Undeniable Rogue (The Rogues Club Book One) (25 page)

Offense stiffened Sabrina’s spine, until Gideon leaned near, stroking her ear with his warm breath. “Perhaps because, the moment I saw you, I knew that I wanted you in my bed.”

Sabrina raised her chin. “I am certain you have wanted to bed any number of women at first sight.”

“I have. But they were, none of them, in a delicate condition at the time, believe me. Neither did I consider marriage, even for a minute, to any of them.”

“Do not mock my intelligence. You married me to honor your promise to Hawksworth.”

“I could have honored it as well, I believe, by buying you a house and settling a more-than comfortable competence on you. I considered it, before I met you. Of course, back then, I did not know that settlements would be required for each of the boys, as would a dowry for Sweetpea.”

His words lightened her heart. “We gave our daughter a beautiful name. Why do you call her Sweetpea?”

“Well, she is sweet and she is always p—”

“Gideon.”

The outrageous twinkle in his eyes made Sabrina laugh outright.

“Do not look now,” he said. But you have just earned the adoration of another score of admirers.

Sabrina scanned the crowd watching them and scoffed.

“Believe it or not, in stroking Society’s plumes, I am thinking ahead to the eventual acceptance of Damon, Rafferty and...Sweetpea.”

“Why do you not have pet names for the boys?”

“First she chides me about one pet name and now she requires more. But, I can think of none that suit our boys better than their own names.”

“Hawksworth used to call them Demon and Rapscallion.”

Gideon barked a laugh. “That sounds like him, but I do not believe either boy deserves so negative a monogram.”

For better or worse, another piece of Sabrina’s heart fell to her husband.

She barely made peace with the fact before she noticed, on the sidelines, the figure of a squat little man she could not place being introduced to Lady Veronica. Much as he reminded her of Lowick, she knew that one such as he would never be accepted in this exalted company.

Something in the scene dimmed Sabrina’s joy, but since she could not seem to wrap her mind around the reason for her inner tremor, she relegated the odd fancy to the back of her mind.

“We are being watched again,” she said, to make conversation and turn her thoughts.

Gideon chuckled. “I daresay. Like me, none of them can keep their gazes off you.”

“Are the jewels too much, do you think?”

“For the Duchess of Stanthorpe, the most breathtaking woman in the room? I think not. Besides, you are not conspicuous in your jewels, Sabrina, but in the beauty you radiate.”

“Oh, Gideon.”

“Ah,” he said. “I see that Lady Veronica and her rude escort are joining us on the dance-floor.” Gideon raised a particularly mischievous brow. “The rogue my grandmother names me prompts me to teach the
Lady
, and I use the term loosely, a lesson.” He laughed at his double
entendre
, slowed and skewered his wife with a heated gaze. “Shall we?”

“Gideon, no.” But her warning came too late. Her husband swooped in for a kiss, there, before the cream of society, until she became his slave, fell in with his plan, and gave herself up to his sensual assault.

Applause began, swelled, deafened, and brought them back to earth.

Then, as if an axe had fallen, the roar of approval ended and silence fell.

A man, almost pear-shaped in figure, imperfect, yet magnificent in dress and bearing, crossed the near-empty dance floor, making straight for them.

When the commanding man stopped, Gideon made him an elegant bow.

Heart hammering of a sudden, Sabrina could only think to award him the deep curtsey Grandmama had had her practicing for weeks, in the unlikely event that—

Oh, no, could this be the man for whom she had prepared?

“Shame on you, Stanthorpe,” the man said before Sabrina found his bright blue gaze trained on her, in a way that suggested he could see beneath her petticoats.
Then
she recognized him.

With one, silent, majestic look, the Prince Regent relegated her husband to the sidelines.

The Prince regarded the other dancing couple and made a shooing motion with his hand, sending Veronica and her escort scurrying off, like mice from a scullery bin.

Sabrina wished she had not again seen the retreating figure of Veronica’s escort. She might have enjoyed the moment more.

“My dear?” the Prince said. “You look as if you have taken a fright.”

“I...fear that the honor you do me weakens my knees to the point that I will swoon at your royal feet.”

The heir to the throne of England laughed, full-bodied, head thrown back, and swept Sabrina into his arms to complete the dance—thereby bestowing upon her Society’s coveted seal of approval.

Sabrina forgot her worry over Veronica’s escort and gave herself up to the amazing moment. And as they swept past Gideon, she caught him beaming with pride and appreciation.

Sabrina’s pleasure came more with her husband’s endorsement than with her future monarch’s lusty regard. She gave her royal partner her full attention, however, and flashed the smile Gideon earlier praised.

All and sundry named the ball a great success, perfect in every way. Everyone except Sabrina, herself.

Yes, she had made a conquest of The Prince of Wales.

Yes, Lady Veronica had scuttled away, tail between her legs, but then so had her nameless partner, a situation Sabrina still found disquieting. She tried to quiz Gideon on the identity of the man, but apparently her husband had never seen him before, either.

She knew she must soon consider telling Gideon of her concerns, and she would—consider it—after the first of the year.

For now, she decided, she would concentrate on getting through Christmas with Gideon and his grandmother.

Grandmama had a Yule log cut, which sat drying outside near the mews. In half an hour’s time, they were all to go in carriages to Epping Forest, near Wanstead, on the outskirts of town, to trudge the woods for holly and mistletoe, which they would use later to decorate the house together.

Everyone was going except Juliana, who would remain here at Grandmama’s with the nurse Grandmama hired. But Juliana chose this very morning to dawdle over her breakfast. Sabrina was trying to be patient with her when Gideon arrived to see where his wife had got to.

“Juliana does not seem to want to stop nursing,” she said. “Though I cannot believe she is still hungry after so long a time.”

Gideon bent over to regard the babe. “Good morning, Sweetpea. Mama says you are dawdling and holding up our gay Christmas parade through the woods. I cannot say as I blame you. I tend to dawdle myself over your delicious Mama.”

“Gideon!”

Juliana cooed and waved her hands in a great show of excitement when he spoke, and she lost her grip on her lunch with the smile she gave him.

“Good Lord, she has bestowed upon you her first smile,” Sabrina said, straightening her bodice. “Not that I am surprised. She became your slave, or you became hers, at her birth.”

“Are you my girl?” Gideon asked, taking the happy baby into his arms. “Are you my Sweetpea? I bet you would like to come with us, would you not? After all,” Gideon said, regarding Sabrina. “This is Christmas.”

“If we take her, she will require carrying, and we are not certain that the boys will not also require it.”

“Nonsense, if Grandmama is coming, the terrain cannot be so bad as that. Come, let us put our Julie in her woolens and take her with us. It is not so very cold today.”

“If you keep this up, by the time she is ten, she will have you jumping to her every wish.”

“And what else are Papas for, than to jump through the hoops their little girls set up for them?” Gideon asked his adoring daughter.

To make a merry party, they decided they should all travel in the same carriage—Gideon, Sabrina, the twins, the baby, and Grandmama. One problem, Damon and Juliana both insisted, rather loudly, that they required the exact same spot on Gideon’s lap.

Everyone took turns trying to hold Juliana, but she would only quiet when Gideon took her.

Grandmama crowed and took Rafferty onto her lap. “I shall have my favorite with me,” she said, earning Rafe’s adoration.

“And I shall take Damon,” Sabrina said. “As we can insist that he keep quiet, and save all our ears.”

“Done,” Gideon said, trading a whining four-year-old for a screaming baby, and when silence descended, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, though to soothe Damon’s pout, Gideon gave him a wink.

The trudge through heath and grass, toward groves of hornbeam, beech and oak, turned out to be wet and chill, but brisk and invigorating. It was Christmas after all. Their footsteps in turn crunched and squished, as the layer of snow from the day before had already begun to melt in places. But everyone persisted, the boys chattering and running, in turn, except when they were rewarded with deer sightings, and they turned still as statues to watch.

Finally they came to a coppice edged by a huge holly, bright with berries in its upper branches.

“The berries are too high up in the tree,” Sabrina said.

“Nonsense, Gideon can reach them,” Grandmama said. “Can you not, my boy?”

“Of course, but someone else will have to take Juliana.”

“I will take her,” Sabrina said. “She looks sleepy enough not to care who holds her.”

Juliana, it turned out, did care, but everyone ignored her wailing. They were too busy watching, with baited breath, as Gideon climbed an oak near the holly bush, chosen for the mistletoe clinging to its upper branches. When he reached up and caught the thick-leafed parasite, lush with waxy-white berries, high above him, water rained down on him in torrents.

Gideon shouted with the cold shower but discovered that, rather than garner sympathy, he had become a laughing stock. Between Sabrina and his Grandmama, he could not tell which of them was more highly entertained, but he suspected that it might be Sabrina.

Standing high above them, Gideon tossed the great bunch of mistletoe he had won, and got back a bit of his own, as it sprinkled the lot of them. Then he placed his hands on his hips and looked down his nose at them with haughty disdain. “Take care, Sabrina, if you please, not to laugh yourself so silly that you drop the baby.” Which speech somehow managed to tickle her and his Grandmama the more.

Even the boys laughed, especially Rafferty. A good sight that, Gideon thought. “Well, young Rafferty,” he said. “I suppose you think you can do better?”

Smiling, Rafe nodded up at him, so Gideon climbed down and put the boy up in the tree, climbing up behind him.

“Gideon, what do you think you are doing?” Sabrina shouted. “Bring that boy down here, at once.”

Gideon laughed. “This boy is going to reach us some holly.”

Sabrina gasped but Gideon held Rafe tight at his waist, while the boy climbed onto an oak branch, less sturdy than would hold a man’s weight. And Rafe managed to become the hero of the day, earning hugs and a slap on his back, even, from Damon.

One more climb, so Damon could have his turn, and they had enough holly and mistletoe to decorate Basingstoke Manor and then some.

After they returned, changed into dry clothes and partook of hot chocolate and iced gingerbread men, Sabrina made a kissing bough with the mistletoe, and Grandmama fashioned wreaths and garlands with the holly.