Three Schemes and a Scandal (16 page)

And then there was
something
about her that begged for more of his attentions, and for this one hour he was
not
going to be a Perfect and Proper Gentleman.

“Lead the way, my lady.”

They started down Piccadilly, toward Regent Street, walking side by side and weaving their way through the masses of pedestrians crowding the streets.

“It’s Miss Harlow, actually. Thank you again for saving me. I do believe that makes you my hero,” she said with a smile.

“My pleasure. Call me Brandon,” he said. “I’m curious to know what has you so distracted.”

“It has been one of those years, Mr. Brandon.” At that, she issued a heartfelt sigh, and once again, like a cad, his gaze settled upon the rise and fall of her breasts. He was sorry for her distress, but happy for the sigh.

“You must explain, Miss Harlow,” he urged, more intrigued by her with each passing moment.

“This time last year I nearly died from mortification, and just today I nearly died from my own stupidity.”

Brandon laughed at that, and she smiled, too, but there was still something akin to sadness in her eyes.

“Are you often found to be dashing about London, alone, and distracted—or is today a special occasion?” he asked.

“Rest assured, it is not a habit of mine.”

“Glad to hear it. Did you not at least bring a maid with you?”

“I usually do, but circumstances did not permit it today,” she said, and she looked away. It was clear to him that she wasn’t just an idiotic female not attending to her surroundings. Something had upset her, sending her running.

Brandon wanted to know what had happened, so he could solve the problem for her. He wanted to protect her, from anything and everything. And yet he didn’t even know her. He was not surprised when she changed the subject before he could offer to help her.

“I hate to pry, but may I ask what you are avoiding at home?” she asked politely.

“Women never hate to pry,” he answered truthfully, and she laughed. It was not the prettiest of laughs, but it was undoubtedly genuine and thus, a pleasure to hear.

“True,” she conceded. “We only say so as to sound polite while we seek to unearth all your secrets. So tell me, Mr. Brandon, what are you avoiding at home?”

“Balancing an accounts book,” he answered frankly.
And drafting bills for Parliament, managing six estates, carrying the weight of the world.

And a fiancée.
One of the very good reasons why he should not be conversing with Miss Harlow. Lady Clarissa Richmond was a lovely person and would make a perfect duchess, but she did not intrigue him or arouse him the way this dark beauty beside him did. Of course, that is exactly why he proposed to Clarissa—she was not distracting or demanding, which was exactly what he wanted in a wife.

Miss Harlow was merely a pleasant afternoon diversion.

“Say no more, I beg of you. Shall we take the long way, Mr. Brandon?” She tilted her head to look up at him. The expression on her face was one of innocence, but the spark in her eyes was pure mischief. He grinned. He liked her. For one afternoon, he would be an imperfect gentleman and do exactly as he wished.

“Let’s take the long way, Miss Harlow.”

Intrigued? Discover more about
A Groom of One’s Own
at
http://www.mayarodale.com/
.

An Excerpt from

A TALE OF TWO LOVERS

London, 1823

T
HE BACKSTAGE OF
the Drury Lane playhouse was no place for ladies, but Julianna, Lady Somerset, had suffered enough of what proper women did and did not do. She adjusted the short veil slightly obscuring her face, clung to the shadows and kept her eyes wide open for scandal.

She had seen the notorious Lord Roxbury exit this way. Without a second thought, she followed him. In her experience, to rely on a man was the height of folly—unless it was to count on Lord Roxbury to get tangled up in a scandalous situation. He was a godsend to gossip columnists everywhere.

It was widely suspected but never confirmed that Julianna was the infamous Lady of Distinction, author of the column “Fashionable Intelligence” for the town’s most popular newspaper,
The London Weekly
. Since that was, in fact, the truth, she was on a perpetual quest for gossip.

Thus, if Lord Roxbury went skulking off backstage at Drury Lane, she followed.

She sought a tall man who moved with confidence and radiated charm. His hair was black and slightly tousled, as if he’d just gotten out of bed. Frankly, he probably had. Many a woman had sighed over his eyes—plain brown, in her opinion. And his mouth was another subject of intense adoration by women who either had kissed this infamous, glorious rake or longed to do so.

Julianna Somerset could not be counted among the legions of ladies who fawned over him. Her heart and body belonged to no man—not after she had survived a love match gone wretchedly wrong. Like Roxbury and his ilk, the late Lord Somerset was a charmer, a seducer, a man of many great passions, and ultimately a heartbreaker.

Julianna had tasted true love once; it had a remarkably bitter aftertaste.

But that was all in the past. Julianna no longer had to sit at home wondering where her husband was, whom he was with, and how their love had faded to nothing. Other people’s business was her focus now.

Hence the following of Lord Roxbury, backstage at Drury Lane, late at night. A man like that could only be up to no good.

“Ah, there you are!”

Julianna turned to see Alistair Grey, her companion for the evening. He reviewed plays for the same paper and they often attended the theater together. Tonight they had seen
She Would and She Would Not
, starring their friend, the renowned actress, “Mrs.” Jocelyn Kemble.

“Have you discovered anyone in compromising positions yet?” Alistair asked in a low voice, linking his arm with hers.

“Everyone is on their best behavior this evening,” Julianna lamented softly. “But I swear that I saw Roxbury dash off this way.”

“I don’t know how you see anything with that veil in this light,” Alistair said.

“I see plenty. Certain things are hard to miss,” Julianna replied. She had a gift for eavesdropping and an eye for compromising positions and drunken antics. Dim lighting and a black mesh veil did nothing to diminish her talents.

“This hall is desolate, Julianna. Let’s go back to the dressing rooms where everyone is drinking and in various states of undress. Surely you’ll find more to write about there than in this dark and dusty corridor.”

“Yes, but I saw a couple go off this way, and the man looked just like Roxbury. You know how he is,” she persisted. That, and she didn’t particularly want to be in a crowded dressing room with a half dozen women in their underclothes and two dozen men ogling them.

“I know, but it’s probably just some prop mistress and a third son of an impoverished nobleman,” Alistair said dismissively.

“In other words, nothing remarkable,” Julianna said, heaving a sigh.

The low rumble of a man’s laugh broke the silence. In the dark, Julianna gave Alistair a pointed look that said, “I told you so.” Together they crept closer, always taking care to remain in the shadows.

There was just enough light from a sconce high on the wall to discern a couple embracing. It was not the wisest position—in a corridor, near a light—she thought, when there were certainly darker and more anonymous locations here for a little romp. But one could be overwhelmed by passion anywhere. Her own deceased husband had been overwhelmed with passion while driving his carriage, and that was the last thing he ever did. In fact, he had been overwhelmed with passion quite frequently, though never with her.

Pushing aside bitter memories of her past, Julianna stepped closer, intent upon discerning their identities. The couple might only be theater underlings but if perchance one of them was a Person of Consequence, she would certainly need to report it.

What she saw shocked even her.

Two
pairs of shiny black Hessians,
two
pairs of breeches-clad legs,
two
linen shirts coming undone,
two
dark coats hanging open.

“Oh, my …” Julianna murmured under her breath.

As her eyes adjusted to the light overhead, she identified their position: One—tall and dark-haired—clasped the other around the waist, from behind, pulling his partner flush against him. As for the other one … his hands were splayed upon the wall, supporting them both, arching his back, turning his head back to accept the kiss of his mysterious
male
paramour.

Julianna grasped Alistair’s arm, giving it a squeeze.

This was beyond scandalous.

This was the sort of item that would cement her reputation as the very best.

It would be a serious blow to her archrival, the infamous gossip columnist at
The London Times
otherwise known as the Man About Town. He would never be able to top this!

Julianna cursed her veil and stepped forward to gain a closer look. In the process, she tripped over a broom that someone had left carelessly propped against the wall. She swore under her breath.

It clattered onto the floor. The couple jerked apart and instinctively turned in her direction. One man’s face was obscured, ducking behind the other for cover. Thanks to the light above she could see the other man’s face clearly.

Oh Lord above! Lord Roxbury! With a man!

An earl’s only son embracing another man was
news.
In her head she began to compose her column:

Has London’s legendary rake, Lord R— so thoroughly exhausted the women of the ton that he must now move on to the stronger sex? Indeed, dear readers, you would not believe what this author has seen …

A few days later

L
IKE MOST GENTLEMEN
of his acquaintance, Simon Sinclair, Viscount Roxbury, was equally averse to both matrimony and poverty. His chief aim was to live and die a wealthy bachelor. He had succeeded admirably thus far.

However, his father, the lofty, prestigious, and esteemed Earl of Carlyle had vastly different expectations for his sons’ futures. The eldest had expired, and now Roxbury’s life, particularly his matrimonial state, was the earl’s focus. It was a constant point of disagreement.

Whereas the son was a gallant and charming rake, the elder was a solid, reputable man who dutifully took up his seat in parliament, tended to his estates and gave his wife plenty of pin money but otherwise ignored her. As long as she had new gowns, jewels and a circle of friends, Lady Carlyle cared not for much else.

Roxbury lived in mortal terror that his life should be the same.

He craved passion and lived for the thrills of falling in love … over and over again.

Roxbury crumpled the note summoning him to his father’s study for another lecture on the duties of a proper heir: not blowing through the fortune, getting married, and producing brats. He deliberately dropped the ball of paper onto the Aubusson carpet in one small sign of defiance.

They would always be father and son, but Roxbury was not to be ordered around like a child any longer.

“You are aware, of course, that I am able to receive correspondence at my residence,” Roxbury began. “Sending a summons to my club is really unnecessary.”

He had received the missive yesterday afternoon, as he was enjoying a game of cards with some fellows at White’s. Roxbury only now found the time to venture over—after a soiree last night and a very leisurely lie-in with the delightful (and flexible) Lady Sheldon this morning.

On his way from her bedchamber to his father’s study, Roxbury had paid call upon some of his acquaintances and paramours. None had been at home to him, which was deeply troubling. Not to be boastful, but he was a popular, well-liked fellow. No one ever refused his calls. He could not dwell on it now, though.

“It is necessary to send word to your club,” his father said, with the sort of patient tone one reserves for toddlers or the mentally infirm. “Lord knows I could not possibly anticipate which woman’s bedchamber you would be in. You certainly are never at your own horrifically decorated residence.”

That was true on all counts. A series of angry mistresses had taken their vengeance by decorating the rooms of his townhouse in a uniquely wretched way, with each room worse than the last. There was an excessive amount of gold, and a revolting quantity of red velvet furniture. Roxbury vaguely understood that it was a desperate plea for his attention as the relationship wound down and his eye wandered to other women. However, he generally avoided thinking about it at all costs.

Thus, he preferred to spend his days at his club and his nights with other women. He’d been in three different women’s bedchambers this past week alone. Or was it only two? It seemed ungentlemanly to keep count.

Funny, then, that he should have been refused by two or three women this morning. He frowned.

Roxbury loved women. Their lilting laughs, pouting lips, and mysterious eyes. The smooth curves and contours of a female body never failed to entrance him, as did their soft skin and silky hair. Most women were completely and utterly mad—but always to his endless amusement. Women were beautiful, charming, perplexing, delightful creatures, each in their own unique way. How could he limit his attractions, attentions, and affections to just one?

He couldn’t possibly. He did not even try.

“I do not mind paying for your residence, and your allowance,” his father droned on. He sat comfortably in a large chair on the other side of his desk. It was warm enough to go without a fire, but the windows were closed, too, lending a stale, suffocating air to the room.

“I thank you for that,” Roxbury said politely, even though it was his portion from the family coffers, not some gift or charity. It went with the title—one he never asked for and would rather not have, given what it cost him to get it. The name of Roxbury was just a courtesy until he assumed the name and title of Carlyle—and all the responsibilities that came with it.