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‘I think you owe me more than just an apology,’ Alex returned firmly. ‘I’ve had the decency to be honest with you, my dear, I think you owe me the same courtesy.’
A blush flooded warmly up Elise’s throat; he’d flatly let her know he’d not been taken in by her tale. ‘I’ve given you my explanation.’
‘Indeed...but now I’d like to hear the truth from you,’ Alex drawled.
Chapter Five
‘Are you accusing me of lying?’ Elise was unable to summon the audacity to continue with the deceit and avoided his eyes.
He’d explained his involvement moments ago and she’d believed him because his reasons for becoming embroiled in this ridiculous game were strikingly similar to her own. They’d both hoped to protect someone else and now were suffering the consequences of their concern. Yet, regrets aside, she knew she would remember for ever being kissed and caressed by a stranger who’d made her ache in an exquisitely pleasurable way.
‘I am not Lady Lonesome...’ Elise spontaneously volunteered, forcing her mind away from memories that had rushed blood to her cheeks. ‘I am very fond of...the person I am helping and was on my way to intercept her and bring her back to the safety of our group before she disgraces herself. If she is spotted dawdling about on her own or, worse, is accosted by a gentleman, she will ruin her future and that of her family.’
‘Your family?’ Alex suggested in a way that was sympathetic yet demanding.
A single nod from Elise answered him. ‘I must somehow slip back unseen to my friends or personally risk the shame I was dreading might befall my sister.’
‘Is your sister likely to still be waiting by the lake for Mr Best?’
‘I certainly hope not,’ Elise choked. ‘As you have not turned up I’m praying she has returned to our friends with no more harm done than a fit of the sulks got from imagining she was stood up.’
‘If your sister is as alluring as you, she has a right to feel miffed over it.’
‘Beatrice is a real beauty...’ Elise’s praise for her lovely sister tailed away. She didn’t want him to think she was fishing for more compliments. Charming this gentleman might now appear, his reputation would suffer no lasting damage from their meeting, should it be discovered. For her, however, it would be a catastrophe. It was imperative that she got back to the others. Verity would be unable to smooth over their absence for long and if Bea had returned while she had not, everybody would imagine harm had befallen her.
‘Might I ask you to stay here a while longer and give me a chance to head back first?’ It was a muted plea. ‘It will not do for us to be seen together.’
‘Why is your beauty of a sister forced to advertise for a husband?’
Elise made a hopeless little gesture. ‘It is a private matter, sir; I beg you will ask no more. I’m sure after this evening’s fruitless escapade she will understand how foolish she has been.’ She glanced at his angular features, half in shadow. Moments ago his face had abraded hers, his hands had stroked intimately against flesh no man had ever touched. Now they were as remote as strangers. ‘If you would deter your friend from any further communication with my sister, that would be appreciated.’
‘And your name?’
His imperious demand hastened Elise in darting out of the walkway, having first taken a look to and fro to make sure the coast was clear. She sped with a hammering heart in the direction of the soothing music, only once taking a glance over a shoulder to reassure herself that he had allowed her to put a good distance between them. A woman in a feathered bonnet hove into view, but there was no gentleman to be seen. Hugging her cloak about her in relief, Elise quickened her step.
* * *
Lily Watson was in a bad mood as she loitered in the shadows. She’d been sauntering to and fro in the dusk on the lookout for a client for an hour or more with no luck. She knew that if she returned home with nothing to show for the fancy hat Johnny had bought her he’d give her a bruise for what he’d call her laziness. But she hadn’t been idle; she’d been pipped to the post, she reckoned, and her lips twisted resentfully because of it.
If she’d been in the right spot a few minutes sooner, she’d have nabbed the fine gent that another girl had led off into the bushes. Or rather, he’d been taking her, and Lily knew that a cove as eager as he’d seemed to be would have paid up handsomely for his pleasure. She was dawdling now, pressed into the hedge, hoping a gentleman on the loose, looking for a bit of fun, might happen by. But the concert seemed to have drawn all to it so Lily was waiting for the only randy fellow who seemed to be about this evening to emerge from the dark path.
A few moments ago Lily had seen her rival speed off and she’d wondered whether the lucky thing had another client lined up and was heading there now.
Lily tilted her hat to a jaunty angle as she noticed the fellow strolling into view. With a final pat at her curls she moved forwards.
She knew it was a vain hope that he might be interested in another session so soon after the last; but Johnny was able to perform more times than she liked so she reckoned it was worth a try because this fellow looked big and virile.
‘Oh...sir...I’m lost and looking for my friend.’ Lily had slipped up from behind to clutch at Alex’s arm before he could move too far. ‘I don’t like to wander alone in search of him—would you accompany me to find him?’ She tugged his sleeve, urging him back the way he’d just come, while peeking up from beneath many ostrich feathers. Her coy gaze floundered beneath cynical dark eyes. She knew at once she was wasting her time. And what a shame that was! Now she was closer she could see that he was the sort of gent a girl might only be fortunate enough to have once in her working life. A tumble on the ground with him would be no hardship at all.
Her fingers were disengaged from his arm and, defeated, Lily watched his broad back as he strode off in the direction his previous fancy had taken.
* * *
‘Where on earth have you been?’
‘Where have I been?’ Elise hissed furiously at her sister. ‘You know where I have been. I have been searching for you.’
‘That’s what Verity said,’ Bea whispered back, frowning. ‘But I’ve been here all the time. Or rather a little way away in order to escape him.’ Her eyes narrowed on James Whittiker standing with Fiona. ‘He sidled up to me while you were engrossed in discussing the violins with Mr Chapman, and hinted he would take me to meet his acquaintances whether I would go or not. Naturally, I made myself scarce in case he carried out the threat.’ Bea grimaced in mock alarm. ‘I have been just over there with Aunt Dolly.’ She flicked a finger, squinting into the distance.
‘Aunt Dolly?’ Elise echoed faintly, striving to cope with the awful realisation that she’d dreadfully misread the situation.
‘Aunt Dolly is here with one of her neighbours. She was most surprised to see me, I can tell you.’ Beatrice craned her neck again before raising a gloved hand, waving to a woman stationed close to the stage. ‘I told her I would bring you over to her to say hello.’ Bea frowned. ‘So where did you go?’ Suddenly her eyes widened. ‘Did you think I’d gone to meet Mr Best, after all?’
‘Of course I did!’ Elise suddenly felt very silly and close to tears.
‘But I promised I wouldn’t, Elise!’ There was hurt in Bea’s eyes and tone as she realised her sister had believed she’d easily broken her word.
‘When has that ever made any difference?’ Elise muttered, but she flushed guiltily, pressing quivering fingers to her throbbing brow. ‘I panicked when I could not locate you.’
‘But you might have been in dreadful trouble had you been spotted!’ Bea’s eyes were alight with scandalised amusement. ‘I wish now I’d shared the adventure with you. I have been thinking about Mr Best and whether he might have been a fellow for whom it was worth taking a risk. Did you see him? What is he like? Did you speak to him?’
‘I...I didn’t get as far as the lake. I soon regretted what I’d done and returned here as soon as I could.’ Elise was glad that she’d been able to give her sister an honest, if very abbreviated, account.
She had slipped back beside Verity a few minutes ago. Her friend had been watching for her return and had immediately given her a most relieved look, discreetly indicating that Bea was close by. A slight shrug and an elevation of her eyebrows had been Verity’s method of requesting an explanation. But Elise had no time to give it and had grimaced an apology before drawing Beatrice aside to give her a piece of her mind. Uneasily she knew now that she deserved a scolding, not her sister.
‘Let’s forget about it and enjoy the entertainment.’ Elise took a deep, calming breath as she linked arms with Bea. ‘I should like to talk to Aunt Dolly. Let’s go and see her.’
* * *
‘What delightful nieces you have, Dolly.’
Dolly Pearson beamed proudly at Elise and Bea. ‘They are very pretty girls aren’t, they, Edith?’
‘Indeed they are pretty! Are either of you young ladies spoken for?’
Edith Vickers glanced from one to the other of the young women, awaiting a reply, unabashed at her blunt question having elicited three startled expressions. In fact, she’d already taken a discreet peek at gloved hands and had spotted no bumps beneath kid that might have hinted at the presence of rings on fingers.
Edith had thought the elder of the two a charming beauty when she’d come alone for a brief conversation with her aunt earlier that evening. Now the younger girl had been brought over by her sister and in Mrs Vickers’s opinion didn’t quite have the same appeal, being a shade too tall and willowy for what was considered attractive to gentlemen.
‘We are both unattached,’ Elise quickly informed her before changing the subject. ‘Are you close neighbours, living in the same street?’ She swung an enquiring glance between the older women.
‘Mrs Vickers has the large villa at the end of the terrace,’ Dolly informed her. ‘You have not long been in Hammersmith, have you, Edith? About a year and a half I suppose it must be now.’
‘Twenty months, I’m afraid.’ Edith sighed. ‘But it is nice to have found a good friend in you, Dolly, despite the miserable circumstances that brought me to the area in the first place.’ The mourning pearl pinned to her grey silk cloak received a pat. ‘My husband died two years ago, you see, and circumstances were such that I must move out of Chelsea, although I was happy there. My girls had flown the nest to marry some years previously so it wasn’t the disaster it might have been. I should have hated it if my darlings had had their home snatched from under them—’ She broke off to dab at an eye with a scrap of linen.
‘Oh...I’m sorry to hear of your loss,’ Elise murmured and Bea echoed a similar condolence.
‘Well, let us cheer up and hear what you two young ladies have been up to,’ Dolly said brightly. ‘It is a long while since I saw either of you for a nice chat.’
Dolly had lost her husband Percy some fifteen years ago so time had smoothed the rough edges of her sorrow. She hadn’t been reduced in circumstances as had her friend, and thus didn’t have that additional regret burdening her. Dolly had always lived in comfort rather than luxury, whereas Edith Vickers had been used to a grand lifestyle until her husband suddenly expired, leaving his collateral at the mercy of his creditors.
‘How long will you be staying in London with your friends, the Chapmans? I think them delightful people.’ Dolly inclined forwards to murmur, ‘I must say the rumour that the elder daughter is receiving Mr Whittiker greatly surprised me.’ She diplomatically said no more, but her expression betrayed her opinion of the fellow.
‘He has accompanied us here and Fiona seems to like him,’ Bea confirmed.
‘I’ve heard that gentleman has his pockets constantly to let,’ Mrs Vickers chipped in with a knowing nod.
‘The music is very fine this evening, don’t you think?’ Elise had no liking for Fiona’s suitor either, but she felt uneasy talking about any of the Chapmans behind their backs. ‘I’m sure Mr and Mrs Chapman would like to say hello—would you come over with us a little later?’
‘That would be nice, Dolly, wouldn’t it?’ Edith enthused. She drew her cloak tidily about her in readiness to make a move.
Aunt Dolly appeared not to have heard her friend’s comment. ‘Why is that fellow staring at us, I wonder?’ Dolly had been having an innocent glance about when she’d noticed a gentleman taking an interest in them.
‘Oh, it is Hugh!’ Edith clapped her hands in delight. ‘Hugh Kendrick is my nephew and a capital young man.’ She waved her hand at him, before beckoning excitedly. ‘I have not bumped into him in town for an age. He was probably hanging back, unsure whether he’d correctly identified me. He appears a little stockier, but just as handsome,’ she chattered on, while urging her nephew to hurry over with an impatiently flapping hand. ‘He is my sister’s youngest, you know, and a very popular chap. One of his good friends has a country estate and Hugh spends a lot of the year in Berkshire.’ Edith shook one of Dolly’s arms to emphasise the information she was about to impart. ‘Viscount Blackthorne has a vast acreage. And with Hugh being the youngest son he has not much in the way of prospects or property to look forward to, so gratefully accepts such favours.’ She sniffed. ‘It is a shame because he is so much nicer than his older brother who will get the lot. Toby Kendrick is a stuffed shirt and mean with it—’ She broke off that hissed aside to welcome her nephew.
‘How have you been, Hugh? And your mama?’ Edith clasped her nephew’s hands. ‘I’m afraid I must scold my sister soon; I have been waiting for a letter from her for the past six months. I was just saying to my companions, you and I have been strangers for too long.’
‘Had I known you had the acquaintance of such pretty young ladies, Aunt Edith, I would have been a far more regular visitor to Hammersmith.’
Edith’s nephew had spoken teasingly and the compliment made Elise chuckle rather than cringe.
‘And we are pleased to make your acquaintance, sir,’ Bea responded with a smile that brought a dimple to her cheek. Her eyes darted to her sister before her lashes lowered.
Elise remembered that look very well. A mix of anticipation and excitement had gleamed in Beatrice’s eyes the first time Mr Vaughan had paid her attention on a previous occasion when they’d been in town visiting the Chapmans.
And Hugh Kendrick was paying attention to Beatrice, Elise realised. Although he was politely conversing with their aunt Dolly, his warm gaze was returning again and again to her sister.
Elise could understand why he had quickly impressed Bea; in the short while since he’d joined them Hugh Kendrick had displayed an amiable manner, lively conversation and he was good-looking to boot.
But he had no prospects. His aunt had disclosed that he was the youngest son with little to look forward to, hence his grateful acceptance of favours from his rich and generous friend. Inwardly Elise sighed for she feared her sister might again pin her hopes where there was little chance of success.
‘We are going over to talk to the Chapmans—will you come and say hello too?’ Now Hugh had joined them, Edith wanted to keep his company for a while; he had a way of fitting in and enlivening the atmosphere.
Having spotted the group Hugh’s smile faded. ‘I believe Mr Whittiker might not appreciate my presence. We are not the best of friends.’
‘Then indeed you must come with us, sir,’ Elise insisted in a dry undertone. ‘And we will all approach him in like mind.’
Hugh chuckled, swinging a glance between the sisters. ‘I knew straight away you were sensible as well as pretty girls.’
‘He is courting Fiona Chapman,’ Bea chipped in with a grimace that gave enough of her opinion to render words unnecessary.
Hugh politely offered Bea an arm to clasp and she immediately took it with a shy smile. He would have extended the same courtesy to Elise, but she’d skipped a little ahead and joined their matronly aunts who were already squeezing a path through the crowd.
Chapter Six
‘Must we stay longer, Alex?’
‘You’re ready to leave? I thought you were enjoying yourself.’
‘Of course, if you’d sooner stay...’ Celia Chase gave her lover an arch smile. ‘But I know of better ways of enjoying myself than listening to tedious melodies.’ Her sultry eyes flashed a promise at him. ‘I thought we could return to Vale Court. I have told Paulette to prepare us a little supper for later. Are you hungry?’
A gruff chuckle escaped Alex, but he continued scanning the crowd as he murmured, ‘I’m always ravenous, you know that.’
‘Good...for I am, too,’ Celia purred, subtly rubbing her hip against his thigh. ‘It is wonderful we share a similar appetite.’
Despite Celia’s sensual nudging against his sensitive groin Alex continued glancing about.
When he’d returned from his rendezvous with Lady Lonesome’s sister he’d been surprised and not a little irritated to find that Hugh was nowhere to be found. His mood had not been improved by the realisation that he couldn’t put the young woman he’d met from his mind, and not just because his body was throbbing with unrelieved sexual tension because of her. He’d been searching for her slight figure in the throng, but had not had a glimpse of her. From the way she’d bolted off into the night he guessed she might have decided to drag her sister off home before the chit brought shame on them both. Alex hoped they hadn’t yet quit the gardens because he wanted to see her again and find out more about her.
Once he caught up with Hugh he’d tear him off a strip. His friend ought to have realised that an ingénue, eager for excitement, might imagine it great fun to invent such a harebrained scheme.
But it wasn’t fun at all, as Hugh’s own sister could testify. She had been ostracised for a similar folly, causing heartache and financial crisis to her family, when she’d allowed herself to be compromised by a fellow with seduction on his mind.
Alex knew that he had no right to a moral high ground on that score. If Lady Lonesome’s luscious sister hadn’t fled when she had, he might have been tempted to kiss her again and finish what he’d started. He could still sense her soft flesh filling his palm, the lissom length of her leg flowing beneath his fingertips and the fresh lavender scent of her skin seemed to again be teasing his nostrils...
‘Are we to go, then?’
Celia’s petulance cut into Alex’s pleasurable reflection, making him frown at her. But his eyes were soon swooping back to a group of people close to the stage and he stared in disbelief before cursing softly in a mingling of surprise and satisfaction.
‘I won’t be going yet—I have some business to attend to.’ A ferocious determination had entered Alex’s voice and he swiftly turned his head, searching for a temporary companion for his mistress. He noticed the gallant young Hussar still watching them, so gave the fellow a nod causing him to look rather confused. A moment later Alex was propelling Celia towards her admirer. Ignoring both his mistress’s furious, suffocated indignation and Sidney Roper’s startled smile, he strode away.
* * *
‘Oh...I say! It looks as though Hugh’s great friend is heading our way. Indeed, what an honour it would be if he were to join us, Dolly,’ Edith squeaked excitedly. She started to waft a hand in front of her pink cheeks before digging in her reticule to find a small fan. Having snapped open ivory sticks, she hissed from behind them, ‘Have you spotted him, Dolly...the tall Continental-looking gentleman who appears rather severe? He is a viscount, you know...and I swear we are about to have his company.’
It seemed Edith had been more vigilant than her nephew in noticing Alex Blackthorne approaching, stony-faced. Hugh continued chatting to the group of ladies that now included Maude Chapman. Mr Chapman and his eldest daughter had James Whittiker as company and only Fiona was looking comfortable about that arrangement.
When Alex clapped a heavy hand on Hugh’s shoulder a few moments later, his arrival went unnoticed by Elise as she was slightly apart from the others, turned sideways, talking privately to Verity. The two friends had finally managed to start a whispered dialogue about what had occurred during Elise’s mission to rescue Bea. But before Elise had got very far into her doctored account, an abrupt quiet had descended close by and the change in the atmosphere penetrated her consciousness, making her turn her head.
‘Ah...Alex...how nice of you to join us.’ Hugh quickly overcame his surprise at having been rather roughly handled by his noble friend. ‘Sorry to disappear like that, but I spotted my mother’s sister in the crowd and came over to say hello to her. Let me introduce you to my Aunt Edith.’
‘Oh, but we have been introduced, Hugh.’ Edith gave the newcomer a breathless beam, hoping for a smile in return. But the viscount’s expression softened only a mite and she wondered why he had joined them if he’d sooner be elsewhere. ‘Perhaps you do not remember me, Viscount Blackthorne, but I recall we met at my sister’s—Lady Kendrick’s—when she lived in Eaton Square with her husband—Hugh’s father—because at that time he was still among us—’
‘I do remember you, ma’am, and trust you are well,’ Alex smoothly interrupted her rambling discourse before his eyes drifted, in a deceptively casual manner, to Elise.
But Elise, frozen in shock as she was, knew there was nothing innocent in his regard. His dark eyes might have seemed coolly enquiring to others, but she understood the glitter of dangerous amusement in their depths.
‘Are you not going to introduce me to your new acquaintances, Hugh?’ Alex prompted mildly.
Elise started to her senses, instinctively darting an alarmed glance at her sister...and then wished she had not, for she had betrayed to him the identity of Lady Lonesome without having uttered one word. She made a small movement as though to forbid Hugh Kendrick to disclose to his friend a solitary thing about them.
‘I imagine the two fair-haired young ladies are sisters,’ Alex said silkily, the smile in his eyes deepening as Elise shot him a baleful look.
‘Oh, how clever of you, my lord, to know that.’ Aunt Edith clapped her hands. ‘Is that not clever, Dolly? Your nieces, I would say, are not that alike. Indeed, I think Miss Verity Chapman, being tall and slender, could be mistaken for Miss Elise’s sister...’
‘Oh...let me introduce my nieces to you properly, sir...my lord...’ Dolly burbled, having recovered from her amazement at being in the presence of one of polite society’s most distinguished—and rakish—bachelors. Dolly had heard the exhilarating rumours about Viscount Blackthorne’s conquests among the petticoat set and, having just gawped at length at his fine physique and handsome visage, she could understand why the ladies found him irresistible.
And now he was asking to be introduced to her relatives, and seemed particularly interested in Elise, although the silly girl seemed incapable of giving him a welcoming smile. Dolly sent her wan-faced younger niece a glance of fierce encouragement while hoping Elise wasn’t feeling too overawed by the fellow as to appear soppy or the viscount would soon be looking elsewhere. He didn’t seem the sort to suffer fools gladly.
