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‘Oh, no,’ she said with deceptive sweetness. ‘I know you for a rake, sir.’
If she had hoped to offend him, she was disappointed.
‘Do you think you are being quite fair to me, madam?’
‘Oh, I think so. Your reputation, and that of your friends, precedes you. And it is not mere gossip, I assure you. The information comes on good authority and from more than one source.’
Molly felt exhilarated by the exchange. She could not recall speaking so freely to any man before.
‘The devil it does!’
She laughed and was immediately aware of the change in him. Through the fine woollen sleeve beneath her fingers she could feel the muscles tighten. And she suspected she had angered him. When he spoke his voice was soft, smooth as silk, cold as steel.
‘But all this is hearsay, madam—what do you really know of me?’ They had reached the hall and with practised ease he whisked her away from the crowd and into the shadowy space beneath the stairs. ‘Well, Mrs Morgan?’
He had turned her to face him, his hands resting on her shoulders, very lightly, but she found it impossible to move. Even in the shadows, his dark eyes glowed with devilish mischief. She had the strangest feeling that invisible bonds were wrapping around them, tightening, forcing her closer. She could feel him, smell him, a musky, spicy, lemony scent that she wanted to breathe in, to close her eyes and give in to the desire burning in her core. She fought it, curling her hands until the nails dug into her palms, using the pain to stop her from reaching out and pulling him towards her. To stop herself surrendering, as she had done once before to a man. A rake who had taken everything and left her to suffer the consequences. Desire was replaced by panic and she fought it down, struggling to keep the terror from her voice.
‘You go too far, sir. I beg you will let me go.’
His hands tightened. ‘Are you afraid I might kiss you?’
I am afraid I might not be able to resist!
‘You would not dare.’
* * *
Russ felt her tremble, saw the uncertainty in her eyes and knew she was weakening.
He murmured softly, ‘But you said yourself, madam, I am a rake and rakes are very daring.’
Her eyes widened, he saw the pink tip of her tongue flicker nervously across her lips and for a moment he was tempted to carry out his threat. To pull her close, capture that luscious mouth and kiss her into submission. Then he saw the apprehension in her gaze and something more, a fear that was not warranted by the threat of a mere kiss. She was terrified.
What the devil were you thinking of, Charles Russington? Are you such a cockscomb that you think no woman should be able to resist your charms?
He took his hands from her shoulders and stepped away. This was no way to treat a lady.
‘You are right,’ he said. ‘I beg your pardon for teasing you.’
The look of terror had lasted only a moment and it was now replaced by anger. She glared at him.
‘I would expect nothing else from a libertine.’ Her voice was shaking with fury as she put up her hands to straighten the little puff sleeves of her gown that had been flattened by his grip. ‘Your disgraceful behaviour proves that the reports I have heard about you do not lie. The sooner you and your...your friends remove from Compton Parva, the better!’
With a toss of her head she turned and hurried away. Russ watched her go, but he made no move to follow her back into the laughing, chattering throng that was slowly making its way into the dining room. He knew he had been wrong to tease her, but she had made him angry and he had forgotten himself. His lip curled in scorn. The great Beau Russington, famed for his sangfroid, his charming manners, had allowed his temper to get the better of him.
He raked his fingers through his hair. Damn the woman, she should not have this effect on him. Why, she was not even his type—too small and dark for one thing, and a sanctimonious reformer to boot. No, his original instinct had been right. Leave well alone!
* * *
Two days of rain followed the dinner at Newlands and Molly was relieved that the bad weather deterred visitors. She thought—hoped—no one had seen that brief interchange with Beau Russington, but had no wish to discuss the evening with anyone, not yet, when she was still so unsettled.
On Thursday she took the carriage to make her belated visit to Prospect House, thankful for the inclement weather. The house and its farm were situated on the opposite side of the valley to Newlands and she knew Sir Gerald and his guests rode out frequently beyond the bounds of the park, but it was much less likely that they would do so in bad weather.
Prospect House was a stone-built dwelling standing tall and square on the landscape. It had belonged to a gentleman farmer who had built himself this house in a style more fitted to his dignity and it now boasted large sash windows and a pedimented front door. The new dwelling had been built at a suitable distance from the old farmhouse and separated from it by the stables and a kitchen garden.
Prospect House was now home to ten women of various ages and stations in life. They tended the house and garden with the help of one manservant, who also looked after the farm. It had taken Molly years of hard work and determination to turn Prospect House into a successful and self-sufficient refuge, and as the carriage turned in through the gates she felt an immense pride in the achievement.
The door was opened to her by Moses, the only male servant, whose size and somewhat bovine countenance belied a sharp intelligence. He had worked at Prospect House all his life, and when Molly bought the property, she had kept him on, recognising that his knowledge of farming would be invaluable. This had engendered Moses with a fierce loyalty to his employer and made him protective of the house and its female residents. Molly greeted him cheerfully and made her way to the office at the back of the house. The pretty blonde poring over the accounts glanced up as the door opened and flew out of her chair to hug her.
‘Molly! I did not expect you to come here in all this rain.’
‘But as patron I must call at least once a week to see how you go on, although I was certainly not going to walk here.’ Molly laughed and returned the hug. ‘But, Fleur, I am interrupting you.’
‘Not a bit of it, I had just finished totting up the money we took at market yesterday and I am pleased to say we sold everything, which was a surprise, given the heavy rain.’
‘I am glad of it and only sorry I did not come over to help you—’
‘There is no need to apologise, Molly, we tell you time and again that we can manage.’ Fleur took her arm. ‘Come along into the drawing room, and we will take tea.’
Molly accompanied Fleur out of the office, reflecting that the happy young woman at her side was a far cry from the frightened girl she had taken in all those years ago. Fleur Dellafield was a childhood friend of Molly’s. She had grown up to be a beauty, but when her widowed mother had married again, life had become a nightmare. She had been thrown out of her home after thwarting her stepfather’s attempts to ravish her. Molly had found her, destitute and starving, and brought her to the newly opened Prospect House. She had settled in well and shown such an aptitude for organisation that Molly had been delighted to make her housekeeper. She had protested at the time that Fleur was too pretty to languish for long at Prospect House, but Fleur had been adamant.
‘I met plenty of gentlemen at my come-out in Bath,’ she had told Molly. ‘I found none of them more than passable, and after what happened with my step-papa, I have no wish to meet any more. No, Molly, I want only a comfortable home and to be needed.’
So Molly had installed Fleur as housekeeper and seen Prospect House flourish. Now, as they entered the drawing room and she saw the welcoming bowl of fresh flowers on the highly polished drum table, Fleur’s words came back to her.
‘I like to come here, Fleur,’ she told her friend. ‘I like to feel I am needed.’
‘Then do, please, call as often as you like, for there is always something to be done!’
Fleur tugged at the bell pull and a few moments later a maid in a snowy cap and apron entered. Molly smiled at her.
‘Good day to you, Daisy. How are you?’
‘Very well, ma’am. Thank you kindly.’ The maid dropped a curtsy, her cheerful face creasing into smiles. ‘Between Miss Fleur and Miss Nancy, I am learning how to run a household and to cook.’
‘And your son?’
‘Ah, Billy is doing very well, thank you, ma’am, although he don’t much like his lessons.’ She gave a sigh. ‘Twice this week I left him practising his letters and he escaped through the window.’
‘He does prefer to be working out of doors,’ remarked Fleur. ‘He is a great asset in the garden and Moses says he has an ability with animals.’
‘Perhaps we should let him help out on the farm more,’ suggested Molly. ‘Although I think it imperative that he learns to read and write, at least enough to get by.’
‘Then I shall tell him that if he works for an hour at his lessons every morning he may spend the rest of the day helping Moses,’ said Fleur. ‘Will that be acceptable to you, Daisy?’
‘Very kind of you, Miss Fleur, and more than we have a right to expect.’
‘Nonsense, you have worked very hard since you have been here and we would like to help you and Billy to find a home of your own. Now, perhaps you would be kind enough to fetch tea for Mrs Morgan and myself, if you please.’ Fleur waited until the door had closed behind the maid before sighing. ‘I wonder if we did the right thing, taking in Daisy Matthews and her son. We have none of us any experience of ten-year-old boys.’
‘But where else would they have gone? Daisy’s employer had thrown them on to the streets upon discovering that Billy was her natural child. And Edwin tells me the vicar who applied to us had tried to find them another home, with no success at all.’
‘It is such a cruel world,’ said Fleur, her kind face troubled, but then she brightened. ‘However, Daisy is quick to learn, and I am already looking about for a suitable position, although I fear Billy may not be able to go with her. However, if all else fails he can stay here and help Moses.’
‘A very sensible idea,’ agreed Molly, ‘but we can make no decisions until we have procured a position for Daisy. Which reminds me, I was in Hebden’s on Friday last and saw Clara at work. You will be pleased to learn that Miss Hebden is delighted with her, so I think we may write that down as another success. Now, you must tell me how everyone else goes on here.’
Molly listened carefully while Fleur made her report. It did not take long and they had finished their business by the time Daisy returned with the tea tray.
‘Which means we may now please ourselves what we talk of,’ declared Fleur, preparing tea for her guest. ‘And I very much want to know what you think of our new neighbour at Newlands.’ Molly did not reply immediately and Fleur shook her head at her. ‘You cannot think that we would remain in ignorance,’ she said, handing her friend a cup of tea. ‘Everyone at the market this week was talking of Sir Gerald and his friends. I would like to know your opinion.’
Molly made a cautious reply. ‘They are all extremely fashionable.’
‘They spend a great deal of time in London I believe,’ remarked Fleur. ‘Six men, I understand. Are all of them libertines, do you think?’
Molly was surprised into a laugh. ‘Good heavens, Fleur, that is very blunt. Why should you think that?’
‘Nancy told me.’
‘Ah, of course.’
Molly sipped her tea and considered the woman who was now cook at Prospect House. Nancy, or more correctly Lady Ann, was the youngest daughter of an eccentric and impoverished earl who had tried to force her into a marriage with a man old enough to be her grandfather. Molly should have remembered that she was still in contact with one of her sisters, a terrific gossip, who kept her well informed of the latest London scandals.
‘So, Molly, tell me what you think,’ Fleur prompted her.
‘Edwin thinks them all very gentlemen-like.’
‘But you, Molly. What do you think?’
With her friend’s anxious blue gaze upon her, Molly could not lie.
‘I suspect one or two of them might have a...a roving eye.’ She saw Fleur’s look of alarm and hurried on. ‘They know of Prospect House, of course, but there is no reason to think they will call here. I gave them to understand you were very well protected.’
‘That is all very well, but we cannot remain within the bounds of Prospect House for ever!’
‘No, indeed, and I see no need for you to do so, as long as you never go out unaccompanied. These are gentlemen, Fleur, they would not force their attentions upon an unwilling female.’
‘Would they not?’ Fleur gave a little shudder. ‘That has not been our experience.’
Molly was silent, remembering the loud voices, the blows, the pain. Fighting back the memories, she said quietly, ‘The horrors we experienced happened in private, at the hands of men with power over us.’
‘But Nancy says Sir Gerald and his friends are known for their wildness.’ Fleur turned an anguished gaze upon Molly. ‘We both grew up in one small market town in Hertfordshire and now live in just such another. You were married at eighteen and I have never been further afield than Bath. What do we really know of rakes and libertines and the fashionable world?’
Molly sighed. Fleur was right and it was useless to ask Edwin for advice. He insisted upon seeing the best in everyone. Unlike their father, she thought bitterly. He had only seen the worst in everyone, especially his youngest daughter. The truth, she suspected, was often somewhere in between. She put down her cup.
‘Come along,’ she said, rising. ‘Let us go and talk to Nancy. She knows far more about these things than we do.’
They made their way down to the kitchen where they found the earl’s daughter beside the kitchen table, sitting in a most unladylike pose with her feet up on a chair. Nancy was large, loud and brash, but she had a heart of gold and a surprising flair for cooking. She had explained to Molly that she had learned the skill from her father’s French chef, a tyrant with a soft spot for a child so ignored and unloved by her parents that she might disappear to the kitchens for days on end without question. Now Nancy ruled the kitchen at Prospect House and was something of a mother hen to all the residents. She greeted Molly and Fleur cheerfully and invited them to join her at the table.
‘I don’t suppose you want more tea,’ she said, swinging her feet to the floor and turning to face them.
‘No, thank you,’ said Fleur, disposing herself gracefully on a chair. ‘We have come to talk to you about the people at Newlands.’
‘More especially the gentlemen,’ added Molly, taking a seat beside Fleur. ‘My sister has already hinted that they were...er...gentlemen of fashion, and I understand yours has sent you similar information.’
‘Yes, only in far less mealy-mouthed terms,’ said Nancy, not mincing matters. ‘Sir Gerald Kilburn’s set are infamous in town. Young men with too much time and too much money and spend both on flirtations, affairs and outrageous wagers.’
‘Oh, heavens,’ murmured Fleur.
‘But Newlands is a hunting lodge,’ said Molly. ‘Sir Gerald told Edwin they are here for the sport.’
Nancy gave her a pitying look. ‘Sir Gerald’s party will be made up of rakes and Corinthians. They regard pursuing women as sport. But you have met them, Molly. What is your opinion?’
‘They all appeared very amiable. Two of the gentlemen are accompanied by their wives, and Lord and Lady Claydon have also brought their daughters. Miss Kilburn acts as hostess for her brother and she has brought a companion, to give her countenance.’
Nancy shrugged. ‘Perhaps we are misinformed, then. But rich, idle men are always a threat to women. Who else is in the party, what single gentlemen are there?’
‘Apart from Sir Gerald?’ Molly tried to sound unconcerned. ‘There is Mr Flemington, Sir Joseph Aikers and Mr Russington.’
‘Kilburn’s closest cronies,’ exclaimed Nancy. ‘I remember them all from when I was in town. Flemington and Aikers were notorious womanisers even then, at least my father would not countenance them making me an offer, but that may have been more to do with their station than their reputation. He was determined that I should marry an earl at the very least.’
‘And Mr Russington?’ asked Molly, tracing a crack in the table with her finger.
‘Ah, yes, the beau.’ Nancy rested her chin on one hand, a smile on her lips and a faraway look in her eyes. ‘He is more notorious than all the rest. I remember him very well. He and Kilburn are of an age, I believe. They must be, what, eight-and-twenty now.’
‘The same age as yourself,’ put in Fleur.
Nancy nodded. ‘They came to town after my come-out. My sister tells me Russington is a friend of Brummell, although unlike Mr Brummell, he is also a noted sportsman. A Corinthian rather than a dandy.’ She cast a mischievous glance across the table. ‘We danced once, at Almack’s, you know, I remember it because he is taller than I! And so handsome. All the ladies were in love with him, but he soon earned a reputation for being dangerous, because any woman who threw her cap at him was likely to be indulged in a wild flirtation. Wise mamas keep their daughters out of his way now, but it may be that Kilburn has Russington in mind for his sister. I believe he is exceedingly wealthy.’
Fleur shuddered. ‘He sounds exceedingly dangerous, if he is so very attractive. What did you think of him, Molly?’
‘I?’ Molly gave a little laugh, playing for time. ‘I had very little to do with him.’
‘Was he one of those gentlemen you said had a roving eye?’
She did not know how to answer Fleur’s question. She had not noticed the beau’s dark eyes on anyone but herself and then with devastating effect. Just the thought of it sent a shiver along her spine.
‘I am not sure the beau needs one,’ said Nancy, meditatively. ‘From what my sister says he does not need to look about him. Women fall over themselves to gain his attention.’
Molly gave a little huff of despair. ‘Oh, how I wish Sir Gerald had never come to Newlands!’
‘Too late for that now,’ said Nancy, ‘they are here and we must deal with it. We must make sure the others are aware of the dangers.’ She began to list the girls on her fingers. ‘Daisy is hopefully too old to attract the attention of these gentlemen. She has Billy to look out for, too, which should make her wary. Elizabeth and Bridget are young and pretty, but as the daughters of gentlemen they already know what a dangerous combination that is and will be anxious to avoid repeating the mistakes that led to their being cast out of their homes. Marjorie is near her time now and her condition should make her safe from any unwelcome advances. That only leaves the two housemaids. They are still young and silly enough for anything. I shall keep an eye on them and make sure they do not step outside without Moses or one of us to accompany them. I shall also ask Moses to inspect that all the doors and windows are fastened at night.’
‘Perhaps we should get a dog.’ Fleur suggested.
‘That is a good idea.’ Nancy agreed. ‘I shall tell Moses we must have a guard dog, although knowing his soft heart he is likely to bring back the first mongrel he sees that needs a home. In the meantime we must all be vigilant to keep the girls safe from predatory men.’ She sat up straight, folding her arms across her ample bosom. ‘As for you, Fleur, you must always take one of the girls with you when you go to market, for with your golden hair and blue eyes, you are quite the prettiest of us all and the most likely to attract the attentions of a rake, especially such a noted connoisseur of women as Beau Russington.’
Molly was aware of a little stab of something that felt very much like jealousy and quickly pushed it aside. She did not want the beau’s attentions, so why should she be jealous? It made no sense at all.
‘You flatter me, Nancy,’ said Fleur, blushing. ‘And I really do not wish to attract any man’s attention, or unwelcome advances.’
