A Gentleman's Kiss (14 page)

“But, Cameron,” she whimpered after him. “I thought we were friends.”

Cameron kept walking. The farther he distanced himself from Aurora, the freer he felt. In fact he felt as though he was finally in control of his life again.

He’d strung out his courtship with Claudia because he felt honor bound to resolve this situation with Aurora.

But no more. Tonight he would go to the ball and declare his feelings for her.

His only regret was that he had not done it sooner.

❧

At a few minutes before eight o’clock Cameron stepped onto the Northingshires’ terrace. He wanted to avoid the rest of the guests, so he had chosen not to come into the ballroom, instead walking through the garden.

As the cool night breeze blew softly through his hair and brought with it the delicate scent of roses, he leaned against the terrace railing and thought about the object in his vest pocket.

His grandmother’s betrothal ring.

Cameron reached up and took the sapphire and diamond ring from his pocket, while imagining Claudia’s expression when he would present it to her. Would she be surprised, or would she guess why he wanted to see her tonight?

He heard the sound of muted laughter coming from inside and tucked the ring back into his vest. Carefully he stepped beside the glass-paned, terrace doors and peeked through them. The ball was in full swing with the ladies and gentlemen of the ton dressed in their finest and milling about the room.

He couldn’t spot Claudia, though, without bringing attention to himself.

With a sigh he backed up from the window but started when he felt a hand on his back, stopping his progress. He whirled around, ready to confront whoever had sneaked up behind, but stopped short when he saw who it was.

Aurora.

“What are you doing here?” he demanded harshly. He scanned the area to see if anyone was with her or had followed her but found no one.

“I came alone, Cameron,” she said. “I followed you here.”

He brought his gaze back to her and shook his head. “Why would you do that, Aurora? You know we shouldn’t be here alone.”

Reaching for his hands, she hugged them to her and stepped closer. He tried to tug free gently, but she held fast. “I came to plead with you to reconsider our agreement. You know you must honor it. ‘A man’s word is everything,’ you once told me,” she begged, her eyes wild with desperation.

Cameron felt helpless in knowing how to handle Aurora. Nor could he help but feel responsible for her distracted state. “Aurora, I am deeply sorry you thought I would marry you, but I tried to tell you my feelings all along.”

“But I cannot marry Lord Carmichael. Please don’t send me to that fate. You cannot be that cruel!” she cried louder.

Panicked, Cameron looked back at the doors and was relieved to find no one seemed to have heard her. Acting more forcibly, he shook his hands away from her and stepped over to the railing. “Aurora, there is nothing you can do or say that will change this. I will not marry you,” he stated firmly. “I’m sorry for hurting you, but, promise or no, I will not sacrifice the happiness of both of us on an ill-spoken word.”

He expected her to start crying again, but Aurora only stared at him. He wondered if she were trying to decide what tactic to use next. Regardless, he took the momentary pause to glance through the panes of the terrace doors to see if Claudia was near but did not see her.

He looked back at Aurora and saw anger blazing in her eyes. “You are waiting for someone!” she shrieked.

“Aurora, please keep your voice down!” he tried to shush her. But since her head was now directed toward the doors he knew she wasn’t listening.

She then turned to glare at him through narrow eyes. “It’s Claudia, isn’t it? She is the reason you refuse to keep your word. She is—”

“Aurora, please—,” he tried again, but to no avail.

“—the woman you want to marry. And please do not say it isn’t any of my business, because it is. It is my business,” she cried, pointing her finger to her chest as she walked closer to him.

There was a sort of hysterical anger in her expression, and though Cameron tried to back away from her he found himself pinned in the corner of the wall and terrace railing. He had no idea how to handle Aurora—what to say to make her leave. “Aurora, calm down. You are only going to make yourself ill by getting so upset.” He tried to soothe her with the only words he could think of.

Apparently those weren’t the right ones to say. “Calm down? I had thought you would marry me, and now that you will not, my life is in shambles. How can I calm down?”

Her pitch was getting higher and louder as she now stood within a few inches of him. He had no choice but to reach out and take her by the arms so he could move her back, but she had another plan altogether.

Before he had a good hold of her, she launched herself forward, clasped both arms around his neck, and kissed him on the mouth in a hard, lip-numbing kiss.

The sudden momentum of her embrace knocked him backward over the railing, and he had to wrap both arms around her to pull them both upright again.

At that moment the door of the terrace opened, and he heard a gasp and his name called out in alarm. “Lord Kinclary!”

He finally succeeded in turning his head away from her, but her arms were another matter. Anxiously he glanced over to see both Claudia and Helen standing there staring at him with shock and disbelief.

He grabbed her arms and tried to pry them off his neck. “Aurora!” he exclaimed, glancing at Claudia again, only to find they were no longer alone. “We are being watched.”

Several men and women of the ton were stepping out to see what the commotion was and gasping and gaping when they saw them.

As rapidly as she’d wrapped her arms around him, she let go and jumped away to face the growing crowd. “Oh, dear,” she murmured, covering her mouth in surprise.

“This is not what it looks like.” He stared straight at Claudia, only to realize how lame his words sounded to everyone around. Snickers rose from the crowd, but he was gazing only at Claudia.

Watching her beautiful eyes fill with hurt and confusion.

Helen was the first to jump into action as she whirled to face her guests. “Ladies and gentlemen, shall we all go back into the ballroom?” she requested firmly and managed to corral them back inside.

Claudia hadn’t moved.

“Claudia, please let me explain what happened,” he said as he hurried to her. He tried to take her hand, but she jerked it out of his reach.

“No!” she exclaimed in a tortured voice, her eyes swimming with tears. “I saw you kissing her,” she whispered, blinking the tears back.

Cameron’s own eyes were stinging as the full impact of what had happened began to register with him. “Claudia, Aurora kissed me and—”

Helen interrupted him as she stepped back onto the terrace. “Claudia, I think it best you come inside,” she said gently to her friend while she glared at Cameron.

Claudia blinked again and looked at Helen. “I. . .yes,” she stammered and let Helen guide her to the door.

“But if I could—,” Cameron began again.

“You have to realize the consequences of what just happened here, my lord. Nothing you can say or do will change this,” Helen said quietly and then escorted Claudia inside.

Fourteen

As soon as they were gone Cameron turned to Aurora, who had stood for the last few minutes uncharacteristically quiet. “What have you done to us?” he asked, as the realization of their situation raced through his mind.

Aurora blinked a few times and looked at him. “Cameron, how was I to know Lady Claudia would be coming out here? You cannot blame me for what has happened.” She took a visible breath. “But now that it has, we must consider that it is our destiny, mustn’t we? After all, you did make a promise—”

“Enough about that promise!” He waved his hands angrily in the air.

Aurora folded her arms and thrust her chin forward stubbornly. “Yes, I suppose it is a moot point now. As it stands, our reputations have been compromised, though we are
both
blameless. Our engagement must be announced.”

As much as Cameron wanted to deny her words, he could not. Aurora was right. They had been compromised.

The incident would be in the gossip column in tomorrow’s news. His parents and her father would expect nothing less.

He thought of Claudia’s stricken, hurt expression, and he knew he had to explain it all to her. It would bring little comfort to her, though, he imagined. Whether she suspected him of being unfaithful or knew the truth of Aurora’s emotional display that had ruined them both, the end result was the same.

He must marry Aurora.

How could one moment change their futures, their hopes and dreams?

And separate him from Claudia forever?

“We must go in there and announce it tonight,” Aurora said beside him, her voice urgent as she pointed toward the glass doors that led back into the ballroom. “You know we must.”

Cameron looked up and saw several people standing by the door, watching them, and suddenly felt a deep sadness rise within his heart. All his life Cameron had lived honorably and above reproach. He’d always been careful about the friends he chose and the places he went because he knew that any sort of gossip or scandal would reflect on his family’s name.

Now he was bound to marry a woman he did not love and was being gawked at like a circus animal by his peers.

He could only be thankful that neither his parents nor Aurora’s father was in attendance, for they surely would be mortified by the whole affair.

“We have to make it seem as though we’d planned to announce the engagement all along and not as a result of what happened here earlier,” Cameron finally spoke, thinking aloud.

“I agree,” Aurora answered.

He took in a deep breath and held out his arm to Aurora. “Let’s see this deed done then.”

He felt like a condemned man walking the path to his own execution. He plastered on a smile he could never feel as they pushed their way through the curious members of the ton and wondered why God had allowed this to happen.

Was this His will? Did God have a purpose for his marrying Aurora? If so, Cameron prayed it would be revealed to him, for he needed to understand.

“I need to speak with the Northingshires to prepare them for the announcement,” he said as they walked the perimeter of the room. He finally spotted them, but his heart sank when he saw Claudia standing beside them.

“There they are,” Aurora said, pointing in their direction.

“Perhaps you’d better stand here and let me handle this alone,” Cameron said. He owed it to Claudia to give her an explanation before he made the announcement.

“Absolutely not!” Aurora cried softly, gripping his arm tighter. “You cannot leave me to bear their scrutiny alone. See how their judging eyes condemn me already?”

“Then you should have thought about this before you threw yourself at me,” he hissed and discreetly pulled her arms away from him. “Stay here against the wall, and I’ll be back in a moment.”

“But—,” he heard Aurora say. But he ignored her pleading tone as he made his way to where his friends stood.

North noticed him first. He felt a pang of remorse when he saw the duke tense and frown with marked censure. “North, I must speak with you—all of you,” he told them quickly, looking them each in the eye until he finally came to Claudia. “I especially need to explain what you saw out there on the terrace.”

Claudia narrowed her eyes at him. The hurt he’d seen earlier in her expression had now been replaced by anger. “Explain what? That I’m not the only girl you go about kissing?”

“Claude, I wasn’t kissing her. I—”

“Don’t call me Claude, you rogue!” she hissed.

“Kinclary, before you draw more attention to yourself, perhaps we’d better go somewhere private so you can tell me what you mean to do now,” North insisted in a soft but serious tone.

Nodding, he followed all three of them into a small room off the ballroom. Once they were closed inside he tried to get Claudia to look at him, but she stubbornly looked away. Finally Cameron pulled his gaze away from Claudia and looked at North. “I must announce that Aurora and I are to be wed,” he said bluntly. He heard Claudia gasp but forced himself to continue. “We must make it seem as though we’d planned to announce it all along. It’s the only way to keep scandal at bay.”

North nodded. “I agree. There were too many witnesses, and the news has spread quickly amongst our guests.”

“Wait a moment.” Claudia stepped closer. “You are going to marry Aurora because you were caught embracing her?”

Cameron sighed, wishing he did not have to put her through this pain. “Is it not the way of things in American society also? If I do not marry her, in time I could recover from it simply because I am a man and heir to an exalted title—but not before my family and sisters experienced the censure and judgment of the ton. Aurora, however, would suffer from the shame all her life and have little chance for marriage.” Cameron stared with pleading eyes at Claudia. “You know this must be done.”

The anger drained from Claudia’s face, leaving her pale. “If only someone had caught our kiss—,” she murmured, as if she couldn’t help speaking it.

“Yes,” he interrupted in a gruff voice. He would not let her finish the sentence for he couldn’t bear to think about it.

All of a sudden the door opened, and Aurora stepped inside. “Did you tell them our happy news?” she asked cheerfully, nudging her way between Claudia and him. Aurora was quick to grab hold of his arm and hug it to her in a familiar fashion. A gesture that did not go unnoticed by the Northingshires or Claudia.

“Aurora, please. You need not playact in front of my friends.”

He should have known Aurora would do as she pleased. With a pout she reached with her other hand to pat his arm. “Then they must realize we have known each other since childhood. No one can be surprised that our marriage is a natural progression of our long friendship.”

Shaking his head with frustration, Cameron got back to the point of his and North’s earlier conversation. “Shall we make the announcement now? The sooner the better, I think.”

They exited the room, and North got to it straightaway, quieting the orchestra and making the announcement. Aurora played her part to the hilt as the adoring fiancée clinging to his arm and gazing up into his eyes. Cameron remembered smiling and hoping it would convince the masses they had been planning this announcement all along.

And it worked. A few cast suspicious glances in their direction, but mostly everyone forgave their earlier imprudent display and accepted that two good English families were about to be united.

Claudia had her own part to play in the affair. She had to stand and smile, pretending she was happy with the announcement. For her to show anything else would cause the ton to speculate that he threw Claudia over for Aurora. They’d been seen together so much in public that there would still be speculation, but if she maintained they were only friends the matter would soon be forgotten.

He hated that she had to bear any sort of censure. She was innocent in all of this, and he blamed himself for not doing something to stop it.

If only he’d dealt with Aurora earlier. If only he’d never made that thoughtless promise to begin with.

If only—

“Dear God, please be with Claudia,” he whispered aloud as he watched her walk about the room with Helen at her side.

“What did you say?” Aurora asked, bringing his attention back to her.

He shook his head and let out a sigh. “I believe we should go and speak to your father,” he said instead of answering her question and began to walk toward the door.

They were in the process of collecting their coat, shawl, and hats when he turned once more to glance about the room.

Claudia must have sensed she was being watched, for her gaze connected with his across the brightly lit ballroom. But she only held it for a second before turning and walking in the opposite direction from him.

“Must we go, Cam? The prince regent will be insulted we left before he has even arrived,” Aurora complained with another one of her usual pouts.

“I suspect he will recover quickly,” Cameron said wearily, escorting her into the hallway and then out of the house.

Time seemed to be running faster than normal, for they arrived at her residence before he knew it. Lord Wyndham, a tall austere gentleman who rarely smiled, soon joined them in the room where they’d been waiting. He was dressed in his usual black suit of clothes, which made him seem even more remote and cold. Cameron remembered seeing him several times at Rosehaven Castle but could not recall ever holding a significant conversation with him.

He had no idea how the older man would react to the news.

“This is rather a late hour for a visit, Kinclary,” he stated after they’d bowed and exchanged polite greetings. Cameron saw the man’s gaze move to his daughter standing beside him. Suspicion was evident in his expression. “Aurora, am I to assume you arrived here with Kinclary? Alone?”

Cameron glanced at Aurora and saw she was nervously wringing her hands. “Y–yes. We. . .uh. . .he took me home from the Northingshire ball, Papa,” she stammered.

“I shall get right to the point of this visit, my lord. Aurora and I were. . .conversing on the terrace and were caught in a compromising position that was witnessed by several guests,” he explained, oversimplifying the scene.

Wyndham’s whole demeanor changed into something dark and foreboding. “And what sort of
compromising position
was it?” he asked through gritted teeth.

“Just a simple embrace, Papa. That was all,” Aurora answered in an innocent tone.

But Cameron knew the particulars of what happened would get around to him sooner or later, and he would rather not have his future father-in-law think he was a deceiver. “A kiss was involved as well,” he added.

From the corner of his eye he saw Aurora glare up at him.

“I see,” Lord Wyndham said in a low voice. By the way he narrowed his gaze at them both, Cameron had an inkling he saw much more than was actually the truth. “And if you were not caught? Would you mean to misuse my daughter, my lord, and not do right by her?”

The moment seemed so otherworldly that Cameron felt as though he were watching the whole scene as an audience watched a play. Had he ever imagined he would be put in such a position? He had not.

“Of course not, my lord. I can state truthfully that I have never touched your daughter in an untoward fashion and have always treated her with respect,” Cameron said.

“Until tonight,” Wyndham reminded him with a flat tone.

Cameron glanced again at Aurora, but she avoided his eyes.
What did I expect,
he wondered,
that she’d speak up and tell the truth of the whole matter?
“Yes, until tonight,” he answered.

The muscle in Lord Wyndham’s jaw jerked about as if he were trying to hold on to his anger. “And now what is to be done?” Wyndham drew his words out slowly, much like a judge sentencing a man to his doom.

“I’ve come to make an offer. . .to marry your daughter,” Cameron said, almost choking on those last words.

“And I would expect no less.” Wyndham said no more for a moment but continued to study them both.

Cameron fought the urge to reach up and loosen his cravat so that he could breath easier.

“Come back this week, and we will settle the arrangements. I hope you will not expect a large dowry from Aurora, for I am only able to give her twenty pounds a year.”

Cameron nodded to the older man. “That will be fine, my lord.”

“Good night,” he said with finality as he turned stiffly and walked toward the door. “Aurora?” he called without turning.

Aurora sent Cameron an apologetic look, then ran after him, leaving Cameron alone in the room.

He stood there for a few minutes, trying to reason how all of this could have happened and how he could have prevented it.

But it was a waste of time and energy. The facts were the facts. He would be marrying a woman who did not share his beliefs in God nor his passion for ministry and helping the poor.

Why had God allowed this?
Cameron wondered for the umpteenth time that night. Was this what He wanted for him? If only Cameron knew the reason, he could live with himself a little better.

As it was, he blamed himself for making the promise that started this whole affair. If he had not, it would be he and Claudia who would be celebrating their engagement on this night.

Now he must squelch the love he felt for her and remind himself every day that she could only be his friend.

And even that may not be possible.