A Gallant Gamble (17 page)

“I doubt it, my dear. I was a callow youth back then, and I am far more aware now of what a woman really wants. Those that fight always end up being the most passionate between the sheets, and you fought with an uncommon amount of vigour.” He squeezed her hand to the point of pain to stop her interrupting him. “Last time I didn’t have so much to offer but I can now give you far more of an incentive.”

Charlotte stopped dancing. Someone crashed into her from behind and Rookwood grabbed her arm and dragged her back into the square. She wrenched herself from him as she spat out her words.

“You are clearly insane. Nothing in this world or out of it would ever induce me to be tempted by you.”

Rookwood laughed again.

“My dear, you would be surprised at how easily I can tempt a woman to lie with me. A word in their father’s ear about an unknown liaison or perhaps a gentleman’s monogrammed handkerchief left in their carriage for a husband to discover.” He left his words hanging in the air.

“Blackmail! You bastard! You could never blackmail me for I don’t have a father or a lover or a husband. Your time would be wasted.” Charlotte exclaimed and Rookwood glanced quickly about the ballroom, but it appeared that none heard her words, the music having reached a crescendo.

His eyes found hers again.

“You would do well to keep your voice low, my dear and it would be best for all concerned if you would take a few moments to listen to my proposal. People might get hurt if you don’t.” Rookwood held her wrist and squeezed it tightly as he chuckled. “After you realize what is going to happen to your laughable dreams of winning the thousand guineas with your nag Lightning and that idiot riding him, you will be begging to accept my offer. The Prince has given me the honour of riding Vanquish. You would be wise to accept my proposition.”

She gave a laugh of her own.

“Only if you win. There are other fine mounts entered into the race who could easily beat you, and you think to tempt me with your arrogance and a mere thousand guineas? You are more foolish than I first supposed.” Charlotte almost rolled her eyes, but a sudden chill swept through her heart as she thought about his words. She looked up at the vile man. “What do you mean? What’s going to happen to Geoffrey and Lightning?” She glanced towards the door where the race entrants entered their horses.

Rookwood threw back his head and laughed yet again as he turned her under his arm, passing her to a frowning Charles Latham for another brief turn before gaining her back and whispering into her ear.

“See, my dear, you give the game away already. Your immediate concern for Mr. Talbot tells me exactly how important he is to you. Add in the fact that he will be riding your very own prize stallion and the race is already mine.” He lifted his chin, indicating the doors to the signing room. They opened briefly and Geoffrey passed through. He began to search the ballroom with concerned grey eyes.

Charlotte narrowed her eyes at Rookwood.

“So you aim to cheat a win from us. How gallant of you, though considering your past I should not be surprised.”

Rookwood smiled down at her as they tuned about the room once again.

“Not to cheat, no. Just adding a little incentive to ensure that your horse and rider either withdraw or retire from the race. If they don’t, I can make sure that either or both of them don’t finish. They might not even live to tell what happened.” He added in an even lower tone.

Charlotte released her fingers from his sweaty palm as she stepped and curtseyed to yet another partner. When she faced Lord Rookwood again she frowned in confusion.

“But I don’t understand you. You threaten my friend and my horse, but don’t offer me a solution. I will never go to your bed, not if you were the last man on earth, and not even to save my friend. He would rather die than let me do it.” She raised her chin as she looked him in the eye.

Rookwood leered down at her.

“Though having you in my bed would be an undeniable pleasure, I was thinking of something a little less mundane and worth an awful lot more. What is it worth to you for me to let them live and finish the race? Not to win, mind you,” he added. “I could never let things go that far.”

Charlotte shook her head.

“Your arrogance at your own skills is quite astounding. You assume an awful lot for one who has never ridden the Prince’s horse before. Vanquish has never been tried over such a course or even entered into a race. Are you sure that you will be able to control a stallion such as he? With your thin shoulders and broken teeth, you have the air of a black rat. You do not appear to be over capable to me.” She looked up and down his less than striking frame, clearly finding him wanting.

Rookwood took in a sharp breath. Her insult had stung but he shrugged it off a few moments later.

“You should be careful what you insinuate. My price for their guaranteed wellbeing may increase. At the moment all I have need of is the Caithwell diamond. I know that you have brought it to town with you in the hopes of selling it, but you could put it to far greater use. Depending on how much he and the horse are worth to you, of course, you could save both of their lives.”

Charlottes nearly let out a huge laugh, but she managed to hold it back.

“A life for a diamond? You are even more crazed than I thought. Everyone knows that the diamond belongs to me. How on earth are you going to sell it without anyone thinking you stole it from me?”

But it seemed that Rookwood had even thought of a plan for that eventual outcome too.

“We can make it a bet. You place your diamond as a stake that Lightning wins the race against me. When your horse is withdrawn or loses and I come first, it will be a simple matter to hand it over to me.”

Charlotte thought for a few seconds, her mind tumbling, reeling with horror at the thought of Geoffrey dying at this man’s hands. She couldn’t see any way out of it but to accept. She stilled her riotous thoughts and took the next turn on the dance floor to come up with a counter plan of her own, but there wasn’t enough time for her to think of anything in her favour. All she could think of was a stalling tactic until she could fathom out something more viable. They came together again.

“For it to be official it would have to be written up and you would have to offer a stake of a similar value. Even though I privately know that your stake is Mr. Talbot’s and Lightning’s lives, it would have to be seen as something tangible with an equal value, if you want your plan to rob me to remain undiscovered. No one would believe that I would stake a priceless diamond if I there wasn’t the possibility of gaining something of equal value in return. Do you have anything of any value? For it seems to me that you don’t. Nothing at all, not even your word.” The bitterness in her tone let him know exactly how angry she was, but he just sneered back at her.

“You can insult me all evening, but I am the one with the cards in my hands. The Prince’s horse will win, with me on its back, but I can see your point about the stakes. Very well, I agree. It will be written up accordingly.”

“So what do you offer as your stake? What item of value do you have to write down?”

Rookwood sighed.

“It’s just as well that this is all a veil to cover my real reasons for I have only one thing of anywhere near equal value. My estate at Burnley is of ten thousand acres. The manor and grounds would look to be a suitable stake in exchange for your own. I will have it written up and we can sign the documents to make it look legal...” The music came to an end and Rookwood bowed low over her hand. “Well, it has been a pleasure doing business with you, Lady Charlotte. I will see you and the diamond on the finish line next week.” He stalked from the dance floor just as a furious Geoffrey reached her side.

Signing the entry book had been simple enough, but he had taken longer than he wanted due to several of his new friends asking why he had turned down the Prince. After explaining that he wanted to show what the Ormond bloodline stables could do rather than reach for glory with the Prince he noticed that some of the men appeared more than impressed.

“You have that much faith in Ormond’s stables that you can turn down the Prince? By God, you have guts, I’ll say that for you. I may even place a bet on you myself.” Hubert Carruthers smiled at him.

Anthony Torrington grinned.

“You have something up your sleeve that you are not telling us. Come on man, you are our new friend. If there is money to be made you should share your knowledge.” He rubbed his hands together greedily.

Geoffrey shook his head.

“Not inside knowledge, but I know my own mount better than the Prince’s, that’s all. The course is not an easy one and I know what Lightning can do over hedges. The Prince’s horse, while huge and evidently strong, has never been tested over such obstacles. I see that the Prince has asked Lord Rookwood to ride Vanquish in my stead. Perhaps you know him better than I. If his skills in the saddle are good enough, he may stand a chance of controlling the Prince’s animal, but if they are not...” He spoke no more letting the men come to their own conclusions.

Torrington snorted.

“Rookwood is as wild as Vanquish, that’s all I can tell you about him. I prefer a steadier kind of fellow myself.”

Carruthers nodded in agreement.

“Not a friend of mine either. He has a month’s ban from Whites, did you know? Fighting with old Ledbetter. Would you believe that he punched the man for bringing him the wrong cigar? Quite rightly, Ledbetter punched him back. Nearly knocked out Rookwood’s teeth. Most people think that the old boy is just a servant in the place, but I have it on good authority that he used to bare knuckle fight. Never lost a match according to my father. They keep him at Whites as a keeper of the peace as much as anything else. Tempers are raised on occasions. You know how it gets with that betting book. James Tillingham once thought it a brilliant idea to bet that he could remove Lady Ainsworth’s garter without her knowing. As you can imagine, her husband wasn’t so keen on the nature of the bet or how the young man would accomplish it. It all became more than heated, but Ledbetter parted the pair of them within minutes and chucked them both out of the door. I wish I had been there to see it.”

Even Geoffrey laughed at the tale, liking the fact that Lord Ainsworth had a taste of his own medicine when it came to other men touching his wife. It was a pity he disregarded his own actions when it came to feeling Charlotte’s leg beneath the dining table.

Geoffrey glanced around the crowded room and noticed Giles on the dance floor with Olivia. They separated and came back together, smiling as they spoke to one another. Geoffrey looked around further as he searched for Charlotte, becoming more and more anxious when he couldn’t find her dancing blonde curls among the people around the room. He gave a quick bow to both of his companions and moved nearer the dancers remaining on the floor, pushing past anyone in his way and ignoring the irate stares that they gave him.

It was only as the last group in front of him parted that he saw her. There were two pinpoints of pink on her cheeks, a sure sign that she was not happy about something. She turned with Charles Latham and her features softened in an instant and then her eye became icy as she returned to her original partner.

For a moment Geoffrey didn’t recognize the man, his lean, dark features making him appear older than his years, but an instant later the man leaned his head backwards and laughed. He had two broken teeth, both already turning black in his jaw.

Rookwood!
Geoffrey felt his insides clench as hatred rolled over him. Charlotte’s angry features came into view again as the dance continued. Geoffrey glanced towards Giles. He hadn’t appeared to notice Charlotte’s partner, but Geoffrey couldn’t let it go on. The thought of her even touching the man’s hand was too much. Fury twisted around his heart when he noticed Charlotte flinch as Rookwood’s hand tightened on her waist and wrist.

He was about to step forwards when the dancers closed in again and Charlotte was lost to view, but he didn’t care. He wove between couples and ducked under outstretched arms as he made his way to where he had last seen her. The music suddenly stopped and the dancers bowed to one another before parting for the next set. Charlotte was left standing on the floor as Rookwood stalked away without seeing her back to her seat.

Geoffrey strode to her, taking her arm and he steering her towards the tall windows that led onto the terrace.

“What in God’s name were you thinking of, dancing with that piece of flotsam.” His angry tones left her in no doubt as to his feelings.

Charlotte had to take a skip to keep up with his pace.

“I had no choice. I was on the dance floor in a set before I even knew it. I couldn’t possible leave anyone without a partner. This is Lord Davenport’s ball. We would have been shown the cut direct if I had been so rude. I might even be shown it now what with the way you have dragged me out here.”

Geoffrey blasted out onto the terrace, his chest heaving as he tried to hold in his anger.

“No choice! There’s always a choice. He is a blackguard and a dangerous man or have you forgotten what he once did to you so soon? Or perhaps you have learned to enjoy the company of rakes and libertines in the last couple of weeks.” He walked past the curved stone benches that made seats from which to view the serenity of the gardens and placed his shaking hands on the terrace wall. He stared out with unseeing eyes across the sea of fragrant roses, his breaths coming in hard pulls of fury.