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‘You promised me you would not contact those gentlemen!’ Elise’s angry astonishment caused her to stop dead on the path. A woman who’d been strolling behind bumped into her and glared, prompting her to apologise.
Beatrice linked arms with her sister, urging her on. But a guilty colour stole into her cheeks as she felt Elise’s stony stare on her profile. They had been walking beneath twinkling globe lights strung in the trees in Vauxhall Gardens when she’d dropped her bombshell and let Elise know she’d contacted one of her respondents and arranged to meet him that evening.
‘I know I said I wouldn’t and I’m sorry for the deceit, but I have to be sensible and make the most of this time in town. We only have a few days left before we return home.’ It was an earnestly made case. ‘So far we’ve been out and about every evening with the Chapmans, yet no gentleman has shown much interest in me.’
Elise knew that wasn’t quite true. Last night Bea had collected several admirers when they’d attended a soirée held by the Chapmans’ neighbours. She, too, had attracted a fresh-faced young fellow who had loitered by her chair and courteously fetched her drinks and titbits from the buffet. But when they had retrieved their coats to leave, no gentleman had seemed keen to further an acquaintance with them.
Seven years might have passed since their parents separated and their father had left town in disgrace, taking his two teenage daughters with him, but Elise had noticed a sharp glint in the eyes of some individuals on discovering their identities. Mrs Porter and her friend had last night distanced themselves quickly once the name Dewey had been mentioned. Elise had watched them whispering behind their gloved hands while sliding sly peeks their way.
‘Where are you to meet this fellow?’
‘A pavilion by the lake.’
‘And where on earth is that?’ Elise curtly enquired.
‘As I recall, it is somewhere over there...’
‘You don’t even know the location?’ Elise sounded exasperated, snatching at her sister’s wildly gesturing hand to prevent her attracting attention.
‘I can’t recall exactly; it’s many years since I was last here,’ Bea stated defensively. ‘I only had one trip here before we got carted off to the countryside by Papa.’
‘It doesn’t matter, in any case, where it is as you shall not go and meet him.’ Elise tightened her grip on Beatrice’s fingers to physically restrain her. ‘If you are spotted dawdling about on your own, or, worse still, with a stranger, it won’t only be Mrs Porter and her friends who are shredding our reputations.’ Elise nodded at two middle-aged ladies who were strolling just yards away. Mrs Porter raised a gloved hand, letting them know she’d got them in her sights.
Huge crowds were thronging the pleasure gardens that evening to enjoy the music. People were already milling about the stage, jostling for a prime position as the orchestra tuned up.
‘I’m not daft, you know!’ Beatrice protested. ‘I have arranged to meet him when everybody else will be occupied listening to the concert.’ She dimpled a smile, pleased with her strategy.
‘You shall not go!’ Elise vowed through gritted teeth. ‘And that’s final.’
‘I want to go home and tell Papa a gentleman is soon to come and speak to him,’ Bea announced defiantly. ‘I know you think me brazen for using such tactics, but who is to say that we might not suit well enough to make a go of it.’ She pressed back against the hedging, allowing people to pass them, obstinately refusing to move despite Elise’s tugs on her arm. ‘A marriage of convenience brokered by a couple’s parents for property and pedigree is equally distasteful.’
‘Not in the eyes of polite society,’ Elise hissed in frustration. ‘Anyway, you might yet meet a gentleman without resorting to sneaking about. Mr Whittiker claims his friends are here in abundance this evening.’
That comment elicited a grimace of mock horror and Elise sympathised with Bea’s sentiment. If Mr Whittiker’s friends were even a little like him then the stranger by the lake might indeed be a better bet.
‘I hope I do meet a fellow in the customary way,’ Bea said with asperity as they started to walk on. ‘But—’
‘Do you even know your blind date’s name?’ Elise interrupted crossly before her sister could again bombard her with reasons to act rashly.
‘He calls himself Mr Best.’ A little chuckle escaped Bea. ‘I imagine that is not his real name.
‘I imagine you are right!’ Elise acidly concurred. ‘Just as he knows full well you are not actually Lady Lonesome.’
‘It is quite dramatic is it not?’ Bea’s eyes were alight with excitement.
Despite her grave misgivings, Elise felt a twinge of the thrill enlivening her sister. Her compressed lips softened slightly. ‘Maybe...but you cannot go through with it because you will get us both hung.’ She gazed sombrely at her sister. ‘Promise me you will not go there and risk disgracing us all.’ When Bea remained silent Elise demanded more forcefully, ‘Promise me, Bea, or I will never forgive you for your selfishness.’
‘I promise...’ Bea sighed. ‘I shall try and make another arrangement to meet Mr Best in the daytime. And you can come along, too.’
‘Papa has found us a wonderful spot, very close to the stage.’ Verity had been walking ahead of them, with her parents, but had skipped back towards her friends to impart that news. She linked arms with them, urging them to hurry.
Chapter Four
Battling against a flow of revellers was forcing Elise to dodge nimbly to and fro to avoid sharp shoulders and elbows. But she couldn’t escape those people’s sly looks and she understood what prompted them.
Generally only one class of female went about Vauxhall Gardens unaccompanied and they were usually touting for business. Mortified as Elise was to be mistaken for a doxy, she nevertheless knew that finding Beatrice before she disgraced herself was more important than fretting over strangers’ hateful imaginings. Finally the throng thinned out and she settled into a fast walk along the shadowy path.
Elise felt her lungs burning with exertion, yet despite her discomfort she longed to hurtle on at an even faster pace. It was her first outing to Vauxhall and she hoped she had correctly remembered her sister’s vague indication of where the lake was situated. If she were heading the wrong way, she and Beatrice would both be in grave trouble. She’d be too late to drag her sister away before dratted Mr Best arrived for their tryst. Elise knew she mustn’t dash like a hoyden hither and thither and risk drawing further attention to herself. The entire matter had to be dealt with as discreetly as possible.
Inwardly she berated herself for letting Bea slip away from her side. At one moment they had been in a conversation with Mr Chapman, offering opinions on the talent of the musicians, at the next Elise had turned to find Beatrice had vanished. At first Elise had felt furious that her sister had gone back on her word; then she had striven to conceal her panic from the others in their party. Fortunately Mr and Mrs Chapman had seemed oblivious to any change in her. Fiona appeared quite serene, as she always did, waiting for Mr Whittiker’s return with some refreshment. Only Verity had interpreted her frantic glances.
Rightly or wrongly Elise had, on the day they’d arrived in London, confessed to Verity that she’d angled for an invitation because her sister was yearning to escape the gloom of the countryside and find a husband. She’d gone on to admit that Bea had been foolish enough to advertise for a mate.
Verity was a true and trustworthy friend. Despite being quite scandalised a few moments ago when Elise had whispered her fears over Bea’s sudden disappearance, Verity had promised she would try to concoct a plausible tale for their absence, if asked about it.
On the periphery of her vision Elise was again vaguely aware that someone else was striding away from the entertainment on a parallel path to the one she was taking. From beneath the brim of her bonnet she swung a discreet glance at him. He was tall and swarthy and imperious looking and from his sternly set profile she guessed he might be in a similar black mood to the one burdening her. Despite the vital nature of her mission she felt an odd compulsion to slacken her pace so she might study him more closely. He had an aura of such angry hauteur that, even at a distance, she felt a frisson of alarm ripple through her.
Suddenly he turned his head, glancing over before dismissing her. Just as abruptly his gaze snapped back and it narrowed on her as though an idea had struck him.
At the same time something struck Elise. The idea seemed so ludicrous that her eyes spontaneously widened on his handsome face and her steps faltered. He slowed down, too, calculatingly, so he was now behind her and able to watch her whilst she must twist her head awkwardly and obviously to see him. Before he’d slipped from her eye line Elise had noticed a subtle unpleasant change in his expression.
Despite her now sedate pace Elise felt her heartbeat increase tempo until the thud beneath her ribs seemed to quake her body. Her eyes darted along the prickly hedging to one side of her. But there was no gap, no escape route through which she might plunge to avoid that sardonic stare she sensed was boring into the back of her head. Yet, tense with anxiety as she was, an inner voice continued scoffing at her suspicion that such a gentleman might be Mr Best. From the glimpses she’d had of his distinguished bearing he certainly didn’t look to be on his uppers and in need of a spinster’s modest inheritance.
He was probably judging her, as had others she’d encountered whilst racing through the dusk, and had concluded she was hunting for customers. Her insides knotted as she realised he might be studying her from behind to assess whether he liked enough of what he saw to approach her. That notion inflamed Elise’s indignation to such an extent that she came to an abrupt halt and turned towards him, chin up, eyes sparking anger and defiance.
He stopped, too, and Elise felt ice shiver her spine. There was no longer any doubt that she interested him and he seemed undeterred by her hostile glare. She’d hoped to embarrass him into moving on, but he turned fully towards her, plunging a hand in his pocket. The other was abruptly raised and he beckoned her with a crooked finger.
At first Elise felt too astonished by that curt summons to react, then her pride surged to the fore. How dare the arrogant man assume she’d go to him!
But she did; stumbling in her haste and with every intention of giving him a piece of her mind. Having marched diagonally across grass and cobbles she came to a halt with the breath hacking at her throat and stared up into a lean angular face. She read from his expression that he was still amused...unpleasantly so.
‘Why are you following me?’ she demanded in a shaky voice.
‘I’m not. I suspect I’m just heading to the same place as you.’
‘And...and where is that?’ Elise demanded in a suffocated voice.
‘The lake pavilion.’ Having provoked the response he needed to satisfy himself he was talking to Lady Lonesome, Alex gave her a cynical smile. ‘We needn’t bother traipsing the whole distance, my dear. Here will do.’
His tone had sounded insultingly familiar and Elise guessed that was exactly his intention. But her shock at knowing this was Mr Best momentarily deprived her of speech. She had been correct in her assessment of him from a distance. Everything about his deportment, from the top of his stylishly cut dark hair to the tips of his expensive shoes proclaimed him to be a man of wealth and breeding. His bored drawl could not disguise the culture in his voice any more than the lengthy black lashes, low over his eyes, could conceal that he was looking her over very thoroughly. But his saturnine features remained impassive; there was no indication if he liked what he saw.
‘Come...let’s not draw out the charade longer than necessary,’ he said curtly. ‘There’s a spot close by that’s secluded enough for us to get to know each other a little better. It’ll serve while I determine whether Lady Lonesome’s to my liking.’
A firm grip on her arm was immediately propelling Elise towards another wall of hedging. Before she’d gathered wit enough to forcibly shake him off she was being steered through an arch and towards a bench set at the apex of converging dark paths. A single light above the seat was undulating in the breeze, casting eerie shadows over his features. At that moment Elise would sooner have been alone in twilight with the devil himself.
‘Let go of me at once! There’s been a dreadful mistake...’ Elise shoved at him, attempting to slip past and speed back whence she’d come.
Alex easily barred her flight with his body. ‘I’m afraid that won’t quite do, my dear. You instigated this little tryst. Having lured me here, the least you can do is give me a few minutes of your time...if nothing else is on offer.’
Elise recognised the throaty lust in his voice and glanced about to spot someone who might come to her aid should the hateful brute make a lunge for her. But the only sight was a wall of shrubbery, the only sound the soughing of a million leaves and strains of a faraway melody. She slowly moistened her parched lips with her tongue tip.
Alex felt a stirring in his loins at her teasing little trick. She was good, he acknowledged sourly, the outraged innocent act was convincing and erotic. She even looked the part. Now he’d got a closer look at her he could see she had an unusual, fresh-faced beauty and her abundant hair looked to be a shade of dark blonde. Her quietly stylish clothing betrayed a hint of a sweetly curvaceous figure beneath her cloak. But he’d sooner she stopped acting coy and owned up to the game immediately so they could get down to business. She’d betrayed herself straight away by allowing guilt to show in her eyes when he’d mentioned a tryst by the lake. If she were a harlot—and no genteel young woman in possession of her sanity would be out alone—he guessed she was new to the profession to have made such a basic mistake.
‘If you do not let me pass this instant, I shall scream and accuse you of behaviour most unbecoming to a gentleman.’ Elise clung to her indignation in the hope it might subdue her rising panic.
‘Indeed?’ He sounded bored. ‘And I shall accuse you of behaviour most unbecoming to a lady. But I think we both know you are not.’
As she backed away from him, darting glances to and fro, Alex swept back his jacket to plunge his fists on his hips. He was tied between impatience and intrigue. Novice Jezebel maybe, but she had perfected the persona of a prim maiden and it was definitely not the reaction he was used to arousing when he was stranded with a woman in the dark. ‘Are you saying you aren’t Lady Lonesome?’ he demanded.
‘Do I look as though I might adopt such a ridiculous soubriquet?’ Elise returned him a question of her own while struggling to compose herself. The last thing she wanted was for this man to think he could intimidate her despite her fearing it was well within his power to do so. But she understood why he felt entitled to be crudely familiar with her. He hadn’t leered at her quite as nastily as some of the other men she’d hurried past earlier on her hunt for Bea, but still she knew he considered her some sort of vulgar trollop used to being mistreated.
Her chin jerked up and she made herself squarely meet his eyes. She’d had an amount of success in deterring him; from his thoughtful expression she gleaned he was renewing his assessment of the situation, wondering if he’d made a mistake and had accosted the wrong woman.
He had; but despite her anxiety for her own safety Elise was glad that Mr Best now prowled in her vicinity rather than Bea’s.
She’d been correct from the outset as to where her sister’s folly in advertising for a mate might lead. She’d warned Beatrice she risked attracting lechers who’d imagine her advert to be a doxy’s ruse.
A degenerate, keen to enliven his jaded appetite, might enjoy playing such a game, but Elise had not expected the fellow would turn out to be as dangerously attractive as this man. Had Mr Best met Bea at the lake she feared her sister might have allowed herself to be seduced on the spot by such a handsome and compelling character. Elise couldn’t deny she’d experienced a thrill from the moment her eyes met his; she’d yet to decide if she hated the odd sensation.
‘Very well...my excuses and apologies to you if you are not Lady Lonesome.’ Alex had been watching her inner turmoil transforming her delicate features. He guessed she was indeed Hugh’s blind date, but for some reason had changed her mind about proceeding with the pantomime. He’d previously flattered himself on having a far more positive effect on women than startling the life out of them. ‘If you’ll excuse me, I’ll continue to the lake.’ He gave her an exaggerated bow. ‘Would you allow me to escort you back to the main path?’
Elise blinked, beginning to fully grasp the peril that lay ahead, and not simply from having her life ruined should she be spotted emerging from the bushes with this man. Mr Best intended heading off to meet Beatrice and the consequences of that were unthinkable. Her sister was likely to swoon at his feet in delight at the sight of him.
‘No...please don’t go...’ she gasped shrilly, grabbing at one of his arms. ‘I admit I am Lady Lonesome. It is just...’ Her fingers sprang away from the sensation of hard muscle beneath a sleeve. Frantically she sought a plausible excuse for rebuffing him having, as he’d rightly implied, wasted his time in arranging this meeting. ‘You startled me, sir, by being too brusque. I was indeed coming to meet you by the lake, but simply to...to apologise to you. I have found a fiancé in a conventional manner, you see.’
Alex took a step back towards her, his narrowed eyes scanning her tense visage. She was courageously trying to hold his gaze, but couldn’t and every move he made was increasing her nervousness. He continued to approach, forcing her to retreat until the backs of her knees bumped into the bench and she abruptly sat down. Immediately Elise shot up again and in doing so skimmed herself against his hard masculine body.
Alex could feel her softly curving hip pressed into his thigh, and her rapid breathing brought her warm firm breasts to chafe his chest.
Spellbound, Elise felt suddenly too weak to move although his hands remained by his side and she could have attempted to push past him.
‘I think that’s not quite fair, my dear...’ Alex murmured.
His husky voice stirred the hair at her brow, making her eyelids feel weighty.
‘How do you know you might not prefer me to this other fellow, once we’ve had an opportunity to become acquainted?’ Alex knew he was behaving idiotically. He should go right now and head straight back to his dratted friend and tell Hugh that his blind date was a...rather wonderful surprise.
Alex had not been expecting to feel the way he did at that moment. When he’d started out earlier he’d been exasperated. Now he was burning with passion of a very different kind. In turn, his lust was being tempered by an inexplicable tenderness. He didn’t know anything about Lady Lonesome, but was beginning to suspect the chit had immersed herself in a drama she now knew to be out of control.
This slender girl with huge doe eyes fascinated him and he wanted to know more about her and why she was lying. She hadn’t suddenly got engaged to anybody, he’d put money on it.
He could tell she was teetering between ducking aside to flee and allowing him to touch her. Much as he was tempted to take advantage of her shy confusion, he knew he couldn’t seduce her. He didn’t consider himself a saint and, without doubt, most red-blooded men would have made her suffer for her recklessness, but he kept his hands clenched at his sides.
Without understanding her reason, Elise swayed closer, tilting up her face as she sensed he would move away. Her breathing slowed and her lashes lowered as she waited without knowing why she did so or what she was expecting from him.
It was too much for him to withstand. With a strangled oath Alex bent his head, sliding his mouth on her closed lips, tasting a honeyed sweetness on her skin that began dissolving his self-control and made him crave more of her. A hand cradled her nape, long fingers spearing into thick silken hair to keep her close as he sensed her flinch in uncertainty as his tongue touched her lower lip. His hand skilfully manoeuvred her chin to part her lips and his mouth moulded on hers with slick speed and increasing pressure.
Elise felt heat flowing through her veins, fizzing beneath her cheeks where their faces touched. She felt dizzy with sensation and her arms, ramrod straight at her sides, jerked up so she might clutch at the stranger’s sleeves as though to keep him close.
It was a tiny encouragement, but all Alex needed as permission to deepen the kiss. The little moan in her throat mingled with his breath and he felt his control slipping. His hands drove beneath her cloak, tracing her silhouette before cupping her breasts. His palms rotated until he felt the warm little nubs hardening and her back bowing towards him. This time when his tongue plunged, hers met it with a tiny tormenting touch before darting away.
Novice doxy maybe, Alex inwardly mocked himself as his urgent fingers worked buttons from hooks to slip inside her bodice and enclose a small silky breast. But she knew exactly what she was doing. She’d aroused him in record time and put a hugely uncomfortable bulge at his groin that normally would have resulted from ten minutes of erotic attention lavished on him by a naked mistress. He sat abruptly on the seat, pulling Elise astride his lap, his hand immediately flowing up towards her thigh, dragging her skirt with it.
It was the brutal treatment Elise needed to shock sense into her.
‘Please don’t...’ she whimpered even as she curved into him, courting more of his relentless touch. Her body felt rocked by a throb that had started in her bruised lips and now had streaked to a place low in her belly.
Alex’s mouth stilled on hers, his hand curved over her thigh, tightening towards the moist core of her and he waited, unable yet to release her.
‘Please let me go...’ Elise whispered, her cheek resting against the side of his head where their light and dark hair mingled.
Alex abruptly stood up with her in his arms and dumped her on the ground before walking away.
Inwardly squirming in shame, Elise watched, thinking he might just go and leave her without a word even after what they’d just done. But he turned, strolled back to stare at her in a way that renewed the heat in her cheeks. He thought her a harlot; worse, he thought her a dishonest harlot—one who would lead a man on, then back out of the deal. ‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered. ‘I know what you think me and you’ve every right to suspect me a disreputable character. But I’m not,’ she gasped, unable to quell a note of despair in her voice. She sniffed, cleared her throat. She straightened her clothes with brisk shaking fingers, remembering her sister and the reason for her being with him at all. ‘I must go...’ She approached, hoping he would stand aside and let her pass. Hoping, too, he wouldn’t notice her smearing tears of mortification off her lashes. ‘Please don’t try to stop me; I swear I won’t let you kiss me again,’ she threatened, spearing him a combatant look.
‘I’ve no intention of kissing you again. I’m no masochist.’
Elise blushed at his savage tone despite not wholly understanding what had caused it. She’d angered him, she knew that, and frustration was evident in the thin slant to his mouth...a mouth that moments ago had been welded to hers...
Quickly she dipped her head and hurried past.
‘I have a confession to make,’ Alex said.
Elise pivoted about, glancing up into his narrowed eyes.
‘I’m not actually Mr Best.’ His gaze roved her face, partly shadowed by her bonnet’s brim. He undid the strings and pushed the bonnet back, unsure why he knew she wouldn’t object. He wanted them to see one another clearly before parting.
Her eyes clung to his, a few of her small pearly teeth nipping at her lower lip, as he continued, ‘A friend of mine replied to your advert. He nagged me to come here first in case you weren’t genuinely interested in marriage, but were plotting some deceit.’ He shrugged. ‘I’ll recommend he meets you if you want.’
‘Why would you do that?’ Elise gasped, outraged that he might want to pass her on to somebody else. ‘Do you make a habit of stirring trouble for your friends? How do you know I’m not plotting some deceit?’
‘You just said you weren’t disreputable,’ he reminded drily. ‘Were you lying?’
‘Of course not! But you can tell your friend I’d not consider a man too timid to come in person and make up his own mind about me.’
‘He’d have very quickly made his mind up about you,’ Alex said sourly. ‘He’s not lacking courage, just sense. And I dare say he’d have been so smitten he’d have forgotten to enquire about your two-thousand-pound dowry.’
Elise whipped aside her face before he could see her stricken look. ‘We would not suit...you must make your friend clearly see that.’
‘You’d sooner I told him you’re a fright?’
‘I’d sooner you told him...’ Elise hesitated, trying to unscramble her wheeling thoughts. ‘I have already explained myself to you, sir. Please convey that I have found a suitor in the usual manner and I apologise to you both for every inconvenience suffered.’ She fumbled with tying her bonnet strings and made to hurry towards the main path.
In a couple of strides Alex was blocking her exit.
‘I don’t think there is anything more to say,’ Elise said coolly, attempting to dodge about the obstacle of his broad figure. ‘I have already apologised to you and it is all you will get.’
