A Gentleman's Wager (7 page)

‘It’s my pleasure. The least I could do.’ He smiled faintly, just turning up the corners of his warm red lips.

A strand of his long dark hair fell forwards over his face. Without thinking, Louisa brushed it aside. Vaughan caught her hand and placed a kiss in the centre of her palm, which somehow soothed her wounded pride. She looked up at him, surprised to find him staring back at her intently.

‘You remind me of someone,’ he said. ‘It’s your eyes, and your smile. Yes, you have the same smile.’

Louisa found herself smiling despite her feelings over Frederick. ‘Someone you’re close to?’ she asked.

‘Reasonably so. Emily was a great love of mine.’

‘Is she here with you?’

‘Ah, no.’ Vaughan’s expression grew dark. He turned away from her slightly and bowed his head. ‘She’s dead.’

Louisa’s heart fluttered in her chest; she felt his loss as though it were her own. He was standing so close to her,
and
his dark eyes glittered with such sorrow that her own anguish over Frederick seemed to melt away. When he tilted her face and touched her honey-blonde curls as if lost in memory, she didn’t resist. Not even when his fingers brushed the hot skin of her cheek and traced a line across the soft curve, to her parted lips.

‘My lord,’ she whispered, and placed a gentle hand on his arm. He shifted his stance, bringing them closer together. An odd sensation trickled down Louisa’s spine. Not fright, but something similar: anticipation.

His eyes glinted in the soft light like the jewels on his rings. A gleaming gold hoop earring shone through his hair. The touch of his lips was dizzying. It felt like hot syrup sliding down her throat, enveloping her. Moreover, that same wet heat was soon spreading to the sensitive place between her thighs. Louisa clung to him, opened her mouth to his tongue and returned his darting touches. She felt none of the nervousness she’d experienced with Frederick. Vaughan made her feel totally at ease, so that she felt encouraged to caress him through the fabric of his breeches.

Vaughan felt his cock stir and rise like a charmed snake in response to her hands questing curiously under his shirt.

Really! This was too easy, but then the line about the fictitious Emily normally won them over. Still, her endeavours to find out what lay beneath his clothing surprised him; he’d taken her for an innocent, but she was clearly more knowing than he’d assumed, if not more experienced. No matter, it gave him a chance of some entertainment, and put him a step nearer to securing the wager. He hadn’t thought to complete half the task in one night.

He released her lips and traced the curve of her
earlobe
with his tongue, then left a trail of feather-light kisses down her neck. With practised ease, he edged the fabric off her shoulder, revealing milky soft skin lightly dusted with powder. ‘Hush,’ he soothed, as he cupped her tiny breast in his hand. A wrong word would break the spell. Her nipple hardened against the centre of his palm, while her heartbeat hammered against her ribcage, making her breath shallow and quick.

He tongued around her nipple, coaxing it into standing erect, and pulled her against his trapped prick so that she could feel the solid line of his erection through her clothing. A little more patient coaxing and she’d be begging him to slide his pole deep into her cunt. Already her hand was straying across his hip towards his loins. She was still hesitant about touching him, but that wouldn’t last.

Vaughan returned his attention to her lips, now quietly aware that they were being observed. Whoever it was had not been subtle in their approach. He suppressed a smile when he caught Captain Wakefield’s stunned expression over Louisa’s shoulder. Of course, the captain hadn’t expected to find his sweet, virtuous Louisa in the arms of another man when he’d finally realised she’d left the dance-floor. It amused Vaughan to see him scowl. He realised that he had the perfect opportunity to pay Wakefield back for an old wound, one that it might even be worth risking sixty guineas for, and this was a safe place to do it.

Vaughan clasped Louisa more tightly to his body, bending her back slightly to reach her hem, and delved beneath her petticoats. Before she realised what he was about his hand was on her upper thigh, pushing between her legs to reach her core. He dipped a finger between her ripe labia, which welcomed his intrusion, and flicked mercilessly at her bud. She stiffened against him. Her
eyes
flashed open, wild and panicked, but her thighs parted for him.

‘No, don’t!’

Wakefield predictably bounded across the room. He planted a hand on Vaughan’s shoulder. ‘The lady asked you to let go.’

‘Take your hands off me.’ Vaughan deliberately kept his voice soft and low as he spoke, just to lend weight to his implied threat. He sneered slightly when Wakefield failed to take the hint.

‘I said, I think you should let her go.’

‘And I say, unhand me this instant.’

Vaughan suddenly whipped Louisa around, throwing her off balance. He laughed inwardly at their surprised expressions and at Wakefield’s face clouding with thunder as he tipped Louisa’s breasts out of her loosened gown. She only trembled slightly at her immodest state, while her rosy nipples perked up in the cool air. Vaughan pinched them encouragingly, so they stood up like two ripe berries. ‘Care for a taste?’ he enquired, wearing a silky smile.

‘My lord!’

Lucerne looked up as the urgent tone of his valet’s voice rose above the distant calls and jeers of his guests.

‘Sir, I think you should come quickly. Captain Wakefield has challenged the marquis to a duel.’

Lucerne sighed and turned to leave. ‘I’m sorry, Bella,’ he muttered in a tone of frustration. ‘Duty calls.’

She stood aside with a sulky pout, but Lucerne didn’t allow himself to be tempted back. It was probably for the best to delay any seductions for a little while, and he understood both Vaughan and Frederick’s temperaments too well to leave them to it. Besides, he didn’t want the other guests to be upset by those two locking horns.
Damn
the pair of them. For once, he thought they’d manage to be civil to each other.

Lucerne struggled towards the drawing room through the crowd of nosy servants and guests who were clustered around the door. He tried the handle but someone was holding it from the other side. ‘Open this door,’ he demanded, and rattled the handle again.

‘Oh, I beg your pardon, my lord. I didn’t realise it was you,’ Joshua apologised, letting him in. He shut the door behind Lucerne, and stood against it.

Lucerne surveyed the scene furiously. Vaughan stood by the huge fireplace, sipping a glass of port. He looked no different from how he’d appeared twenty minutes ago, stepping gracefully about the dance-floor. He was the incarnation of poise, completely unruffled by the turmoil that was occurring around him. In contrast, Frederick had succumbed to a diabolical rage. He was flushed, stiff-shouldered and aggressive.

‘You despicable bastard –’ he sniped.

Vaughan cut him off. ‘I’ve accepted your challenge. Surely there’s nothing more to discuss. Be sure to let me know who your second is.’

Wakefield lunged at him.

‘Frederick!’ yelled Lucerne. He caught his friend’s arm and jerked him away from Vaughan then, with Joshua’s aid, managed to pin him in a chair. ‘See reason. I won’t have duelling in my house.’ He found it unbelievable that they’d even consider it. They both knew his feelings on the subject well enough.

‘Ask him about it.’

Lucerne jerked his head towards the mantle. ‘Vaughan!’

‘The challenge is not mine,’ came his laconic reply. ‘But Captain Wakefield insists, therefore I feel honour-bound to accept.’

‘He’s got no honour.’

‘Wakefield!’ snapped Lucerne. The rapid pulse in his temple warned him that his own temper was about to fray. He hadn’t gone to the trouble and expense of a ball to waste it listening to these two squabble. He could do that any time.

‘I’ll bloody kill him.’

‘You will not. Take a hold of yourself.’ The combination of his words and icy glare seemed to calm Frederick. Lucerne removed his hands from the other man’s shoulders and straightened his back. He glanced at Vaughan then back at Frederick. What he really didn’t need was these two at each other’s throats from now until Christmas. He’d left London to escape the constant one-upmanship between his friends, and now this …

Only then, in that moment of quiet, did he register the heartbroken cries coming from behind the thick curtain over the French windows. He walked across and pulled them back. Louisa gasped in fright, then continued to sob. Lucerne’s mouth set into a hard straight line as he cursed himself for tolerating Frederick’s infatuation. He knew his friend couldn’t afford to marry her, and his flirting was always going to end in tears. ‘Stop sobbing, girl,’ he said in exasperation.

Stunned by his rebuke she stared at him wide-eyed.

‘Joshua, take her to Bella, please.’ He gave her his handkerchief for her nose, and waited until he’d heard the door click shut before he turned back to the two adversaries.

‘Now,’ he said in a voice that he hoped made it clear he didn’t want any more trouble. ‘What is this about?’

Frederick opened his mouth to speak.

‘On second thoughts, I’m not interested,’ said Lucerne, as he realised this would take the rest of the night to sort out. ‘Freddy, I understand you made the challenge. I’d
appreciate
it if you’d retract it.’ He looked from Vaughan to Frederick, hoping for some sign of reconciliation, but there was none. Vaughan was poking the fire, while Frederick was staring pointedly at the ceiling.

‘Look, I don’t give a damn why you suddenly feel the need to kill each other. I am not having any fighting, and while you are both guests in my house, you’ll obey my rules. Now I suggest you make up like gentlemen and we can get back to the party.’

Neither of them moved. Lucerne turned his glare on Frederick, who stubbornly met his gaze, and began to explain. Lucerne cut him off. ‘Freddy,’ he implored in a softer tone as he crossed to his side. ‘Please do this for me.’

His friend’s jaw clenched so that the tendons in his throat stood out.

‘Please.’

Frederick dropped his head forwards into his hands, sighed and rubbed his eyes. ‘Very well.’ He rose and crossed to the fireplace. ‘Accept my apologies, Pennerley.’

Lucerne could hear the reluctance in his voice, and resolved to try and find out the cause of their enmity at some point. He watched Frederick extend his hand. Vaughan grasped it warmly, and broke into a triumphant smile. He pulled the glowering Wakefield off balance into his embrace and then planted a kiss on each of his burning cheeks, much to the captain’s chagrin. Knowing Vaughan, this was probably the outcome he’d planned all along.

‘Now, gentlemen,’ Lucerne addressed them before Frederick thought of throwing a punch. ‘With our differences settled, let us rejoin our guests.’

The house had become stifling so Bella had taken her frustration outside, but even from her position on the far
side
of the lawn she could hear Charles Aubury drunkenly extolling the virtues of large breasts to a rapturous audience. From the ribald comments they were making, it sounded like they were using it as an excuse to ogle Millicent’s abundant cleavage. She retreated further into the darkened shrubbery, smacking her hand against the foliage as she walked. Even among the waxy leaves, she couldn’t escape the irritating blather.

It was all Louisa’s fault.

One moment she’d had Lucerne’s complete attention and even shared a few discreet caresses. Then suddenly she was playing nursemaid to Louisa, and Lucerne was all ears for whatever Lord Pennerley was saying. Louisa had finally cried herself to sleep, and she’d made her escape.

She struggled on through the bushes, oblivious to the nicks and scratches the branches were leaving on her skin. Maybe if she could reach the gazebo the voices would leave her alone, and maybe she’d find enough solitude to raise her skirts and do something about the itch caused by flirting with Lucerne. Her thoughts turned momentarily to Mark, but her desire for him was superficial and he’d probably already satisfied himself with one of the maids. She stubbed her toe, stumbled and crashed to the ground, jarring her elbow and muddying her hands. ‘Damnation!’ she snapped and rolled over to sit up, heedless of the damp earth and her new dress. If something didn’t go her way tonight, she’d be smashing Lucerne’s windows before very much longer.

Bella crawled from the bushes, quite close to the ivy-covered gazebo. She didn’t care that her knees were torn, as was the hem of her dress. To her dismay, she found Captain Wakefield sitting on the stone bench inside. He was dressed in cream breeches and a green jacket with gold frogging, less ostentatious than his uniform but still
showy
. He looked up at her with unfocused eyes as she stepped into the wooden shelter. Bella’s triumph of reaching the gazebo felt suddenly bitter. What was he doing here?

‘Annabella – were you looking for me? Did Louisa want me?’

Bella glared at him with barely concealed rage. Did he think she had nothing better to do than run about the gardens after him to pass on love notes?

‘No.’

‘Oh!’ He appeared slightly taken aback by her abrupt retort. ‘How is she? Do you know?’

‘She’s in bed and probably asleep by now.’

Wakefield nodded slowly. ‘Probably best after the bloody fright Pennerley gave her,’ he said, seemingly oblivious to her clipped tone. ‘What are you doing out here?’

Trying to escape idiots like you, Bella wanted to say, but she bit her tongue. Insulting him wasn’t going to make the evening any better. At least he was showing some interest in her, which was more than Lucerne was doing.

‘Escaping an unwelcome admirer, no doubt?’ he said, answering on her behalf. ‘I expect that makes you rather cross.’

Bella clenched her fists a little tighter. In her chest, a scream of frustration was reverberating, rising quickly upwards towards her throat. He was being so excruciatingly polite she just couldn’t hold it in. She shrieked, loud and long, careless of his shocked stare or whether anyone heard. Some of her tension melted away. She turned on him and shoved him to knock him out of his complacency, sending him crashing to the ground.