Three Times the Scandal (33 page)

“
Interesting friends you keep, milord,” murmured the recently sodomized youth. He pressed a finger to his hairless chin and elbows folded considered them each in turn a beaming smile upon his face. The scar across his lip pulled tight by his merriment gave his a dangerous mien. “I can’t believe you never told us there was two of you,” he said to Darleston, glancing between him and Neddy. “Suppose that might make up for them disrupting the show, if you were to take to the stage together. Is his pizzle as long as yours?”

“
Billy!” a white-haired gent, in the fashion of the last century bustled forward from behind the harpsichord.

“
Giles,” Fortuna soothed. She curled her hand around his lower arm. “I agreed to come here. I’m fine. Lord Darleston’s kept me safe, and now you’re here. Have you learned anything helpful?” She peeped up at him from beneath her new fringe, eyes full of hope.

He had nothing to give her. No ray of sunshine to banish her woes. “His damn fool actions likely placed you in danger in the first place,” he bellowed. He shrugged off Fortuna’s grasp, and taking Darleston by surprise, barrelled him up against the nearby wall, causing Billy to give a whoop of delight.

Eyes as grey as fog, Darleston met his attack with still more insufferable calm.

“
The truth. Did you provoke Lucy into betraying Fortuna to Macleane?”

Darleston drew his teeth over his sensual lower lip. “What does it matter how Macleane came to know? The important point is that he has not yet claimed Fortuna.”

“
It matters because my house is a damned wreck and Pimcock’s will is watertight. You had the whole of London within your means, and you chose a molly house.” He shook his head, as further details of the night’s events came bubbling out. He wanted to rage, hurt someone, lay the blame for all the disasters at someone else’s feet, and pretend he had no responsibility for any of it. Of course, he was solely responsible, but he couldn’t fix any of it.

“
Ugh!” spewed Billy, at that moment, his attention riveted upon Fortuna as if a revelation had suddenly struck. “Oh, Christ!” He wiped his hands down his frock. “I let Harrison do me while we watched you fuck. I was going see if he’d let me fuck you once he’d finished.” He nodded towards Darleston. “He sometimes lets me, cause he likes to sit and watch.”

Giles jerked Darleston by the lapels. “What did you do to her?”

Neddy put a hand upon Giles’s shoulder, and tried to ease him off his twin. “Giles, what does it matter if she consented?”

“
He didn’t hurt me,” Fortuna interjected.

“
No.” Giles shrugged off Neddy’s grasp. “I want to know what he did.” His gaze swept to Billy, then Darleston. The boy had clearly been allowed to watch, a titbit of fact that stung just as much as the idea that his friend had been intimate with Fortuna whilst supposedly protecting her. “Tell me,” he growled into Darleston’s face.

“
I fucked her in the arse, Giles. Does it make you feel better to know?”

Giles didn’t hear past the second word. He slammed his fist into Darleston’s stomach. An acute wave of satisfaction filled him as his friend doubled.

“
Neddy, please stop him.” Fortuna’s shrill plea pierced the shocked silence.

Darleston slowly straightened himself. He met Giles’s gaze, his grey eyes glittering, the pupils awash with unfathomable emotions. “Any more?” he enquired.

Giles split his lip.

“
That’s enough.” Neddy muscled his way between them, and forced them apart, a palm pressed to each of their chests. “I’ve seen enough violence for one evening. Bickering among ourselves won’t help solve anything.”

Giles squirmed against the press of Neddy’s palm, his anger still swollen, and not yet peaked.

“
Giles, let up, or I swear I’ll knock you out. What Fortuna has consented to do with each of us is irrelevant at this moment. What is important is that we find a solution to her problem, and quickly.”

Just after Emily’s death, Giles had faced off against Neddy in a fight at Gentleman Jackson’s. He’d been so full of rage. He’d wanted to work some of that feeling off, mask one form of pain with another. Ned had only hit him once. Even with mufflers over his knuckles, the punch had left Giles with an earache and sore chin for a week. He certainly hadn’t felt like trying that method of pressure release again.

The tension drained from Giles’s limbs. Limply, he sagged onto the loveseat. Too many things had happened in too short a time. Fortuna came and sat beside him so that their knees touched.
I want you to run away with me
, he thought, remembering when he’d first made that offer only a week ago. It already felt as if he’d spent a lifetime loving her.

“
Giles,” she began, taking his hand in hers and massaging her thumb across his knuckles. “Unless you’ve a solution, I have to go home tomorrow. I can’t see my family ruined.”

“
Please, no.” He shook his head.

Fortuna reached up and delicately traced the angry bruise upon his lower jaw with her kid-encased fingertips. “Sir Hector?” she asked fearfully, probably thinking of what other pain Macleane would inflict upon her family in addition to their financial ruin.

Giles shook his head. He and the twins certainly made a grim trio. Neddy with his bruised cheek, him with his jaw, and Darleston had taken out a kerchief, which he was busy applying to his split lip. What a rag-tag bunch of losers she’d fallen in with. “We should leave here,” he said.

“
To go where?” Darleston asked, and Giles’s finally noticed that he too sported newly shortened hair, making the twins far more alike. “Do you know of a safer place?”

“
The bloody house is wrecked, and would be out of the question even if it weren’t,” said Neddy. “Macleane knows she’s with you now.”

Fortuna gave a gasp at the mention of the house, and Darleston’s eyes narrowed. He looked as if he was about to ask, until Giles shook his head. Discussions about the fire and other events could wait a little longer. He squeezed Fortuna’s hand, and wrapped an arm around her slender shoulders. She smiled wanly at him, so that the adorable dimple in her cheek showed. Giles feasted on her altered appearance. He’d seen every inch of her, had traced his lips across most of it, but seeing her slender legs encased in butter soft fabric seemed somehow more lewd. Noticing his scrutiny, she smoothed the ends of her cropped hair. It was a bloody awful cut, ragged and messy, but not nearly so bad once he’d brushed the long fringe back off her face so that the crop framed her pretty face. It made her seem elfin.

“
I do hate to break up your delightful tête-à-tête gentleman, and lady.” The man with white hair pushed his way into their huddle. “But you are causing a rather large inconvenience. Perhaps I might offer you a nice room upstairs to address your dilemma?”

“
And you are?” asked Giles.

“
Queen Seraphina or Mistress Molly Coombe, if you prefer. The proprietor.” He gave a delightful curtsy. “And you, sirs are eating into my profits. The longer you stand about in my parlour causing a monumental fuss over the young lady, the less I am likely to woo back any members this evening. They do not care for discord, or young ladies,” he added looking pointedly at Fortuna. He turned his head to Darleston and eyed him thoughtfully. “I’ll overlook the fact that you brought a woman into my establishment, milord, and shall we say ten guineas will buy you a room for the night and all the privacy you require to resolve your difficulties?”

Darleston flicked his tongue over his lip wound: “While we collect our thoughts, Giles?”

Giles briefly closed his eyes and wished for the comfort of his own bed. He didn’t want to stay here, but he could suggest no better alternative. “Very well, we’ll stay.”

Chapter Thirteen

Room eight was almost an exact duplicate of ten, save it had two chairs before the fireplace instead of one and no spy holes drilled through the walls. Fortuna entered ahead of the three men. She wasn’t sure of Darleston’s motivation in bringing them up here. Ever since Giles and Neddy’s arrival he’d become more and more unreadable. At least he’d bought them some time alone, which at this stage was all they really had left. There were only three options left open to her: forget her family, which she couldn’t do; return home and accept Sir Hector, or marry someone amenable to giving Sir Hector what he really wanted. Something told her, Giles wasn’t ready to consider the latter option, and she had no wish to bind herself to any other man.

Fortuna skirted the bedpost and sat on the floral-patterned coverlet. She didn’t blame Giles. He’d been perfectly straight with her from the start. She wouldn’t ask him to change his principles, although, she’d hoped even before Darleston had suggested it.

Her gaze wandered to where the two men stood by the fireplace. Giles’s hand rested upon the mantle, his image a mirror of Darleston’s. They were a curious pair. Closer friends than Giles and Neddy, and yet in some ways so cut off and distant from one another, almost as if they knew too much about each other already, and anymore would make them ill at ease.

The dark undercurrents that flowed between them didn’t flow between Giles and Neddy. Their relationship remained comradely even in bed together entwined around her body.

Neddy had taken himself off towards the window, which seemed to look down upon the street.

Tonight was the end of everything, she realized. Come daybreak her independence would cease, she’d go home and accept the engagement announcement made in the paper as official, but she’d never forget any of the moments they’d shared. Never. She’d use them to warm and comfort herself as she faced years of solitude with Sir Hector.

Neddy dropped onto the bed beside her. Seeking contact, she reached out to gently trace the outline of the bruise upon his cheek.

“
Don’t press,” he said, arching away from her.

Shocked she withdrew her hand. “I wouldn’t. Who on Earth would?” It looked so tender. She wanted to hug and kiss him, somehow make it feel better, not inflict another hurt upon him.

His gaze flicked towards his brother. “I’ve seen the Star, Fortuna, and it’s as radiant as you are. Tis no surprise it inspires both lust and obsession.”

“
You’re kind,” she said, smoothing her hand over the back of his. She felt neither radiant nor worthy of such devotion.

Neddy shook his head. “Actually, I’m a coward. I haven’t the guts to find Macleane and put a pistol ball in his back.” He sagged a little at the shoulders. “It’s what one of us should do.”

“
No,” she gripped his hand more tightly. “Please don’t suggest that, not to Giles.” Bravery had nothing to do with it. Having just watched him split his best-friend’s lip over a slight, she suspected he’d delight in the idea of shooting Sir Hector, and she had no wish to see him hang.

“
Don’t worry. I haven’t, and I won’t. Besides, Giles’s a lousy shot, he’d probably miss.” Neddy swivelled around so his boots sat propped upon the headboard and he rested his head in her lap. Fortuna instinctively stroked her fingers through his sleek red hair. She looked down into his easy-going face and saw both compassion and sympathy there.

“
I’m doomed to my fate,” she said sadly, as her fingers feathered down over his lips.

“
As are we all.” The edges of his smoky-grey eyes crinkled into a kind-hearted smile as he reached up. He slid his fingers into her hair and around the back of her neck. “Do you want me to kiss you, Fortuna? It seems an appropriate goodbye. Your mind’s made up, is it not?”

“
What choice do I have?”

“
Over kissing me, plenty. Over the other, not so much. Though there are always options.” He shook his head. Their lips brushed, once, twice, only just touching.

“
I don’t want to say goodbye, not to any of you, and it will be goodbye.”

His frown stretched across his forehead, and as one they both turned their heads towards Giles. Fortuna dug her teeth into her lip. Staring always worked in ballrooms, and it worked here too. Within moments of gluing her gaze upon Giles’s back, he turned and queried her gaze with a frown. Somehow she forced a smile, and patted the bed beside her for him to join them. Neddy was right, this was the time for goodbyes, time she made a memory she could cling to in the coming darkness.

Giles came to her, carrying Darleston in his wake.

These three men—each occupied distinct spaces in her heart. They had become her friends, protectors and lovers over the last week, she didn’t want to give them up, but Sir Hector would never allow her to be with them again. Even a brief exchange of words would be unlikely in the future. Fortuna’s throat burned with the pain of loss. With difficulty she swallowed. “Won’t you kiss me?” she asked Giles.

Taking her hand, he knelt down before her. “Is this the time?”

“
I can think of no better.” Just his touch, the scent of him so close made her cunny clench in anticipation. Wild butterflies fluttered in her stomach.
It has to be good
, she silently told herself over and over, although at least part of her rebelled. Dark shadows ringed Giles’s beautiful eyes, and an ashen pallor etched his skin. He looked as if he needed a good night’s sleep, not a night of wild debauchery.

Beside them, Neddy tugged off his boots and chucked them at his brother.

“
What do you wish of me?” Giles asked.

Her hand fluttered over his sleeve, working upward to his shoulder to urge him closer. She gazed down at him with all her heart in her expression. To be with him, to enjoy all the things he’d shown her, was all she truly desired. “Love me.”