Stolen Kisses (17 page)

Lilith snapped her jaw shut, shocked. “
I beg your pardon?
”

“Everyone knows. Dansbury’s been following you everywhere, like a big, tame panther.”

“Do be serious, Mary,” Pen put in with a chuckle. “Lilith’s brother is friends with Dansbury. You know precisely how Lil feels about the marquis. She’s complained about him often enough.”

“Well, yes,” Mary agreed reluctantly, then grinned. “But you should have seen the look on your face, Lil.”

“Please don’t even suggest such a thing again, Mary.”

Even so, Mary’s words had begun a swirl of thoughts that Lilith couldn’t stop. Of course she wasn’t in love with Dansbury—that was absurd! But she certainly didn’t view him with the same contempt and disdain that she had a few weeks ago. She tried to see him as the same scoundrel she knew him to be upon their first meeting, but everything was becoming so twisted and confused in her mind that she didn’t know what to think. For all she knew, he was only pretending to pursue her to assuage his own bruised pride. One thing was certain, though: she needed to locate Jack and inform him that Dolph was spreading rumors. It would be terrible if the good deed Dansbury had done for her led him into trouble.

When she tracked down William, though, her brother didn’t know where the marquis was. “He went off somewhere,” he said testily. “Something set him off. Probably you. Before long you’ll drive him off, and then I won’t have any friends.”

“I am not responsible for Dansbury’s ill manners or his black moods,” Lilith said stoutly. “And if you’re in need of friends, why not Nance or Wenford?”

“Dull as dead rodents, Lil,” he retorted, and stalked off.

By the time Aunt Eugenia finally came to collect her for the evening, Lilith was exhausted, physically and mentally. All night the rumors had continued circulating, growing worse moment by moment. And Jack Faraday hadn’t a clue.

The Duke of Wenford watched Lilith Benton and her party exit the Doveshane ballroom. She was lovely—his uncle had been right about that. He reached into his pocket, as he had several times during the evening, and fingered the pearl earring he had deposited there. It had been found beneath his uncle, and Dolph was blessed with a precise enough memory to recall who possessed such a unique little bauble. It seemed Miss Benton had been with his uncle at the time of his demise. And the lovely thing had another splendid merit, in addition to her beauty: Dansbury apparently found her fascinating.

Dolph smiled to himself. That knowledge alone would have been enough to convince him to set his little plan in motion, but he happened to know a great deal more about the circumstances of his uncle’s death than one earring provided. In fact, he had it on the best authority that the mysterious illness which had killed Wenford would not have given him time to disrobe, neatly fold his clothes, pop the cork of a very bad wine, and lay himself out flat on his back before he expired. No, given the connection of the earring as added evidence, it had all the signs of a prank of Dansbury’s. And Dansbury was going to pay for it. He was going to pay for everything, and he was going to pay very dearly.

“D
on’t you think setting Dolph Remdale after Lilith is a bit…macabre, Father?”

“Don’t you question me, boy,” the viscount admonished, glaring at William as his son followed him down the stairs toward the breakfast room. “If His Grace doesn’t feel the need to mourn, then neither should we. And he’s finally the man who fulfills all of my requirements, and all of Lilith’s.”

Lilith stood on the landing, wishing they would stop arguing over Dolph, so she could think of a way to get her brother over to Dansbury’s to warn the marquis of those awful rumors.

“And what requirement could Lil have that Dolph meets?” William asked skeptically.

“Oh, you know, she’s looking for someone handsome who dances well.” Viscount Hamble rolled his eyes and twiddled his fingers in the air in an overblown imitation of a country dance.

Lilith was beginning to be quite frustrated at the way he turned everything she ever mentioned, even in jest, against her. “Please don’t say such things about me, Father. You know they’re not true.”

He stopped and turned to face her. “I am merely trying to think of an explanation,” he said in an angry, controlled voice, “as to why you would grant one of your waltzes to Dansbury last night. Your desire for a handsome and pleasant dance partner seems to be the only excuse as to why you would dare defy me in this.”

“He is William’s friend,” she defended herself. “If I were rude to him, it might have consequen—”

“Dansbury’s consequences don’t interest me in the least. Half the proper folk of London won’t even speak to him. That should be reason enough for you never to dance or converse with him again.”

Lilith clenched her jaw. “Yes, Papa.”

“I told you what your father would say,” Aunt Eugenia seconded unhelpfully from the foot of the stairs. “I warned her and warned her, Stephen. But she’s so headstrong, and—”

“I am not headstrong,” Lilith protested. “I said I was sorry, and that I won’t disobey you again. Now, please—may we go have breakfast?”

“Yes. A splendid idea.”

Her father and her aunt headed off, but Lilith took William by the arm and pulled him to a halt. “I need to speak with you.”

“You almost stood up for Jack there, you realize,” he said with his engaging grin. “Best watch yourself, sister.”

“It’s Dansbury I need to ask you about. Can you get a message to him?”

“Of course.” His expression became speculative. “Why?”

Lilith scowled. “William, for the first and last time, I am not in love with Jack Faraday.”

Her brother flushed. “I didn’t say—”

“I barely tolerate him,” Lilith snapped, knowing she
was overreaching, yet unable to stop her protest. “But I owe him a favor, and I am trying to make good on it. Please tell him—”

“William!” their father bellowed from the morning room. “Before you attempt to sneak off anywhere, please remember that you are accompanying me to Denson’s this morning!”

William rolled his eyes. “Yes, Father!” He squeezed Lilith’s hand. “Can your message wait until this evening?”

“No, I don’t think it can.” She felt responsible enough for Jack’s involvement in the Wenford fiasco that she needed to be certain someone warned him of the rumors being aimed in his direction. And the sooner, the better. “I’ll take care of it myself, then.”

When Lilith and William entered the breakfast room, she made a show of gasping and whirling to look at the clock sitting on the sideboard. “Oh, no!” she exclaimed, putting her hand over her mouth.

“What now?” the viscount grumbled.

“Aunt Eugenia, today was the day we were to brunch at the Sanfords’. Pen’s been talking about how her mother has been looking forward to it for the past week!” And the Stratford mansion was only three houses from Dansbury’s residence.

“I don’t remember any such invitation. We are to lunch with them tomo—”

“No, no, we changed that ages ago,” Lilith replied, pulling her aunt’s chair back from the table and trying to ignore William’s obvious amusement at her antics. “Please? If we hurry, we can still be on time.”

“Lilith,” her aunt sighed, eyeing the platter of sliced ham and biscuits that sat before her.

“Please, Aunt Eugenia?” Lilith begged.

“Oh, very well.” Eugenia muttered, and pushed away
from the table. “Give me a moment to freshen up.”

“Of course.”

Lilith took that moment to dash into her own bed chamber, scribble out a note detailing what she had heard last evening, fold it over, and stuff it into her reticule. With Pen’s home so close to Dansbury’s, it wouldn’t be difficult to have Milgrew stop by and give the marquis’s servants a note while she and Aunt Eugenia ate with the Sanfords. It was a sterling plan, if she said so herself.

Or it would have been, if her father hadn’t commandeered Milgrew for his own excursion, forcing her and her aunt to take the barouche with young Walter at the reins. She would never trust the boy to deliver the message without telling every other household servant about the deed. So she was left with a piece of paper in her reticule, and the need to let Dansbury know what it said.

Lady Sanford came to the door as her butler pulled it open. “Good morning,” she said, smiling, but obviously surprised to see them there.

“Good morning. We’ve been looking forward to brunch,” Eugenia said.

Behind her, Lilith grimaced sympathetically and shrugged. Her aunt would be furious if she ever realized she was being played for a fool, but Lilith didn’t feel the least bit guilty about it. Aunt Eugenia had never uttered a kind word about her or William that she could remember. And lately, what little tolerance she had for the unrelenting harshness was beginning to fade.

“Well, of course,” Lady Sanford said immediately. With a wink at Lilith, she ushered them inside. “So have we.”

Pen, her expression puzzled as well, came downstairs as they stood chatting in the hallway. “Good morning.”

“Lilith and Eugenia have arrived for brunch,” her
mother said, giving her a small nod. “James, please inform Cook.”

The butler nodded and disappeared toward the kitchens.

Pen’s smile brightened. “Of course.”

The two older women stepped into the morning room, but Lilith caught Penelope’s hand. “Pen, I need to tell you something,” she said, forcing a giggle.

Lady Sanford smiled indulgently at them. “Off with you, then.”

Lilith dragged Penelope into the library and shut the door.

“What is it?” her friend asked, blushing. “Is it William?”

“Pen, I need you to keep a very big secret for me,” Lilith whispered, afraid to speak aloud even with the doors closed.

“Of course,” her friend answered immediately. “What is it?”

“I need to deliver a message to the Marquis of Dansbury.”

For a long moment Pen looked at her. “Dansbury?” she finally repeated faintly. “You mean Mary was right? You
are
in love with him?”

“I…” Lilith couldn’t lie to her friend, and she swallowed back the flip answer she had been about to make. “I don’t know. But this is important. Will you help?”

“Of course,” Pen exclaimed, clapping her hands together. “What do you wish me to do?”

Lilith smiled, relieved. “I need to sneak out your library window. I’ll only be gone for a few moments, but you must promise you’ll stay in here until I return, as though we’ve been chatting the whole time.”

“Oh, how romantic,” her friend breathed. “Yes, go.”

Her heart beginning to beat in a queer combination of
anticipation and dread, Lilith gave her friend a quick hug and then unlatched one of the tall library windows. “I’ll be right back,” she whispered again, and hitched up her skirts to climb out into the back garden.

There were only two low brick walls between the Sanford and the Faraday mansions, and despite her skirts, Lilith was able to navigate the first one fairly easily. Her shoe caught on a vine as she scrambled over the second, and with a curse she’d learned from William, she fell into the small Faraday garden on her backside. Luckily the garden couldn’t be viewed from the street, so her clumsiness would at least go unseen by any passersby. She had never even dreamed of calling on a man before, and she hesitated at the servant’s door at the back of the house. She had come this far, however, and so she squared her shoulders and knocked firmly.

It opened immediately, though the man standing there did little for her ebbing confidence. He might have been dressed like the butler of a fine household, but with a terrible scar along one cheek and a missing finger on his left hand, he seemed more like a street hoodlum than a gentleman’s attendant. Then again, Jack Faraday was barely a gentleman. Or so everyone had been telling her.

“Yes, miss?” he inquired in a rough voice.

“You work for the Marquis of Dansbury?” she asked uncertainly, her voice cracking.

“That I do.”

“I…I need to leave a message for him,” she said, reaching into her reticule for the note. “Can you see that it is delivered to him right away?”

“Aye, miss,” the butler answered, and motioned her into the house.

“Oh, no,” she returned, backing away and further scandalized at the thought of entering Dansbury’s home.
If anyone saw, her reputation would be destroyed. “I need only to leave the note.”

In a flash the man stepped forward, grabbed her arm, and yanked her inside. Before she could scream, he clamped one hand over her mouth, and with the other slammed the door and then pinned her arms to her sides. “My lord!” he yelled, wrestling her through the busy kitchen and into the hallway while she kicked and thrashed, frightened half out of her wits.

“What is it, Peese?” came Jack’s easy voice. A book in one hand, he stepped into the hallway from a side door. “Why all the bellow—” He froze as he spied Lilith. “Let her go at once!” he demanded, striding forward.

“Jack,” she sobbed, and flung herself against him, beyond relief.

He dropped the book and wrapped his arms around her, holding her safe. “What in God’s name were you doing, Peese?” he snapped, rocking her slowly while she regained her composure.

He smelled of tea and shaving soap, and she buried her face into his chest.

“She was acting suspicious, and I didn’t want her getting away,” the butler grumbled.

“I was not acting suspicious,” Lilith returned in a muffled voice from the haven she was surprisingly reluctant to leave.

“Delivering a note to the kitchen door,” Peese argued. “Wouldn’t say who she was, milord, so I—”

“What note?” Jack interrupted, lifting her chin with his fingers so he could look into her eyes.

Lilith straightened. “I have news, and William couldn’t come, and…” She glanced over at the butler.

Jack nodded and took her by the hand, pulling her through the nearest door and shutting it behind them.
“Why couldn’t William come?” he asked.

“Papa dragged him off somewhere. You need to know—”

“And how did you get here?”

Lilith sighed, thinking what a terror Dansbury must have been as a child, never satisfied with the easy answer to anything. His tutors must have hated him, but Lilith found his single-minded intensity rather…intriguing. Especially lately. “I was supposed to go to the Sanfords’ for luncheon tomorrow, so I convinced Aunt Eugenia that it was to be brunch today, and then convinced Lady Sanford and Pen that Aunt Eugenia had been mistaken about when to come.” Lilith watched his lean face closely, curious as to what he thought of her hastily constructed plan.

The marquis chuckled, his eyes dancing. “How devious of you,” he congratulated her.

“I don’t like being devious,” Lilith retorted, though the compliment pleased her.

“A pity. I think you may be a natural.”

“I—”

“Why didn’t you think to send Milgrew over here, though?” he asked.

“That was my original plan, but Papa took him along on his errand.”

His lips twitched. “And your aunt?”

“Chatting with Lady Sanford, I assume.”

“Ah.” He studied her face carefully for another moment. “So tell me your news, my sweet one.”

“There were rumors going about last night, after you left. It seems—”

“You and Dolph looked quite chummy,” Jack snapped, his mood darkening. He glared at her, then strode over to the window. “Very heartwarming.”

She started to reply in kind, but closed her mouth
again. If she told him of her father’s plans for her and the new duke, she would never get him to listen to anything. “I couldn’t very well cut him,” she said instead.

“You cut me,” Jack reminded her. His expression eased, though, and she thought that the memory had amused him. “By the by,” he continued, “why is your, ah, posterior dirty?”

“What?” She glanced down and blushed, brushing at her skirts. “Oh, I had to climb two walls to get here without being seen. And you have all sorts of wretched vines growing on yours. There’s no other way I could have called on you, so stop complain—”

The marquis gave a shout of laughter. “So, first you abandoned your aunt on an errand you invented?”

“I suppose. What—”

“Then you climbed walls and scrambled through gardens? To visit me?”

“Well, yes,” Lilith admitted, affronted. “I can’t fly, you know.”

“By Jericho, you are a constant surprise,” he chuckled, his eyes merry.

“Do you wish to hear my news, or not, Dansbury?” she asked, beginning to become deeply annoyed.

He swept a bow. “Beg pardon. Please, my lady.”

“Several people were discussing how Dolph has begun to suspect that perhaps his uncle did not die of natural causes, after all.”

Jack nodded. “That’s to be expected. He’s got to be as embarrassed as hell at the circumstances.”

“There’s also speculation that a certain rakehell who’s always hated Wenford might be involved.”

He was silent, those dark, mesmerizing eyes studying hers so closely it made her wonder if he could somehow read her thoughts. As confused as her thoughts concern
ing him had been over the last few days, she hoped he could not.

“And you went through all this subterfuge just to tell me that, Lilith?”

She hesitated. “I didn’t want you to think that you had made a mistake in helping me. It was a good thing that you did, and I appreciate it. Now even more than at first.”