Laura Matthews (27 page)

“Rescuing little John. Apparently his pony ran away with him.”

“Was Edward anywhere around?” William asked.

“Yes.”

“Might have known. That man is a hazard.”

“Fortunately, he will be leaving tomorrow. Permanently, I believe, for the Continent.” Alvescot didn’t find it necessary to inform him that the older Curtiss was alive and running a gambling establishment. It was not the sort of encouragement William needed.

“Oh? I hadn’t heard that. His sister didn’t mention it.”

“I don’t believe she knows yet. Edward can be rather secretive.”

“Permanently, you say? He won’t be coming back to England?”

“I shouldn’t think so. It’s a matter of a business opportunity.”

“Something illegal, or I miss my bet,” William snorted. “The man has no character.” But the idea caught his imagination. Alvescot could tell by the way he pursed his lips and stared at the amber fluid in his glass, oblivious to the earl’s presence. After a while, when he didn’t say anything, Alvescot suggested they join the ladies.

Chapter Nineteen

It had been a long evening, Alvescot decided as he slipped into his nightshirt and extinguished the candle by his bed. Louisa had played, and played, and played—at her mother’s request. Alvescot had sat with Vanessa on the sofa despite Mabel’s attempts to divert him. This had encouraged William, but Mabel had made sure he didn’t get close enough to Louisa to have a private word with her. They both played at cards with the two older women, and exchanged wistful glances, but at the end of the evening Mabel rushed her daughter off to her room with hardly a nod in William’s direction.

She
had
said, “I expect you will be leaving early,” to poor Oldcastle.

Lord, the woman doesn’t know when she’s well off, Alvescot thought as he climbed into the luxurious bed with its lovely needlework hangings. He had tried to make it as evident as possible that his interest was in Vanessa and not Louisa, but Mabel persisted in her folly. And Edward. Edward had returned and followed him up the stairs so closely Alvescot had felt hounded. The young man had grumbled at only fifty pounds in cash, and took the bank draft for the remainder with a long-suffering groan. Alvescot had felt like snatching back the paper and ripping it to shreds before Edward’s eyes.

For some time he lay there in the dark considering various methods of convincing Vanessa to marry him. It might be possible to speak with the children, but he thought she wouldn’t be pleased with that. If she wanted to speak with them, she would do it herself. Perhaps already had, when she had left for a while to say good-night to them.

He had just settled himself for sleep when he heard the knob of his door turn. His first thought was a rather wondering joy that Vanessa would come to him like this and his body responded accordingly.

“William?”

Oh, for God’s sake, he shuddered under the covers. She had let herself through the door and was carrying a candle which glowed warmly on her nakedness. Not again! “This is not William’s room,” he said firmly.

“But it must be!” Louisa exclaimed, a catch in her voice. “I made very sure I had the direction right this time. I counted how many steps it was from my room in broad daylight. I could not be mistaken.”

“William has the Blue Velvet room this time.
I
have the Chinese Chippendale.”

“No one said!” The candle swung crazily as she tossed her hands about in despair. “I don’t know where the Blue Velvet room is.”

Sighing, Alvescot threw his feet over the side of the bed and rose. “Why don’t you at least wear something on your way to his room?” he asked in exasperation. “Lord, Louisa, you’re going to catch your death of cold.”

“I don’t think you can have anything on and still be considered in a Compromising Position,” she informed him, almost sternly. “They did say ‘not fully clothed,’ but how is one to know just how much clothing one may wear and still have it right? I don’t want to take any chances.”

He pulled a blanket from the bed as she spoke and now approached to drape it about her shoulders. “I’ll see you back to your room.”

“No! I shan’t go to my room! Don’t you see? This is the only opportunity I will ever have. He’s going to go away tomorrow and I won’t ever see him again. It’s not fair,” she wailed. “Just tell me where the Blue Velvet room is.”

Alvescot was torn. In order to avoid a minor scandal, he really should see her back to her own room, but he could understand her despair. Mabel was too blind to know where her own benefit lay, and he
had
promised Louisa some time ago that he would do what he could to promote her happiness with William. The Blue Velvet room was only two doors down the hall. Really, one shouldn’t be put in this sort of position in a well-run household.

“All right,” he said at length. “But, Louisa, you don’t have to go to him naked. I’m sure simply talking to him is all you need to do to set aside any misunderstanding. It’s obvious he’s fond of you, and I should think all you have to do is let him know your sentiments and everything will work out to your satisfaction.”

“My mother wouldn’t accept it if we simply decided to get married. Surely you can see that! No, we have to be found in a Compromising Position so we
have
to get married.”

“And who’s going to find you in a compromising position in William’s room?” he demanded. “People don’t just walk in there in the middle of night.”

This problem had never occurred to her. It had seemed enough to engineer the situation without actually deciding who would be the one to discover them. “Well,” she said, the candle wavering in her hand, “I shall just have to scream or something to bring one of the servants.”

Alvescot groaned. “You can’t do that. Surely you don’t want one of the servants walking in on you naked, Louisa.”

“Hmm. Well, then it will have to be you, Lord Alvescot. That can’t do any harm. You’ve already seen me naked.”

“Never! What excuse would I have for barging into William’s room at this time of night?” he demanded, feeling slightly unnerved. “Listen to me, Louisa. You’re of age. All you have to do is
talk
to William. I’m sure he wants to marry you, and then you simply marry him. Mabel can’t stand in your way.”

In the urgency of their discussion they hadn’t bothered to lower their voices. Now there was an inarticulate roar from the hall and Alvescot’s door was flung open, just grazing past Louisa, but catching the blanket as it passed to slam against the wall. Louisa was once again left in all
her blond nakedness staring in surprise at a fully clothed and frothing William.

“I knew it!” he yelped. “I knew it! I knew I would find you here! For shame, Louisa! I had thought you had more propriety. To think I ever considered making you my wife. I cringe to contemplate it!”

His histrionics were not carried on in a low voice and Alvescot attempted to hush him, to close the door, and to cover Louisa all at the same time. Louisa had burst into tears and was not the least concerned about her natural state. She shrugged off the corner of the blanket Alvescot had managed to toss over her shoulder and gasped, “You don’t understand, William.”

“I understand. There is nothing wrong with my understanding.” His pompous stance was marred by his widening eyes as he at last seemed to realize she was completely naked. He tried not to look at her, he struggled to keep his eyes on her face, but they refused to obey his split inclinations. “My God!” he breathed, unaware he had spoken.

“I meant to come to you,” she explained earnestly. “I thought you had the Chinese Chippendale bedroom as you did when you were here before. How was I to know Vanessa had given it to Lord Alvescot?”

Mention of the earl’s name revived all William’s outrage. “Cad!” he cried. “Bounder! Seducer of innocents! And in a respectable household! How dare you? I shall gouge out your eyes! I shall slit your throat! I shall break your arms and hack off your legs!”

“Oh, William,” Louisa giggled, “don’t be absurd. Lord Alvescot was just bringing me to your room.”

“My room! Is that the way it’s done in your circles, my lord?” he asked, overflowing with contempt. “Taking pure young innocents and passing them from man to man? You deserve to be hung!”

Alvescot could hear hurrying footsteps in the hall now and he gave a resigned sigh. In a moment Vanessa appeared in the doorway, taking in the scene with perplexed and sleepy eyes. “What has happened?” she demanded.

They all attempted to answer her at once, but Alvescot, strained now beyond endurance by her arrival, rudely told his two companions to be still. Then, making one final attempt to settle the blanket about Louisa’s shoulders, he said, “Miss Curtiss mistook her direction. She was seeking Mr. Oldcastle’s room and assumed him to be in this room, as he was on his previous stay. Being unable to gain his attention any other way, she had resolved to place the two of them in a compromising position so they would have to be married. As she didn’t know how much clothing a delicately nurtured young woman must remove in order to be compromised, she arrived naked, just to be on the safe side, you understand.” His eyes held Vanessa’s for a long moment, during which her lips began to twitch. “Just so,” he murmured.

William had been forced to listen to this recital, but he didn’t have to believe it. He was tempted not to believe it, but he found it such a flattering, attractive idea, that he chose to accept it as truth. “Did you really?” he asked, eyes wide with admiration. “You wanted to marry me that much?”

“Yes,” Louisa replied, her eyes now shyly dropped.

“Well, I say, it wasn’t exactly a
proper
thing to do, you know,” he informed her judiciously, “but you meant well. Actually, it wasn’t proper of me to go to your room tonight, either, but dash it all, Louisa, there’s no getting past your dragon of a mother.”

“You went to my room?”

“Ah, yes. But I had no intention of seducing you!” he assured her. “I thought we would just have a moment to talk alone, don’t you know. Without Mabel and Alvescot and the lot of them hanging around. But you weren’t there.”

“No.”

“So I was going back to my room, thinking Mabel had locked you away somewhere, when I heard your voice coming from here. I was that angry! Yes, well, you know about all that.”

Vanessa interrupted their exchange, which stood some chance of continuing for quite a while, by suggesting, “Why don’t you both go along to Louisa’s room to talk? It’s not fair to keep Lord Alvescot from his rest.”

Obediently they wandered out into the hall together, hardly aware of the other two. Louisa tripped on the dragging blanket and William solicitously rearranged it about her shoulders. Vanessa watched until they were out of sight, then turned to say to Alvescot, “I’m sorry about that. It must have been rather embarrassing.”

“I’m no more easily embarrassed than you are, my dear,” he retorted, “and it’s not the first time it’s happened.”

“It isn’t?”

“No. Louisa came wandering into my room the last time I was here, when I had that little closet, you remember.”

“I remember,” she laughed. “Was she looking for William then?”

“Oh, yes, no one ever comes looking for me.”

Their eyes held for a moment and Vanessa gently closed the door behind her. “It had never occurred to me to wander about the halls naked.”

“I’m glad.” He opened his arms to her and she came into them in a soft swirl of cotton fabric. He could feel her breasts pressed against his chest, the length of her body touching his. “I’ll remember what you said this afternoon,” he whispered into her ebony hair. “I won’t ask you to consummate our bond. Just to hold you, to touch you, is all I can ask of you now.”

“Thank you, James. It’s not prudishness, you know,” she said, looking up at him with her gray-brown eyes, wanting him to understand. “It’s a matter of prudence. I’ve wanted you, and I would willingly give myself if it weren’t taking such a chance.”

“I know.”

And then his lips met hers, warm and inviting, and she released herself to the sensation of being loved and desired. It was a mutual feeling. Her hands traced the contours of his head and shoulders, his back and his buttocks through the nightshirt. He felt so solidly male under her exploring hands, so gloriously firm and exciting. She wanted to feel the texture of his skin, to stroke it with loving fingers, to call forth the rich sensations she was experiencing as he stroked her breasts through the layers of cotton. Slowly he unfastened the buttons on her dressing gown and slid it off onto the floor, leaving her in only her thin cotton nightdress.

“Lie with me,” he urged, pressing her softly to him.

Vanessa climbed onto the bed. She thought briefly of discarding the nightdress but decided it would remind them both of the limitation she had imposed and he accepted. He lay down beside her, drawing her once more into his arms. At first he merely stroked her hair, murmuring beside her ear the beautiful nonsense of love. She could feel the steady pulse of his manhood against her, as unrelenting and undemanding as waves pounding on the shore. Her fingers were slightly unsteady as she pushed her nightdress up about her waist, and then did the same with his nightshirt. The beat of his heart against hers echoed their increased desire. And still he held her, assuring her by his control, that she needn’t fear he could not contain his passion.

With warm, sure fingers he untied the bow at her neck and slid a hand inside to cup her breast. On the tender flesh his hand felt firm but gentle, caressing the sensitive, taut nipple with infinite care. Waves of pleasure spread through her body, and with his other hand he traced their progress, unknowing and yet perfectly attuned, stroking her thighs, easing between her legs. The sensations were so exquisite that almost unconsciously her own hand went to touch him, to give the pleasure that he gave. She had never done it before without being asked. And she had never before felt such a rush of joy in the giving.

His mouth came to encircle her breast with a sigh, his tongue moist and teasing on her nipple. Gentle, and yet excruciatingly arousing. Her body felt awash with eroticism, engulfed. She could feel the soaring crisis, the breathless, shattering pinnacle . . . and the pulsating waves of satisfaction. She experienced his release with hers, apart but bound in gratitude. Vanessa kissed his forehead, his lips, enclosed him tightly in her arms. “I love you,” she whispered.