Far Too Tempted (14 page)

Nathaniel’s fingers tightened and he chuckled. “Darling, if you even think that was a consideration when I proposed marriage, think again.”

A certain tightness in her chest seemed to loosen at the obvious sincerity in his voice. Jessica gave him smile of relief. “I’m so glad to hear you say so, I mean—”

“Your dowry was hardly much of a loss. I spend more on diamond shoe buckles in the course of a season. Don’t give it another thought.”

Blinking, she fought against a feeling of complete insult. Her father had been a reasonably wealthy man and had put the funds aside for her. It had seemed a great deal of money, to her mind. True, her husband-to-be had a vast fortune at his fingertips and a somewhat of a showy sense of style, but he didn’t need to belittle her legacy. She stiffened.

He was oblivious. Lowering his head, he said huskily, “I’ve missed you.”

His lips touched hers lightly.

That strange excitement was apparently eclipsed by her nervousness this afternoon, for it didn’t happen.

The kiss was chaste and undemanding and over very soon. The slightest pressure of his mouth on hers, closed and soft. When Nathaniel lifted his head, he looked triumphant and she felt a little bemused. It had been very like the other few stolen kisses they had shared in the past. Always before, she’d been exhilarated.

Somehow, after that wild, forceful embrace she’d experienced with Alex Ramsey, all she felt was a certain unreasonable sense of disappointment.

Her face warmed as she recalled the sensuous thrust of his tongue in her mouth, the unrelenting clasp of his arms drawing her against the hardened planes of his body, the way his fingers wove into her hair…

Of course—it was a razor-sharp reminder—the man was a notorious rake. Nathaniel was more polite and refined. How could she resent that he kissed like her a gentleman would the woman he intends to be his bride?

“I’ve decided we’ll announce our engagement at the party the duchess is throwing for us, and we will marry as soon as possible. Just leave it all to me. The arrangements will all be taken care of to every last detail.”

Clearing her throat, she stepped back. “That sounds wonderful.”

Brown eyes gazed down at her with an unmistakable air of possession. “I cannot wait to make you mine.”

Bride…or asset? Immediately Jessica banished the ungrateful suspicion. “I can’t wait either.”

“You missed dinner.”

Alex turned his head at the soft sound of his sister-in-law’s voice and came swiftly to his feet. As the hour was very late, he’d been certain the whole house was abed. “Please pardon me, Ariel. I ran into an old friend, Jack Rivers to be precise, and we did some catching up on not only his life, but the current gossip. We talked rather longer than I anticipated and ended up dining together at our club.”

Slim and graceful in a pale robe that covered her nightdress, Ariel came into the library and crossed over to drop into an opposite chair, settling comfortably and tucking her legs underneath her. “Jack and his French bride haven’t been in town long themselves. You are forgiven, of course. Er…is that brandy?”

Alex grinned. “It is indeed. Would Your Grace enjoy a small sample before she retires?”

Ariel laughed. “Yes, I would. It’s deplorable, isn’t it, but I enjoy brandy much more than those insipid sherries I am expected to drink.”

When he moved to retrieve a glass from the sideboard, Alex asked in a light tone, “Marcus isn’t going to come downstairs and have me on the carpet for socializing with his wife in the wee hours, now is he?”

“Your brother indulges me notoriously, and besides, Marcus is sound asleep, oblivious to the world.” Ariel gave a small sigh. “One of the children had a nightmare and has just now drifted back to sleep, so I thought I’d come downstairs and perhaps catch you before you retired.”

His brows elevating in real surprise, Alex handed her the brandy and settled back down in his chair. “Me? May I ask why?”

She took a solid sip of her drink and gave a delicate shudder. Her green eyes lifted and met his with genuine challenge, her lovely features drawn into an expression of disapproval. “I want to know why you seem to be avoiding Jessica as diligently as she is avoiding you.”

Casually crossing his booted feet at the ankle and making quite a business of it, he said, “What makes you think I’m avoiding her?”

“Because I have both eyes and ears and the ability to make deductions from the information they perceive. Something is afoot.”

Her prompt, tart reply made him laugh. “I see.”

Ariel frowned. “Do you? Alex…you’ve not eaten a meal with us once in the past five days. You rode outside the carriage on the way here from Grayston and have made excuses for any suggested social engagements if she is included. Considering how short your time is with us before you return to Spain, and Jessica’s seeming aversion to your company, I can only draw the obvious conclusions.”

It was his turn to take a large mouthful of his drink. He didn’t care to explain to his sister-in-law what began the rift, not any more than he had wanted to tell his mother when asked. “And those conclusions are?”

“I do not think the two of you dislike each other at all. Quite the opposite. You are both trying to fight the attraction, which is commendable since she is already promised, but you cannot avoid each other forever.”

Maybe not, but he was making a damned good effort at it.

“Besides,” Ariel commented dryly into the silence, “I must inform you that my daughter has a tendency to tell me everything. At eight years of age, she wasn’t sure exactly what she saw that night in the garden, but her description was clear enough to me.”

That damned reckless kiss. He felt his face tighten and had to consciously relax or betray his irritation. Idly swirling the liquid in his glass, he said, “It was nothing. A foolish moment.”

Ariel’s eyebrows almost reached her hairline. “A foolish moment? Kisses in a moonlit garden? Yes, I would say that comes under the heading of foolish when one of the participants is engaged to be married to someone else. It is almost as foolish as spending the night alone together in the same house. Jessica is young and innocent, but I would think that you would have tried harder to protect her reputation. What were you thinking, Alex?”

The problem had been that he hadn’t really been thinking at all. First, Jessica’s unexpected presence at Braidwood and her precipitous attack had him off-balance. Then being forced to reveal Robert’s duplicity, her subsequent shock and sorrow—all of that combined with his own fatigue had made for an ungovernable situation.

In his defense, he declared, “Ariel, you weren’t there. It was very late, I was tired, and Jessica was both exhausted and stunned by the news of Robert’s defection. Neither of us was up for a trek cross-country in the dark—on foot, mind you—to bang on your door in the middle of the night. I believe that would have caused more of a stir than the way it was handled.”

Her lashes lowered minutely. She lifted her glass in a parody of a toast. “I hope Nathaniel Greene agrees with that opinion when he hears of this matter.”

Alex straightened abruptly in his chair, hoping he’d heard her wrong. “What?”

His sister-in-law’s gaze was direct and steady. “I thought Jack caught you up on the latest gossip? As I understand it, the rumor is spreading through London quite like wildfire. I’ve done my best so far to simply laugh it off, and I suppose we are lucky that he doesn’t seem to know yet, but he will hear it, make no mistake. I have the feeling that some members of his family already have. Jessica was on the receiving end of some very cold looks today.”

Hell and blast
.

He felt his face tighten. “Jack did make some comments I thought puzzling. How on earth could this happen? Berkshire is well away from here—”

“Please. I know you, of all people, are not so naive. Servants know what we do every minute of the day, and they talk.” A genteel clearing of her throat punctuated that statement. “And stories grow in the telling, which is only to the worst. As I hear it, the two of you were found in bed together, naked and in each other’s arms.”

All too close to true. “We were
not
naked. Exhausted, yes, but fully clothed. It was the furthest thing from a romantic interlude possible.”

Ariel’s brows rose. “I think the bed alone will make that slight exaggeration insignificant. I take you did share a bed.”

“Damnation,” he muttered involuntarily. “Jessica does not need this.”

“No, she doesn’t.” Ariel’s hand went up as he opened his mouth. “No, don’t bother apologizing for your language, Alex. The word sums up my feelings very nicely. Now that you are aware of this situation, what are you going to do?”

“Do?” He swallowed the last of his brandy in one burning gulp. “What can I do?”

Ariel smiled, her beautiful face bland. “An excellent question that I’m glad you asked. Here is my suggestion. Let’s wait and see how Nathaniel Greene reacts. From what I saw this afternoon, he seems to be very much taken with Jessica and that may be all that matters, especially if you will corroborate her version of the truth.” She reached over and set her empty snifter down on a tiny French table with a definite click.

The real story, Alex had to darkly reflect, would not be a comfort to Jessica’s fiancé. He said with cynical certainty, “I sense a ‘but’ somewhere in the next sentence.”

Ariel inclined her head. “But, if he cries off because of all this, leaving Jessica alone, humiliated and penniless for the second time in just a few weeks, you won’t have any choice but to marry her.”

Marry her
.

Jessica?

Alex practically lunged to his feet. “Marry her? I think not. It’s not my fault she was at the house when I got there, alone and unchaperoned. It’s absolutely not my fault that her brother left her and ran off to America, and if Mr. Greene is so idiotic as to cancel his engagement to a bright and beautiful young woman because of a few whispers, well, that won’t be my fault either.”

“Won’t it?” The question was pointed.

A muscle in his jaw twitched, he could feel it. “Ariel, in case you haven’t noticed, she despises me.”

His sister-in-law folded her hands in her lap and looked serene. “What I’ve noticed is that there is oftentimes a fine line between hate and love. What about that kiss? I have every confidence you could change her feelings with a minimum of effort. A woman never forgets her first love.”

Apparently Jessica had confided in his sister-in-law.

“The problem is that I have no inclination to change her feelings, and it was a childish infatuation, nothing more.”

“But you will come to her rescue…if it becomes necessary?”

There was enough challenge in the question that his head came up. Caustically, he queried, “Are you asking me if I am a true gentleman, Ariel?”

His sister-in-law shook her head and stood, her flowing white robe billowing around her. “Whoever you are—Colonel Ramsey, Lord Alex, or my husband’s rather notorious and rakish younger brother—all of them are gentlemen. I trust you and always have.” Rising on tiptoe and pressing a light kiss to his cheek, she left the room in flurry of perfume and silken skirts.

And Alex had the unsettling feeling that despite all his years as a soldier, he’d just been bested in some kind of combat he didn’t even begin to understand.

Chapter Seven

Orschell’s townhouse looked like every other elegant building lining the fashionable street. Alighting from the Grayston carriage, Alex pulled out his watch and checked the time. Lady Orschell had sent a note agreeing to see him at ten, and it wouldn’t do to keep her waiting.

With a murdered husband, surely she’d had enough recent grief in her life. Maybe talking to her would clear his mind and help them both.

The Committee.

That damned list was like a refrain of a popular tune Alex couldn’t get out of his head. One of the new waltzes he didn’t care much for perhaps, cloying and repetitive. God help him, he didn’t know where to start besides Orschell’s widow and if he didn’t figure something out, there was a chance that someone else might die.

El Diablo
, he thought moodily. Wonderful. If all of Lord Wellington’s trained spies couldn’t capture the man, why should Alex have any better luck? And on his own—mind you—not supported by webs of intelligence officers, messengers and political bargaining.

He had to, was the obvious answer. Marcus was a potential victim.

In fact, over half the names on that list were people he knew fairly well. What was worse, all night he’d lain awake thinking about the murders, seeking a distraction from the looming possible social disaster in his life, trying to decipher something about his new enemy. With so little information, it seemed pretty hopeless. He’d already decided that his initial gut reaction had been correct. A soldier shouldn’t be sent to do this job.

Bloody hell.

A vague headache throbbed behind his left eye as he went up the steps and made use of the knocker. Minutes later he found himself ushered into a small elegant salon, only too evidently a woman’s realm by the shades of delicate pink and cream that graced the striped wall coverings and lavish furniture. The cloying scent of lilies filled the air, reminding him this was indeed a house of mourning.