The Notorious Widow (18 page)

* * * *

William paused in the library doorway. He’d been hoping that Rockhurst had misinterpreted what he’d seen. Though he knew the assembly had shocked Laura into hysterics, he hadn’t thought she would employ dishonor. So he’d made excuses and invented other explanations – perhaps Rob had summoned both men to the library, but Bill had garbled the message; maybe Laura had taken advantage of an empty room to repair a slipping hairstyle; Rockhurst might be lying…

But even imagination could find no reason for Rockhurst to lie. He was too honorable – which made Laura’s dishonor even worse.

Now he glared at her as his last hope died. She was standing by the window, her hair in artistic disarray. A torn shoulder drooped from her gown as she clutched a drape to her bosom. The moment he entered, she burst into sobs. “He attacked me,” she cried, flinging herself into his arms. “He c-claimed he c-couldn’t live another d-day without me. I tried to fight—”

“I am appalled,” he snapped, shoving her away. He clasped his hands behind his back to keep from shaking her. “I never believed a Seabrook could play so dastardly a trick.”

“Me? Rockhurst assaulted me!”

“Stop this, Laura.” He backed away from the stranger inhabiting his sister’s body. “You demean yourself more with every word. You arranged this dishabille yourself, as a witness will attest.”

“You can’t believe—”

“I just left Rockhurst,” he continued, ignoring her. “How interesting that each of us received a summons supposedly from the other. Who do you suppose gave those messages to Rob and Bill? I will ask them if I must. Neither of them will lie to me, for doing so would cost them their positions.” Her recoil was all the confirmation he needed. “That was not well done of you. I am ashamed that such a schemer shares my roof and name.”

She collapsed onto the couch, crying in earnest. “B-but how else am I to attach him? I’ve never met anyone so slow to respond to me.”

“Beware of arrogance,” he warned, pulling a chair around to face her. “I warned you not to press him, Laura. Like most wealthy lords, he is plagued by fortune hunters. They throw themselves at his title in droves – just as you have been doing. He pulled no punches when describing you. One of his less vulgar comments compared you to Alicia Wyath, who did everything but tear her clothes off trying to draw his attention last night. But even Alicia did not stoop to trickery.”

She flinched. “I never meant—”

“Intentions no longer matter. Whether he might have formed an attachment if you had met under different circumstances is moot.” He frowned. “I think he seeks something quite specific in a wife, though he did not say what. But whatever that is, he considers you an irritating, unscrupulous fortune hunter.”

“But I don’t care about his fortune.”

“It makes no difference. Look at yourself. If you were a man, would you want ties to such a woman? Would you wish to live with her, have children with her, or accede to a single one of her wishes?”

“Dear lord!” She hugged herself, shaking.

“It is over, Laura. He wants nothing to do with you, and I don’t blame him. I promised that you would leave him alone for the remainder of his stay – which he was ready to terminate immediately. If you make the slightest overture, he will leave. After last night, you should understand what that would mean to Catherine.”

“And all of us,” she managed. Panic filled her eyes.

“Now you see your peril. Your future depends on exposing Jasper’s lies. As does mine and Mary’s. I have tried to pretend it does not, but even turning Catherine off would not save us. We have become pariahs in the public eye. Rockhurst is our best hope of recovering.”

She reached out to touch his arm. “Does losing Miss Wyath hurt?”

“I am angrier at myself than at her,” he admitted. “Jasper’s rumors kept me from making a serious mistake. She has been using me to hone her flirting skills while she waits for a man worth trapping. And she was hoping to keep me in reserve in case she failed to do better – you can imagine how she would have behaved in that event. While I do have a title, I lack the fortune and social connections she seeks.”

“She would be furious.”

“Exactly. Having already failed to attach Jasper, she is heading for Bath and then London. If she had been forced to settle for me, she would have made endless demands for money, clothes, Seasons…” He let his voice fade as he shook his head. “She would have been very unhappy when I refused. I would have had to live with an increasingly waspish wife. And think of what that would have meant to Catherine and Sarah.”

“Or Mary and me,” she agreed, shuddering.

“Don’t make the same mistake,” he urged her. “Trapping a man who does not want you will bring you nothing but grief. It would be better to remain here than to wed a man who resents you. I would have survived marriage to Alicia because in the end, I have the power to control my wife. You lack that power. A husband can dictate where and how his wife lives, who she sees, and what she does. No one will stop him from enforcing his rules however he sees fit. No one will condemn him if his discipline causes pain, or even injury. So make sure that you find a man who will treat you well.”

“I am so ashamed,” she murmured, biting her lip as new tears slid down her face. “And appalled at my behavior. I cannot imagine why I thought something this despicable could work.” She shook her head. “In truth, I did not think ahead, ignoring his discouragement and imbuing him with interests he does not have. He even warned me that he prefers a quiet country life.”

“While you prefer excitement. You should have taken the hint. He claims his interests are fixed elsewhere, and he is not a man whose head can be turned by a pretty face.” At least not permanently, he amended silently. There wasn’t a man alive who didn’t admire a lovely view. But that was irrelevant. Straightening, he produced a brisk tone. “You owe him an apology, Laura. Today. Then you will avoid him for the remainder of his stay. I want nothing to distract him from his vow to help us.”

Laura sighed. “You were right, William. I have grown arrogant, assuming that every man who calls will fall instantly at my feet. I even discounted Catherine’s good advice because I resented her efforts to control me.”

He paused, but this was an opportunity he could not ignore. “Are you sure it was not disdain that she had attracted fewer beaux than you?”

“That’s ridi—” She pulled herself up short and blushed. “Perhaps I am more arrogant than I thought. She and Harold were so well suited, it hardly mattered that no puppies dangled after her. I’ve treated her abominably since her return.”

“Do not exaggerate your faults, Laura,” he warned, fearful that she would slide into despair. “You are intelligent, with a strong capacity for caring. Yes, you’ve made mistakes, but nothing that will ruin you.”
As long as Rockhurst keeps quiet,
he added under his breath. “Take advantage of your isolation in the coming days. Think about how you behave toward others. If there is a problem, then fix it. The right man will eventually appear. You will want to be ready.”

* * * *

Catherine finished the linen inventory. It was a chore that could easily have waited until spring, but she needed to keep busy and away from Rockhurst.

She should have stayed home yesterday. Jasper would not have attended the assembly unless someone had informed him of her temerity. If she’d remained away, the gossips would not have hardened their hearts, William would not be blamed for starting a brawl, and Laura would not have spent the night in tears.

Fustian! snorted her conscience. Jasper would have gone anyway.

She smoothed the last pile of sheets, pulling herself from the mire of regret that had trapped her since leaving the assembly rooms. It was true. His attack had not been aimed at her. He’d merely grazed her in passing – not that he cared. Nor did he care that he was destroying her family. William had been seething and Laura hysterical. Mary had huddled in the corner of the carriage as if trying to escape notice. The journey home had been the worst of her life. She couldn’t blame Rockhurst for riding on the box.

But it wasn’t Jasper’s latest attack that had kept her sleepless. Every time her eyes had closed, she’d relived her two sets with Rockhurst – which was ridiculous. Both sets had been simple country dances performed with others more than with him. Yet her fingers still tingled where he had gripped them. Warmth radiated from her upper arm where his hand had touched above her glove.

She blushed.

She was not a green miss to be seduced by the prescribed patterns of a dance. It was dangerous to imagine his hands expanding those innocuous touches into the intimacy she had allowed no one but Harold.

Swearing under her breath, she slammed the linen room door and headed for the garden. Her imagination had run completely amok if it was conjuring images of Rockhurst in bed. And it would get worse. Somehow she had lost all control over her fantasies.

The only solution was to release him from his vow. Jasper had proved himself invincible. He did whatever he pleased with impunity. Rockhurst would never force him to recant, for Jasper knew that no one who mattered would turn on him. Thus Rockhurst should return home before she embarrassed them both.

Laura will be furious.

True, but not as furious as if he stayed. It was only a matter of time before he realized how much she wanted him. Even a saint would accept such an invitation. Laura would have to attach him from a distance.

But he was the stubborn sort who would keep his promises or die trying, she admitted as she slipped down the servants’ stairs. So what argument would convince him to abandon this one and leave?

Fulfilling his vow was so important to his honor that he would twist facts to make winning seem possible. Like their confrontation over the assembly yesterday. Her arguments had been valid, yet he’d ignored every one – and look where it had gotten them. Publicly supporting her had eliminated his ability to learn anything useful. Opinion had hardened against her, making Jasper’s position more secure than ever. And her family now shared her disgrace. That brawl was already being laid at William’s door. Laura’s attack on Alicia hadn’t helped.

Grabbing her gardening cloak, she slipped out the kitchen door past two maids shelling peas. A gardener clipped a nearby hedge. Another raked the path to the stables.

She needed privacy to organize her thoughts, marshal her arguments, and bring her unruly passions under control. Other groundskeepers toiled in the formal garden. A flash of blue showed that Mary and Sarah were in the folly, so she headed for the walled rose garden.

It proved to be a bad choice. Rockhurst emerged from the arbor as she shut the gate behind her.

“Who are Rankin’s closest friends?” he asked abruptly.

“Tom Potter and Jack Henshaw. Why?” She remained near the gate, fighting to calm herself. Seeing him so unexpectedly made it difficult to breathe.

“The people who know him best might know his motives.”

“Don’t waste your time. Even if Jasper told them – which is unlikely – they would never discuss his business with you.” This was the ideal time to terminate his visit. “I appreciate your efforts on my behalf, but last night proved that the situation is hopeless. Continuing the fight can only harm others.”

“So thank you and farewell?” Sunlight turned his hair gold as he moved closer.

“It is for the best. William should never have asked you to interfere. But I accept full blame. If I had told him everything, he would have understood Jasper’s determination earlier. We could have retired from society until the furor died down.”

He snorted. “If you’d told him everything, he would have met Jasper at dawn. Even if he’d survived – he is a terrible marksman – the resulting scandal would have been worse.”

“Arguing might-have-beens serves no purpose,” she said, shivering at his words, for they voiced the biggest reason she’d remained silent. She put a rosebush between them, on the pretext of examining a lingering bloom. “My situation is beyond recall, but if I retire from public scrutiny, my family will survive.”

“Your situation has already improved,” he insisted.

“How can you say that? You were there last night. Jasper’s lies carry more weight than the Magna Carta and the Bible combined. Virtue is hard enough to prove in the best of times. Now it is impossible.”

“Never.” He followed her around the bush. “It merely requires the right evidence. Don’t turn cowardly now. If last night proved anything, it is that retreat will no longer protect your family – if it ever could. And retreat will not satisfy Jasper. With or without your help, I will continue this crusade, for he will attack at will until he’s stopped. I cannot allow an unscrupulous fool to ruin five lives.”

“Seven,” she said, correcting him before she realized that doing so added two new reasons to continue. His brow quirked in a question. “We have other brothers. Andrew is with Wellington in Portugal. Thomas is away at school, thank heavens. His temper is unpredictable. He would retaliate against Jasper if he knew what was going on.”

“So we must resolve things soon. Winter break starts next month.” He combed his hair with his fingers. The separated strands snapped into curls, making her hands itch to test their softness.

Her reaction made it imperative that he leave, she realized, clutching her skirt so she didn’t reach for him. “You misunderstood the cuts last night. People were upset that my family allowed me to attend. If I disappear, their reputations will survive. Persisting will hurt them further, so thank you for your efforts, but it is time to face the truth. You will never find the evidence you seek. Jasper is too cunning to act with obvious malice and too careful to confide even in close friends, for they might one day turn against him. Retiring from society will pose no hardship, for society does not appeal to me. Once William marries, I can fade into the background and be forgotten.”

“That could be a very long time, for he will never offer for Miss Wyath.”

“True, and to be honest, I am glad he came to his senses. But he is looking for a wife. Someone is bound to catch his eye.”