Legendary Lover (22 page)

194

"I feel giddy and I haven't even drunk any wine." Venus giggled, quickly covering her mouth in embarrassment.
"My apologies."
And then she giggled again.

Jack smiled, tolerant of giggles this afternoon, tolerant of anything the beautiful woman in his arms might do. "Perhaps you're enjoying your win."

"Do you think so?"
She quirked a lacy brow.
"I think my extreme good humor has much to do with you."

"I'll gladly accept responsibility for that," he facetiously said.

"You're to blame for everything. Absolutely everything," she added, sticking her tongue out at him.

This time he laughed. "Now
that
kind of censure I recognize."

"I expect you do."

"I have a certain reputation to maintain," he lightly said.

"I hope you can maintain it tonight," she whispered.

"I don't expect a problem, mademoiselle," he replied in a conversational tone. "Now tell me what you want the chef to make for dinner," he went on, considering it best to divert the conversation with company so near.

"You decide. I eat anything," she answered, clearly in a frolicsome mood.

After a quick glance at his driver, Jack mouthed the question
Anything
?
with
a cheeky lift of his brow.

She playfully slapped him. "Mind your manners." Her gaze was provocative.

"Now?"

She cast a significant look at the servant only mere feet away and nodded her head.

Touching his mouth to her ear, he whispered, "And afterward?"

i9S

"Manners are no longer required, my lord," she softly murmured, her smile so close he could almost taste the pleasure.

His head came up and his voice was brisk. "Drive taster, Sam." As the horses moved into a canter, he debated the delectable merits of obsession.

Chapter 14
------
esse
---------

WAS AFTER TEN WHEN A RAP ON THE

bedroom
door interrupted the activities in Jack's bedchamber.

He stopped in
midstroke
, glanced at the door, looked back down at Venus, and said, "Someone must have died," because his servants knew better than to disregard his orders for privacy. Brushing Venus's cheek with a kiss, he eased away and shouted, "What is it?"

"An urgent message, my lord, from Baron Darlington."

Springing from the bed, he quickly strode to the door and opened it marginally so Venus wouldn't be seen. "It had better be important."

His majordomo, aware of the flagrant intrusion, stood at attention and thrust the note at the marquis. "The groom from the Sutton Inn insisted I wake you, sir."

"Never mind," Jack gruffly said, ripping open the sealed envelope, pulling out the single sheet, and beginning to scan the sprawling script. "I'm not blaming you. Knowing Ned, he's probably half into his cups and thought of some way to—" He softly swore. The note wasn't from Ned but from Charles Burnham; Ned had been badly wounded in a duel. "Have my horse sad-

197

died
," Jack crisply ordered. "I'll be down in five minutes."

Shutting the door, he swung around, already moving toward his dressing room in long strides. "Ned's been severely wounded," he brusquely explained. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

Scrambling from the bed, Venus followed him into the small paneled room. "Let me come with you. I have some competence in nursing."

Pulling a pair of trousers from the wardrobe, Jack shook his head. "He's at the Sutton Inn, in the midst of some lechery, no doubt. Things must have gotten out of hand—not unusual, with Ned's temper. Burnham didn't give any details, but I'm sure it's no place for a lady."

"I've treated bullet wounds before. I might be able to help."

"No," he muttered as he plunged his foot into the khaki twill trouser leg. "We'll find a doctor."

"Maybe you will and maybe you won't,
considering
the hour of the night and the fact that duels are illegal. I'm no
missish
young woman who faints at the sight of blood," she said, walking to the armoire where her gowns had been placed. "I work with the doctors in our charity hospital every day."

"I'd prefer you not be exposed to the scandal." The marquis was tugging on his riding boots.

Venus snorted.
"A bit late for such concern, after a fortnight in the country with you."

He swore, clearly discomposed. "It could be a rowdy tumult there. Really, darling, I'd rather you didn't come." Frowning, he took note of her buttoning up the skirt of her riding habit.

"What if Ned needs assistance?"

ig8

Jack stood for a moment, his indecision plain, then, grabbing his shirt and coat, he moved toward the door. "I'll wait five minutes," he growled. "Then I'm leaving."

She ran downstairs in three minutes and smiled as she saw the horse saddled for her beside the black thoroughbred Jack favored for riding. A host of servants were attending to Jack's instructions. He planned on bringing Ned back
to
Lawley
Mill in a wagon being readied.

A groom gave her a leg up and she waited in the saddle while Jack relayed the last of his orders.

Once he was mounted, he acknowledged her with a nod. "Keep up. I can't wait for you."

(9
HE
 
SUTTON
 
INN
 
WAS
 
FILLED
 
WITH
 
A RAUCOUS

crowd
celebrating the Derby race, no one apparently distracted by the circumstances of Ned's duel. But considering the act was illegal and secrecy a necessity, Jack hadn't expected his friend's activities to be public knowledge. Guiding Venus up the stairs, he scanned the doors, looking for number twenty-three, the room mentioned in Burnham's note.

As they reached a small alcove, Jack led Venus over to a chair. "Wait here for a minute." His voice was polite but
detached,
his thoughts predominantly of Ned, who had been his best friend since childhood. "There could be people in there—unruly types. I'll be back for you if it's safe."

She understood, though convention wasn't her first motive in life, that there were degrees of scandal best avoided. "I'll wait," she agreed. "Come for me if I can be of help."

199

He was gone almost before she'd finished speaking, striding down the dimly lit hall in search of Ned's room.

It was oddly quiet when he reached the door and for a moment, his stomach sank in apprehension. Had he come too late? Was Ned already dead and carried away? Taking a sustaining breath, he reached for the latch, turned it,
and.pushed
the door open.

The room was deserted, although he recognized Ned's brilliant bottle green coat and embroidered waistcoat tossed on a chair. Moving forward, Jack wondered at the pristine condition of the garments, considering Ned had been shot. It was rare to fire below the waist in a duel.

Picking up the yellow silk waistcoat adorned with racing motifs, he turned it over, looking for bullet holes, finding none. Next, the coat received his scrutiny, and when it revealed no untoward damage, he was just beginning to consider the possibility that Ned was embarked on some practical joke when the sound of a door opening spun him around.

Ready to lash out at his friend for luring him out in the middle of the night and bringing him into town riding hell-for-leather, Jack stood arrested, his gaze on Sarah Palmer entering the bedchamber through an adjoining door.

She was smiling.

She was nude.

And he felt the jaws of a trap closing around him.

Without a word, he turned away to make his escape. He was halfway across the room, only yards from the door, when he heard a harsh male voice exclaim, "What the hell's the meaning of this?"

Jack kept walking, the smell of ambush so powerful now it was choking him.

200

"Stand or I'll shoot you for the knave you are." The low growl was accompanied by the metallic click of a pistol hammer echoing in the silence. Even then Jack debated taking his chances with a pistol at ten yards in a poorly lit room.

But suddenly the hall door opened and Bella stood there, a small pearl-handled pistol directed at him. He knew she'd shoot him gladly.

He
stopped,
his dark eyes hot with temper, his voice like ice when he spoke. "What do you want—as if I don't know."

"Then there's no need to waste any unnecessary words. Do move back so I don't have to mar that perfect body of yours," she softly murmured.

"You won't get away with this."

"But then we have a great many witnesses," Bella sweetly replied. "Turn around and see for yourself."

He did, and counted five, three of whom he didn't recognize.
Servants, no doubt, who could be paid to say anything in court.
The other two were the Palmers, mere and
pere
, scowling at him with what he thought was superb acting considering the Stage-managed scene. Meanwhile, the deceitful little baggage Sarah was slowly putting on a robe, as though being nude before a crowd wasn't in the least embarrassing.

"I can pay for witnesses, too." His voice was chill.

"Our daughter is having your child," Sarah's mother peevishly said, "and you'll be made to do your duty by her."

"It's not mine."

"She says it's yours." Baron Palmer bridled, always stung by what he perceived as aristocratic arrogance.

201

"Then she's lying." Jack gave Sarah a cold stare. "You're not my type."

"But then you're my type, dear Jack, and I have your baby to prove it." Sarah well understood the powerful incentives to stand firm against the marquis's opposition—wealth, position, and a title for her child. Bella hadn't had to explain that twice.

"Then prove it." Each word was bitten off, the tight line of the marquis's jaw indication of his barely suppressed rage.

"We don't have to," Baron Palmer retorted. "The court will give due relevance to these witnesses—and to others, too. You were seen together often, Sarah tells me."

"Are we done?" Lord
Redvers
voice was infinitely mild, like the calm in the eye of a storm.

"My barrister will call on you in London with the marriage settlement."

"If you'll excuse me, then," the marquis said with the fine hauteur of twenty generations of noble lineage. "You interrupted my evening plans."

"Don't think your blue blood will see you clear of this,
Redvers
," Lord Palmer rebuked, stung by the insolence in the marquis's tone. "I intend to win."

"My antecedents have nothing to do with this, Palmer. I can fight as low and dirty as you. How do you think my ancestors got where they are today?"

"By fucking the king," Lord Palmer snarled.

"And a good number of others, too. Keep it in mind when you get too greedy." Brushing past Bella, he stalked from the room, furious and wrathful, wanting to inflict damage on someone.

"It was a hoax," he brusquely said when he reached

202

Venus. "Ned wasn't here. Let's go home," he added with a small weariness, knowing the grotesque farce he'd just been privy to was the prelude to a distasteful litigation.

"I'm sorry." Responding to the annoyance she saw in his face, she said, "At least Ned isn't hurt."

"True." He forced himself to smile. "And we'll be
back
home in fifteen minutes."

"The night air was pleasant."

He chuckled. "You're much too understanding." He put out his hand. "Let's get the hell out of here."

They'd almost reached the stairs when a female voice called out. "Don't forget to tell your solicitor about the marriage settlement." Bella's malice echoed down the hall. "Sleep well, darling."

Venus's gaze came up and held Jack's for a moment before she turned around. The voice was sickeningly familiar. Even with the considerable distance and indistinct lighting, Lady
Tallien
was recognizable.

"Don't answer," Jack said, taking Venus's hand and pulling her back.

"I have no intention of speaking to her." Venus tugged her hand free and started down the stairs.

"She's delusional," he bitterly said, following her. "All of them are."

"I'm sure none of this is any of my business." Venus kept her voice deliberately mild.

"Or mine," Jack grumbled. "Damn them all."

"There seems to be some dispute over your marriage."

"You might say that," Jack testily replied.
"Although it's going to cost me to buy them off."

"Now why would you have to buy them off? Never mind," she quickly interposed. "Really, I don't want to know."