Far Beyond Scandalous (26 page)

Julia was quiet for a few moments,
pondering Amy's words.
 
"You do
truly love him."
 
It was a
statement and not a question.

"With all of my
heart."
 
Amy could not deny it any
longer.
 
"I did not want to fall in
love with him.
 
I did not set out upon
this path, but," she shrugged helplessly, "it seems I was destined to
fall long before I realized it."

"Last summer at Seldon Park
when I wed Benjamin.
 
It truly began for
the two of you then, didn't it?"
 
As Amy's friend, Julia offered no recrimination, simply understanding.

Amy rose and walked to the window,
staring through the wavy glass to the mews beyond.
 
"It began then, yes."
 
She turned to look back at her friend with a resigned sigh.
 
There was no reason not to confess the
rest.
 
"I had thought that time
might diminish what I felt while we were there.
 
That it would become less real to me as the months passed."
 
She rested her head against the cool
glass.
 
"It, was, after all, a
moment out of time.
 
We were free of
town and, for the most part, of society as well.
 
I was not The Paragon, and he?
 
Well, he could be anything he wanted."

"He was not confined to his
normal role as the son of a disgraced viscount."
 
Julia, it seemed, knew all of Gibson's history as well, though
that didn't surprise Amy in the least.

"We were lovers.
 
In a way.
 
He was everything to me that day.
 
He still is."
 
The words
were out before Amy could stop them.
 
"He did not take my innocence.
 
You must know that he would not dishonor me in that way, even though I,
well...anyway."
 
Amy was still not
ready to admit the full truth of her past, even to her best friend.
 
Yet the words were so close to the surface,
but she pushed them back down.
 
"But we were naked together.
 
We...did...things."

Julia nodded in understanding, a
small smile on her lips, as if the last of the puzzle was falling into
place.
 
"The afternoon of the rain
when you both vanished.
 
I suspected
something was afoot, but Benjamin told me I was being foolish and
meddlesome."
 
She worded her next
question carefully, as if she was afraid of offending Amy.
 
"Has it happened again since
then?"

Amy didn't answer.
 
She couldn't.
 
And her silence was all of the confirmation that Julia
needed.
 
"Oh, Amy.
 
My friend, I am so sorry.
 
I did not know you were in so deeply.
 
This is not just a passing love, then, but
rather something far stronger."

With a sigh, Amy pushed away from
the window and returned to where Julia was still seated.
 
"It does not signify.
 
We both know that it must end.
 
We are realistic about that, at least.
 
My mother's health is improving and soon,
there will be no reason for Gibson to continue to escort me about town.
 
My father, or perhaps even Marcus, will
return and our time together will end.
 
We both know that it must.
 
That
course of action is only right and proper.
 
And we have both accepted that as the way it must be."

Julia rose to embrace her
friend.
 
"The heart very often
ignores what is right and proper.
 
If it
did not, well, then we would all be leading very different lives."
 
Amy knew Julia was referring to her own
situation last season when she had planned to retreat to Seldon Park after a
season in London and spend the rest of her life in seclusion rather than risk
ridicule by allowing society to view her scars every day.
 
"And, I have found that, very often,
the heart wins out in the end, even when the head says that it is
impossible."

Amy had no response for her
situation was completely different from that of her friend.
 
Julia was a lady and the sister of the Duke
of Candlewood.
 
Benjamin was a duke, as
well as a wealthy and powerful man in his own right.
 
The situations weren't at all similar.
 
"I pray that you are right," Amy finally said with more
courage than she felt.
 
"For if the
head wins, then I am a spinster forever."
 
That thought was not as appealing as it had been a little less than a
fortnight ago.

"Lord Drake would marry you,
as I am certain you well know," Julia teased in an attempt to lighten the
mood.
 
Amy made a horrified face,
eliciting a laugh from her friend.
 
"Ah, there is the Amy Cheltenham that I know and love."
 
Leaning down, the duchess gathered up her
reticule.
 
"I'm afraid that I must
leave now, as we have an engagement tonight, a musicale at the Devonmont's."
 
It was not lost on Amy that an incident at
the very same musicale the previous season had sparked the beginning of Julia's
great love affair with Radcliffe.

Nodding, Amy began escorting her
out, not wishing to bother Towson and wanting a few more moments alone with her
friend.
 
"Gibson and I will be
there as well."
 
She didn't mention
the directive to her friend.
 
There was
no sense to it, and it would only trouble Julia further.
 
"I do not particularly wish to attend,
but we must keep up appearances."

"And keep Lord Drake at
bay."
 
Julia turned serious then, a
frown marring her delicate features.
 
"Please, Amy, be wary of him.
 
He is dangerous, at least according to Benjamin.
 
The family coffers are emptying rapidly, and
they need replenished soon or else the family will come to ruin.
 
He will do everything within his power to
refill them and that includes scandalizing you into marriage."

"I will be careful," Amy
promised, having no idea how to keep the man away from her.
 
Thus far, while he had not approached her
directly for several days, he was always there, lurking in the background, as
if waiting for his opportunity to pounce.
 
The daily appearances at her door were becoming bolder as well, and she
feared he might try something more daring and soon.

"The man will not lay a finger
on her.
 
On my honor."

Amy's eyes flew to the doorway of
the drawing room where Gibson stood, his face dark and his golden eyes
stormy.
 
"Gibson!
 
Is there a problem?"
 
Simply seeing him standing there glowering
and looking very much like an angry, avenging angel she forgot herself for a
moment and rushed to his side.

"Just this."
 
He pulled a battered looking bouquet of
roses from behind his back.
 
"They
were on the front stoop when I returned with your mother's new bandages."
 
Despite all of his efforts, the countess'
head injury still seeped a bit, and Gibson was determined to find the proper
bandages for it, even if he had to scour all of London himself.
 
He handed Amy the flowers.
 
"There was also a note."
 
Then he turned to Julia and bowed low and
elegantly.
 
"My lady."

She waved him off with twitch of
her lips.
 
"Enough, Gibson.
 
There is no ceremony between us.
 
Not when we are out of the view of prying
eyes and you have stitched up my battle wounds."
 
Then she turned back to her friend.
 
"What does it say?
 
I
fear it is probably something truly horrid."

With trembling hands, Amy took the
note and flipped it open, the heavy black script swimming before her eyes for a
moment.

Thank
you for a wonderful evening.
 
It was
enchanting, and I long to be in your presence again.

-Drake

"The man is insane!" Amy
cried, her eyes flying first to Julia and then to Gibson.
 
"Gibson and I were at the opera last
night!
 
Everyone saw us!
 
Lady Isabelle was there!
 
This cannot be happening!"
 
She was on the verge of true panic and knew
she must calm down.
 
Steadying herself
by placing a hand on the back of the settee, she drew a deep breath and tried
to think rationally.
 
"Drake is
determined to bring scandal upon me.
 
I
cannot allow that."

Yes, she and Gibson had been seen
in public, but they had left the theater early.
 
She had been tired, and, as always when she was out these days,
it felt as if someone was watching her.
 
She had wanted to leave, and Gibson had accommodated her.
 
They had not been seen for the rest of the
evening, not even making an appearance at another ball or a
soirée
of
any kind.

Gibson sniffed, a disgusted look on
his face.
 
"I inquired at a few
places first thing this morning, and Drake was nowhere to be found last night.
 
I suspect it is all part of his plan.
 
It is a nasty game that he plays with your
future."
 
He looked at Amy, his
normally placid golden eyes stormy once more, and she was reminded again that
he had been raised to be a peer, not a physician.
 
"We must be extremely careful.
 
Now more so than ever."
 
There was more that he was not telling her given the expression on his
face, but Amy had the distinct impression that he wanted to be alone before
they spoke.
 
He was not going to
withhold the information completely this time.

Then Gibson turned to Julia, his
expression mild, though Amy was not fooled for a moment.
 
"Are you and your husband attending the
musicale at the Devonmont's this evening?"
 
From the set of his jaw, it was clear he was already formulating
a plan.

"We are," the duchess
confirmed lightly, studying her old friend through shrewd, all-seeing
eyes.
 
"I take it you will be
attending as well?

He nodded briskly.
 
"We will.
 
And, if you and the duke do not mind, we will be in your vicinity
the entire evening.
 
Lady Evanston is
recovering well, and I fear a scandal could set back her recovery a great
deal."
 
He worked his jaw, trying
to ease some of the tension.
 
"Not
to mention that the last thing any of us want is Amy trapped in a marriage to
that unabashed rake who will only mistreat her.
 
She deserves to be happy."

Julia regarded Gibson silently for
a moment, as if she was trying to determine his motives.
 
Then she smiled with a secretive look in her
eyes.
 
"She will be.
 
Happy, that is."
 
There was a confidence in her voice that Amy
herself did not feel.
 
"With family
and friends like those she has now, I do not see how it could be
otherwise."
 
Then, with a small
inclination of her head, Julia was gone, leaving Gibson and Amy alone in the
hallway.

He waited a few moments before
speaking as he gathered his thoughts.
 
He did not want to tell her what he had learned, but he knew that he
must.
 
No more secrets.
 
"There is finally news from the Runner
I hired.
 
He may have a lead on who
might be a threat to you, though how he connects to the directive, I do know
now."

"Come.
 
We will speak in private."
 
She moved back into the drawing room, and,
though she had sworn not to take risks again where Gibson was concerned, she
closed the pocket doors tightly behind them.
 
After all that had passed between them, what was one closed more set of
closed doors, after all?

When they were both seated on the
settee, she pushed the now-cold tea tray aside and gripped her hands in her
lap.
 
Gibson had been in a state when he
had arrived, and she could not imagine that whatever news he had to share would
improve his disposition.

He wasted no time in getting
directly to the point.
 
"Do you
know a man named Thomas Overton?"
 
When Amy's face went pale at his question, he had his answer.
 
Still, to her credit, she did not shy away
from what he knew was probably a difficult confession for her.

"I did.
 
Long ago.
 
When I was a child."
 
She
folded her hands in her lap, the mask of a cool and composed young woman
falling away to reveal her true self once more.
 
With Gibson, there was no need to hide.
 
"He was my music master at Heatherton Abby.
 
He taught me the pianoforte and began my
dancing lessons before my father engaged a proper dancing master."
 
The story that she had longed to tell Gibson
so many times before now bubbled up inside of her once again.
 
This time, she would not hesitate.