Once Upon a Diamond (18 page)

“I’ll be there,” he said, and instead of helping her
down, he pushed her gently back into the carriage.

Her eyes widened in alarm. “
What
do you think
you’re doing?”

A smile began working its way to his mouth as he closed
the door behind him. “Having my way with you, Miss Wilcox.”

She sat as stiff as a statue. “This puts us in a most
compromising position, my lord.”

“And we haven’t been there before?”

Her lips parted in surprise. “I fail to see the humor in
that.” 

Devil take it, he wanted this woman, love or not. She
would be his. She would be loyal to him. That’s what was important. Yet an
inner voice told him he needed something more from her, something he wasn’t
quite certain he could return. “I want to kiss you again.” 

Her eyes widened. “You what?” she screeched.

Before she had a chance to reply, he gathered her in his
arms, brushing his lips against hers. “Kate,” he whispered. She felt so soft,
so perfect in his arms, he didn’t want to let her go. He cupped her delicate
chin with his hand and kissed her with his eyes. “You are so beautiful.”

“Tristan,” she breathed, falling under his spell.

He reclaimed her lips, hungrily then, crushing her to
him. He pressed her against the seat, losing all thoughts of gentlemanly
behavior, wanting her to be his, now and forever.

He slipped both hands to her shoulders and slanted his
lips across her soft white neck, along her collarbone
–

“Tristan...”

The ardor in her voice penetrated his heart like a
clanging cymbal. Reality began to slowly seep into his brain. The embrace
seemed to end as swiftly as it had begun.

With a pang, he recognized that he was attached to this
woman as much as he was to the blasted diamond. “Kate?” 

She didn’t answer. Drunk with passion, she rested limply
against him. Gently, he lifted her off him. Biting back a curse, he swung open
the carriage door. With one hand, he escorted her down the steps of the vehicle
and to the front door of the duke’s townhouse.

What the deuce had he been thinking?

He gave her a curt bow. “I shall look for you at the
ball.”

Her gaze wavered as she stepped inside the door. “Y-yes,
and thank you,” she said, her lips still swollen and trembling, her hair falling
against her flushed cheeks. “I enjoyed myself immensely.” 

It was obvious she wished to say she’d enjoyed herself
at the shop, but she stumbled back and frowned in embarrassment. Her words had
taken on a different meaning entirely.

Smiling, Tristan walked back to his carriage. They would
have to be married as soon as possible. He wanted Kate, but would ask for her
loyalty, not her love. For he knew it would be easier acquiring the diamond
than acquiring love from any woman, including Kate.

Chapter Eleven

K
ate stood on the
edge of the ballroom floor, her gold slippers tapping beneath the hem of her
matching gown. Crystal chandeliers dripped from the ceiling while the scent of
French perfume permeated the air.

She watched in amusement as the plump, gray-haired host,
Viscount Rushting, greeted his guests at the bottom of the magnificent spiraled
staircase. Although Lord Rushting had buried his second wife over a year ago,
Kate noted that even the most fashionable young ladies were not deterred from the
challenge of seizing the rich lord for themselves.

As dancers glided across the floor for the cotillion,
Kate recalled Tristan’s heart-pounding kiss. He could not kiss her like that
and have no feelings for her, could he?

“How do I look?” Charlotte asked hesitantly. She worried
her bottom lip and glanced about nervously.

Kate patted her cousin’s gloved hand. “Edward won’t be
able to take his eyes off you.” 

“That’s my plan.” Charlotte giggled as she touched her
chignon that was adorned with a gathering of silver ribbons.

“Evening, ladies.” 

Kate turned as two well-dressed gentlemen approached.

“Lady Charlotte,” the older man greeted, showing a gap
between his two front teeth.

Charlotte smiled as she introduced Lord Douberry and Mr.
Manning.

The corner of Kate’s mouth lifted as the baron, the man with
the gap between his teeth, bowed and grabbed her hand, pressing his wet lips
upon her glove. She thought Douberry quite forward. There were men like this in
Boston, too, and Kate knew exactly how to handle them.

Tristan entered the ballroom, dressed in black except
for a crisp white shirt that sported a matching cravat adorned with a
diamond-studded pin. Edward stood beside him, wearing a royal blue jacket, looking
similar except for his cravat which was decorated with a small emerald stick
pin.

Though their entrance turned the heads of many ladies, Tristan
searched for Kate and heard her lovely laugh above the crowd. He shifted his
gaze across the dance floor. Immediately his eyes narrowed. She looked like an
angel with a golden halo of ribbons adorning her porcelain face while that
devil Douberry was kissing her hand! 

“Hell and spitfire,” he hissed. “The man’s slobbering
all over her.” It took all his strength to stop himself from charging through
the crowd like a raving maniac when the baron pulled Kate onto the dance floor.

Edward elbowed his brother. “Keep it down. Do you want
the entire ton to hear you?”

Tristan shot his brother a cool glare. “I do believe
Lady Charlotte is dancing with Manning, is she not?" 

“Manning?” Edward’s expression darkened as he shifted
his gaze across the dance floor. “And a waltz at that!”

Manning held Lady Charlotte in a more intimate embrace
than needed and was skirting the lady toward the French doors, away from the
crowd. Tristan could sympathize with the madness that swept through his brother
when he detected Manning’s gaze roaming over other parts of Charlotte’s creamy
white skin.

“The cad has always had an eye for her,” Edward snapped.
“Zeus. The loathsome snake. And look at his wandering hands.”

“Snakes don’t have hands little brother,” Tristan
snorted. “Not the last time I looked.” 

He grinned at Edward’s intent expression, almost forgetting
about Kate, the diamond, and the baron. “Get a hold of yourself, man. Don’t
make a fool of yourself.”

“Me?” Edward grunted, curling his fingers into his palms.
“Look at Charlotte.” 

“Oh, I’m looking.” Tristan still had his gaze attached
to Kate and the baron.

Edward watched Kate and the baron. “And you aren’t
making a fool of
yourself
?”

He turned his gaze back to Tristan, then abruptly lifted
an amused brow. “I’ll be leaving you, because if my eyes do not deceive me,
Lady Helen is coming your way, looking like a French cannon ready to fire.”

Tristan’s face fell as he spun around. Thunderation. The
slippery chit had cornered him again. He was not able to move a muscle except
for the sickening curve of his lips. He cursed himself a thousand times for not
skirting the line of fire. His eyes stared dead ahead at the batting eyelashes
and fluttering fan directed his way.

“Lord Lancewood, so wonderful to see you again.”

As soon as Kate finished the dance with Lord Douberry,
her heart dropped to the floor when she found Tristan standing arm and arm with
Lady Helen. The lady’s hold on Tristan’s arm seemed very secure and very
permanent.

Kate’s cheeks burned with humiliation. So she had been
played the fool. The kiss had meant nothing to him. The rake!  

She darted across the room to find Devin, but she
stopped in mid-stride when she overheard an interesting conversation between
two ladies in the crowd. She turned her ear, recalling meeting Louise Douberry
and Alice Nelson in Hyde Park one day.

The baron’s wife flipped her Oriental fan about her
face, while her other hand held a delicate china cup that seemed to give off a
pungent odor smelling very much like whiskey.

“Gracious, Alice, I do believe Lady Helen has set her
cap for Lancewood this Season. She’s bound and determined to marry him. Tell me
if I’m not right. Her father’s up the river tick, he is.”

Alice, her green turban slipping slightly forward, stood
on tiptoes and peered across the room. “Ah yes, I can see them. She’s hanging
on the man. His lordship wooed her last Season, you know. Of Course, that was
when he wasn’t searching for that stupid diamond.”

“Diamond’s cursed,” Louise Douberry replied. “Don’t you
–
” she hiccupped, “recall the circumstances of the late
earl’s death? He died while searching for the gem. No one knows how the diamond
disappeared. Still a mystery. That quest left the family fending for themselves
for at least a decade. Some say he was crazy. And now the son is turning out
the same way.”

Alice giggled. “Lady Helen will have her hands full with
that one. He’s a handsome devil. Those ebony locks are perfect for a woman’s
hands. And he looks as strong as an ox. But I do hear he has a wretched
temper.”

“Do tell?” Louise commented. “Did you ever peer into those
roguish green eyes of his? Something about them sends chills down my spine. Comely,
and at the same time, dangerous. Lady Benson told me the earl never plans to
marry. It looks as if the title will eventually fall to his brother’s son.
If
there ever is one."

Kate’s throat thickened with emotion and she sank
against the wall behind her. Never marry? What a sap she had been.

Alice choked on a laugh. “Easy on the eyes though. If I
were an unattached female, I wouldn't mind sharing his title and wealth and
his, well, his attentions.” She giggled again. “Actually, as an attached
female, I still wouldn’t mind. But then, he could be gone for as long as he
wanted searching for that stupid gem of his, and I’d be content to spend his
coin.” 

Louise frowned. “Detests his mother, you know.”

Alice clapped her fan shut. “Dreadful, child. Does he
ever see the poor thing? There are things I know about her that would turn your
head.”

“Oh, Alice, don’t exaggerate. But Lancewood must see her.
Lady lives with him. Good heavens, look at that.” Louise Douberry raised her
head and lowered her fan for a better view. “It’s her. Out of mourning already?
Although I believe her husband was dead a good time before they heard the news.
I suppose the family is using that as an excuse. Though I must say, not quite
the thing.”

“As long as her husband was on that obsessive quest, the
countess has been in mourning for ten years anyway. Don’t think anyone’s going
to put up a fuss. But a yellow plume? Going a bit too far, don’t you know. It don’t
go with that blue she’s wearing. But then with her problems, I can’t blame her.
Heard she has quite a bundle of vices...” 

Curious, Kate stood on her tiptoes to peer across the
crowd. Standing beside Tristan’s brother and Charlotte, she caught sight of an
older woman, garbed in a pale blue gown, her dark brown hair accented with a
yellow plume.

It was clear that the lady’s glum face could very well have
depicted a life that had included a husband who ignored her, while he
gallivanted around the world looking for a dumb diamond. And there was Tristan
still attached to Lady Helen.

Jealousy burned through Kate like a fiery sword.

“Katherine, may I have this dance?”

Kate turned to see Devin standing beside her. He was
dressed in a dark jacket and matching breeches. He looked so wonderfully
handsome, but all she felt for him was a brotherly affection. “I’d be delighted.
A waltz?” 

She put out her hand, relieved to be rescued.

Devin caught Tristan’s scowl and glanced down at her. “I
do believe we have offended that green-eyed gentleman. I can feel his deadly
gaze upon us at this very moment.”

Kate pretended not to hear him and stared at the floor as
they danced. She’d hoped she’d be spending a wonderful time at her first ball
in England, but things were not going the way she’d planned. Though Aunt Georgiana
had introduced her to many nice gentlemen, the evening seemed to be taking one
disastrous turn after another. And Lady Helen irked Kate to no end.

Looking up at Devin, she squeezed out a false smile. “What
a wonderful ball.”

“Don’t change the subject, my dear. You’re made of
sterner stuff. I should know. And you don’t have to feel obliged to dance with Tristan.
I’ll stand beside you.”

 “It’s best to get it over with, I suppose. I have no
wish to make a scene." 

Devin smiled at her, as if knowing he had lost the race.
“You do know that’s a facade. Tristan’s had a hard life. No one in his family
showed him any love except Edward. Tristan wasn’t as fortunate as you and me to
have had caring parents.”

“I didn’t know.” Kate knew how blessed she was to have
had loving parents. She could not imagine how her life would have been without
her family. And she still had Matthew.

Devin tilted his head toward Tristan. “That gentleman
glowering at us has had to fight for almost everything he’s had in life. I can
only suppose that’s the reason he still searches for that diamond.”

“Yes, I’ve heard about the quest. But it seems rather
odd.”

“Well, I’m not in his shoes, so I can’t judge him. Tristan’s
been my friend since childhood. I love him like a brother. I think in searching
for the diamond, he feels he would eventually win both his mother’s love and
his father’s respect in the process, even though the man is dead. But I fear it
will never be. You can’t buy love, can you, Katherine?”  

Kate returned his knowing gaze. “No, not with me.”

“I can wait,” Devin said, his eyes filling with concern.
“Remember, I’m always here.”

“Thank you. But I do love you, you know.” She squeezed
his arm as he ushered her toward Tristan.

He laughed. “Yes, I know, in a brotherly sort of way.”

“I gather this is your dance,” Devin said, delivering
Kate to Tristan’s side. “Lady Helen, may I?” 

Lady Helen had barely squeaked out a nod, when Devin
directed her toward the dance floor.

Kate cast a wary gaze toward Tristan’s chest, not able
to look him in the eye. She was so mad she could spit. “Good evening, Lord
Lancewood.”

“Good evening,
Miss Wilcox
.” He paused and leaned
toward her. “Kate,” he said in a husky voice that sent shivers down her arm. “This
is our dance, I believe.” 

And before she knew what was happening, he had whisked
her onto the dance floor, pressing her into another waltz.

“I believe the viscount makes half of his dances
waltzes,” Tristan said, smiling. “Makes his wooing for another wife much more
palatable.” 

“It would seem, my lord.”

Tristan pursed his lips, knowing he was going to set off
a stream of gossip holding his partner so close, but he didn’t care. The lady
would be his wife as soon as possible. “I had no idea you were going to address
me so formally after our cozy outing yesterday," he said coolly.

Kate peered up at him, her delicate brows arching.

Tristan blew out a tired breath. “I know what you
thought. You thought that Lady Helen and I were attached in some way." 

She drew back. “Why, yes. Attached is a good word for
it." 

Tristan chuckled as he studied the fiery creature in his
arms. Her skin was as smooth as silk. Her eyes were blazing with jealousy. Her
lips were as sweet as honey. Her naive perception of the world worried him. Her
unlady-like independence intrigued him. Her golden hair drove him mad. And her
unbelievable courage attracted him the most.

She had tried to save his life back at the inn, and she
had also stood up to him. Not many men had the backbone to go against the Earl
of Lancewood, but she had done it without any hesitation.