Lady of Desire (20 page)

The ballroom spun around her in a colorful blur, and she could not seem to draw a breath.

Lord Rackford
? It was Billy Blade.

Either it was he, or her mind was playing dire tricks on her. In a state of utter shock, she watched him meeting each member of her family and felt as if the slightest puff of wind could have knocked her flat. She knew him in an instant, though he was barely recognizable with his sandy hair sleekly cropped and slicked back, showing off the gorgeous bone structure of his chiseled face.

From the starched perfection of his neckcloth to his polished black dress shoes, he looked like the perfect gentleman, but the unbidden image that bloomed in her mind was of his bronzed skin adorned with pagan tattoos. When her stunned gaze drifted to the red carnation in his boutonniere—just like the one he had worn on that day long ago at Knight House—the sight of it snapped her out of her daze.

Good God, I’ve lured a criminal into the ton!

Her light stays suddenly felt too tight. Heart pounding, she glanced around frantically, wondering if anyone had those smelling salts after all.

As she tried in a panic to think what to do, Blade shook hands with Lord Griffith, sizing him up with a shrewd glance. Jacinda was seized with the urge to run before the introductions came round to her, but suddenly, it was too late.

“And this,” said the duke of Devonshire, directing his attention to her, “is the lovely Lady Jacinda Knight.”

Tall and powerfully built, beautiful and virile as a demigod, the elegant stranger turned, looked slyly into her eyes, and gave her a polite bow. “My lady.”

The intimate caress in those two simple words made her shudder. His appearance had changed, but the deep timbre of his voice was the same, aye, and his mesmerizing eyes—fierce and deep. Beneath his tawny lashes, they gleamed, pale, seagreen rimmed with chalcedony.

Her voice was gone, but a world of meaning passed between them as she held his gaze. What he was doing here, she did not want to imagine.

She could scarcely even hear above the crazed pounding of her heart. Though she had been presented at half a dozen of Europe’s crown courts, at the moment, she had no idea how to react. It was all she could do not to faint when he touched her, gently lifting her hand to place a kiss on her knuckles.

His face betrayed nothing, but his bold, rebel’s stare captured hers and flashed with mad, swashbuckling humor and a warning of the danger to them both if anyone realized they were already acquainted. He gave her fingers a firm, subtle squeeze. “My lady, may I have the honor of a dance?”

In dazed, tumultuous alarm, a vague incoherency tumbled from her lips.

Audacious as ever, he took her stammering for a yes and grasped her wrist, tugging her away from her family with a cheerful farewell, as though he had no intention of ever returning her to them. She looked back at them in alarm but had little choice but to follow as he pulled her along by her hand.

He strode a step ahead of her through the crowd with the same vibrant aura of leadership that she remembered from the rookery. The next thing she knew, she was in his arms on the edge of the dance floor as the orchestra struck up a waltz.

“You can dance?” she cried, finding her tongue all of a sudden, though it was an absurd question, under the circumstances.

“Not really,” he said breezily, casting an alert glance around the ballroom, “but you’re worth me making a fool of myself.”

“Blade!”

“Rackford,” he warned softly. “You’re going to have to help me just a little, love. I believe your hand goes… here.” He placed her left hand on his right shoulder, then smiled at her, a soft, possessive glow in his eyes. He offered her his left hand and waited for her to take it.

She stared at it, utterly at a loss, then lifted her stunned gaze to his face. When she spoke, at last, her voice sounded dazed. “You cut your hair.”

He smiled wryly. “Don’t worry, Delilah, I haven’t lost my strength.”

“What are you
doing
here?” she cried.

“Jacinda, my darling, I’ll explain everything, but we are going to be trampled by waltzing debutantes if you don’t do
something
. Quickly.”

“But I’m not allowed to dance the waltz,” she said in dismay. “Robert will have a fit.”

“Let me deal with Robert,” he murmured with a knowing little smile. “Take my hand.”

She looked at it, remembering the night in the alley and the moment that he had offered his hand to help her up from the junk heap like some renegade pirate. His rough, callused hand had been streaked with dirt and dried blood. Now it was sheathed in a spotless glove of white kid.

Slowly, tentatively, her heart beating swiftly, she laid her right hand in his left.

“That’s better,” he whispered. “My God, you are luminous.” He slid his right hand around her waist to take her in a slightly firmer hold.

Her soul-deep shudder of response to his touch snapped her out of her daze. A rush of fury and mistrust gusted up from the depths of her confusion.

“What the devil are you doing here?” she whispered fiercely as the music started.

“Widening my horizons, you might say.” Deftly leading her in the dance, he gave her an enigmatic smile.

“So, it is as I feared,” she said tautly, her stomach in knots. “You sold the diamonds I gave you for this. To masquerade your way into the ton so you can plan even bigger and better robberies. That’s it, isn’t it?”

“My clever lady, you have divined my scheme exactly. Damn me, have you seen the paintings Devonshire has in his gallery? I could make my fortune—”

“You’re mad!” she cried in rising alarm. “You mustn’t! Blade, you must leave now and never come back! You’ll be caught—hanged. Trust me, it will never work.”

“Why? You’re not going to tell on me, are you? After all”—he held her a bit more tightly—“there are things I could tell the ton about you, too. I have not forgotten how sweet you were in my arms,” he murmured, lowering his head and nearly brushing the tip of her nose with his own. She could smell the soapy clean warmth of his skin and the pleasing scent of his shaving lotion. “We aren’t through yet, you and I. There is much more of pleasure that I have to teach you.”

“Do not mention that night!” she forced out.

His wolfish smile widened with a gleam of white teeth. “Why not? You had your fun. You still owe me, you know.”

“Blade—”

“Rackford,” he whispered.

“Whatever you want to call yourself, you will never get away with this! Really, it is too cruel of you to make Lord and Lady Truro believe you are their long-lost son—”

“Jacinda, my heart, I
am
their long-lost son. I was jesting.”

She searched his face in confusion. His expression was so perfectly open and earnest that it threw her. “But—how?”

“By the usual way, I daresay.”

She huffed at his irreverent answer.

He laughed. “On my honor, my outlaw days are over. I have thoroughly reformed. Remarkable what a man can do when he’s faced with the noose,” he added sardonically.

“What noose?”

“The one they showed me when I got arrested and thrown into Newgate. I sure in blazes wouldn’t be in this dull place, otherwise,” he muttered under his breath.

“Arrested? ”

Grimly, he nodded. “O’Dell set us up. He cornered little Eddie and terrified him into telling where we planned to strike next. O’Dell then simply told Bow Street where to lie in wait for us—a tidy way of getting rid of the Fire Hawks—but I assure you, the Jackals have not seen the last of me.”

Her mind reeling, Jacinda studied him as they turned about the dance floor in time with the music. She had a feeling she was merely being drawn in, but she couldn’t resist hearing more of his cock-and-bull story. “I hope O’Dell didn’t harm the child,” she said warily.

“He shook him up a bit, but you know the Knuckler. He’s none the worse for wear. I sent him to a boarding school in the country as his anonymous benefactor. Hopefully now he will make something of himself.”

“What happened to Nate and the others?” she asked skeptically.

“Transported to Australia. That’s why I’m here. We were all to be hanged until I told them who I am.”

“Who you purport to be. It isn’t going to work, you know, and I am certainly not going to help you in your madness, if that is what you’re angling after. If anyone figures out your game, you’re going to be in huge trouble—”

“Jacinda, I’m telling the truth! Try to understand,” he said more softly as he took in her bewildered gaze. “This is why I couldn’t tell you my real name that night in the rookery. I had kept it a secret all those years. None of my men ever knew of my high birth. They would never have accepted me. Don’t you remember I told you that I had run away from home as a lad?”

“Yes, but… you cannot be serious! That monster of a father you ran away from—with a penchant for blacking your eye—was the marquess of Truro and St. Austell?”

“The same.”

“I don’t believe you!”

“It’s true. Since my elder brother Percy’s death last winter, I became the heir. I did not intend to claim my rights because the final destruction of our line seemed a fitting punishment for everything he did to me.”

“You’re jesting,” she said in awe.

“I am not.” The murderous cold that came into his eyes sent a chill down her spine and seemed too genuine to be false, but she could only shake her head, rather dizzy with his claims and the endless circling of the dance. “You still don’t believe me,” he said after a moment in a flat voice.

“I don’t know what to believe! As far as I know, you’re a hardened criminal.” Remembering anew to lower her voice, she glanced around nervously, making sure no one had noticed the intensity of their discussion.

He stared sullenly over her head, scanning the crowd. “If you really thought that, then why did you leave me your diamond necklace?”

She blushed in spite of herself. “The better question is, why didn’t you sell the blasted thing instead of turning again to robbery? If your people were really in need, all you had to do was hawk the necklace.”

He rolled his eyes. “I couldn’t.”

“Why not? None of your vile associates would buy it?”

“No. I don’t take charity, Jacinda. I meant to give the necklace back to you. That’s why I came to Hyde Park to see you. You do remember that day, I trust?” he added in an acid tone.

“Rather.” The reminder of how she had cut him quashed the foolish flutter of her heart and called to mind anew how he had thwarted her attempt to run away to her mother’s friends in France. “Well then, if you’re telling the truth that this is real, and that you didn’t pawn my necklace to fund your charade, then you may deuced well give it back to me at your earliest convenience.”

He pursed his lips and looked away with mule-like obstinacy. “Can’t.”

“Aha.”

“I had to ditch it at the Taylors’ house. Jacinda, I’m telling the truth!” he protested as she scoffed. “It’s in a vase in the master bedroom. I was able to hide it there during the scuffle. Twenty Bow Street runners ambushed us in the middle of the job—”

“Do you mean to say that Daphne Taylor has my diamonds?”

He just looked at her.

“Blade!”

“Rackford. Jacinda, the Taylors’ house was the one we were robbing when we got caught. I did it for your sake, after what you told me. Aren’t you pleased?”

“This is absurd! To think, I almost believed you for a moment! My diamond necklace magically vanishes, you show up to claim the Truro marquisate, somehow the authorities let you simply walk scot-free out of Newgate, and you expect me to believe this is
not
some glorious, giant con?”

“It isn’t a con. What exactly are you suggesting?”

“I’m suggesting that you somehow found out about the story of Lord Truro’s missing son and decided to play the part for your own gain. That you sold my necklace to fund your charade—”

“That’s a damned lie!” he whispered in outrage. “Ask my father if you don’t believe me. He knows who I am. He made this scar on my brow. Ask your brother Lucien! He figured out the truth a long time ago—and for your information, they did not let me go scot-free. I had to agree to give Bow Street detailed information against some of the worst criminals in London. Do you think I am happy about making enemies of these men?”

“So what? There’s no risk to you,” she whispered back at him angrily. “You just told me everyone in the rookery thinks Billy Blade is dead!”

“Aye, and I will be, if these men learn I’ve ratted on them. I am no liar. But even if this
were
a con, what would you care, anyway? You loathe these people, the same ‘pompous hypocrites’ who were cruel to your mother. As I recall, that was a large part of the reason you were running away in the first place.”

“An effort you foiled, as I recall!”

“So… you still refuse to acknowledge that I did it for your own good?”

“It was not your decision to make. It was mine!”

He clenched his jaw, visibly trying to school his temper, then shook his head in resolute patience. “Jacinda, Jacinda, my wayward little minx. Don’t you see?” Holding her a bit closer, his warm breath stirred the curls by her ear. “Now we can be together,” he murmured. “After the scare of Percy’s death, my father insists that I marry at once—to protect the imperiled family bloodlines, don’t you know. I heard you got out of your match with Lord Griffith—and bravo to you for taking my advice. Lord, what a dull, bloodless thing that fellow is. He could never tame you. So, what do you say? You and I are the only two people here who see through all these pompous fools. Besides, if we join forces, we can both rest assured that our secrets will be safe.”

So, that’s what he’s after
. She pulled back and looked up into his eyes, amazed and angrier with each passing second. “Our secrets?”

“My past in the rookery. Your… dangerous weakness, my little ‘frail vessel'.”  He smiled roguishly.

Her jaw dropped. Obviously, his arrest and sojourn in prison had not made a dent in his arrogance. “Are you seriously asking me to marry you? Just like that? ”

He shrugged, all brash confidence. “Aye, just like that.”