A Little Deception (22 page)

He held out his hand, white teeth brilliant, like his snowy
hair, a dazzling contrast with his leathery complexion.

‘Sir Hector Stokes,’ he introduced himself. ‘Knew your wife
back in the West Indies. Known her since she was born, in fact, and, what’s
more, had the dubious honour of being declined by her nigh on five years ago.’
He chuckled. ‘Thought that’d surprise ye. Yessir, I’d like to think she was in
good, safe hands now. Couldn’t be worse off than with that brother of hers whom
she all but wet-nursed, and got little thanks for it. So … married last week, I
hear.’ He shook his head. ‘And me only off the boat on Tuesday. Not that she’d
have had me for all the fancy palaces I could have bought her, if she’d have
let me. Ay, when I hear she set her cap at you it makes my blood fair boil. My
Rose never set her cap at anyone. If ever there was a goddess of virtue, ’twas
Miss Chesterfield.’

Rampton, as much astonished by the revelation of this
character’s identity as by his speech, was about to invite him to sit when they
were accosted by Charles.

‘Good Lord, Sir Hector, is it really you?’ Sir Charles
asked, a smile lighting up his normally hangdog expression. ‘Why, it must be
five years. Surely you’ve not been in England all this time?’

‘Just stepped off the boat Tuesday last, as I was telling
Lord Rampton. Been adventuring since I last saw you. Spice Islands, Americas.
Nothing like travel to mend a heart and fire up the constitution.’

Rampton pressed his new acquaintance to take some brandy
with him. He was disappointed when, instead, he found himself alone in the
company of his brother-in-law.

‘Back in town already, Rampton? Then perhaps you’ve heard
the news. I don’t know whether to be pleased for Rose or indignant.’

It was clear Charles was enjoying Rampton’s suspense,
however as Rampton responded with merely a slight raising of one eyebrow,
Charles said, ‘She’s just been left a sizeable legacy from a great-aunt. Or
half great-aunt. Fact is, I didn’t even know Aunt Gwendolyn existed until I
heard that Rose had struck up an acquaintanceship with her a month or two ago.’
The smile left his face as she stared moodily into his whisky glass while
Rampton congratulated him.

‘Oh, I won’t see a penny of it for her house and an annuity
has been willed to Rose, so of course you’ll benefit, Rampton.’ He grunted,
shifting uncomfortably when he seemed to become aware of the churlishness of
his tone. ‘Fact is, Rose was counting on this some weeks ago, so she could
repay you without obligation. Not that she didn’t want to marry you, of
course,’ he added, hastily. ‘Still,’ he shrugged, ‘life works in mysterious
ways and you’ve been very generous to us, don’t think I don’t appreciate it.
Now all that’s needed is a marriage offer from Yarrowby to settle Arabella and
then I can take Helena back to the plantation where I know she’d be so much
happier.’

Rampton raised one eyebrow. ‘Has Rose not passed on my
cautions to you regarding Yarrowby?’ he asked.

‘Cautions?’ Charles looked blank before he went, ‘Not that
it matters, I daresay, since Yarrowby who looked set to offer last week in fact
has suddenly disappeared without a word. So if it’s cautions regarding the
fellow’s address, I’d say he could learn some manners about what it is to let
down a hopeful young maiden. I found Arabella in tears twice yesterday and I
can’t tell you how wearisome it is to live in a household of discontented
women.’

Rampton stood up, bowing his intention to depart. ‘I can’t
say I’m sorry Yarrowby has departed but you might like to quiz Rose on what I
have to say about his suitability as a suitor. Good evening, Charles.’

***

Rose had left her mother-in-law’s company to restore her
spirits, so the last thing she needed as she rode out and inhaled the crisp
morning air, gazing out over the beautiful hills and valleys which her husband
owned, was to see Mr Albright, also on horseback, hailing her.

‘’Morning, Mr Albright,’ she said, with a decided lack of
pleasure as he brought his mount abreast of hers.

‘Surveying your newly acquired estates, madam?’ he remarked
in that outrageously direct way of his; so insulting.

‘I had no idea it was so beautiful.’

‘Then I hope you will remain in the country to enjoy it
rather than rushing back to town at the first opportunity.’ His tone was insinuating.
‘I was looking forward to furthering our acquaintance … now that we are such
close neighbours.’

Rose tried to look as unwelcoming as she could. He was
sticking by her side like a leech.

‘Your husband and I used to fish off that stone bridge over
there whenever we could get out of our lessons early,’ Geoffrey said, pointing.
‘Not that that was often, for our tutor took fiendish delight in setting us
Latin translation which took for ever to finish.’

‘You had lessons together?’

‘Evidently Lady Rampton felt her son wanted in the way of
playmates. As we were both roughly the same age and had no siblings she
proposed to my mother that I should take my lessons with Rampton. I daresay I
can thank him for opportunities which might not otherwise have come my way.’

‘And what use have you made of them, Mr Albright?’

At her arch look and tone he roared with laughter and then
responded, as if he genuinely thought she’d been making a joke, ‘Absolutely right,
Lady Rampton, I’ve never done a scrap of good since the day I was born. I am
the despair of my poor parents. They even sent me off to the West Indies for a
short time, you know. Alas, our paths did not cross, Lady Rampton. Perhaps
you’d have seen that the wayward youth I once was needed the strictest of
overseers, not some indulgent – and somewhat drink-sodden – brother
of my mother.’ His eyes gleamed at Rose as he assessed the effect his words had
on her.

Rose frowned, recalling her father mentioning some lazy
ne’er-dowell relative of some acquaintance. Perhaps it had been Geoffrey.

When at last she was rid of him she stopped in at the
kitchens to supervise dinner. Little matter that the dowager would consider it
a gross violation, but Rose wanted not only to see the way things were run and,
if possible, make improvements. She knew how to run an estate and, after all,
she was the new Lady Rampton and her husband had given her carte blanche.
Following a heated but, she hoped, profitable exchange with the cook she spent
the rest of the afternoon exploring the house. She was determined to acquit
herself more than creditably as his wife and hostess and was not afraid of hard
work.

If honour had, despite his efforts to prove to the contrary,
forced Rampton to marry her, then she intended that respect, spiced with desire
would keep him true.

Just before retiring to her apartments to change she was
handed two letters: one from her Aunt Alice and one from a man of the law of
whom she’d never heard.

***

Rampton had barely drawn breath, changed his coat and
sponged the dust from his face before going in search of Rose. He’d behaved
like an immature schoolboy, misinterpreting her strained behaviour after her
first dinner party in her new home. Then he’d rushed off without a word, giving
his mother more ammunition against his new wife. The last thing he wanted!

He found her in her private sitting room, white-faced and
trembling.

‘My great-aunt Gwendolyn has died,’ she told him.

He looked at the cream wafer she waved distractedly before
her, and then at her face. Her eyes were blank with shock.

Having galloped as if the devil was after him he’d hoped for
a warmer welcome than this. The rapid beating of his heart was not due to
exertion only and he ached to enfold her as he murmured the tender
rapprochements he’d been rehearsing during most of the journey home.

But she barely acknowledged either him or his honeyed words.
He was unsure whether she expected sympathy. Great-aunt Gwendolyn had been a
tartar, from all reports. Charles had said that Rose had barely known her.

‘My commiserations,’ he said, feeling unaccountably awkward
as he put a comforting arm around Rose who was standing in the centre of the
room. She seemed so distant. ‘When is her funeral? I daresay you’re obliged to
attend?’

‘It would be the least I can do, considering she has just
left me a rather fine address in Mayfair, and an annuity for its upkeep.’

It was more, much more, than he had expected. He also had
expected Rose to be delighted. Carefully, he led her to the window seat and sat
beside her. Clearly she was in shock. This woman must have meant a great deal
to her, after all. He murmured, ‘That was magnanimous of her.’

‘No!’ Rose shook off his arm and buried her face in her
hands. ‘Why did she choose to die now? Everyone said she was a vindictive old
woman. And so she was. To die now … not three weeks ago!’ The wafer which had
conveyed the news, now a crushed ball, was flung across the room. Rose stood up
and began to pace, hands at her throat, her breathing laboured. ‘Don’t you
see?’ she continued. ‘If she had given some indication of her intentions
earlier I would never have been forced to continue my deception. I could have
paid our debt to you – honourably.’

She stopped and turned an appealing look towards Rampton and
he, who’d returned from London in such anticipation of making good after his
poor response the night before, felt only the deepest sense of disappointment. He
frowned, trying to make full sense of her outburst.

‘And thus neither of us would have been trapped into this
marriage?’ He rose and put his hands on her shoulders, bringing her face close
to hers as she began to protest. Meanwhile, regardless of what his heart was
telling him, the fires of lust were as ever being stoked by her mere proximity.

‘Prove what you say is true,’ he growled, crushing her
against him, groaning as his hands contoured the sway of her back and the pert
buttocks and thighs beneath the informal morning dress she was wearing. With a
quick glance to reassure him they were alone, Rampton whisked her into his arms
and bore her up the stairs and along the corridor to his bedchamber.

She clung to him. He didn’t look down to see if she were
cowed or otherwise. All he wanted was to feel her naked beneath him, to stoke
her passions into feelings that echoed his and thus reassure him that her
desires for him were mutual.

She had married London’s prize catch of the season. How dare
she not show him the appreciation or give him the reassurance he needed?

Dumping her on the bed, he kept his eyes on her as she tore
off his coat and hessians, then, looming over her before climbing onto the bed
he asked, ‘Do you want me?’

Wordlessly, she nodded, rolling onto her stomach so he could
undo the buttons of her gown. Her trembles of sensation as he slid his hands
across her satiny skin added to his need for her, but he wanted the
reassurances of her words, too.

He felt her swallow convulsively as he kissed her throat,
his hand reaching for the hem of her chemise, raising it, slowly, as he trailed
his fingertips the length of her limb, across her heated thigh.

Still she said nothing, just mutely allowed him the liberty
of his exploration. The moistness between her legs should have delighted him,
as testimony that she desired this as much as he but there was something hollow
in the act.

With a sigh she received him, moving with him, slowly at
first, matching his pace, and all the while he stared into her face, waiting
for a sign that he was the only man who could satisfy him until his thoughts
became mindlessly concentrated on his own pleasure.

His climax coincided with the dinner gong. He had no idea if
he’d satisfied his young wife for she immediately slid to the floor, her eyes
filled with fear as she reached for her gown, pulling it over her head and
turning so he could do up the buttons. ‘Beth will be looking for me.’ Her
breathing was fast and shallow and he wondered if it was from their exertions
or her fear of possible consequences when she added, ‘and we can’t have your
mother waiting.’

He looked over his shoulder as he put on his hessians.
‘Pleasing my mother is more important than pleasing me?’ He’d said it half in
jest but she bit her lip as she hesitated, half way to the door. ‘You know I’d
do anything to please you, Rampton darling, but your mother has the potential
to make my life very … uncomfortable.’

Her hand lingered on the door knob and she was clearly
waiting for some rejoinder. She looked ill at ease and Rampton, who’d thought
taking her to bed would be the answer to all his troubled feelings, could only
sigh and shake his head.

‘Only if you let her, my dear,’ he said, not bothering to
hide his exasperation. ‘Now run along or you’ll keep Beth waiting, too, and we
can’t have that, can we?’

As she turned, he called her back. ‘I expect you’ll wish to
make arrangements for your earliest possible departure. Tomorrow morning? That
should see you there in good time.’

She looked confused. And hurt. Though why that should be
Rampton had no idea.

‘I’ll sell it, Rampton. The property might be willed to me,
but the proceeds are yours, by rights. The debt—’