“But why? Why this pretense? Why make everyone believe you’re a satyr, a rake, a—, a—”
“Run out of words? There are more, but perhaps you can forget even those you’ve already spoken.” Rohan leaned down, kissed her quickly, then took her hand.
“It’s very simple, really. I didn’t want to disappoint my parents. They desperately wanted me to be just like them. And believe me, there was no deception involved in their respective reputations. I knew soon enough that Tibolt and George weren’t going to follow in their footsteps. That left me. But you see, it just wasn’t me—not the real me.”
“But you make love to me like you’ve done it more times than a man should be entitled to make . . . oh, dear.” She stared up at him, chagrined at what had spilled out of her mouth.
“Well, yes, but that’s different. I told you the truth about that. My father did turn me over to one of his mistresses when I was fourteen. I girded my loins and did my best. Actually, truth be told, I quite enjoyed myself. But I have never had the compulsion to bed every woman I laid eyes on. Just you. Every time I look at you I want to throw you over my shoulder and haul you off to my bed. But only you, Susannah, only you.”
To his worried eye, she looked unhappy, as if she’d expected mutton for dinner and gotten trout instead.
“Oh, damn, I’m sorry if I’ve disappointed you. I’m sorry if you wanted to satyr, Susannah. I’m sorry if you regarded me as a challenge.”
She gave him a radiant smile. “Oh no, Rohan, you have made me the happiest woman in Britain. But you know, I’m not surprised. You have simply never behaved as a man of your reputation should. I love you, all of you, no matter who or what exactly you are.”
“Show her your bloody drawings, Rohan. Then in the morning if there is no blasted rain, take her about and show her all the gardens you’ve designed.”
Susannah turned to see a plump, very pretty woman standing in the doorway. The woman gave her a smile and a curtsey, “I’m Lily, his lordship’s housekeeper. I keep his little house here all neat and tidy.”
Susannah decided at that moment that nothing more would surprise her. “Hello, Lily. I’m Susannah Carrington.”
“Yes, I know well enough who you are. Well, at last, Rohan, you’re confessi
ng all your lack of sin. Not one sinning bone in his entire body, my dear. Now, would the two of you care for some tea?”
While Lily was fetching the tea, Rohan showed Susannah the drawings on the big desk. “This garden will be for Lord Dackery, for his house in Somerset. You see that it won’t be terraced like our garden at Mountvale House. It will be sprawled out, with high hedges separating the various different aspects of the garden. There will be a pond here, a rather large one, I’m planning, with all sorts of lily pads and water reeds around it, to make it look natural. Lord Dackery is a lover of roses, so I’ve planned many rose bowers—see here, one just here, one some twenty feet away from it, a bit larger, with a lovely bench and several chairs beneath it. It would get the benefit of the afternoon sun. It’s also on a slight incline facing west. There is also a delightful breeze many spring and summer days from this vantage point. What do you think?”
She was just staring at him. “You have visited Lord Dackery’s estate?”
“Certainly. We will begin work in a couple of weeks.”
She threw her arms around him. She nuzzled his neck. “Oh, I love you. You were made for me, just me. I should love to be involved. You know that I am very good with plants and flowers, that they grow wildly for me because I have my mother’s affinity for plants. Oh, please let me—”
He was laughing, then hugging her tightly against him. “What if I hadn’t found you?” He kissed her ear, the line of her smooth jaw, then her mouth. “Do you know that you were made for me as well?”
Lily cleared her throat from the door.
“A man of your reputation, my lord, shouldn’t be showing so much affection to his wife. It would give your poor mother a spasm.”
“My mother, as you well know, Lily, is made of stern stuff. She turned only a bit pale when she first found out she had a granddaughter.”
Lily laughed. “I will let the both of you alone, then. Welcome, Susannah. Enjoy your husband. He is really quite an excellent man. The good Lord knows, there aren’t all that many of them running about loose.”
“He’s not loose,” said Susannah.
Rohan laughed again and hugged her tighter.
Susannah said against his neck once Lily had quit the drawing room, “How long have you known Lily?”
“Hmmm, let’s see. About seven years, I think. She was my mistress, and then we simply became quite used to each other. She’s a very good friend and helps me maintain my satyr’s reputation.”
“Rohan, will you ever tell Charlotte that you’re not a philanderer?”
“I’ve thought about it, but I decided not to. Why make her miserable? There’s too much misery already with her other two sons. You won’t mind, will you, Susannah?”
Susannah gave a deep sigh. “I will maintain your fiction. Charlotte will perhaps come to admire my tenacity since she will see that I’m obviously keeping you happy. But you know she will console you because you don’t have a dozen mistresses. You must not laugh, Rohan.”
“Never,” he said. “Now, let me show you where I’m putting my bearded irises, my spiderwort, and my Canterbury bells. Ah, would you like some candytuft? It’s a lovely flower—”