The Rogue and the Rival (42 page)

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Authors: Maya Rodale

BOOK: The Rogue and the Rival
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The
following morning, over breakfast, Angela read the cursed newspaper again. On this tenth reading, the words remained the same.
 
After quite the scene at Lady Derby’s fete, the betting books at White’s are full of wagers on who will marry
London Weekly
illustrator, Miss Angela Sullivan. Odds are in favor of Lord Frost, and Lord Huntley is considered a long shot, although the notorious scoundrel did bet five hundred pounds in favor of himself. Whoever Miss Sullivan deigns to marry will be a very rich—and lucky—man.
 
“Do you think it’s true?” Angela asked her aunt.
“I’d wager on it.”
“You’d wager on a wager?”
“Everyone does it, my dear. But if you do wish to confirm the accuracy of the report, all you need to do is ask Phillip. Do let me know what he says; I should like to know if I am correct.”
“Oh, I will ask him,” Angela muttered.
“You do realize that he will be quite rich if you do marry him,” her aunt pointed out.
“Or rather, I will be a very wealthy widow. I can’t believe he did that! How am I to trust his motives for marrying me now? Is nothing sacred to him?”
“You know, you could completely ruin the man if you didn’t marry him. If I am doing the sums correctly, he’ll never be able to repay his losses. Not in this lifetime anyway.”
“But then what will I win?”
 
Lila Drake née Althorp had made headlines a year earlier when it was revealed that she was a spy. She had met her husband Sebastian Drake, also a fellow spy, when they teamed up to retrieve the Prince Regent’s stolen coronation crown. As a reward, they were given an earldom.
“How a woman smart enough to single-handedly take down a ring of French smugglers and secure the coronation crown was foolish enough to get caught with you, Phillip, within an hour of her coming out, is quite simply beyond me,” Lady Palmerston remarked just before they alighted the carriage.
The Drakes were thrilled to see Lady Palmerston again, for she had become acquainted with them at a house party the previous year. They had been pretending to be married for the sake of their mission. It wasn’t long before their marriage was real.
After the introductions, Lila, as she told them to call her, focused on Angela.
“I’ve heard of you. You do the drawings for the Darcy Darlington stories, do you not?” Lila questioned eagerly.
“Yes, I do,” she replied, liking Lila already.
“They’re quite good. You are certainly very talented.”
“Thank you.”
“I’m rather determined to uncover the author’s identity,” Lila said pointedly, and Angela stifled a groan. It was fair to assume that she might know the secret author of the stories she illustrated, but in truth, she had no idea. Nigel Haven had been clear that he would not tell her, and she didn’t argue, for she really didn’t need another secret to keep.
“You could spare me a tremendous headache, Miss Sullivan, if you would just tell her,” said Lila’s husband, Sebastian Drake, the Earl of Diamond.
“She’s a vault,” Lady Palmerston replied. “I’ve been trying to get the answer out of her for almost a year now, to no avail. I have even considered, dear niece, opening your correspondence, if it weren’t sealed.”
“Oh, I know a trick to help you with that,” Lila said breezily, as if they were merely discussing housekeeping remedies and not interfering with personal correspondence.
“I can’t tell you anything simply because I don’t know the author, nor do I know what is going to happen in the story. I am simply told what to draw.”
“How vexing,” Lila said, biting her lower lip.
“It’s a relief, actually. I’m sure I would have accidentally slipped by now if I knew.”
“But I can’t imagine you have come all this way
not
to tell me a secret. What does bring you here?”
Angela and Lady Palmerston turned to Phillip.
“I have come to apologize to you, Lady Diamond,” Phillip said.
“Really?” Lila seemed surprised, of course.
“Yes. I’m sorry for ruining you in the eyes of society,” Phillip said sincerely.
“Thank you. Rather late in coming, but better late than never, they say.”
“Lila, is there anything else you’d like to say?” her husband, Drake as she called him, added. That piqued everyone’s curiosity.
“Well, I suppose I should apologize on behalf of my brother for challenging you to that duel . . . and years after the fact, too. Is it true that you fell and shot yourself?”
“To my eternal annoyance and mortification, yes.”
“Lila ...”
“Yes, Drake?”
“Isn’t there something else you’d like to tell him?”
“Husbands are such a bother. Are you sure you want one?” Lila addressed Angela.
“I’m considering it, and I thank you for your warning,” Angela said, with a pointed look at Phillip.
“What my husband wishes me to tell you, Phillip, is that I probably owe you the apology.”
“Interesting . . .” Lady Palmerston murmured, with a smile.
“You were set up, Phillip. I did not care for my father’s marriage plans for me, so I decided to get myself ruined. You were very obliging. It was almost too easy, really. So thank you, for your assistance.”
“You mean you got ruined on purpose?” Angela asked, incredulous. The very idea was unfathomable to her.
“If you had met the lecherous and revolting Baron Montrose, to whom my father arranged an engagement without consulting me, you would have done the same without a second thought.”
“He was a nasty creature,” Lady Palmerston added.
“But why did you choose me?” Phillip asked.
“Your reputation, of course. I heard all the rumors about that Preston girl and all the speculation as to what else you might have done. I would only have to be seen with you in order for people to suspect the worst.”
“Madame, a caller,” the butler intoned from the doorway.
Lord Lucius Rothermere, an elderly gentleman with bright blue eyes and a shock of white hair, was introduced to Angela and Phillip. Apparently, he and Lady Palmerston had been introduced at Lila and Drake’s wedding.
After politely discussing the day’s lovely weather, it was decided they should all take a walk in the garden.
They all ended up pairing off and wandering down separate paths: Lady Palmerston with Lord Rothermere, Drake and Phillip, Lila and Angela.
“Please forgive my boldness, but after years of being sly and subtle, I can’t quite manage it any longer. I’m very curious: What is your relationship with Phillip?” Lila asked.
“I think I am going to marry him,” Angela said. “Or at least I said I would.”
“You don’t sound sure of yourself.”
“I’m trying to be. I love him, but trust is another matter entirely. And I’ve been hurt in the past—”
“Again, forgive my boldness, but were you ruined as well? You must know there have been rumors.”
“Yes, a long time ago. Gossip lives a long life and dies a slow death it seems,” Angela remarked.
“But look at us now,” Lila urged, linking arms with Angela. “We are supposed to be shriveled up, bitter old spinsters. Or dead. But here we are, showing that there is life after being ruined. I am happily married, and you could be. And to handsome fellows, too. If more young women knew about us, I daresay more would follow our paths.”
“But weren’t you utterly miserable at first?” Angela asked.
“Oh, of course. Rothermere saved my life by giving me something to do.”
“The spying.”
“Yes. And you have your illustrations.”
“And now if I may be bold,” Angela started, “how did you come to trust your husband?” Though they had been acquainted for no more than an hour, Lila’s straightforward demeanor encouraged intimacy. Furthermore, they had too much in common not to find an immediate bond. And for the first time, Angela realized one of the things she had been missing: someone who could be truly empathetic to her situation.
“I kept pushing him away, and yet he came back every time,” Lila responded, and Angela could relate. “I knew very well how to be alone, but I did not know how to be with another person. And it didn’t hurt that he saved my life from an armed and dangerous highwayman. Of course, I would have managed perfectly well by myself. But I didn’t have to, and that was nice.”
“I’d rather not have my life in peril, if I can help it.”
“Well, there is another way. Keep in mind that occasionally, when one employs this method, they learn things they’d rather not. But every once in a while, one hears exactly what one wishes to know.”
“What is it?” Angela asked.
“Shhh,” Lila whispered with a mischievous gleam in her eyes.
They fell silent, walking along until they heard the murmur of men talking. Lila pulled Angela behind a hedge with her and indicated that they should remain silent.
“I bet she put you up to this, didn’t she?” They overheard Drake say.
“Traveling all over England to apologize to scorned women certainly wasn’t my idea,” Phillip responded.
Drake chuckled. “Every man’s nightmare. It never ceases to amaze me what sort of devious schemes females come up with. Is it as horrible as I think it is?”
“Pretty much, although I must admit it could be far worse.”
“Best to let them all think you are suffering horribly. For whatever reason, women seem to love the brooding, tortured routine. They’ll go to great lengths to soothe our wounded souls, etc. etc. . . .” Angela and Lila both rolled their eyes and smothered their laughter.
“It shouldn’t be too difficult to act as such in the carriage ride back to London. All they ever talk about is gossip and fashion. I can’t imagine anything more torturous.”
“Oh, they wait until they think we are asleep to start discussing the good stuff. Trust me on that one.”
“This has been an enlightening conversation. Why have I not learned these things sooner?”
“Because you didn’t marry a spy. Speaking of marriage to a spy,” Drake muttered in a lowered voice. When Drake spoke again, his words were loud and clear.
“Your apology is not necessary, Huntley, though I appreciate it,” Drake said loudly. “It is
I
who should be thanking you. For if you had not compromised Lila, I might never have met her, let alone married her. She has been such a constant source of joy in my life, and it would be a fate worse than death to live without her.”
Phillip grinned, understanding what Drake was up to. He stifled a laugh at the unmistakable sound of a female scoffing in disbelief from the other side of the hedge.
“Why, that sounds like my lovely wife,” Drake remarked.
“My dear husband,” Lila said sweetly after reappearing from the other side of the hedge with Angela in tow. “I need to have a word with you. Privately.”
Drake needed no encouragement. He winked at Phillip and sauntered off with his wife. Phillip grinned. For the first time since the previous evening, he had a moment alone with her. He could tell that she was upset about the wager, but he rationalized that a good, deep, passionate kiss would make her forget all about it. He drew her close to him.
“So you are not going to at least act brooding and tortured to elicit my sympathy?” Angela asked sharply, stepping away from him and folding her arms over her chest.
“Not when I am so happy to have a moment alone with you,” he said, reaching out for her so he could kiss her and make her forget her anger. When he placed his arm around her shoulders, she shrugged off his touch.
“Lady Palmerston could be eavesdropping,” she said by way of explanation.
That was a chilling thought. But still . . .
“She might not be.”
“You are hoping that we will get caught in some sort of compromising position, aren’t you?” She kept her voice low, but her anger was undeniable.
“Now that you mention it, the idea does have some merit. I’m going to marry you, Angela. Why not sooner rather than later?”
“Oh, you are impossible!”
“
I
am impossible?” he echoed. “I have done everything you asked me to, and it’s still not enough to please you, is it?”
“Do you really want to make me happy? Or are you just trying to win a wager?” Angela retorted.
Phillip looked up toward the heavens and thought now might be a good time for God to show some favor for him. In his silence, she spoke first.
“You stand to win a lot of money if we marry.”
“And I’ll spend it all on you, darling.”
“But how could you make a sport of us? A wager on whether we’ll marry. Really, Phillip. I’m not some racehorse.”

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