A Loving Scoundrel (23 page)

“By the by,” James added, “in case it hasn’t occurred to you yet, she’s the one who started the rumors and escalated them. I wouldn’t recommend shooting her, but I would recommend some discipline. The girl can’t go around deciding other people’s futures on a whim. My family is done with yours. See that it stays that way. After you, gentlemen,” he said to his companions.

Drew and William filed out of the room. Andrew didn’t move. “Go ahead, m’lord. I believe Lord Bascomb and I still have much to discuss. Emily’s reputation still needs salvaging, after all.”

“I’ll salvage my own reputation, thank you very much,” Emily snarled, and marched out of the room herself.

James lifted a brow at Andrew. The smile he got in return said Andrew was still staying. The boy must be in love, to still want the girl after witnessing her theatrics and temper firsthand.

B
ACK AT
J
EREMY
’
S TOWN HOUSE
, Danny was upstairs dusting that morning when the screaming and shouting started. She thought there was a brawl out in the street at first, it was that kind of noise, some cheering, some shrieking. When she realized the noise was coming from directly below her, she rushed downstairs to find out what was wrong.

The commotion led her to the kitchen. Claire was there. She was holding a pot in her hand, as if it were a weapon. Carlton was there. He had a broom hefted over his shoulder. Danny would have guessed that those two were having a rather serious fight, except they weren’t facing each other. Mrs. Appleton was there, too, but she was ignoring the uproar, just standing at the stove adding some spices to the stew she was cooking for lunch.

Carlton was bending over, looking under the cupboard. Claire’s eyes were moving wildly about the room, searching for something.

“What’s wrong?” Danny asked, wondering if she should pick up a weapon, too.

“A rat got in,” Claire said. “I found it in the pantry. It ran in here.”

“A rat? In a neighborhood like this?” Danny said doubtfully.

“Not unheard of, m’dear,” Mrs. Appleton remarked with a glance over her shoulder. “They’ll go where there’s food, and we have a well-stocked house.”

“And the aroma o’ yer food, lass, would lure ’em all the way from the docks,” Artie, the butler, said cheerfully as he came in behind Danny.

That got a blush out of the cook. Danny was marveling over that when Claire shouted again, “There! It’s behind the dry sink.”

Carlton leapt in that direction and thrust his broom under the long piece of kitchen furniture to flush the rat out. It worked. The rodent dashed for the next nearest place to hide, the big cast-iron stove that Mrs. Appleton was standing in front of. She still didn’t move, was just stirring her pot of stew, which made it difficult, but not impossible, for Carlton to get his broom underneath the stove.

“Stop it,” Danny said, but no one was listening to her at the moment.

Claire was shouting suggestions and warning Carlton not to miss again—he’d gotten in one swipe of the broom when the rodent had dashed for the stove. Artie was laughing quite loudly over the footman’s antics.

Danny started to give another warning, but the stove wasn’t close enough to the floor for the rodent to feel safe under it, particularly with the broom swishing toward it. It ran out in the open this time. Carlton straightened and raised the broom over his head for a good whack, and Danny dove straight at Carlton, knocking them both to the floor.

“You missed the rat, Danny,” Artie snickered.

“Weren’t aiming for it,” she snarled, and sat on top of Carlton’s chest to keep him supine long enough for him to listen. “He’s m’pet,” she told the incredulous footman. “You try to kill him again and I’ll be coming after you with that broom, see if I don’t.”

He looked up at her wide-eyed, more amazed that she was sitting on him than that she kept rats for pets. “Didn’t know he was yours,” Carlton offered.

She nodded, accepting that, was about to get off him when Jeremy walked in, having been drawn by the noise as well, and said, “You’re fired, Carlton.”

Danny glanced toward the door to see that Jeremy wasn’t smiling. In fact, his expression indicated he was dead serious. “What’s he fired for?”

“For trespassing.”

That was an odd way to put it, but she understood what he was getting at. Carlton did, too, because he dropped his head back on the floor with a groan.

Danny tsked at Jeremy. “He wasn’t. I knocked him on his arse because he was trying to kill my pet.”

“Then he’s fired for that, too,” Jeremy said.

Carlton groaned again. “You ain’t fired, man, so stop with the groaning,” Danny snapped as she got to her feet. She spared a glare for Artie as well, who was back to laughing his arse off.

“You actually keep a rat for a pet, Danny?” Claire finally got around to asking.

And Jeremy said now, “Oh, good God, a rat? Carlton, you’re no longer fired.”

Danny was getting quite irritated by that point. “He ain’t a rat, he’s a mouse.”

“Danny, that thing was huge!” Claire disagreed. “It can’t possibly be a mouse.”

“So he’s a little fat. I feed him good is all. But he’s not a rat.”

“Do you even know the difference between a mouse and a rat?” Claire asked.

Danny thought about that for a moment and had to admit, “Probably not. He’s still my pet, whatever he is.” She bent down so the large pocket on her apron opened against the floor. “Come here, Twitch.”

She hadn’t seen where he went to hide this time, so it took a moment for her to see him poking his head out from under the dough box. She didn’t have to call him again. The moment he saw her looking directly at him, he scurried across the floor and went straight into her pocket.

“I’ll be damned,” Artie said. “Ayep, that’s definitely ’er pet.”

“Didn’t know a rat could be tamed,” Claire added in amazement.

“Mouse,” Danny mumbled.

Claire chuckled. It was a rich sound. Most of them had never heard it before.

All three men were staring at Claire now. Jeremy raised a questioning brow. “What’d you do to yourself, lass? You look—softer.”

“She’s a raving beauty now, ain’t she,” Carlton added. He might actually have thought so, or he might merely have been making an effort to further relieve Jeremy’s jealousy.

Claire didn’t blush though, probably because she didn’t believe him. But she grinned and told him, “Don’t be filling my head with nonsense.”

The change in the girl really was startling, but then confidence was an amazing thing. For Claire it softened all her rough edges, allowed her to flirt and tease and not take it seriously. She’d stopped slouching, too, and she really
did
have big breasts, which was the first thing Carlton had clapped eyes on this morning when he’d seen the “new” Claire. Getting her hair out of her face, dressing her in some of her prettier blouses and skirts that she’d buried in the bottom of her trunks, just those simple changes made her look so different, she was barely recognizable.

But confidence had finished off the new package, was responsible for the smiles, the laughter, both of which altered her expressions and showed off a pretty face. She wasn’t a raving beauty by any means, was a bit on the plump side, but all in all, she was a pretty girl who would have no trouble attracting men now.

Danny was mostly responsible for cracking Claire’s shell, and she was right proud of that. They’d spent hours together last night in her room, then in Claire’s room, talking and laughing while they changed the way Claire looked. They’d formed a bond. Danny felt she had a close friend now and she’d realized just how much she’d missed having one since she’d left home. Someone to talk to about things that mattered. Someone to share triumphs and failures with.

“You children need to get back to work,” Mrs. Appleton said, mindful that the master of the house was still there. “You can play with Danny’s pet some other time.”

Danny rolled her eyes and headed to her room to put Twitch back in his box. He must have gotten comfortable with his new surroundings, to make him go exploring farther than her room, timid as he was.

She didn’t expect Jeremy to follow her, with everyone watching. She did expect to talk to him later about his burst of jealousy. That was really too bad of him, making it so bleeding obvious to the others that he was her lover. Not that any of them hadn’t guessed—well, maybe Mrs. Appleton hadn’t—but still, he’d as much as said to Carlton, “Get your hands off her, she’s mine.”

That had been quite annoying at the time, but in retrospect, she was rather thrilled by Jeremy’s display of possessiveness. Maybe he cared about her a bit more than his natural sensuality implied. Then again, maybe he got jealous over all his women.

Unfortunately, that was probably more like it. Most men did fly off the handle, after all, if another man made obvious overtures to a woman they were currently sleeping with. She’d be a fool to make more of it than what it was, just a natural male instinct.

“You don’t have any other pets in here, d’you? Snakes? Spiders? More rats?”

Danny swung around to find Jeremy leaning against her open door, arms crossed, ankles crossed. So he
had
followed her. And
that
was too bad of him, too.

As for his question, she snorted at him. “He’s not a rat, just a very fat mouse.”

“If you say so, m’dear.”

“And he’s a coward.”

“I believe all rats are cowards when things one hundred times their size swing brooms at them.”

She grinned. “You’re probably right.”

He moved away from the door. Danny gasped. His relaxed pose had been deceptive. She saw it now, the heat in his eyes, the intensity. She had a feeling he hadn’t recovered yet from that burst of jealousy. And the hard grip of his hands as he clasped her head just before he kissed her lent proof to it.

He wasn’t hurting her, far from it. He was overwhelming her though with his passion, his tongue ravaging her mouth, his hands moving down to lift her up against him so she could feel his arousal. It was almost intimidating, his aggression, but thrilling, too, that he wanted her this much. It sparked an equal boldness in her that made her press one hand against the back of his dark head while the other slid down his back, barely reaching the curve of his buttocks to press him even closer.

With a groan of pleasure, he yanked her skirt up, and somehow got his hand inside the back of her drawers, curving it under her till he could reach her moist warmth. Oh, God, his fingers thrust inside her, again, again, in and out, his wrist pressed firmly between her cheeks, his arousal grinding against her from the front. She was so overwhelmed with erotic sensations that she cried out and climaxed within seconds. If he weren’t still holding her so tightly to him, she would have crumbled at his feet.

His mouth slid across her cheek to her ear, his tongue delving there as well before he said, “I want to feed you cheese in bed. Your mouse is welcome to share. I want to pour champagne over your naked breasts and lick them until one of us is drunk. I want to drape you in fine silks and pretty baubles. I want more time with you, Danny.” He leaned back, and that possessiveness was there in his eyes now. “Be my mistress. I promise you won’t regret it.”

She couldn’t think at the moment, so wasn’t about to reply to something that important. But she wasn’t about to send him away either, despite everyone’s knowing he’d followed her here. She was too inflamed herself….

“You might want to close the door,” she suggested in a husky tone.

He turned to do just that, only to have Artie appear. “Yer pa is here, and yer uncle. Don’t know if they’ve got good news for ye. They’re at each other’s throat as usual, so it were hard to tell if they’re bringing good tidings or not.”

Jeremy sighed, not over Artie’s remark, but because he hadn’t gotten the door closed soon enough on intruders. Danny’s sigh was even louder. She needed to sit down. She needed a cold bath.

Jeremy didn’t take that into account when he said, “Come along, Danny. You might as well hear firsthand how your idea panned out.”

“A
ND
HOW WOULD YOU
have helped the situation?” James was asking his brother as Jeremy and Danny arrived in the parlor.

“You’re a married man, or have you been in the doghouse so long you’ve forgotten that fact?”

“Ain’t in the doghouse,” Anthony replied. “And I’d never forget that I’m married to the most beautiful woman under creation.”

“Have to disagree, old chap,” James remarked. “George is much prettier.”

“George is an American,” Anthony rejoined, as if that didn’t count.

James sighed. “
Some
things have to be forgiven, don’t you know.”

“Besides”—Anthony got back to the subject they’d been bickering over—“you missed the bloody point like you
always
do. Think you do it on purpose, don’t you?”

“Me? Deliberately try to annoy you? Wherever would you get that idea?”

Anthony hooted with derision. “
As
I was saying, I wasn’t suggesting I should have been on hand for the performance, since, as you so aptly pointed out, that wouldn’t have helped a’tall. What I was getting at was I should have been consulted before the performance.”

“Why?”

“Because he’s my nephew. Because I
am
known to have moments of genius and might have contributed nicely to resolving the issue.”

James rolled his eyes. “If we had still been stymied on a course of action, you probably would have been consulted—eventually. But we had a splendid plan, so it wasn’t necessary to gather more suggestions. And
genius
my arse,” he added for good measure.

Jeremy decided that was a good opportunity to interrupt their typical bickering: “
Splendid
as in
successful
I hope?”

James glanced at his son and even smiled. “Indeed, lad. It went very well.”

“Despite the fact that I wasn’t consulted,” Anthony mumbled.

“So Emily admitted she was lying all along?” Jeremy asked his father.

“Better than that, she admitted she’s still a virgin. Slip of the tongue, as it were, but then that
was
what we were hoping for. It was close though, since she did accuse us of a conspiracy against her on your behalf.
She
knew it was exactly that, but at least her father didn’t, and we were able to plant the seed firmly in his mind of her lack of maidenly morals, before she arrived to deny it. We also had the added bonus that he was already aware of her tendency to lie, since she’d been doing it from childhood, apparently.”

“I can’t believe it went so well,” Jeremy said, beaming with relief.

“It might not have,” James was forced to admit. “I think your friend Andy was the deciding factor.”

“How so?”

“If he hadn’t assured her father right up front that he still wanted to marry Emily, then Bascomb might not have been so easily swayed to doubt her. And had her father stood with her on the matter, then she might not have lost her temper to allow the slip.”

“Even though it was three to one?”

“Could have been ten to one at that point. As soon as she tossed ‘conspiracy’ on the table, that put a new wrinkle in it. But the odds
were
mentioned, and that was when it got out of hand for her. So three to one was sufficient. And we know who you can thank for that.”

Danny started blushing immediately when all three pairs of eyes turned toward her. She was thrilled that her idea had worked, that Jeremy wouldn’t have to marry a woman he didn’t want to marry. Actually, she was thrilled because that still left him a bachelor whom she could enjoy for a bit longer. But she hated being the center of attention as she’d just become, was completely embarrassed by it.

“It weren’t nothing,” she mumbled.

“Wasn’t,” Jeremy whispered beside her.

She stepped on his foot. “That, too.”

He said to his father, “Indeed, and I’m going to buy her a kitten as a token of my appreciation.”

“You call that an appropriate gift?” Anthony hooted, turning to his brother to add, “What
have
you been teaching the lad?”

“Actually”—Jeremy frowned thoughtfully, changing his mind—“cats don’t like rats, do they? Think I better make it a puppy instead.”

Danny stepped on his foot again, much, much harder this time. “Don’t you dare mention my pet to them,” she hissed at him.

But his father wanted to know, “What the deuce do rats have to do with it? And for once my brother is right. A pretty trinket would be a more appropriate token, don’t you think? Always worked for me.”

“Did I hear that correctly?” Anthony jumped on James’s remark. “You said I was right?”

“Put a lid on it,” James mumbled.

But Jeremy explained, after he moved away from Danny to protect his feet, “She’d throw trinkets back at me. The wench won’t accept gifts.”

“So it’s like that, is it?” James said, staring at Danny. Then he said to Jeremy, “That why she’s still wearing an apron, too?”

Danny’s embarrassment twisted the spike at that and she replied hotly, “My choices are mine to make, mates. Don’t be trying to tack the title
mistress
to me. I ain’t one and won’t ever be one. I pay my own way and will take my pleasures on my own terms.”

“Here, here!” Anthony cheered. “Good God, I wish more women thought like that. They don’t, you know. Come to think of it, only a man would.”

The hot blush was firmly back in place. Danny threw up her hands in disgust and stalked out of the room, snarling, “Bleedin’ nabobs.”

“Well, damn me, didn’t mean to insult the chit,” Anthony said.

“You didn’t,” Jeremy replied. “She just don’t like being reminded that she spent the last fifteen years or so living
and
thinking like a boy.”

“So James wasn’t pulling my leg for once?” Anthony asked curiously. “She really did pass herself off as a lad for most of her life?”

“By choice. It kept her out of a whore’s shanty, is my guess.”

“Ah, so that’s why.” Anthony nodded. “Smart girl. But it must be deuced hard dealing with her, if she thinks the way you do.”

Jeremy burst out laughing. “You don’t know the half of it, Uncle Tony.”