Love's Justice (Entangled Scandalous) (10 page)

Chapter Twenty

They hadn’t spoken for over an hour. He had carried her to the bed and propped himself up in it, laying her beside him, cradling her head against his chest, and keeping her securely in his embrace. She was still awake. He knew that, somehow, although she had not moved.

He still couldn’t believe his own callousness. He was a man who prided himself in treating others fairly and yet…

And yet he had hurt the one person on the earth that he…

That he what?

It was the question that haunted him. What was she to him? What could she be to him in this infernal mess that was their lives?

The warm pressure of her body against his, the softness of her hair that lay across the opening of his shirt, was almost too much to bear.

She smelled of lavender.

He wanted to press a kiss into that hair. Turn her and cover her with his body. He wanted to explore her breasts and flat stomach with a trail of kisses. He hardened at the images that tempted him.

Now was not the time. This was not the place. He couldn’t know the future but he couldn’t betray the present. He was still lost in thought when she spoke quietly.

“Why did you come?” she whispered. “To my room at this hour?”

He told her the truth, at least part of the truth.

“I was planning to leave before breakfast in the morning, and I wanted to warn you about something that might affect you.”

She rose to a sitting position. “What?”

“Do you know Edward Whitney lost his previous fortune gambling?”

She nodded, acknowledging she suspected as much.

“He’s gambling heavily again. He has many creditors. It won’t be long before he will have lost all of your friend’s fortune as well.”

Victoria shook her head in disbelief and denial. “He wouldn’t do that to her. How could he? He isn’t an evil man. He is gentle and kind. Emily herself told me that.”

“That may be, but he has misled her, at the very least. He has told her he was away at their country estate when, too often, he was at the clubs. I personally like Lord Whitney, but he seems possessed by the need to wager at the gaming tables. He is in the clubs from morning to late, moving between them as his credit is denied. I wanted you to know.”

“But what am I to do about it? I can’t stop him.”

“At least you could warn your friend. Perhaps she could speak with him.”

He moved to stand up. The motion brought them both to an impasse.

He didn’t want to leave her. The quiet hour they had spent together had been even more intimate than the time in the conservatory, but he had to go before his body betrayed him.

Victoria had found comfort in the steady beat of his heart and in his arms securely around her. This was all she wanted. This feeling of surrender, knowing her vulnerability wouldn’t be abused. She could be strong. She had been strong all her life. It was this other feeling that haunted her. She needed to feel safe before she could relax. Hugh, in some way, offered her this.

She was more than ready for this kind of relationship. What she had once dreamed of
was
possible, but there were almost insurmountable complications. Hugh was a man to whom queens and prime ministers listened, a man whose career changed the lives of others for the better. Was it fair to put him and his career in jeopardy?

“I need you to know something.” She put a hand on his arm to hold him a moment longer.

He paused. “What?”

“Lord Stanford,” Victoria paused, “saw me kiss you in the copse. He has suggested some impropriety between us. He has threatened to ruin you. Whether he says I seduced you or you seduced me, it makes very little difference.”

She didn’t know the truth herself, but she couldn’t deny there was something in the accusation. In fact, she longed for the very thing Stanford would use against them. That they were here in her bedroom alone and in dishabille at this hour of the night would only confirm his claims.

“The cad will stop at nothing to get what he wants.” Hugh was angry. Was he angry with her? Surely, she had been complicit in dragging him into her sordid mess. She should never have kissed him in public. In full view of her vile enemy.

He rose from the bed. It seemed she had told him the one thing that would drive him off and never allow them to be together. However much she might want it, nothing would happen. Not tonight. Not for the foreseeable future. Probably not ever.

He walked slowly to the door. Once there, he turned back to her. “I’m sorry.”

For what was he sorry? There were so many things to regret in both their behaviors. She feared whatever might have been was at an end. And she had only herself to blame.

Chapter Twenty-One

“Ah, there you are. We had about given up hope.” Lady Edith sat at the table in the family dining room. Breakfast had been set on the sideboard. “Are you quite well? You look ill?”

Victoria was paralyzed for a moment. She had hardly slept, going over and over what had happened last night. She had prided herself on her self-sufficiency and independence. Stanford had proved how reckless that concept actually was. She had been overpowered and almost violated. But for the appearance of Hugh, she would have lost her battle. It had sobered and saddened her. A man had been her nemesis and a man her savior. She could no longer think of men as mere adjuncts to her life. She was as guilty as those men who undervalued women.

Lady Edith repeated herself. “What has happened? You don’t look at all well.”

“Is your husband around, by any chance?” Victoria asked.

“He must be around somewhere, but at this moment I couldn’t tell you exactly where. Please join me. I’m sure Henry will be along shortly.” She patted the seat of the chair next to hers. “And you must call us Edith and Henry. I insist.”

She continued on cheerfully,“I’m afraid very soon I will no longer be able to put myself out in society.” She pressed a hand against her womb. “But I would so hate to miss the holiday parties.” She laughed. “Thank goodness for corsets.”

Victoria offered a weak smile in return.

Edith turned more serious. “Henry was up early. He mentioned Lord Stanford had already left and he thought Hugh had left as well. I do hope there wasn’t a second altercation after the scene in the ballroom.”

Victoria said nothing. She tried to smile but found it difficult.

“I haven’t seen Hugh so attentive in many years. He rarely accepts my in-laws’ Christmas invitation.”

“Lord Montgomery has been very kind to me,” Victoria said. “I am sure he is generally kind to all those of his acquaintance.”

“Yes, that’s true. Very true. Hugh is a remarkable man. He has overcome a terrible childhood to bring honor to the family name, which his father had destroyed. He and Henry are extremely close, as are we all. I would hate to see his kindness abused.”

“I assure you, my lady…” Victoria stammered, unsure what she could say to allay the woman’s fears.

“Ah, there you are!” Lord Percy entered the room, full of energy.

He went to the sideboard and filled a plate with the breakfast offerings, grilled tomatoes, thick country bacon, and eggs. As he did, he glanced at Victoria.

“Have you eaten, Miss Westwood?”

“No, I—”

“Then you must. It won’t do to have my father and mother’s guests starving.”

Victoria rose slowly and joined him at the sideboard. She picked at the food, but she wasn’t hungry. “So you went off with Monty last evening? I found it surprising. But I can guess where he took you.”

“I don’t think he meant it to be secret, my lord.” Victoria blushed. Their departure from the ball evidently hadn’t gone unnoticed.

“Still, it was remarkable. I don’t think he’s shared his secret place with many others. Not since he was a boy and took me there one night when we snuck out of bed. It was a safe place for him. A place where he could escape all the pain he suffered at the hands of his father.” He studied her closely again. “It’s not the type of place he shares with just anyone.”

How much did Lord Percy know about last night’s events? She wasn’t sure if he approved or disapproved of her. Certainly, she wasn’t a proper Englishwoman. Thanks to Lord Stanford’s gossiping, she wasn’t even a respectable American. She was being dragged through the English courts like some street harlot.

Victoria looked up. “I won’t betray his feelings, my lord, if that is your concern.”

“No, I didn’t think you would.”

He was thoughtful for a moment as they approached the table. Once there, he looked to his wife, as if for permission, and then spoke.

“Edith and I are having some friends over on Christmas Eve. I invited Monty again this morning. He has agreed to come. He did ask if I was extending the invitation to anyone else.” He laughed softly. “I believe you are the someone else he would like invited. Edith and I would be pleased if you joined us. It will be chaotic. The children will be roaming the house at will. But I promise Monty will protect you from the little heathens. And we must not be so formal. We are simply Henry and Edith.”

“We would be pleased if you came,” Edith said in support of her husband.

Victoria’s heart soared. What had begun as such a hopeless day had suddenly become filled with joy. “I would be honored to come.”

“Fine, it’s settled then. We shall see you Christmas Eve at six.”

“You’ll forgive us if we don’t extend the invitation in writing, my dear. It will only be the four of us…and of course the children.” Edith once more patted her belly.

Victoria envied them their large family. She envied them their shared confidences. She envied them their long friendship with Hugh Worth, the Earl of Montgomery and Lord Chancellor of the Exchequer.

“Will you be attending the Duke and Duchess of Westminster’s party next week?” Henry asked. “It will be the last before Christmas.”

“No, I haven’t received an invitation.”

“Well, I shall have to speak to the duchess. Do promise me that if you receive an invitation, you will come. Their home, Grosvenor House, is very near where you live. Have you seen it?”

“Yes, I have seen it.” It was hard to miss one of the largest private town houses on Park Lane across from Hyde Park. It had a long, classical-style colonnade entrance over one hundred feet in length on Upper Grosvenor Street. It was a home of much renown and status.

Victoria couldn’t help but be a little excited about seeing such a beautiful home. There was only one complication. She dreaded running into Lord Stanford yet again.

“Do you think Lord Stanford has been invited?”

“That I think unlikely. I believe the Duke of Westminster wouldn’t dream of inviting such a scoundrel.”

“Perhaps my presence wouldn’t be tolerated as well?”

“I will vouch for you. The duke is not a naive man. He knows only too well how one word from a schemer can create a world of gossip in the newspapers.”

There was only one other thing that mattered to her. “Will the Earl of Montgomery be there as well?”

Henry smiled kindly. “We shall have to see, won’t we?”

Chapter Twenty-Two

“Monty! I thought you had left.” Henry rose from the breakfast table and greeted his friend.

Victoria gasped. He appeared as if she had conjured him. She wasn’t prepared to face him.

“I was planning on leaving early, but then I remembered some correspondence I needed to finish and decided to stay. I had another more nefarious goal in mind. It would also allow me to say good-bye to your beautiful wife.” He made a small nod of acknowledgement toward Edith.

Henry and his wife shared a look.

“Why do I suspect ulterior motives?” Henry quizzed before turning his attentions to Victoria.

She flushed uncontrollably. She would have objected, except the assertion was never made outright.

“Miss Westwood was just wondering if you would be attending the ball at the Duke and Duchess of Westminster’s,” Henry said.

Victoria wanted to slide down under the table, her embarrassment was so great.

Hugh looked toward her. “Does the lady wish me present or absent?”

“The lady wishes you to please yourself,” she answered barely above a whisper.

“Ah, then I will.”

He walked over to the sideboard and helped himself to a selection of the tempting possibilities. When he finished, he took a seat opposite her. If he found the events of last night the least bit embarrassing, he didn’t show it. He seemed perfectly at ease. As unreadable as ever.

Victoria couldn’t help but notice they were under the scrutiny of both the Percys, who stared at Hugh as if waiting for some explanation for his presence.

“Have I missed something?” Hugh turned his attention to Henry and then Edith.

Edith was the first to break the uncomfortable silence. “No, not really. We just invited Miss Westwood to join us for Christmas Eve. We didn’t want her to spend it alone.”

Hugh attacked his food and didn’t react in any way to the information.

Victoria decided she wasn’t about to be cowed by this man. “Does the gentleman wish me absent or present?”

“Touché,” Henry blurted out.

Hugh was not to be outdone. “The gentleman wishes you to please yourself.”

“And I will.” Two could play this game.

The hint of a smile crossed Hugh’s face.

“Do I amuse you, my lord?”

“No, you mystify me, Miss Westwood.”

Victoria lunged as if attacking in a fencing match. “I understand you had an unpleasant encounter with Lord Stanford yesterday.”

“While we were hunting, he made some churlish remarks. I simply reminded him of good manners,” Hugh parried.

“If the remarks were about any of the ladies, we are all grateful for your intervention,” Victoria said, still trying to decipher the man.

“There is no need to thank me; any gentleman would have done the same.”

“I would like to think that is true, but recent events have led me to believe otherwise,” Victoria added.

“You must not give up on all of our ilk.”

Victoria smiled. “I haven’t, my lord, I haven’t.”

“What
are
you talking about?” Henry said. “And don’t tell me it was just about Monty hitting Stanford yesterday.”

Victoria laughed. “What else could it be about?”

“So you are going to be as difficult as Hugh? And do stop calling me my lord. We are all friends here.”

“Yes, my lord.” Victoria laughed and Hugh smiled.

“How are the children, Percy?” Hugh asked.

“Insufferable as ever,” Henry replied.

Hugh actually laughed.

Victoria was caught off guard by the laughter. It must have shown on her face.

Edith reacted. “Oh, don’t be put off, my dear. Hugh knows very well my husband would have you believe the children are an unbearable burden while in truth he is a remarkable father and the children, in fact, have him wrapped around their little fingers. He dotes on them.”

“You have given away my secret, Edith,” Henry said.

Emily and Edward appeared at the doorway of the breakfast room.

“Ah, there you are.” Emily sighed in relief.

She quickly approached Victoria. “Are you all right? You left the ball so suddenly. After Lord Sanford accosted you in the hall yesterday, we were afraid he might repeat his unwanted advances.”

Victoria didn’t feel she needed to enlighten them on the more recent attack.

“What’s this?” Henry asked.

“It was nothing. He simply approached me yesterday afternoon to once more plead his case, and I once more refused him. Think no more of it.”

“Oh, I’m so glad that was the end of it.” Emily smiled. “The man is so vile.”

…

Hugh stared at Victoria. Evidently something else of which he was unaware had occurred. As he attempted to read her moods and understand her mind, his admiration for her only grew. Most women of his acquaintance would have remained sequestered in their room after the events of last night and then left in the morning before the other guests. But not Victoria Westwood.

He admired her courage and envied her bravado. It couldn’t be easy for her. He was still shaken by the viciousness of Stanford’s attack. With this new revelation, he regretted he hadn’t called the police and had the man arrested. But that probably would only have ended badly for this intriguing woman.

What had his clerk, Dennison, said about American women? That there was something different about them.

After spending the weekend in her company, he certainly had to agree.