Angel's Devil (25 page)

"You wouldn't," she gasped.

He looked at her for a long moment, trying to figure out what he had
seen in her five years ago to make him ever do such a thing as kill someone to
win her affection. "No," he said, considering. ''I'll do it
myself."

He grabbed her arm and pulled her toward the door. She began shrieking
as he yanked it open and dragged her into the hallway. "Simms!" he
bellowed, and without a word the butler pulled open the front door. James
dragged Desiree onto the drive beside her coach, and then let her go. She fell
on her backside, still cursing at him, and very little resembling the
beautiful ornament he had once found so infatuating. "Flyaway on your
broomstick, witch, before someone bums you at the stake."

He turned around and strode back inside, and Simms slammed the door
behind him with a gratifying thud. Elizabeth and a wide-eyed Henry stood
beside the butler.

"Thank God you've that much sense left, anyway," his
grandmother said, waving her bone fan in front of her face. She was quite out
of breath.

"It did feel rather . . . satisfying," he conceded.
"Well; you have another worry at the moment"

"And what might that be?"

Lady Elizabeth swung her fan toward the back of the manor, nearly
cracking it against the side of her grandson's head. "That girl has gone
mad," she announced.

James looked in the direction she indicated. "Angelique?" She
grabbed his sleeve and tugged him forward. "You must go to the stables at
once, before it's too late."

"Shouldn't you be complaining to Simon?"

"He'd never understand. Go!" She turned and hurried for the
stairs. "I'll get the smelling salts," she called over her shoulder.
"Simms!" she bellowed.

James took a moment to grin down at Henry. "I do believe Grandmama
has bats in her belfry."

Henry giggled. "I like her," he whispered.

He nodded., "So do I. And I think I'd best go see what your sister
is up to."

Angelique had been right when she had called him a fool. None of this
was her fault, or even Simon's fault. It was his own. For the first time he
knew what love, real love, was, and he couldn't have it.

Desiree had been right about one thing. He was still the Devil, and he
could think of no reason in the world why Angelique would want him, even if he
hadn't behaved like a complete boor. She would certainly gain no respectability
from him. As he came around the comer he was nearly run down by Toombs, the
assistant groom.

"Oh, my lord," the groom panted, "thank God. I tried to
stop her, but she got around me and let India and Admiral out, and I had to
fetch them back."

James gave a reluctant smile. "Outflanked you, did she?"

"My lord, you don't understand. She rode off, and I couldn't stop
her."

"Unescorted?" James asked, frowning. It was a bit late in the
day to go off riding, much less without an attendant "Where's
Hastings?"

"Oh, Lady Elizabeth sent him off on an errand. But you don't
understand."

"Understand what, man?" James demanded, exasperated, "She
rode off on
your
horse," Toombs announced, backing away.

"What?"

The groom nodded, swallowing. "She rode off on Demon."

"That little hoyden," James cursed. So that was what Grandmama
Elizabeth had been talking about. "Saddle Pharaoh Now."

"Yes, my lord."

Too impatient to wait, James followed Toombs into the stable and quickly
helped him rig out the hunter. "Which way did she go?" he barked,
swinging into the saddle.

"Toward the village, my lord."

James kicked Pharaoh and lay flat along the stallion's withers as they
passed under the low door of the stable. Angel had a good head start, and if
Demon hadn't thrown her and she was lying somewhere with her neck broken, he
would be hard pressed to catch her. His heart pounding, he urged the bay irito
a gallop and headed east over the low rise.

In a few minutes he spotted them far ahead under the scattered trees.
Demon had clearly taken the bit in his teeth and was heading toward thicker
forest, where he would have an easy time scraping Angelique off on some
low-hanging branch and heading home in time for his oats. Brutus pounded beside
them, trying to keep up but no doubt doing more harm than good. A yowling dog
was hardly the thing to put Demon back in good spirits.

Angel, riding astride with her skirts hiked up, managed to haul the
stallion into a turn that would take them back to the meadow. James yanked
Pharaoh around to head them off. As they cleared the trees she saw him, and
choosing the most practical, and dangerous, option, she let go the reins and
tumbled out of the saddle. She rolled a few feet in the long grass, then lay still.

"Angelique!” ,

James reached her and threw himself out of the saddle, terrified she had
broken her neck after all. He wasn't prepared for the absolute terror that
jolted through him at the thought that she might be hurt. It seemed that no
matter what his mind told him would be best to do, his heart refused to give up
the idea that he loved her more than he'd ever loved anyone in his life.

As he knelt beside her, Angel slowly sat up to brush grass and leaves
off the front of her habit.

"Are you all right?" he asked urgently.

"No” she answered calmly, examining the soiled hem of her skirt.
"I've torn my dress." With that she began sobbing, wrapping her arms
around her knees. He put a hand on her shoulder, but she shoved away from him.
"Don't touch me."

"You might have been killed," he said, furtively plucking
leaves off her back.

"Oh, it was stupid, stupid, stupid," she sobbed, rocking back
and forth. "I should have known you would have a beastly, ill-mannered
horse."

"If you hadn't gotten on you wouldn't have fallen off," he
pointed out.

"I didn't fall," Angel retorted, her pride apparently intact.
"I jumped."

"It seems to have had about the same result," James said
dryly. "I warned you about Demon."

"I thought you were showing off," she said flatly. "I
didn't come out here to be rescued."

"Then why did you steal my horse, ride out here, and, ah, jump
off?"

"I didn't steal him," she retorted, keeping her face turned
away. "I just wanted to show you."

"Show me what?"

"That you're not always right about everything."

"Hm, Well, apparently I was right about Demon," he returned
in the same tone.

She shot him a quick, angry look. There was dirt smudged on her nose,
and he thought she had never looked more beautiful. "Go away," she
sniffed.

"Go away?" he repeated densely.

"I don't wish to speak with you any longer."

So she still hated him. He had done an excellent job of that, anyway.
"I can't very well leave you out here, and you couldn't ride Demon back
even if you wanted, because he's halfway to the stables by now."

"Then I'll take Pharaoh."

"I'm not walking," he said flatly. Her hair had come loose
from its pins, and as he plucked grass out of it, he barely resisted the urge
to run his fingers through the long tresses. . "How very ungallant of
you," she sniffed, wiping at her eyes.

He flinched, and hoped she didn't notice. "You said you didn't come
out here to be rescued," he reminded her. "I'm only doing as you
wish."

"Go away, or I shall . . . "

"Shall what?" he pursued, curious as to what she would
threaten him with.

She bowed her head. "I don't know," she muttered, then
straightened again. "But it shall be dreadful," she warned.

"I have no doubt it shall be." He rose and despite her
protests pulled her up after him. She swayed unsteadily, but refused his offer
of support. Instead. she shoved at him, and turned her back.

Brutus had been sitting to one side, and as James took an angry step
forward, the dog stood and growled at him. "Oh,
et tu, Brute?"
he
grunted.

"Good dog," Angelique encouraged, but that apparently
convinced Brutus that everything was fine again, for his ears came forward and
he wagged his tail.

"I'm sorry," James said mockingly. "Perhaps I should have
let you fall on your head. Maybe that would have knocked some sense into
you."

"Into me?" she said indignantly, turning to face him again.
"I'm not the drunken pig."

"No," James retorted, "you're the ill-mannered
hoyden."

She swung her fist at his face, but this time he was ready. He
intercepted her wrist, holding it firmly in his fingers. They spent a moment
glaring at one another, and then she jerked free, and with a flounce of her
skirts started across the meadow with an indignant limp. "What do you
think you're doing?" he asked, grabbing Pharaoh's reins to follow.

"I'm going back," she snapped over her shoulder. Because of
the tall grass she had to lift her skirts to her knees, and despite the fact
that he was angry enough to spit, he had to enjoy the view. It was no good
being a rake if one couldn't admire a beautiful woman, whatever the circumstances.
"Oh," he said, rrying to cool his temper. "Well, I'm heading the
same way. Care to ride double?"

"No."

She continued toward the manor, and he slowly drew even with her,
certain she would give in and agree to ride the rest of the way. In accordance
with her well-documented stubbornness, however, she never even gave Pharaoh a
longing glance.

It made him feel rather unchivalrous, and he cleared his throat.
"Angelique?"

"I'm not speaking to you."

"You've said that already."

"Good. I'm pleased to know you're not deaf."

"I'm trying to apologize," he pursued through clenched teeth.
"If you love Simon, I wish you to know I won't . . . interfere in your
lives." He desperately wanted to tell her about Simon and Lily, but it was
no longer any of his damned business. "And I wish you all happiness."

"How gallant," she muttered, staring at him for a moment
before she turned away again. "If I cared what you wished."

Finally, James decided, it was safe to conclude that things couldn't
possibly be any worse.

14

“Th
at
was quite a spill you took. Miss Angel," Tess said, as she lay Angel's
blue muslin over the back of a chair. "Your habit is a sight. Are you all
right?"

"I only hurt my pride," Angel replied glumly, examining her
ruined skirt.

It had not gone at all as she had planned. She had thought to show James
Faring that . . . well, something that would let him know she wasn't to be
trifled with. Considering that Demon had nearly torn her arms out of their sockets
and that she had a twisted ankle and scratches up and down her arms, she wasn't
certain who had been taught a lesson.

Railing at James as she had, made her feel like a complete shrew. It was
either keep herself furious at him, though, or throw herself into his arms and
destroy what little scrap of respectability remained to her. Everything was so
confusing. James Faring had stolen her heart, and she had no idea how to
recover it, or how to make do without it.

Sitting upstairs and missing dinner seemed rather childish, but she was
in no mood to see the disappointed looks her mother and father would share as
they shook their heads over their incorrigible daughter. Angelique
straightened. Perhaps if she behaved badly enough they would call the wedding off
altogether. After a moment she slumped. She had no wish to be sent off to
Australia with Brutus, and that was begining to seem the next step down from
where she had set herself.

Finally, she limped downstairs to find Simon and apologize for her
latest misbehavior. Before she could find him, though, he found her.

"Can I speak to you for a moment?" he said in a quiet voice,
coming out of the morning room and glancing up and down the hallway.