Regency Rumours/A Scandalous Mistress/Dishonour And Desire (10 page)

‘Not from where I stand, it isn’t. Surely you can see that for Hurst to face trial would mean a public airing of events I need to forget, sir. He would say whatever he liked about me to try to lay the blame elsewhere. My name would be blackened, and Caterina’s chances of … well, you know the rest.’

‘Yes, I can imagine. So Hurst quarrelled with your late husband, I take it? Gambling, was it?’

Reluctantly, Amelie recounted the story while roaming from one piece of furniture to the next, touching and tracing the outlines as if to keep herself safely grounded. ‘They played hazard together with a group of friends. It was Josiah’s relaxation. Nothing serious. But Hurst became a nuisance. He craved my attention, and it was noticed. The men laughed it off, but the women didn’t.’

‘And your husband?’

‘Josiah was twenty-three years my senior. I would not have done anything to hurt him … a younger man hanging around his wife … you can imagine what that would have meant to him if he’d believed it. I suggested excluding Hurst, but Josiah saw only that he lost too regularly and drank rather too much. He did everything too much. Rumours began to circulate about his … well … obsession, I suppose one might call it.

‘Then one evening at their club, Hurst lost far more than he could afford to Josiah, and he became abusive. He shouted that I was … no, I cannot say it …’ Her voice broke up, and for some time she stood quaking, clinging to the curve of the large harp that stood in one corner, fingering its gilded scrolls. Eventually, as Lord Elyot waited in silence, she found the strength to continue in a voice husky with emotion. ‘He told Josiah that he was my lover and that he should tend his wife better if he wanted to keep me. It was shocking … So shocking.’

‘Did your husband believe that?’

‘No, my lord, he didn’t. He knew I would never,
never
have … But the insult was too near the bone, too wounding to both of us, and he challenged Hurst to a duel. Josiah’s brother tried to reconcile them, but Hurst would not apologise and
Josiah would not withdraw the challenge. They met in the woodland early the next morning, but Josiah was no shot and Hurst knew it. He was much older, was Josiah, and he died in his brother Stephen’s arms. Caterina’s father.’

‘I’m sorry. And Hurst?’

‘Well, you must know how the law stands on such matters,’ said Amelie, staring out into the garden. ‘A nobleman may be allowed to get away with it as a matter of honour, but not a man like Hurst. He knew he’d be brought to trial and condemned, so he fled to Ireland and I believed he would stay there for good.’ She came at last to the sofa where she sank down with her back to the light, fighting the tears. ‘You can imagine the rest, I’m sure. The inevitable gossip, the jealousy of what some seemed to think were my favoured circumstances. It would have been easier for them to bear if I’d been penniless, I suppose, as a result. They could have forgiven me that. Some found it hard to understand why a wealthy woman of twenty-two could be so distressed by the murder of her forty-five-year-old husband, or why she should be so grateful to his widowed younger brother and his family who, as it happened, was one of the few to offer me real help and support. The others were all too afraid of their wives, I suppose, and their wives were too concerned about the rumours to believe totally in my innocence. One quickly learns about true friendship at such times, my lord. The moral of the story is never to challenge anyone to a duel unless you are prepared to lose more than your honour.’

‘Well, your advice comes too late for me, my lady. But then, I always make a point of winning, you see.’

Glancing at him, she noted once more the impressive length of his muscled leg as he lounged into the chair, the width of
his shoulder, the deep chest and strong hands. At ease, he was a darkly brooding god, and she could imagine only too well how proficient he would be at any physical activity. She had seen his dancing, so unlike Josiah whose keen brain was his most active part. He had provided for her well, however, and he was no stranger to compassion, as some men were.

‘Your parents,’ said Lord Elyot. ‘I understand they were lost to you only the year before. Was that as sudden?’

‘A coaching accident in Switzerland. Had they still been alive, I would probably have gone back to live with them immediately. But the Carr estate was entailed to my cousin, and his wife couldn’t wait to claim it as soon as it became vacant. Fortunately, when my husband died, his brother Stephen allowed me to stay in my own home until I bought this one, instead of claiming it for himself and his family as he was entitled to do. He moved in after I left, but I suppose you must know that.’ She shot a resentful glance at him, but he received it with no more than a slow blink. There had been gossip about the mutual support of the brother and sister-in-law which, in many people’s eyes, could not have been platonic.

‘According to my information,’ said Lord Elyot, ‘you were highly regarded by Buxton people.’

‘Really,’ said Amelie, twisting the wedding ring on her finger. ‘What a pity all those charitable people who were glad to accept my husband’s hospitality for so long could not have maintained the same charity for his widow when she most needed it. It comes a little late, wouldn’t you say?’

‘I can offer you
my
help, my lady, if you will accept it. The situation is certainly grave, but not irredeemable.’

Suddenly fearful of the soothing tone, Amelie leapt to her feet. ‘Oh, come now, my lord. Don’t tell me you came here
to
help.
Why not be truthful and admit that, armed with all you know of my past and present life, you cannot wait to hound me out of here? An upstart northerner with trade connections in
Richmond
? We’ll soon get rid of
her
. I can almost hear your parents in chorus, sir. Well, now I’m in trouble with both of them, am I not? Which one will you tell first, or have you already done so?’

‘Calm down,’ he said, rising to his feet. He strolled to the chimneypiece and lay an arm along its edge, resting the sole of his shining Hessian boot along the brass fender. He took some time to study her graceful but guarded bearing, the angry challenging tilt of her head upon the long neck, the dark moist flash of her sun-flecked eyes. ‘I have not told either of them, and Todd knows better than to speak without my permission. But my father
is
expecting some kind of result and so are the Vestry and, yes, you could certainly be in serious trouble if word got out about your involvement in their affairs. And the scandal wouldn’t do much to help, either.’

‘Not to mention the do-gooding,’ she snapped over her shoulder.

‘That might have done very well for Buxton where you were known, but creeping around at night with a reticule full of bribing-brass is not the way it’s done here,’ he snapped back. ‘Anyone knows that, but
your
brains appear to be governed by your woman’s instincts, and look where that’s got you!’

‘What choice did I have?’ she cried, furiously. ‘I’ve told you, it would have taken too long. Why, by the time those bumbling old fools had got together, you’d have had more corpses on your hands. Is
that
the way it’s done round here, my lord? It certainly saves on food, but
my
way saves lives. Don’t expect me to apologise for
that
. As for the scandal—
well, it will soon be common knowledge now, won’t it? So you had better warn your Haydn-loving brother to have no more to do with my niece. She’ll do better in Buxton, after all.’

‘You’re forgetting something.’

‘What?’

‘That your past is not yet known hereabouts, but what
has
become common knowledge is what your loud-mouthed little friend Hurst blabbed to the entire posting-office before he left for London yesterday. This morning I’ve received two invitations for myself and my lady. Not to put too fine a point on it, for
you
. And if you think,’ he continued before her open mouth could let out a squeak, ‘that I’m going to have my future wife’s name linked to a local court case
and
to my mother’s scalding disapproval of
that
kind of scandal, you can think again. I’m not!’

‘You said you were never influenced by your parents’ approval.’

‘
I’m
not. But that doesn’t stop her telling the rest of society what to think. Once she’s done that, Miss Chester’s future will be even less assured than it is now, that’s for certain. Mother has resigned herself to having sons who keep mistresses, but neither she nor my father would welcome a daughter-in-law with a criminal record.’

Amelie shook her head, trying to clear it, wondering what she was supposed to make of this tangle. ‘Then remind me, will you? You think I should go and explain? Is that what the Vestry will expect? An apology? I’ve told you, I
won’t
apologise.’ She flounced away, slapping at the reticule as she passed it.

He moved just as fast. ‘Will you hold your peace, woman?’ he barked. ‘Saints alive, but it’s time somebody took you in hand before you fly off at another fence you can’t clear. Come
back here!’ In two strides, he had cut short her quick march towards the door and, rather than subject her to an undignified tussle, he bent, placed an arm under her knees and swung her up against him before she could escape. Carrying her to the sofa in three more strides, he set her firmly back against the round tasselled pillow and held her by the wrists, sitting to face her so closely that his previously mysterious statement about offering her some help now began to take on a new meaning. ‘No!’ she said, growling and spitting with rage. ‘No … no!’ There was more she would have said, but although she was beginning to guess at his intentions, the ensuing struggle took all her concentration. Then it was too late, and a cry was all she could manage before his mouth silenced her, blotting out all memory of words and protocol. Dominated by the weight of his chest upon hers, his hand in her hair, and his arm around her back, she was held captive by his searching mouth. She felt the change in him from the previous gentle occasion, a new urgency, as if to reinforce the message that someone should take her in hand. All the half-formed sensations that had filtered into her mind like moonbeams since yesterday suddenly faded, unable to compare in any way with the fire that flared through some deep untouched place inside her, seeping an ache into her thighs.

One of her arms was trapped under his, her hand idle upon his warm broad back, her lips teased into a response where she could not remain passive beneath the tormenting invasion. Heady and upset by the emotional wrangling of the last half hour, and confused, her voices of conscience ceased to protest, then wavered and collapsed beneath the expertise of a master, and at last her lips moved and parted, tasting and curious, waiting for more, perilously close to surrender. His kiss
deepened and her nostrils filled with the intoxicating and elusive scent of his virility, luring her even deeper into his complete control.

But all the pent-up fears of a lifetime were even greater, surging over her like a giant wave that pushed back the needs of her body, lending strength to her arms. It was neither propriety nor reticence, but raw fear of some unspeakable consequence that held him away at last, tearing her lips from his. ‘Stop … no … stop! I cannot do this,’ she panted. ‘Let me go, my lord. If this is what you wanted from me, you should have given me warning, then I could have told you … to spare yourself … the effort.’

However, if she had expected that he would leave her immediately, full of contrition, she had misunderstood his purpose, for he was not the kind of man to apologise for kissing a woman, as he had said, and his purpose was as resolute as ever. So, although he eased back enough to allow her to recover, he caught her pummelling hands by the wrists and held them close to his chest.

‘Let me go, my lord. You must leave immediately.
Please.
’

‘All right … all right … I’ve ruffled your feathers, my beauty, but I’m not leaving till we have this business sorted out.’

‘To your advantage, of course.’

‘Of course. Well—’ he almost smiled ‘—to both our advantages. You are in a bit of a mess, there’s no getting away from that, is there? And I can offer you a way out of it, if you’ve a mind to listen.’

‘I don’t need to listen. You’ve already shown me what’s in your mind, and I’m astonished you should take me for
that
kind of woman. I have received some serious offers, sir, but no one has ever taken such outrageous liberties, and I—’

‘Shall I kiss you again?’

‘No!’

‘Then be quiet, or I will. There. Now calm down and listen to what I have to say. And don’t pretend you didn’t enjoy that, just a little, because I know otherwise.’ He watched the colour flush her cheeks again, adding an angry sparkle to her eyes where a single tear hung like a pearl. ‘And talking of outrageous liberties, have you forgotten already how Hurst has set Richmond ears buzzing and how he’ll be doing the same in every gaming-den in town? So who was it first took liberties with the name of Elyot, my lady? Remember?’

‘I told you, it was an emergency. I thought you understood that.’

‘Oh, I do understand. But this whole situation is an emergency, isn’t it? And I’m not inclined to deny that I have an understanding with the lady who accompanied me to the local assembly when to do so would look as if one of us has had second thoughts. And no one in their right mind would believe it was
me
, would they? Unless, of course, they knew about your illegal deeds of charity and your exceedingly interesting past. Oh, I agree
that
was not through any fault of yours,’ he went on as she tried to protest, ‘but nevertheless, it’s there, and the only way you can keep it all quiet is by keeping
me
quiet. Do you understand me?’

Her lovely face, usually so serene, was a mask of anger as every word took her further into a situation that both offended and enticed her, for she had not recovered from the effects of his lovemaking, and her body still trembled and responded to his shocking closeness. ‘You are … a …
demon
!’ she cried. ‘An unprincipled—’