena,” he said, “I know your devotion to duty and it is commendable. But if you don’t mind, I’d rather you didn’t follow too closely. I need some privacy with Daisy. There are things of a delicate nature I wish to say.”
Lud! Daisy thought; he was going to give her hell for turning Geoff down. Well, she could face it, in fact, welcomed it, because she felt bad about it herself.
“If that meets with her approval,” Helena said primly.
“It’s fine with me,” Daisy said. “I like the morning. I know you’re probably used to seeing it the other way ’round, my lord, from the night as it turns into day. But I always liked morning best. You get to breathe the air before everyone else gets to it.”
“When I’m in the countryside I rise when I’d be going to bed in London,” he said, taking her hand and placing it on his sleeve. “There’s really not much else to do at night in the country,” he added, “unless you have company.”
She laughed out loud. “Now that sounds like you. I was beginning to wonder if someone was posing as you.”
“So pleased to have relieved your mind,” he said as they went out to the street. “Believe it or not, it was an inadvertent double entendre. But a good one,” he mused. “I must remember it.”
They walked on toward the park, Helena a discreet few paces behind them.
“As I thought,” he said when they went through the park gates. “No one who knows anyone is out this early. Oh, some rugged young men and women are doubtless galloping hither and yon. But they use the equestrian gates, and go deep into the park. We’re just going to promenade on its perimeters. Helena, would you like to feed the ducks? They look ravenous. Or maybe you’d prefer to rest on that bench over there? I’ll just stroll on ’round the lake with Daisy. Nothing dreadful will transpire. Even I can’t think of a way to disgrace or dishonor her here.”