Part 38 (1/2)

They stood at the entrance to the stable, in plain sight if anyone cared to look or was up at this late hour. Merrick took her arm and pulled her inside.

”I overheard your aunt and uncle arguing at the fair.”

Anne eyed him oddly. ”How could you have heard them? From what I saw, you were never within speaking or hearing distance of my aunt and uncle this afternoon.”

He wouldn't go into detail about his abnormal hearing abilities. He'd already told her too much about his strange gifts. ”I heard them,” he insisted. ”And they were arguing about you.”

Although she was clearly confused as to how he could have heard a conversation take place between her aunt and uncle, a light of interest flickered within her lovely eyes. ”Arguing about me?”

”Yes,” he answered. ”Your aunt was worried about the two of us. About the way we looked at one another. She said they'd done their best to make certain you didn't find a man to marry who was acceptable and she wouldn't let you make a mistake with one who wasn't.”

”What?” Anne shook her head. ”That makes no sense. It isn't as if they don't want me to marry, simply that no one suitable has offered for me.”

”Anne.” Merrick took her shoulders between his hands. ”I imagine more have asked than you are aware of. You're lovely. And sweet. They don't want you to marry because if you aren't by the time you turn twenty-one, your inheritance is to fall under their control. They want your fortune, Anne.”

She took a step back from him as if he'd delivered a blow. ”That is not true. I am to gain my inheritance when I turn twenty-one. It's been understood for some time.”

Merrick had to make her understand. ”Only if you are married, Anne. I heard them say so. Otherwise, they are to take control of your inheritance until you turn twenty-five, at which time I imagine it will become yours whether you are married or not. I'm betting they'll have it spent by then, or tied up so you can't get it.”

She looked stunned. ”But it's my inheritance,” she insisted. ”I never knew there was a stipulation of marriage involved.”

Anne didn't want to believe him, Merrick realized. She still clung to the hope that her aunt and uncle cared more for her than their actions showed. ”They didn't want you to know. They are heavily indebted. I heard your aunt say so when she argued with your uncle about it, though they kept their voices low. Even the roof over their heads will someday pa.s.s to your husband. They stand to lose everything if you marry, Anne.”

Doubt still clouded her eyes. It was hard for her to trust a stranger's word over what she wanted to believe about her aunt and uncle. ”I have no wish to hurt you, Anne,” he said. ”If you don't want to believe me, then don't. At least I told you what I heard and my conscience is clear.”

His duty done, he thought he'd turn from her and go back to the loft where he slept before he gave into temptation and pulled her into his arms. Merrick remembered she'd come to tell him something. ”What was it you wanted to tell me?”

Still wearing a dazed expression, she chewed her full lower lip. ”I... it was nothing. It was none of my business, just as this is none of yours. Never mind.”

He'd hurt her whether he wanted to or not. Even if Anne had long suspected her aunt and uncle did not love her, hearing they only thought of her as a means to an end, fulfilling their own selfish desires, had hurt her deeply.

Merrick understood the pain of not being wanted. Still, maybe she needed to sleep on what he'd told her before it could penetrate-before she accepted that he had no reason to lie to her. He started to turn away from her again when his sharp ears caught the slight snap of a twig underfoot. The scuffle of slippers against the pebbles that made a path to the stable from the house.

”Someone's coming,” he said. ”Better hide until we see who it is and what they want.”

Anne seemed to mentally shake herself. She glanced around. ”I don't hear anything.”

”Quiet,” Merrick warned again. He took her arm and led her toward an empty stall. ”Go in there and don't come out until whoever it is has left.”

”But,” she started to protest. Merrick didn't allow her. He gently pushed her inside the stall and hoped she'd stay put. He didn't need to be found with her alone this time of night.

A figure appeared at the stable entrance a moment later. Merrick wasn't surprised by her visit. It was Anne's aunt. The woman had been ogling him since the morning he was introduced to her. He was used to such visits from his previous employers' wives. Merrick was usually amused by their interest, but not tonight, and not this particular woman.

”Can I be of a.s.sistance to you, Lady?” he asked.

She sashayed toward him. ”I hope so. I noticed something that distressed me today and thought we should clear the matter up. I didn't see call to involve my husband.”

”I don't imagine so,” Merrick said drily.

”It concerns Lady Anne,” the woman forged ahead. ”I fear she may be smitten with you. And that you might take advantage of her innocence.”

”Do you now?”

The woman stepped closer. Anne's aunt wasn't an unattractive woman, but she was nearly old enough to be Merrick's mother and the scowl she usually wore had deepened the lines in her forehead and around her mouth. ”I've seen the way you look at

her... and the way she looks at you. Anne is a beautiful young woman and I don't doubt you find her to your liking, but I won't have you making sport of her.”

Merrick leaned casually back against the stall where Anne hid. ”It's honorable that you want to protect her.”

She shrugged. ”I suppose even a sensible girl like Anne's head can be turned by a handsome face. And I am sure that you are

well used to women throwing themselves at you, Merrick. There is no need, however, to go sniffing around her skirts when another option is open to you.”

Although he knew what her answer would be, Merrick asked, ”What option is that?”

Her hand shot out and her fingers traced a lazy path up the front of his chest. ”Me, of course,” she answered. ”Despoiling an innocent is one thing. Having a dalliance with an experienced woman is another. My husband bores me and has since a week into our marriage.”

Merrick didn't want the woman touching him, but Anne needed to be convinced that her aunt and uncle did not have her best interests at heart, no matter if she wanted to believe otherwise. ”Are you worried that I'll ruin Lady Anne before you can marry her off?”

”Don't be silly,” the woman snapped. ”To be honest, I was simply feeling a bit like she'd intruded upon my territory. I consider everything on this property mine... you included.” The woman c.o.c.ked her head to one side. ”Now that you mention that, however, it is not a bad idea. You see, I would prefer that Anne not marry. It would be to my benefit if she does not.”

Merrick knew every word from the woman's mouth shattered Anne, but maybe Anne was too innocent for her own good. ”So now you're asking me to ruin her so she won't be a fit wife for a gentleman of her own station?”

”It is a possibility,” the woman answered. ”But first, I want my fill of you. Do we have an understanding?”

He stopped the woman's hand from traveling farther up his chest. ”No. We do not. I am not yours to command. You don't own me like I am a horse in your husband's stable. I have no wish to bed you, Lady.”

Her face, maybe once pretty but now only bitter, suffused with color. ”Are you refusing me?”

”I don't have many rights, but I imagine deciding who I pleasure and who I don't is one of them,” he a.s.sured her. ”Go back to the house and get what you need from your husband.”