The Sweetest Revenge (12 page)

“Exactly.”

Anna stopped laughing abruptly. She and Susan stared at Isabelle across the table. Then Susan asked, “Why?”

“It is immoral.”

Anna snorted. “But you did it before.”

“That was before I knew.”

“Knew that it was immoral?”

Isabelle sighed. “No. I always knew that it was immoral.”

“Before you knew what, then, Isabelle?” Susan asked. “The cost?”

“Aye.” The cost, the heartbreak, the suffering. If she and Leo had married, she would have been shielded from all that. “It is wrong, do you not think so? We women are warned of this from the instant we are able to understand the words.”

“Men aren’t. Or if they are, they do not listen,” Anna said.

Susan set her cup down, her gaze sharp with anger. “Exactly. So women are expected to maintain the moral standards for society, while men cavort, led about by their cocks.”

Isabelle could not respond. She stared down at her plate, too overwhelmed with embarrassment to meet her friend’s gaze.

Susan slapped her hand on the table. “Well, I am tired of it. I have a body, too, a body with needs. I shall not be a miserable soul living a moral standard impossible to attain in our society. For many of us, marriage is simply not in the cards. And I see no reason, none whatsoever, to deny oneself the simple pleasures in life just because one is unable or unwilling to marry.”

“Are you saying that taking a different lover every night, like Leo does, is acceptable?”

“No, Isabelle. What Leo did to us is an entirely different matter. He misled us, then abandoned us to our fates. I believe in exclusivity. Furthermore, I believe there ought to be understanding between the man and the woman, a communication, a joint knowledge of what they expect to achieve from the liaison. That way, nobody’s heart is at stake.”

Anna stirred her chocolate. “It is most important for the lady to guard her heart ferociously, even coldly. And to be ever so careful. One must remember that it is nearly impossible for a man to lose his heart, for they all seem to be missing that vital organ.”

“Do you despise men, Anna?” Isabelle asked softly.

Anna’s eyes sharpened into an intense, jade green. “All of them? No, I do not despise all men. But I cannot deny that their careless behavior simply infuriates me.”

“Leo infuriates you?”

She snorted. “Him most of all.”

“But we hope to cure him of his careless behavior, do we not?”

“Indeed.”

“And then will you despise him?”

“Then”—Anna smiled, but it was a false smile—“I will love him.”

Isabelle didn’t believe her. Anna would always loathe the man who had violated her so terribly. She couldn’t blame Anna—her hatred of Leo was pure, and he deserved it, after all.

Isabelle didn’t quite feel the same way about Leo. She did despise him in a way, knowing how carelessly he treated other women. But a small part of her blamed herself for what had happened between herself and Leo, for giving herself to him like a weak female, in defiance of all common sense and in spite of all the warnings she’d received since she was a small lass, and for whatever unknown flaw had caused him to abandon her.

This mysterious flaw sometimes kept her awake at night, wondering what it was about her that had been so inadequate. True, she didn’t have much of a pedigree, but if she were prettier, or witty or slender or charming enough, those virtues would have surely made up for her lack of blue blood.

Susan sipped her coffee. “We should decide how to approach him today. He will attempt to threaten us with his knowledge of Isabelle’s identity.”

“And of course, we will deny she is Isabelle at all,” Anna said.

Isabelle swallowed a bite of ham. “He won’t believe you.”

Susan smiled. “He won’t. But we will try, nonetheless. He’ll also be angry with us for ignoring him yesterday.”

Just then, there was a tap on the door. A footman appeared, balancing a large, beribboned box in one hand. “Excuse me, my lady. A package has arrived.”

Susan rose to take the box from the man, looking from Anna to Isabelle.

Isabelle shrugged. It couldn’t be for her. No one would send her a gift.

Susan arched a fine, dark eyebrow. “Who is it for?”

“It is addressed to Miss Tomkins, my lady.”

Anna shot out of her seat. “Who sent it? Who,
who
?”

“Lord Archer, miss.”

Isabelle held her cup in front of her mouth to hide the dismayed expression that must show on her face. A gift from Lord Archer could mean only one thing.

“Let me see!” Anna exclaimed.

“Leave us,” Susan snapped to the footman. He bowed and exited, shutting the door behind him.

“Oh, it’s been so long since a man has sent me a gift!” Anna wrung her hands. “What could it be, do you think?”

Susan set the box on the table. Her expression was implacable, her voice calm. “Why don’t you open it and find out?”

Anna yanked off the blue velvet ribbon and removed the lid. A folded note sat on top of the wrappings. Anna took it out and read aloud, “‘Dearest Miss Tomkins, this is to keep you warm on your ride to the theater tonight, for I would loathe for you to catch a chill. With my fondest regards, T.A.’”

Anna blinked over the letter a few moments before setting it gingerly on the table and pulling open the stiff paper inside the box. She lifted out an exquisite green velvet mantle trimmed with black sable.

“Oh.” She set it gently on the table, trailing her fingers through the fur. “It’s so soft.”

“You must not keep it,” Susan said.

For a long moment, Anna stared at the mantle. Finally, she looked up at Susan with glittering eyes nearly as dark as her hair. “Why not?”

Susan set her hand on Anna’s shoulder. “Anna, this is not the kind of gift a man sends a woman he intends to marry.”

“Oh, Susie, really,” Anna huffed. “I know that. I’m no green girl, for heaven’s sake.”

Susan drew in a deep breath, then let it out slowly. “You understand what he will expect in return?”

Anna nodded. “Of course.”

“Once I might have thought it a fine enough idea, but now I am not so certain,” Susan said. “Remember what we know of my cousin. He is a rake. We know the types of acquaintances he keeps. His circle consists of men like Leo.”

“Mr. Sutherland is not like Leo,” Anna said stubbornly.

Susan’s brows arched. “Do you really believe that? After the way you said he was fawning over Isabelle? Plus, they were gentlemen, visiting ladies. I would speculate their behavior might have been different had they been visiting a Drury Lane whorehouse rather than the home of a viscount’s widow.”

“Anyone’s behavior would be different in those two places, Susie. Even mine.” Anna still had not relinquished her hold on the mantle.

Isabelle spoke softly. “He holds orgies in his house, Anna.”

Anna transferred her gaze to Isabelle, and Isabelle thought she saw a glimmer of desperation in those dark eyes. “It does not mean he is a bad man—”

“Doesn’t it? It shows his moral depravity,” Susan argued.

Anna sank into a seat and pressed the mantle to her cheek. “How could he be morally depraved? You have known him all your life, Susie, but I truly know him, I think. He saved me.”

“Perhaps even then he planned to make you his mistress.”

Anna’s body stilled, and she spoke very softly. “Had he asked me then, I would have agreed.”

A look of pain crossed Susan’s face. “But why?”

“I was utterly ruined, Susie. Lord Archer found me at my worst, my very worst. He knows how wretchedly low I fell. Of course he would not marry someone like me. I wouldn’t expect it of him. I would have been grateful to become his mistress.”

“Why, Anna?” Isabelle’s voice was breathless.

Anna gave her a blank look. “Have I never told you what happened to me after the night I spent with Leo, Isabelle?”

“No.” She gave her friend a faltering smile. “I can’t help feeling a little curious.”

“I tried desperately to find a means to live, but I had no skills anyone in London could use. I was on the streets with nothing—no friends, no money. I wandered aimlessly for a few days, and then I found a woman named Beatrice Snow. She heard my genteel accent and thought I would bring in the blunt for her whorehouse.”

Isabelle could not prevent the soft gasp that emerged from her mouth.

Anna’s lips twisted. “She was a clever woman, and she ran quite a successful brothel. She was right about me. I stayed with her for over a year and eventually became one of her most sought-after whores. But with each passing day, I sank more and more into a terrible sadness and despair. And then one day, Lord Archer simply sauntered in.” She smiled. “Oh, you should have seen the looks on the women’s faces. Wide eyes and gaping mouths. As if they’d never seen a lord before. And they probably hadn’t.”

“What did he do?”

“Well, he just walked right up to me and bowed. It was so funny, Isabelle—he apologized for speaking to me without a formal introduction. As if that kind of thing mattered in that place. Then he said he was taking me away.” She draped the mantle over her shoulders and absently stroked the fur.

“What was Lord Archer doing in the…in there?” Isabelle asked.

“At first I thought he was looking for some companionship for the evening, but now”—her dark brows drew together in consternation—“now I am not certain.”

Isabelle shook her head. “Haven’t you ever wondered why he chose you? Why he took you away?”

Anna nodded solemnly. “A day hasn’t gone by that I haven’t wondered. I think about it all the time. Why was he there at all? Why me?”

Isabelle released a deep breath. Anna covered Susan’s hand on her shoulder and went on. “He took me into his carriage. At first I believed his intentions were sinister—and I didn’t even care. I knew he was a handsome young lord, and I only wanted to be away from there.” She sighed wistfully. “But he was so kind to me. He didn’t touch me. The expression on his face, oh, I don’t know why, it just made me break down. I told him everything. Everything, from the night Lord Leothaid took me, to that very day.”

“Did you give him Leo’s name?” Isabelle asked breathlessly.

“I did,” Anna said solemnly. “I told him
everything
.”

Isabelle couldn’t understand how anyone could remain Leo’s friend after hearing Anna’s tale.

“When he brought me to you, Susie, he knew that you would take pity on me.”

“There was no pity, Anna. I only did what was right.” Susan’s eyes shone with tears. “It was not long after I’d broken with Leo—less than a year after Henry’s death. When I heard what he had done to you… Well, it was then that I began to plan our revenge.”

“Lord Archer waited almost a whole year before coming to see me.”

“I invited him, Anna. He did not ask to see you.”

“But don’t you see? He wouldn’t have asked. Like the gentleman he is, he waited patiently for me. He waited until I was completely healed.”

“Are you healed?” Susan asked.

She nodded firmly. “Yes.”

Isabelle gazed at Anna. She didn’t quite believe Anna when she said she was healed. She tried to imagine herself in the younger woman’s position. She doubted she could have borne it.

“And now that you are a lady again, he wants you,” Susan said.

Anna’s eyes flashed green. “He always wanted me. Now that I have returned from that darkest of places, he knows it’s safe to have me without hurting me.”

“He wants you as his mistress, Anna, not as his wife.”

Anna rose to her feet. “I know. What more could I ask? He is a viscount! I pose as a lady for society’s sake, but he knows the truth. I am a mere shadow of a lady. It would be my honor to have him, not the other way around.”

“Viscount, lady,” Susan sneered. “What’s in a title? What’s in a name? You are his equal in all ways. Perhaps you are more than him, Anna, for after his recent behavior I am not so certain about him.”

“Do not pretend my moral standards are any higher than his,” Anna warned, placing her hands flat on the breakfast table. Isabelle saw that they were trembling.

“But he attends orgies and the like by choice,” Isabelle said softly. “You were forced into the…into your reduced circumstances. It was entirely beyond your control.”

Anna snapped her gaze to Isabelle. “I pursued Leo, Isabelle. It was not the other way around.
I pursued him
.”

Susan flicked her wrist as if swatting at an annoying insect. “That does not excuse his actions.”

“No, it doesn’t. But I will not pretend I stand on higher moral ground than Lord Archer.”

Susan shook her head. “Should anyone discover your dalliance—”

Anna snorted. “Do you think I would be so foolish? I’ve been hiding various facets of myself from society for a year, Susie, and I have become quite the expert at discretion.”

Susan’s voice was soft. “But, dearest, is this truly the course of action you wish to follow?”

“You were just telling Isabelle she ought to pursue Mr. Sutherland. Now you are telling me I should not have Lord Archer?” Curling her fingers in the fur of the mantle, Anna gazed at them with glistening eyes. “
Why
?”

Susan threw her hands in the air. “I was
teasing
her, Anna. Her heart is not at risk when it comes to Mr. Sutherland. It is different with you. I am concerned about Thomas’s intentions. I worry he will hurt you.”

“You are wrong about him.” Anna tilted her head and brushed her cheek against the fur. “I will accept this.”

“Oh, Anna,” Isabelle whispered.

“You are both overlooking the most important thing.”

“What is that?” Susan asked.

Anna’s eyes flashed at them once more. “I want him, too.”

She spun around and swept out of the breakfast room, clutching the fur mantle to her chest.

Isabelle met Susan’s distraught gaze. It seemed Anna had already ceased to take her own advice. When it came to Lord Archer, she had forgotten to be careful, and she had never been cold.

***

“Good evening, Leo.”

He knew the gravelly voice right away. He sketched a bow. “Good evening, Lady M. Or would it be more accurate to say afternoon? I am never quite sure anymore, especially with this” —he paused deliberately, pretending to conjure a word that the lady would not find offensive— “dratted blindfold.”