An Apple Pie for a Duke (8 page)

The
memories assaulted him.

What
have I done? But what could I've done? She was so passionate, so
willing! So sweet and so ready...

He
finished the brandy and nodded to the footman to pour him another.

She
had slapped him. Thrice!

But
she seduced me! It was all her doing! --- Ah, don't kid yourself,
Dominic, she was asleep, maybe she was drunk, too, you know she's not
averse to alcoholic beverages... She made perfect sense in the end,
when she realised how close she had come to lose her innocence.

Yet,
how could an innocent girl be so passionate and so determined in her
lovemaking? Was she really innocent? After all, he did not know a
thing about her. He had hardly talked to her. She could be plainly
immoral! It was always easy to play the injured party. Maybe she had
long given up her innocence to Mr. Wimple?

Mr.
Wimple! He must've arrived in London by now with the General! I must
find him. I must know! I'll torture him if need be.

Dominic
drank more brandy.

No.
His instincts told him the Honourable Eugenia Cartwright was a
wild-child, but not depraved. There had been a strange, pure
perfection to her kisses, to the way she had lain in his arms. She
had behaved like people behave in---
In a novel! Of course! She
re-enacts her mother's unholy erotic novels when she imagines how
we...

His
previous lovers had all been experienced women who had known what
they were doing between the sheets, wise in all ways of lovemaking.
Sophisticated whores, if I'm true to myself...

Not
Gigi. She was ingenuous. Dominic was sure of it.

He
felt a sudden deep longing and at the same time a profound
embarrassment when he pictured how she dreamed about him, what she
fancied he would do to her.

He
did not dare let his thoughts dwell further into that direction.

He
was befuddled by brandy and by that little minx, that devilish
kitten.

Angel!
Demon! Pirate! All of it and more!

He
had to have her.

He
had to
marry
her.

In
his heart he knew he had wanted to marry her the moment she had taken
off her pirate's tricorn. He had even told her so. Well, he had not
been thinking clearly, she had been rubbing herself against his---
Whatever. He had said it and he had meant it, too.

He
wanted her for his wife but Eugenia only wanted him for a fantasy!

She
had been savagely angry when she had finally recovered from her
amorous fervour in the carriage. Fury had raged through the beautiful
creature like a thunderstorm.

She
had called him all sort of things. She never wanted to see him again!

What
if she wanted to marry somebody less sinister, less moody and less
haughty? Somebody like that ignominious Mr. Wimple.

I
have to tell her about the stable! She needs to know!

He'd
call on her tomorrow and come what may, Mr. Wimple would not see the
light of another day.

He
passed out.

                                                                   
***

The
following day, after having recovered from his excessive intake of
brandy, Dominic had Coeur de Lion saddled and rode over to Halfmoon
Street.

He
was informed by a footman that the General was not at home and
neither were the ladies.

They
had taken the barouche to Hyde Park.

12.

Hyde
Park, that same morning

Miss
Flora Parker, observant as usual, had immediately detected that
something incisive had happened in the Cartwright household. Lady
Cartwright was positively exuberant. The elegant woman was so
radiant, Flora feared she might be inwardly aflame. Her husband's
arrival could have been the reason for the lady's sudden mirth but
Flora doubted it.

Even
so, Eugenia Cartwright was a complete contrast to her joyful parent.

The
bright young woman whom Flora had befriended not even a week ago had
transformed into a pale, nervous, brooding creature. Beautiful yes,
but not as forthcoming, witty or charming as she had been on earlier
occasions.

Funnily,
apparently something Eugenia had done was the reason for Lady
Cartwright's happiness. She would not cease stroking or patting her.
“My good, good girl,” she'd sigh blissfully and smile.

Flora
and her own mother, Lady Parker, sat opposite the Cartwright females
in their barouche.

It
was the usual time for a jaunt to the park and many an acquaintance
walked, rode or drove by, greeting them amicably. A few more
courageous ones even inquired after Gigi's health.

Her
faiblesse
at Lady Winston's was
known to the entire
ton
,
of course.

Flora's
mother had been speaking of nothing else ever since.

Had
Flora seen how it had happened? Had Flora heard what the duke had
said?

“
How
come he danced at all when everybody knows he never dances and what
was he doing at Delilah's anyway? He could not possibly...? Or could
he...? He would have to at some point... though everybody had given
up on it, more or less, but no! Along comes Mary
Tarly-Rivendon-Cartwright – who always got what she wanted then
and
now – and has
magicked up a stunningly beautiful daughter who pretends not to care
for men at all. The next thing we see is Surrey at a ball, an
occurrence nobody had ever
hoped
to witness, they
dance, she faints, he brings her home in his carriage
alone!
Shocking! The girl is
utterly compromised and it has been her own mother's idea! But then
that flaxen haired schemer has always been outrageous, mark my words.
First she marries the Earl of Rivendon about two weeks into her first
season, later she runs of to France and marries that atrocious old
general! It was sheer calculation by the Cartwright woman to set the
duke up with her Eugenia! Who knows? Maybe the girl only feigned the
weakness to make the greatest catch of the century! My dear Flora,
we'll stick to these people if our lives depend upon it! If I'm not
wrong, we'll soon be friends with the St. Yves. And the Shaws and the
Lackerbies... they are all so very...”

Rich?
Exclusive?

Her
mother's social ambitions had never interested Flora. She liked Gigi
because Gigi had been the only girl she had ever encountered who
would really understand her.

Yet,
her mother's words spoken in private came back to her as she watched
Lady Cartwright. Did the lady look smug? Proud? As if she had reeled
in the greatest catch of the century?

Yes
she
did
!

Poor
Gigi! Was she the victim of a wicked plot between her mother and the
reckless duke? Had Surrey asked for Gigi's hand? Were they forcing
the poor girl to marry him? A free spirit as Eugenia Cartwright would
break under such a strain, no wonder she suffered!

Flora
pictured Gigi locked into a castle, chained to an enormous
four-poster-bed and the Duke of Surrey exploiting her helplessness to
satisfy his physical needs.

To
her own distress, Flora could not feel any pity for Gigi. Who would
not
want to be chained to
a bed by the Duke of Surrey?

“
Eugenia,”
Lady Parker ventured and brought Flora back from her reveries. “I'm
sure you are happy your father has come all the way from Yorkshire,
just to stand by you during your first season?”

“
What?”
Gigi also seemed to have woken up from some daydream, though not from
a pleasant one. “Oh pardon me, Lady Parker, but I haven't been
listening, please do forgive me!”

“
It
wasn't anything of importance, dear.” Flora's mother smiled
graciously.

Hypocrite.

Lady
Cartwright patted Gigi's arm. “My good, good girl,” she chirped.
“Isn't it a wonderful morning, all sunny and fresh. --- I wished my
husband were here, but he had to take Mr. Wimple to the apothecary's.
His digestion is not the best. Sometimes we're in danger of our
lives. These vapours...”

Flora
felt her mother tremble with shock.

Lady
Cartwright was indeed outrageous. Flora admired and envied her. To be
so independent of other people's opinion had to be a blessing.

“
I'm
glad Mr. Wimple is here,” Gigi sighed, gazing hopelessly into the
distance.

“
Oh,
yes. He joined us at exactly the right moment. When my darling girl
is not well, Mr. Wimple can always make her feel better. She even
wanted him to stay with her overnight, but I couldn't allow it. The
vapours, you see.”

Lady
Parker coughed.

“
Oh
no!” Gigi sighed all of a sudden, her face ashen.

All
three of them turned their heads.

A
tall figure astride a black horse was approaching in a brisk canter.

The
villain of the piece looked exquisite in a dark grey riding suit,
Flora decided

“
Isn't
that His Grace?” Lady Cartwright demanded innocently. “Look,
darling, it's His Grace. We didn't get the chance to properly thank
him for taking you home. I'd planned to write him a letter later
today. How convenient we should meet him here.”

“
Charming,”
Lady Parker agreed and smiled even more agreeably.

“
Lady
Cartwright, Lady Parker, Miss Cartwright, Miss Parker,” the duke
said severely as he drew up alongside the barouche.

“
Your
Grace,” the ladies courteously bowed to the duke. All except Gigi
who did not move nor speak.

“
A
beautiful morning, isn't it, duke?” Lady Cartwright jubilated,
patting her daughter's hand.

“
Exquisite.”

“
How
right you are,” cried Flora's mother. “Exquisite!”

The
duke looked speculatively at Eugenia. “I hope you have recovered
from your
malaise
, Miss Cartwright?”

“
Thank
you, Your Grace,” Gigi said coldly without looking back at him.

“
She
does look rather pale, doesn't she,” Lady Parker filled her voice
with a note of well-meaning sorrow.

“
Perhaps
the London air doesn't agree with you, Miss Cartwright,” the duke
continued. “Whenever I meet you, your are out of sorts, in one way
or another.”

Flora
watched him closely. Since the duke did not care for her at all she
was at liberty to blandly observe him. He looked tired. His mouth was
twitching and a certain tension in his posture belied the easy manner
of his speech.

“
I
hear the Yorkshire air's much more beneficial. My horse keeps telling
me so.”

“
Your
horse?” It broke out of Flora.

“
Yes,”
the Duke nodded. “He's quite a chatterbox. It's mostly nonsense
though.”

“
Is
it?” Lady Cartwright's good humour had evaporated. She looked
downright worried.

She's
afraid she's set her daughter up with a mad man. That would serve her
right.

“
Yes,
indeed. Guess what he told me about Yorkshire. He said there were
pirates in Yorkshire.”

“
That's
well possible,” Lady Cartwright concurred. “There are a lot of
secret coves by the sea, ideal for smugglers. We live further inland,
fortunately.”

The
duke nodded. “My horse spent some time at a lovely inn called the
Red Mill. Do you perchance know the local?”

Lady
Cartwright, still visibly distressed, cleared her throat. “Oh yes,
I do! The owner served under my husband in the army.”

“
Coeur
de Lion enjoyed his stay very much. Because that's were he saw the
pirate! In fact, he hit upon a secret meeting between a Princess and
a Privateer in that very inn's most comfortable stable. Spectacular
haylofts, if anything.”

“
Oh,”
Lady Parker cried. “Isn't there a novel of that title? The Princess
and the Privateer?”

“
I
wouldn't know,” Lady Cartwright said sternly.

Flora
glanced at Gigi to see whether her friend found the entire
conversation as disturbing as she did. Gigi's face had changed from
white to bright red.

“
Was
it a secret
rendezvous
?”
Lady Cartwright asked nervously.