An Earl In Want Of A Wife. Laura Martin

Serpentine.’

      Lizzie recognised the woman and realised she must have been at the Prestons’ ball the night before.

      ‘You must look after yourself, Lord Burwell, you would be sorely missed if anything were to happen to you.’

      Lizzie didn’t miss the suggestion that Mrs Winter would be the one missing him.

      ‘Please excuse us, Mrs Winter, Lord Burwell needs to get out of these wet clothes,’ Lizzie said. Immediately she knew she had made a mistake. The older woman turned to her and gave her an icy glare, before catching herself and replacing the expression with a sweet smile.

      ‘Of course. Take care, my lord. And if you catch a cold and need someone to nurse you back to health, don’t hesitate to ask.’

      Daniel said farewell and they continued on, Lizzie feeling rather inferior to the attractive Mrs Winter. They were just nearing the entrance of the park when Lizzie noticed Daniel freeze beside her. One moment he was walking along, seeming like the carefree peer of the realm he’d been all morning, the next he was just frozen. She stopped beside him and waited for him to move. Five seconds passed, then ten. She followed his gaze, trying to figure out what was going on.

      His eyes were fixed on a young woman and a small boy about thirty feet away. The woman was pulling the boy along behind her impatiently and the boy was dragging his feet.

      ‘Daniel?’ Lizzie asked, wondering what exactly about the scene had caused him to turn so white.

      He didn’t answer, didn’t even acknowledge that she’d spoken. To Lizzie it seemed as though he was so lost in his own world that he hadn’t even heard her.

      The woman and boy were drawing closer and Lizzie wondered whether there would be some sort of confrontation.

      Lizzie knew the exact moment the woman noticed them. Daniel stiffened beside her, his eyes met this woman’s and his expression deepened into a frown. The woman stopped in her tracks and looked at them for a few seconds, before smiling sweetly and continuing on her way. Daniel followed them with his eyes for a long minute until they disappeared out of view.

      No one had uttered a single word during the confrontation, but Lizzie felt as though she’d just witnessed something monumental.

      ‘Daniel?’ she repeated.

      This time she got a response. Daniel took her elbow in his hand and guided her quickly from the park. He didn’t say a single word to her and Lizzie felt too stunned by this sudden change in character that she didn’t know what to say herself.

      They exited the park and walked briskly down the street, Lizzie having to stumble to keep up with Daniel in his frenzied state.

      ‘Who was that?’ she managed to ask as they reached the corner.

      He didn’t answer her, didn’t even acknowledge that she’d asked him a question.

      ‘Daniel?’

      ‘Will you be able to find your way home from here?’ he asked stiffly.

      Lizzie nodded, stunned at the change in the man who could laugh off ruining his clothes jumping into the Serpentine, but would not even look at her after this latest confrontation.

      ‘I will call on you tomorrow.’

      Again Lizzie nodded, unsure what else she could say. Open-mouthed, she watched as he hailed a passing hackney carriage and jumped in. He didn’t even look at her as it pulled away, let alone bid her goodbye. She stood there motionless for a good minute after the carriage had pulled away, unsure what had just happened. Daniel had changed completely and it had been just as he’d seen that woman.

      Shaken and confused Lizzie roused herself and began the walk home, wondering whether tomorrow she would get any answers from him.

       Chapter Six

      Daniel felt sick. No, he felt more than sick. He felt as though his whole world had collapsed. Up until that point the whole afternoon had been a success. Amelia seemed receptive to his advances, and even if she withdrew every so often, that was something that could be easily overcome.

      He’d found her a pleasant companion, they’d talked easily during their walk around the park and he’d managed to convince himself that the desire he’d felt the evening before and when he’d kissed her in the drawing room had been anomalies. When he looked at her in the light of day he could see she wasn’t a seasoned temptress. She was just a normal young woman who shouldn’t drive him mad with desire. And if his pulse raced a little when he glanced at her lips, then he could put it down to the memory of their kiss and nothing more.

      He’d even not minded his little dip in the Serpentine. Of course, he’d had no choice, he couldn’t have let the young boy drown, but he knew Amelia had seen his act as heroic and that could never hurt a man’s chances.

      Everything had been going swimmingly well...until he’d seen them.

      Daniel ran a hand through his hair and tried to focus on something other than his rage. At this moment he was close to losing control and he hated not being in control. He breathed in deeply through his nose and watched the world pass by as the hackney carriage weaved through the busy streets.

      He’d last seen his son four months ago when Annabelle had shown up at his estate, demanding more money. He’d been heartbroken. Already the boy was growing up so fast he barely looked like the young lad he’d seen six months earlier. Daniel knew he’d missed his son’s first steps, his first words, and he would miss a whole world of firsts as time went on. The knowledge that he wasn’t the one there, watching his son grow up, broke his heart.

      If only there was another way, but he knew there wasn’t.

      Then today, in the park, Daniel knew that Annabelle had engineered that little meeting. She’d done it to let him know she was in town, to remind him of his promise and let him know she wasn’t afraid of the consequences if he didn’t pay up.

      Daniel closed his eyes and pictured the little boy she’d been dragging behind her. His son, Edward. He had beautiful dark hair and piercing blue eyes, skin like porcelain and full lips. And he hadn’t even once glanced at Daniel. That was what hurt the most. Throughout the whole encounter Edward had been looking around at the park. He hadn’t taken one little bit of notice of the man whose heart was breaking just watching him.

      Daniel ran a hand through his hair and made himself relax back into the seat of the carriage. There was nothing to be done about it. He’d made his bed four years ago when he’d invited Annabelle into his life. He’d been convinced she was the woman of his dreams, convinced that she loved him the way he’d loved her. It hadn’t been long before he’d found out differently, that he’d found out that he was just the latest in a long line of conquests for Annabelle. She’d swept into his life when he was grief-stricken and vulnerable, and then like a seasoned con artist she had become his entire world, slowly cutting him off from his old friends, his old life. When he had found out the truth about Annabelle, the fact that she was already married, he had been devastated. His pride had been irreversibly damaged when he’d realised he’d been tricked into loving her, and his heart broken, but he’d known he would recover eventually. He was a young man with a full life ahead of him, he would get over the betrayal once she was out of his life.

      The problem was she hadn’t left his life, not really. A year after he’d thrown her out she’d turned back up with a baby in tow. Daniel had laughed at first, telling her he wouldn’t believe a word she said and that there was no way this baby was his. Although from her very first words Daniel had begun to doubt himself. When they had been together Annabelle had told him she couldn’t get pregnant, couldn’t have children, so he had never insisted that they use protection.

      Then he’d looked down at the baby and he’d known the truth. Just one glance and he’d known irrefutably that the child was his. The bond was immediate and unbreakable, and Annabelle had