What a Gentleman Desires Read online

  “Hello, Doherty.” Blair handed his coat and hat to the butler. “I trust my mother is doing her best to rescue the servants from boredom?”

  The butler smiled. “Good to see you back, sir.”

  Blair entered the drawing room. Large urns of hothouse lilies, hyacinths, and carnations in mauve, purple and pink blooms, sent from Dunleavy House, sat around the room, their heady scents blending with the acrid smell of embers.

  Maeve reclined on the sofa, a cashmere shawl about her shoulders, the firelight brightening her faded, auburn hair. “Blair,” she cried, stretching out her arms to him. “You’re home.” She kissed him and patted his cheek. “To stay a while?”

  “Only a short while, Mother. I have business back in London.”

  She raised her delicate brows. “And what business would that be?”

  Blair crossed to lean on the mantle, gazing down at her. “None of your business my dear,” he said gently.

  “You are your father’s son, Blair,” she said, her green eyes showing disappointment. “Have I not the right to expect my son to take up the reins bequeathed to him by his father?”

  “You have the right to express your views, certainly.”

  “To no avail.”

  “Is that fair? The estate is well run.”

  “It was your father’s wish for you to produce an heir. He hated the idea of Dunleavy House falling into a stranger’s hands.”

  “And it is my intention also, have no fear.” He knelt to take her hand, kissing it. “It may not sound like I do at times. I appreciate your wise counsel.”

  She laughed and withdrew her hand. “Steel in a velvet glove. As I said, just like your father. I just hope I live to see it.” She rang the bell on the table at her side. “Tea, or a whiskey?”

  He sat beside her on the sofa. “Tea, thank you.”

  Her gaze roamed his face. “I shall continue to ask questions undaunted, Blair. The business in London, is it a woman?”

  Blair laughed and shook his head. “And I shall continue to evade your questions, Mamma.” He used his childhood name for her, softening the harsh message in the words.

  “Very well,” she held her finger to her lips as the door opened. “Here’s Bridget with the tea.”

  After the maid left the room, Maeve poured the tea into delicate, floral patterned cups. “I trust Siobhan’s marriage to Sir John Fitzgerald didn’t upset you?”

  “No. There have been women other than Siobhan to fill my senses.”

  “Your bed, perhaps. But not your heart.”

  “Mother! You put me to blush.”

  She shook her head. “I’m not one to mince words, Blair. You won’t find me whispering behind a fan in stuffy drawing rooms and fainting away at the slightest impropriety. I know you have been a man about town. Both here in Ireland and in England too, no doubt. But you are past thirty and have yet to find a woman you wish to marry.”

  “As I said,” he answered coolly, “You must not concern yourself.”

  “The last thing I’ll say on this, Blair. Yes, the very last,” she repeated, responding to his exaggerated look of surprise, “is that I wish you to find a suitable wife, but also one with a passionate heart. One who will love you as your father loved me. Siobhan loved all that Sir John had to offer. She is beautiful, I’m not denying it, but a cool woman and not for you.”

  “Doesn’t matter now, does it?”

  “No, for she is soon to give Sir John an heir.” She patted his knee. “What about Cathleen O’Brien, you’re not considering...?”

  “Enough, Mother.”

  Maeve tilted her head. “You usually get what you set your heart on, do you not? But life has a way of teaching us lessons, Blair.”

  Blair turned down the offer of his mother’s barouche and hired a carriage to take him home to Killarney. As the horses galloped through the narrow lanes, past farmhouses and emerald green fields dotted with livestock, he thought about his mother. His conservative father had adored her, but she’d caused him more than a little worry, riding fearlessly about the countryside unaccompanied, attending the sick, and visiting the tenant farmers. She had never cared to live in the manner of high society even though a baron’s daughter. Blair remembered his parent’s quarrels. His father had loved pomp and ceremony, perhaps because he hadn’t been born to it. There would often be tension in the air as his mother swept out the door with a rustle of silk, her hand resting on his father’s arm. If they often fought, they never remained angry with each other for long. Blair would hear the murmuring and his mother’s soft laughter in their bedchamber after they returned, as he drifted off to sleep.

  At Blair’s direction, the driver directed the horses into the tree-lined avenue of Paisley Manor, the home of Lady Cathleen O’Brien. Perhaps because his mother’s mention of Cathleen had irked him, he’d failed to reveal his intention to ask Cathleen to be his wife. As he approached the entrance, he still waged a war with himself. He had decided to have a mistress in England and a wife here in Ireland. That way, it would be easy to keep the two women in his life separate.

  Despite his cool-headed plan, Blair’s passionate nature seemed to thwart his intentions. But he could not afford to delay. He knew that Cathleen liked him, but she had many suitors and would not wait forever.

  The driver drew the carriage up in front of the pretty, gingerbread manor house of warm brick and stone, set in forty acres of fine land.

  A maid showed him into the drawing room. Cathleen crossed the floor to greet him. A slender woman, she carried herself with regal bearing. Her blue-gray gown with its fetching bustle added curves and complimented her fair hair and pale complexion.

  “Blair,” she said in her quiet voice, taking his hand. “I didn’t know you were in Ireland. What a pleasant surprise.”

  “I’ve just arrived and am on my way home. I hope I haven’t called at an inconvenient time.”

  “Of course not,” she said. “We are always pleased to see you. My parents will be sorry to have missed you. They’re away until tomorrow.”

  “I regret to have missed them.”

  “May I offer you a libation?”

  “No, thank you. I can’t stay above a minute, Cathleen. The carriage is waiting. Have you all been well?”

  “Father’s gout has been troubling him.” She settled on the sofa, tucking her skirts neatly about her, and picked up her embroidery. “No need to ask you, Blair, for you look fit as a fiddle.

  How is your mother?

  “In fighting spirit. I’ve just left her.”

  She raised her brows. “You two always did knock heads.”

  “And we always will, I imagine. What have you been doing while I’ve been away?” he asked, suddenly curious.

  Cathleen cut a thread with a small pair of scissors. “Reading, visiting, writing letters. The usual things. Why do you ask?”

  “Don’t you… find it dull?”

  Surprise registered in her gray eyes as they met his. “It’s a woman’s lot, is it not?

  “I wondered if you rail against it… that you might want something more from life.”

  “Heavens no. What on earth more might I want?”

  “More freedom to express yourself, perhaps.”

  She shook her head. “What most women want is marriage.” She put down her embroidery and tilted her head. “Why these questions? My aim is to take my place in society as a supportive wife to a respectable man.”

  “Ah.”

  A tiny frown marred her brow, and she searched his eyes. “Women are not like men, you know, Blair. We don’t have the violence in our souls. It wouldn’t do to become like men, now would it? The world would be in a terrible mess.”

  With the subject raised, it was the perfect time to ask her for her hand. But he faltered, disconcerted by the conversation. He suspected he’d disconcerted her as well. He left without committing himself. As the carriage continued toward Killarney, Blair realized it was unfair of him to have expected a show of passion fro
m Cathleen.

  He had never exhibited any such emotion toward her. It was as it should be. He intended to keep sexual desire and marriage apart, for if combined, it proved too explosive and difficult to control. Still, he hadn’t asked Cathleen to marry him, had he? He removed his hat and ran his hand through his dark locks.

  Contrary to what his mother thought, Siobhan had only even been a brief flirtation. The strength of his feelings for any woman had never equaled his love for the Dunleavy acres.

  He directed his passion into the vision he had for his country. During his trip to London, he had attended Parliament to discuss the state of Irish farms bought by English absentee landlords whose only concern was for what rent they might get. When the farmers couldn’t pay, they threw them out penniless onto the street.

  Dunleavy House had escaped this upheaval because Blair’s father had treated his tenant farmers with fairness. He had them plant wheat and corn and they had prospered where those who planted potatoes had failed. No farmers on Dunleavy lands would be thrown into the street like the million émigrés who had deserted Ireland in coffin ships. With the shocking potato famine behind them, and home rule promising change, Blair felt more confident of the coming new Century, when Ireland would rise above its appalling poverty.

  The carriage entered the gates of the Dunleavy acres. Some fifteen minutes later, the stunning vista of the rambling, brick house with its gray slate roof appeared, overlooking Lough Leane. Smoke threaded into the sky from four of its eight chimneys. The steeply sloping face of Torc Mountain formed a majestic backdrop, towering above them, its foothills covered in a carpet of crimson, pink and white rhododendrons.

  The carriage stopped, and Blair alighted in front of the old house, the walls thick with flowering ivy. In the meadow creamy-white crocus and deep-pink wildflowers grew wild.

  Blair’s great-grandfather, Gaffney Dunleavy, built the house. A self-made man, he enlarged the small farmhouse in 1650 to a grand mansion of fourteen bedrooms, library, dining room, drawing room, study, and anteroom. It now provided employment for more than a dozen servants. It was a comfortable home, furnished in patterned sofas and Turkey rugs with heavy velvet curtains at the small-paned windows. The rooms featured deep fireplaces and cozy, low beamed ceilings. Each generation had added something to the estate. Blair’s father created the charming terraced gardens and arched yew walk. Blair had built the icehouse, the hothouses that supplied exotic fruits and vegetables for the table, and improved the outbuildings of the home farm.

  The housemaid, Fiona, bobbed. She took his hat, coat, and gloves. Blair sent a houseboy to find his steward, James Donnelly, then went upstairs to change. The thought of spending long, lazy days hunting and fishing had somehow lost its appeal. He wanted to sort through the business at hand and be back on the boat for London before the month was out. When he paused to consider this, he was astounded. Had a painted face on a canvas bewitched him? It seemed Horace was right.

  Chapter Three

  Caithness, Scotland

  Lord Ogilvie strode back and forth across the floor of his bedchamber. He had sent his servants scurrying away with threats to dismiss anyone whose face appeared before him until he wished it.

  A pile of bills sat on his dresser that he’d no means of paying. His trip to London failed on all counts. He’d lost heavily at the betting tables while his pursuit of a wealthy wife came to naught. He was tired as death. And that irked him the most! He’d kept the debtors at bay with a number of promises, but now time and their patience had run out. If not debtor’s prison, he would still lose his home. He’d be destitute. Unbelievable to think that this should happen to him, the Sixth Earl of Douglass. In truth, it had been a downhill slide for several generations. Scots were reputed to be a parsimonious lot, but not his family, self-indulgent spenders, the lot of them.

  Not his fault there was too many blood feuds in his sad history. Could he help his ancestry?

  The fire crackled, and a log fell onto the grate sending out sparks. Where was that servant? Oh. He’d sent him away. Scottish weather could be hell when it chose. Sleet struck the window panes and the fierce wind howled around the castle walls, creeping into all the cracks to blow down stone stairways and along corridors, chilling everything it touched. All the servants were hacking and sniffing, not that he cared, but it made it difficult to keep staff here. Particularly now that he couldn’t pay them. Only the desperate with nowhere else to go remained, he caught their surly glances when they thought his back was turned. It occurred to him that one of them might murder him in his bed and steal the few things left of any value.

  He poured a whiskey and took several large gulps. The liquid burning its way down his cold body. He cradled the glass in his hands. Tomorrow, if the harsh weather eased, he would go out in the carriage. But where? Friends fell away along with his dwindling finances. And the people in the village now spurned him.

  Several whiskeys later, Ogilvie’s mind turned to Blair Dunleavy. It was his fault. Dunleavy had spoiled his chances of marrying the heiress. Elizabeth might be here with him now. A plain wench and rather stupid, but he was prepared to accept that, she was a flesh and blood woman to warm his bed and fill his coffers. His forays into the London fleshpots would continue after his marriage, funded by her inheritance.

  His hatred for Blair suddenly swelled to block his throat. He made up his mind. When the weather improved, he would return to London to another high-stakes card game. His luck was surely due to turn.

  * * *

  London

  “Gina, is that you?

  Gina laid her purchases down on the table. “Of course, it’s me. Who were you expecting, Queen Victoria?”

  Milo hurried from the next room, holding a fat wad of notes in his hand. “Look! I’ve sold the painting, Aphrodite. I told you that one would be successful.”

  She took a deep breath. “How much?

  “After commission, three hundred pounds.”

  “La mia bontà!” Gina put her hands to her cheeks. She’d never even dreamed of so much money. “That cannot be right.”

  Milo sniffed and wiped away a tear. “The painting broke a record for my work at auction.”

  Gina rushed to hug him, feeling his bones through his skin. When he started a new painting, he often forgot to eat. “We’ll eat meat tonight.”

  “And vino.” Laughing, he took her hands and danced with her around the room. “The best that money can buy.”

  “Not too much wine, Milo. We’ve debts to pay…” Gina began. Milo drank like he painted. He didn’t know when to stop.

  “You don’t understand, girl. I’ve three good paintings of you, and I’ll do more. They will fetch a very good price now. You’re my lucky charm. We’ll never have to worry about money again.”

  She laughed with him. Might it be true Milo’s talent was to be recognized at last? “How wonderful.”

  He peeled off several notes and thrust them at her. “Go and buy yourself a pretty dress.” He studied her. “And a new coat. A young woman should wear pretty clothes.”

  She took the money, curling her fingers around it with excitement. “We need to pay the bills,” she said, thinking of the beautiful hat she’d seen in a shop window. But what use did she have for a blue velvet hat, adorned with tulle and soft, white feathers?

  Milo patted her arm. “At last I can do what I promised your mother. I can take better care of you, Gina.”

  She kissed his bristly cheek. “Oh Milo, you’ve always been there for me.”

  His expression sobered. “No. That’s not entirely true, but it’s about to change.” He gestured at the patch of damp on the wall. “The first thing I’ll do is look for a better place for us to live.”

  “That would be most welcome,” she said to his retreating back. He returned to his easel, and she saw that he’d already forgotten about moving to a better place. She would have to keep reminding him. Gina followed him into the studio. “Where do you think we might live?

&nb
sp; “Arthur Cowper has done well for himself. He’s bought a studio-house in Holland Park. Says it’s the best thing he’s done.”

  “Holland Park? How wonderful to live in a park,” she said wistfully.

  “Then we shall, just as soon as I’ve sold enough paintings. Change into your costume, girl. Let’s not waste time.”

  Gina ran to her room as a vision of Holland Park formed in her mind, green hills with many trees, and roses. Yellow roses.

  Chapter Four

  London

  Since the sale of the painting three weeks ago, Gina and Milo had dined like royalty. At the market, she found cheap bolts of material. She stitched bright calico curtains for the windows and made a cover for the worn sofa. She distempered the dingy, tobacco-colored walls working around Milo as he painted. He now had better sway with the landlord who sent someone to fix the leak in the roof. It was the least he could do to have a famous artist living in his attic.

  Gina tucked the single yellow rose she’d bought—roses were so expensive, into her hair. She pushed back her heavy, waist-length tresses and settled into her pose for the new work, a swag of burnished silk wrapped around her that would soon be fashioned into a new gown.

  A knock came at the door.

  “Who can that be?” She abandoned her pose. “Are you expecting any of your friends?”

  Milo shrugged and continued to work violet shadows into the folds of painted cloth.

  The knock came again.

  Gina wrapped the fabric around her body, and opened the door a crack. “Who is it?”

  An elegant stranger stood outside. Tall and broad-shouldered, he was dressed in a dark blue coat, dove-gray silk waistcoat, and gray trousers. He removed his bowler hat. His hair curled over his neck, black as soot. A smile of recognition lit his blue eyes as if he knew her. “Mr. Blair Dunleavy, miss. I’ve been told that Milo Russo lives here. I recently bought his painting, Aphrodite.”