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Authors: Beverley Eikli

A Little Deception

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A
Little Deception

A
Regency Romantic Intrigue

By

BEVERLEY
EIKLI

Nominated Favourite Historical of 2011
by ARRA (Australian Romance Readers Association).

Copyright 2012 Beverley
Eikli

All rights reserved

 
 
 

For
Dagny and Sophie

 

Originally
published 2009 by Robert Hale (UK)

Re-edited
Beverley Eikli 2012

 
 
 
 

Also by Beverley Eikli

Lady
Sarah’s Redemption

Lady
Farquhar’s Butterfly

 

And writing as Beverley Oakley

Rake’s
Honour

Lady
Lovett’s Little Dilemma

The
Cavalier

 
 

 

 
 

The Deception
............................................................
3

Chapter One
.............................................................................................................................
3

Chapter Two
...........................................................................................................................
12

Chapter Three
........................................................................................................................
22

Chapter Four
..........................................................................................................................
28

Chapter Five
...........................................................................................................................
35

Chapter Six
.............................................................................................................................
42

Chapter Seven
........................................................................................................................
51

Chapter Eight
.........................................................................................................................
55

The Consequences
.................................................
64

Chapter Nine
..........................................................................................................................
64

Chapter Ten
...........................................................................................................................
76

Chapter Eleven
.......................................................................................................................
85

Chapter Twelve
......................................................................................................................
99

Chapter Thirteen
..................................................................................................................
106

Chapter Fourteen
.................................................................................................................
111

Chapter Fifteen
....................................................................................................................
119

Chapter Sixteen
...................................................................................................................
124

Chapter Seventeen
..............................................................................................................
131

Chapter Eighteen
.................................................................................................................
140

Chapter Nineteen
................................................................................................................
144

Chapter Twenty
....................................................................................................................
149

Just Desserts
........................................................
153

Chapter Twenty-one
.............................................................................................................
153

Chapter Twenty-two
.............................................................................................................
159

Chapter Twenty-three
..........................................................................................................
168

Lady Farquhar’s Butterfly Excerpt & Reviews
.........................................................................
171

Lady Sarah’s Redemption – Excerpt & Review
........................................................................
174

About the Author
.................................................................................................................
176

 
The Deception
Chapter One

London
1818

 

‘THE
ONLY WAY we can honour Helena’s debt is by giving Lord Rampton the deeds to the
plantation, Charles.’ Reining in her frustration, Rose cast a withering look at
the comatose young woman upon the bed before transferring her contempt to her
brother. She couldn't remember when she’d last been so angry. ‘Clearly, Helena
is in no state to petition his lordship for clemency.’

Charles stroked the limp, elegant hand that rested upon his
wife’s chest as he knelt at her bedside, his mulish stare focused on the dome of
St Paul’s through the dirty windowpane rather than at his sister’s flushed and
angry face. A sheen of sweat bathed his pallid brow, hinting at the pressure he
was under but still he came up with the usual excuses. ‘Helena’s been unwell
but she will soon recover her strength. We can delay tonight’s dinner … play
for time,’ he muttered. ‘More time will allow us to explore other options.’ Though
still a young man, the lines around his mouth and the furrows across his brow
were deeply etched.

He’d been handsome and carefree when he’d married Helena five
years before, Rose reflected as she knelt on the threadbare rug to reach beneath
the bed for the blue glass vial, now empty, which had rolled there. Sighing,
she held it out as she straightened. ‘Helena promised to wean herself off this’

she tapped the bottle with fingers noticeably
more workworn than those of the West Indies beauty whose gambling and laudanum
addictions threatened their futures

‘if you promised to take her to
England. You fulfilled your part of the bargain. ’ She studied the label,
adding with a sigh, ‘Perhaps it’s just as well Helena can’t attend Lord
Rampton’s dinner tonight. Who knows how she might conduct herself given the
delicacy of the situation.’ She moved to the door, her voice mocking as she
dropped the laudanum bottle into her apron pocket. ‘At least I can be relied
upon to be decorous and obedient. Perhaps I should accompany you.’

Charles jerked his head up. ‘You can’t possibly go,
Rose…though I appreciate your offer.’ He looked more horrified than he had when
he’d set eyes on his unconscious wife minutes before, and Rose almost laughed
at the black humour of their predicament. Charles had status, Helena had beauty
but Rose had wit and brains. Had she been the one orchestrating their
precarious lives, she had no doubt they’d be in a vastly better situation.
They’d certainly not be in danger of losing their only home.

Still jesting, she tilted her head and challenged with an arch
smile, ‘Surely, Charles, you don’t subscribe to the notion that marriage
confers some kind of magical status which I do not have, simply as your
unmarried sister?’

He did not reply as he tenderly contoured the face of the
unconscious woman who’d held him in thrall since the moment she’d fluttered her
eyelashes at him so many years before. Meanwhile as Rose prepared to quit the
room, her suggestion, preposterous a moment ago, took root and flourished.

She paused, her hand on the door knob. Charles would allow
Helena to ruin them all if Rose did not act in their defence. Watching her
brother, she said carefully, ‘Lord Rampton is due to set sail for the Continent
before the week is up and our visit here is for less than three months. We’ll
have returned to the plantation before he’s back in England. He’ll never know
I’m not Helena.’ His opposition cemented her determination. Charles was weak
and indecisive. Lord Rampton would almost certainly dictate terms that would be
to their detriment and Charles would buckle. Suddenly her idea seemed their only
salvation.

She moved back into the room and stroked her brother’s arm,
her tone wheedling. ‘As you’ve said, I can perform no useful role as your
unmarried sister, Charles, but why should you dine with Lord Rampton, alone,
when at least
I
can get the measure
of him? It’s what we must do if we’re to get the extension we need to repay Helena’s
debt.’

Bending,
she whispered in his ear. ‘Time, Charles, is what we need. I’m certain poor
Mama and Papa have a few relatives mouldering in the wings who could help. But
Lord Rampton is quite within his rights to demand an immediate settlement’

she caressed his
cheek

 

and
surely I’d be far more successful at playing on Lord Rampton’s heartstrings
than you.’

Rose
could see Charles was wavering. His stubborn streak was always the final hurdle
to overcome. To give in without a fight compromised the feeling that he was in
charge, the young baronet, head of his household: his wife and two sisters.

‘If I went as Helena
⎯’

‘No! Good God, Rose, are you out of your mind?’

Rose drew herself up proudly, more determined than ever. Striving
to remain calm, she said, ‘Lord Rampton has met none of us and Helena was in
masquerade when she lost to this other man who’s transferred the debt to his
lordship. How’s Lord Rampton to know the difference when it’s just for one
evening? I’m sure I could persuade him to alter the terms—’

‘No, Rose.’ Shrugging off her hand, Charles shook his head
emphatically. ‘As Helena’s husband I’m responsible for her debts and as your
brother I’m responsible for your welfare. It would not be right to expose you
to this … well, we don’t know what kind of man Lord Rampton is. Ruthless.
Calculating. Those are just some of the descriptions I’ve heard bandied about
my club. I admit it’s because of Helena we’re in danger of losing the
plantation but you had nothing to do with’

he
looked pained

‘the sordid business that night.’

‘With due respect, Charles,’ Rose cut in sharply, ‘I’ve had
to contend with Helena’s dangerous vices for the past five years and I think I
can claim some credit for the fact that we still have a plantation!’ She’d
allowed her anger to get the better of her. Charles did not react well to
anger. Changing tack, she added softly, ‘I shan’t disgrace you, I promise. I’ll
simply be there as Lady Chesterfield instead of Miss Chesterfield. It’s not
such a terribly wicked lie.’

***

‘You will not attend Lord Rampton’s dinner dressed like
that!’

Edith, the loyal family retainer who had mothered the family
for as long as Rose could remember, raked her charge with disapproving eyes
before bundling Rose upstairs, pressing her down before her dressing-table. No
further description was needed as to what she thought of Rose’s drab grey
velvet gown.

BOOK: A Little Deception
2.25Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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