Lord Runthorne's Dilemma: A Regency Romance (21 page)

She resisted him at first, her hands pressed against his chest.
He deepened the kiss, ruthlessly stripping her defences and her lips softened under his. He would not let her escape him now.

Slowly she began to respond, kissing him back, melting against him.
He felt a thrill of conquest, knowing in that moment that she was his, just as he was hers.

He broke the kiss and
gazed deep into her eyes, eyes that were dark with desire.

“
I love you, Elizabeth,” he said. “I do not care what people say. And if the price for having you as my wife is to have Alice as my daughter, then that is a price I will pay gladly, a thousand times over.”

Slowly her eyes returned to their normal shade of brown.
“What did you say?”

She took a step back and he released her, knowing that, somehow he had miscalculated.

“No,” she continued. “I do not think I need to hear it again. There is no doubt in your mind that Alice is my daughter? Thank you.” She swept past him to the door where she stopped.

“
Thank you for accepting without a shadow of a doubt that I have a child, thank you for showing me the high esteem in which you hold me.” Elizabeth laughed. It was a sharp, brittle laugh. “Forgive me, my lord, if I do not swoon with happiness. Good day.”

The door shut with a quiet click, but the sound seemed to reverberate through him.
He slammed his fist into the wall.

“
Damnit, damnit all.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Elizabeth poured a cup of tea and carried it across to her aunt, who thanked her with a smile. She glanced around the drawing room. Dinner had been quieter than usual with Miss Lacey barely saying a word except when directly addressed.

Elizabeth
had kept her attention on her plate whilst Mary and Charles appeared to need nothing more than each other for amusement.

Only Mr Compton, who was again dining with them, had exerted himself to entertain the company.
Even he had eventually fallen silent.

The tense atmosphere had followed the ladies into the
drawing room, making Elizabeth feel peculiarly sensitive to the others in the room.

Lady Delphine took a sip from her cup and grimaced as though she was forcing herself to drink poison.
Miss Lacey sat at her mother’s side, her cup untouched. Mary, too, was uninterested in her tea, appearing content to stare into the middle distance, a smile on her lips.

At least one lady in the room
was happy, Elizabeth thought, taking a sip from her own cup.

Miss Lacey
was looking mutinous and Lady Delphine seemed furious as she whispered in her daughter’s ear.

Elizabeth
tried not to eavesdrop, but it was hard not to overhear the angry tirade.

“
I do not understand you, Aurelia,” Lady Delphine was saying. “He is the most eligible bachelor available at the moment. He will give you a title, a comfortable home, status. What more do you want?”

Miss Lacey
gave a one sided shrug. “You just do not understand,” she said, her lower lip protruding dangerously.

“
No I do not and if you step back from this marriage, I shall wash my hands of you.” Lady Delphine sipped her tea, her expression saying more plainly than words that she expected her daughter to bend to her will.

“
Perhaps it would be better if you did,” Miss Lacey said, standing suddenly.

“
How dare you speak to me like that? I tell you, my girl, I have done more than any mother could to foster this marriage.” Lady Delphine’s voice was an agitated whisper.

Elizabeth
turned her head away but could not avoid hearing Miss Lacey’s hissing response. “I assure you I know exactly what lengths you have gone to and I do not appreciate it.”

Miss Lacey
swept past Elizabeth. “I hope you find yourself suitably amused,” she said and Elizabeth flushed.

Picking up her sewing from the basket at her feet,
Elizabeth bent her head and selected some ribbons. Carefully she threaded a needle with some silk and stabbed her needle through the edge of the cap she was decorating for her aunt.

She felt a prickling on her spine and knew that
James had entered the room.

“
Perry, do come and take some tea,” Miss Lacey said, her voice light and teasing. Elizabeth glanced at her, surprised by the change in her.

“
Perhaps you should offer your betrothed some tea, rather than Mr Compton.” Lady Delphine’s tone was equally light, but there was a brittle note in her voice that did not escape Elizabeth.

“
I am sure Elizabeth would be more than happy to take over my duties,” Miss Lacey said, her lips stretching in a parody of a smile.

“
I would not dream of usurping your position,” Elizabeth said, calmly.

“
No?” Miss Lacey stepped forward and twitched the sewing out of Elizabeth’s hands. “How charming,” she said, placing the cap on her head. “What do you think, my lord? Once we are married should I make such a confection?”

James
raised a brow, his eyes penetrating. “Hand it back,” he said. His voice was soft but it sent a chill down Elizabeth’s spine.

Miss Lacey
danced a step. “But surely this is what you expect of me.”

“
Please, Miss Lacey,” Elizabeth said. She had to stop her taunting James.

“
Really, Aurelia,” Lady Delphine interjected, “I am sure that dear Runthorne would not expect you to embroider your own caps. There will be a maid for that.”

“
What do you say, my lord? Shall I have a maid to decorate my caps? Another to arrange my gowns?” Miss Lacey’s eyes were suspiciously bright.

“
I think you should calm a little, Aurelia,” James said. Elizabeth shivered.

“
But you do not answer, my lord,” her voice had changed. Gone was the light, taunting tone, now she sounded almost desperate.

Elizabeth
watched, horribly fascinated as James took out a handkerchief and brushed an invisible speck of dust from his sleeve. Even Mary and Charles were focused on him.

“
If you must have me repeat myself, Aurelia, you know that you will have no need for fancies. I am sure you are a competent enough seamstress to sew your own caps should you wish for such fripperies. With some application I have no doubt you will manage to dress yourself modestly, I see no need to engage the services of a maid in either capacity.”

“
I say, sir, no.” Mr Compton, who had remained silent so far, erupted. His face had turned a dangerous shade of red and his neck strained at the collar.

Even Mr Lacey
appeared less than happy at the future proposed for his daughter.

Lady Delphine
laughed. “Oh, Runthorne, you are funning.”

“
I assure you, I am doing nothing of the kind. Aurelia will live very quietly at Cragburn.”

“
Cragburn?”

“
You see, Mother? I told you what he was like, but you would not listen. I cannot marry such a man.”

“
I am sure there has been some misunderstanding,” Lady Delphine said.

“
Enough.”

Elizabeth
jumped.

Mr Lacey stood and strode towards
James. “Understand me, my lord,” he said. “I, and I alone, am in a position to give my consent to this marriage. I will not have my daughter treated like some serf. You will apologise.” His chins trembled slightly and Elizabeth saw him pale at the glance James sent him, but he stood firm.

A shocked silence fell.
Nobody had ever heard Mr Lacey communicate in anything other than grunts and his angry speech startled them all.

“
Hear, hear.” Typically it was Mr Compton who broke the silence. “Apologise, my lord.”

“
I fear I cannot do so,” he said, his voice almost too soft to hear. “You may have allowed her much licence, Mr Lacey, but as my wife she will bend to my will.”

Elizabeth
did not believe what she was hearing. This was not James. It was Lord Runthorne and he was a stranger to her.

Mr Compton took a position next to
Miss Lacey. “You, my lord, are no gentleman,” he said, damningly.

Lord
Runthorne gave a minute inclination of his head. “You may well be correct, Mr Compton, but I will be Aurelia’s husband, something you appear to have forgotten.”

Miss Lacey
bristled. “That remains to be seen,” she said. “I will have you know, my lord, that whilst you may have a grand title, Mr Compton has more decency in his little finger than you have in your entirety.”

“
You are becoming tiresome, Aurelia.”

“
Tiresome?” Miss Lacey’s voice rose. “How dare you? I will have you know, my lord, that, were you the last man in the world, I would never marry you.”

Lady Delphine shrieked and collapsed back in a faint.

Lord Runthorne smiled a cold smile. “If that is your decision Miss Lacey, then I have nothing more to say to you.” He bowed and left the drawing room.

It was
then that Elizabeth realised she had stabbed her finger.

***

Runthorne closed the door behind him and sighed. It was as though a huge weight had slid from his shoulders. Elizabeth might still despise him, but he had shown her that he was true to his word. Aurelia had publicly refused to marry him and he was free.

Now all that remained was to ensure that she would not change her mind.
Mr Compton was the key to that.

As though his thoughts had conjured him, Mr Compton slammed through the door.

“You, my lord, are…”

Runthorne
watched with interest as the other man struggled for words. “Not a gentleman?” he offered eventually. “Yes, you have already said so.”

“
Beneath contempt,” Mr Compton said, at last.

“
I stand corrected.”

Mr Compton
’s face grew alarmingly red and, for a moment, he considered reassuring the other man. Then he remembered the role he was playing. “Do you want anything or do you just intend to stand there like a beached carp?”

“
How dare you,” Mr Compton growled. “I do not care for myself.”

“
No, I do not care for you either,” he said. Mr Compton’s flush deepened.

“
I do not care for myself,” Mr Compton repeated, “But I will not have you insult the sweetest, kindest lady it has been my honour to meet.”

Runthorne
affected a moment of puzzlement. “Do you mean Aurelia?” He infused as much amused contempt as possible into his voice.

“
Indeed I do mean Miss Lacey. She is a lady of impeccable virtue whose feet you are not worthy to kiss.”

Runthorne
pretended to admire his heavy signet ring. “Ah well,” he said, affecting a yawn, “I must remember not to kiss her feet when we are married.”

“
I think you forget, sir, that Miss Lacey has withdrawn her agreement to your betrothal. It is a decision that I can only applaud.”

Runthorne
smiled and shook his head. “Do not concern yourself, sir, Aurelia will settle down. She will not be able to resist the thought of being a marchioness, whatever the privations involved.”

Mr Compton seemed to double in size from indignation.
“Such things will not weigh with Miss Lacey. She is an angel, far above such mercenary considerations. I should meet you for that slur.”

“
Do not trouble yourself,” he said, thoroughly enjoying himself now. “I would never fight a duel over such a trifling matter.”

“
You consider Miss Lacey’s good name to be a trifling matter?”

Runthorne
wondered how much provocation the man would take before exploding. “Mr Compton,” he said, patting the other man’s shoulder, “I believe you misunderstand the matter. Miss Lacey is no different to any other gently bred lady. She will marry for money and status.”

“
You are despicable.”

“
Yes, we have already ascertained that.”

“
For two pence I would marry her myself to save her from you.”

He
smiled. At last Mr Compton was doing as he intended. “I am sure you can try,” he drawled. “However let’s make it interesting. Fifty guineas says you cannot woo her from me.” For a moment he wondered if he had gone too far.

Then Mr Compton nodded.

“If it would save her from your devilish clutches I would wager my entire fortune.” Mr Compton turned smartly on his heel and re-entered the drawing room.

“
Not all,” Runthorne said. “You will need that to keep her in silks.”