A Gentleman's Wager (26 page)

‘Vaughan has Charles in fear of his life,’ Bella said.
Disinterestedly
, Louisa resumed her former position and rested her chin on her folded arms. She could guess why.

‘I can’t work out what it’s about. Charles refused to say, and I didn’t think it was worth asking Vaughan.’

‘You wouldn’t have liked his answer anyway,’ she mumbled into her clothing. Apprehensively, she bit the cotton sleeve of her gown. Bella would have to be told. She’d hoped she wouldn’t have to be the one to break the news, but if Bella discovered that Louisa had known and not said anything, her reaction would only be worse. Beside her, Bella put her back to the railing.

‘What have you found out?’ she asked. ‘And how did you find it out?’

‘It’s about a gambling debt. Charles owes Vaughan.’ Louisa was pleased to find the strain didn’t show in her voice.

‘I didn’t think Vaughan played cards,’ Bella said.

‘It wasn’t cards.’

Her expression clouded, though her voice retained its light-hearted note. ‘What else have they found to bet on? There’s not exactly much going on here.’

There was no escaping it. ‘Us,’ she admitted.

‘What do you mean, us?’

‘Exactly what I said,’ Louisa replied. She drew herself up to her full four feet eleven inches. ‘Bella, try to stay calm,’ she hesitated, tense, and ready for the explosion. ‘They wagered sixty guineas that Vaughan couldn’t bed you before Lucerne and me before Wakefield. He’s after payment.’

‘But you haven’t … Christ, Louisa! When?’

‘Does it matter?’

‘My God!’ The colour drained from Bella’s face, leaving her ashen. She recovered quickly. ‘Sixty guineas. That’s less than he spends on a tie pin,’ she bellowed.

Louisa tugged at her sleeve and pulled her away from the edge of the balcony. ‘Bella, keep your voice down.’

‘How can you be so calm? And let go of me.’ She pulled herself free.

‘It doesn’t really bother me.’

‘What?’ Bella cut her off. ‘You’re not making sense.’ She leaned over the railing. ‘You bastard,’ she screamed, then fled.

‘Bella … Bella,’ Louisa cried as she pursued her down the narrow stairs. Bella had already disappeared through the door when Louisa reached the bottom and found herself face to face with Lucerne.

‘What was that about?’ he asked.

‘Nothing.’ Louisa shook her head, aware of Vaughan in the background. He looked unaffected by the outburst. Lucerne’s expression was sour, but she refused to be the bearer of any more bad tidings. They could sort it out amongst themselves. ‘I’d better find her,’ she said, and excused herself.

As she darted into the corridor she heard Lucerne ask, ‘Which one of us do you suppose that was aimed at?’ The closing door muffled any replies.

Louisa perched on the corner of Bella’s rumpled bed, regarding her friend with genuine concern. Bella lay sprawled across the covers. She was cursing incoherently between heart-wrenching sobs, and Louisa didn’t entirely understand why. What Vaughan and Charles had done was brutish and unkind, but Bella seemed to be taking it rather to heart. It wasn’t as if she were in love with either of them, or even cared much for their opinions.

‘Damned worthless whoreson!’ Bella thumped the mattress and then flung her pillow to the floor.

‘Bella!’ Louisa had never heard language so coarse. It
seemed
pointless to get upset by callous and unthinking behaviour and, although she wasn’t happy with recent events, next to Bella her annoyance was barely significant. Perhaps it was down to clarity. Louisa suspected that there was more to this than just an idle wager: Vaughan’s intention had probably been to humiliate Frederick. She didn’t understand why, but it didn’t take a genius to work out that there was no love lost between them. Charles was just a compulsive gambler. To Vaughan, the money was unimportant. He’d done it out of spite – but then, so had she.

She quietly rose and left Bella to her cursing.

‘Bella.’

Bella froze at the sound of her name. Slowly she turned about to greet Lucerne with a fixed smile. She had no argument with him, since he probably didn’t even know about the bet, but she’d been avoiding everyone since her outburst and was eating early. To her relief, he had come down to breakfast alone, relaxed and informal.

‘There’s a letter for you,’ he said, lifting a sealed package from the pile of correspondence to wave at her. ‘It’s Joshua’s handwriting, I believe.’

‘Thank you,’ she replied, and took the letter from his outstretched hand. He pressed his thumb into her palm before allowing her to withdraw. The reassurance gave her the strength to endure his searching gaze. He was clearly worried about her.

‘Is there anything I can do?’ he asked. ‘Should I have someone flogged?’

‘No. It was just a silly outburst. I apologise for my behaviour. It wasn’t very ladylike.’

Lucerne frowned. She realised that he knew she was holding something back. ‘You can confide in me,’ he said. ‘But it’s your choice.’

Bella shook her head. If he didn’t know already, she didn’t want to humiliate herself by explaining.

Up in her room, facing the dressing-table mirror, Bella wondered if she had hurt his feelings, but she doubted he’d be pleased with her admission. A threesome with him and Vaughan was one thing, but confessing to sex with Vaughan as well as Wakefield before she’d ever lain with him was quite another.

To take her thoughts away from Lucerne’s possible jealousy, she broke the seal on the letter. He was right. It was from her brother, but the contents were unexpected. Bella scanned the sentences again; her hands shook so much she could hardly hold the paper still enough to read.

My dear sister

Aubury informs me all is not well between himself and the marquis. If all I hear is true, then Charles is right to fear for his life and therefore I find myself tasked with the role of peacemaker once more, though it irks me to undertake it. I understand the sum is some sixty guineas, lost at the cardtable. I can not yet return to Lauwine in person, since Frederick is too unstable to leave. I must therefore task you with settling the debt. I have sent word to Haggard at the mine, and he should have the sum ready for you to collect out of the reserve fund. The wages are not due until the end of the month, and I hope to have roused Wakefield from his sullenness by then, and so be able to replace the shortfall myself. I hope all is well with you and Louisa. Wakefield sends his deepest regards
.

Your ever devoted brother
,

Joshua Rushdale
.

Annabella read the letter three times, then folded it carefully and placed it at the back of a drawer.

EMMA WATCHED HER
mistress smile for the first time in two days as they stood together outside Charles’s door. She hoisted the heavy jug of water, knocked and then let herself in. She didn’t understand what Bella Rushdale had against Mr Aubury, but she’d been promised a new dress and a day off with money for a visit to the coffee shop in Reeth Village, in return for her help. Never one to refuse a gift or a bribe, Emma had agreed immediately.

It was only mid-afternoon but the curtains were drawn inside Charles’ room, and the only light came from flickering candles. He lay in the great steel bath-tub which had been hauled up from the kitchens, with one arm draped over the edge and the other below the water line. If he had heard her enter, he showed no visible sign of it, but then he was expecting a servant with more water. He just wasn’t expecting her.

Emma put down the large jug and stepped out of her clothes with one eye on Charles. Slow ripples were spreading from the region of his crotch. There was no mistaking what he was about. She wondered what he was imagining: filling a girl’s mouth with his seed, perhaps, or soiling her breasts or buttocks.

After she peeled off her stockings, she padded over to the bath. ‘I see you’ve picked up your cudgel for the one-man Morris dance,’ she commented as she poured the hot water into the tub. Charles virtually leaped clear of the water. He gurgled at her, and tried to hide his thick stubby erection.

‘No need to be shy, sir, it’s a fine pole.’

It seemed to dawn on him that she was nude. His cock reared eagerly from behind the shield of his hands. Emma deliberately turned her back on him and bent over to put the jug on the floor. She’d been told before that her plump bottom was her best asset, and she knew how to use it to her advantage. She wriggled, then glanced coyly back to find him gawping at her.

When she returned to the side of the tub, she cupped her breasts, gave him a lewd grin and licked her own nipple. He made a strangled noise. Emma purposefully picked up the soap. ‘Let me give you a hand,’ she said ambiguously, and dropped the fragrant bar into the water.

Her hands dived after it. Charles drew a careful breath as her dusky nipples bobbed three inches from his face. Emma brushed his thigh, then closed her palm around his erection.

‘Jesus!’ he swore.

As stiff as the iron poker she used to stoke the fires, and twice as thick, his cock jerked eagerly against her lathered hands. He was so hard she knew he wouldn’t last long.

‘I could join you in the tub, sir, if you like,’ she offered, knowing he was unlikely to find the words for a refusal. That wasn’t part of the plan, but it couldn’t do any harm and she saw no reason not to exploit the situation for her own purposes. Once succumbed, eager for more, was her experience of gentlemen, and she wasn’t averse to a few more gifts.

‘Err,’ said Charles.

Emma translated this as a yes, and straddled him. Although he whimpered, he somehow managed to restrain himself as she swung into a rhythm. She let him build to a crescendo, encouraging him with her inner
muscles
and tempted him with her swinging breasts, and then just when his eyes were really starting to glaze over she banged twice on the side of the bath.

True to the plan, the door flew open and Bella stormed into the room.

Bella stood just over the threshold until Emma scurried past her, arms laden with her discarded clothes. She’d obeyed Joshua to the letter so far, and had returned from the mine with the sixty guineas. Each one Haggard had counted into her palm had felt like a slap, and now she was going to have her revenge.

Charles had slumped back with his eyes rolled heavenwards. Another minute, she suspected, and he wouldn’t have cared if Robespierre’s ghost had burst in, but that was exactly the point.

She walked slowly but purposefully over to the bath and looked down with disdain. ‘I hear you are a little short of cash,’ she said, while he blushed and his rampant phallus wilted away from her scornful gaze.

Bella wanted to laugh, but she forced a neutral countenance and absently pretended to consult Joshua’s note. ‘Well, my brother has seen fit to come to your rescue.’ She produced a heavy pouch. ‘Do, please, have these.’

Charles flinched as she upended the drawstring pouch, and the coins it held fell with a clatter over his unprotected body and into the bath.

‘Sixty shillings in total,’ Bella explained as he stared up at her, stupefied. ‘You can tell him from me, that was all he was worth.’ She dropped the empty purse on the floor and left the room, leaving Charles to wallow in self-pity and enjoy what remained of his bath.

Four hours later, Bella hid herself carefully among the shadows at the back of the coachhouse, where an open
space
had been cleared for stage two of her revenge plan. The air was heavy with the smell of lamp oil, and straw prickled her through the thick fabric of her gown. She took a deep breath to reassure herself. There was no reason why her plan shouldn’t work perfectly. Mark and the other grooms were already in position, and Vaughan had taken the bait.

The stable door opened and the night’s chill cut through the thick air. Vaughan’s slim outline appeared in silhouette. He scanned the empty-looking building. ‘Lucerne?’

There was no reply. The wind caught the door and slammed it closed behind him, forcing him further into the trap as he took a step forwards. Bella muttered a silent prayer. She watched, fingers crossed as two shadows parted clumsily from the walls to either side of their target, joined by another three from deeper inside. They moved in and surrounded Vaughan.

‘Lose your way?’ he said, clearly unperturbed by a few stocky stable-hands.

They replied by lunging for him.

Vaughan stepped quickly to his right, kicked and connected a well aimed blow with a burly assailant’s groin. The man doubled in agony while giving a yelp of pain. Next, it was the turn of the men to either side of him. Vaughan banged their heads together.

Bella watched in dismay. The incompetent fools were going to let him escape. But finally, they piled onto him. There were a few muffled thumps and curses before they managed to overpower him through force of numbers and bind his mouth with an old rag.

The scuffle had made more noise than Bella had anticipated. She hoped no one was close enough to hear, since any interference would completely wreck her plans. She watched nervously as two of the men manhandled
Vaughan
into position and stripped the shirt from his back, her gaze darting between them and the stable door. Only as Mark snapped the last shackle around Vaughan’s ankle did she give them her full attention. There was a smug grin on Mark’s face as he pulled Vaughan’s black pantaloons down to his knees. She couldn’t help thinking that was unwise of him, but then he was probably thinking this just revenge for the rough handling he’d received from Vaughan.

Their work done, the grooms beat a hasty retreat. Bella waited a few moments, watching and anticipating, while Vaughan pulled at the chains. He managed to spit the rag loose from his mouth and an oath followed its trajectory to the floor.

‘What in hell is going on?’ he said as he heaved against the heavy chains.

Bella announced her presence by cracking her riding crop across his bared buttocks. He snarled but managed to twist around enough to glimpse her. Then, to her horror, he laughed and relaxed in his bonds.

‘Annabella, it appears that you have me.’ He lifted his wrists and jangled the chains. Bella gave him another taste of the crop, but this time he didn’t flinch.