Wickeds Scandal (The Wickeds) (2 page)

“The old
lady said they were cursed with wickedness and gave them each a terrible
fate.  Ever after, the three were always called The Wickeds.  The
other boys gave them a wide berth.”

“Really? 
What rubbish!  Was the ‘curse’ of Satan Reynolds to be the most sought
after rake in London?”  Lady Martin mocked her friend.

“All I know
is that Satan Reynolds lived up to his name.  Richard’s sisters were never
allowed to visit him at school when Satan Reynolds was in residence for fear
they’d be ruined.”  Lady Norris seemed quite sure of her story.  “He
even seduced the Headmaster’s wife!  The elder Lord Reynolds sent for his
immoral son, dragging him back to London.  A few years later, Satan
Reynolds just disappeared into the jungles of Macao, which I’m told is much
more primitive than India! We all thought he was dead!  His grandmother
sent ten men—
ten men
—to fetch Lord Reynolds back to
England.  He didn’t wish to come back, you see. 
Ever
.” 

The two
women gave each other a look of confusion as if not understanding why anyone,
let alone a man who had the title and wealth of Lord Reynolds, wouldn’t wish to
be in England amongst the
ton
.  

Alexandra
felt a pang of sympathy for the handsome tattooed Marquess.  Of course, he
hadn’t wished to come back!  Who would want to be the object of so much
scrutiny?  Or to have your parentage questioned?   She wondered
why he chose Macao for his escape.   How she would love to ask
him.  Alexandra smirked.  Now that would be a true scandal, having
the biggest rake in London at her disposal to answer the questions of a
bluestocking.   He would make a most inspiring Lord
Thurston.  

  Lord Reynolds
reached the far end of the ballroom.   He nodded in greeting to
several gentlemen and their overly adorned wives.  The women all twittered
and gave him buttery glances.  The men regarded Lord Reynolds cautiously,
as if they expected him to spring at the women and carry them off. 
Alexandra thought it quite amusing.

She turned
back to Lady Norris and Lady Martin, but the women were no longer beside
her.  The duo moved into the crowd, Lady Norris furiously waving her fan
at another subject to gossip about. 

Out of the
corner of Alexandra’s eye, the purple turban reappeared.  Lady Dobson made
straight for Alexandra, her face wrinkling up like a prune. 

“Your uncle
has requested your presence,” Lady Dobson hissed.  One claw-like hand
caught Alexandra beneath her elbow.  “Come.  How fortunate you are
that he cares enough to find you a suitor.  He could have just put you out
on the streets as soon as he sells the estate.”

Alexandra
didn’t feel fortunate.  She felt as if she would faint at any
moment.  She did not wish to marry and even if she did, it would not be to
suit her uncle.  Alexandra needed a moment to think. 

 “Lady
Dobson, I wish to use the Ladies Necessary Room,” Alexandra said in as modest a
tone as she could muster. 

The purple
turban shook.   “Down the hall,” she said as she pointed a boney
finger, “to the right, then a direct left.  No wandering about.  You
are to return within a quarter hour.  I shall inform Lord Burke.”

Alexandra
nodded politely, lowering her eyes so that Lady Dobson couldn’t see the avid
dislike in them.  “Yes, my lady.  I won’t be but a moment.  I
fear several of the pins in my hair are coming loose.”

Lady Dobson
glanced at Alexandra’s hair. “I’m not sure all the pins in the world would help
that
. “  The purple turban tsked and walked away.

Alexandra
clenched her teeth, willing herself to walk calmly towards the doorway Lady
Dobson indicated.  She took a deep breath, trying to ignore the fact that
she felt like a lamb being led to slaughter.  She hated London and hated the
overdressed collection of snobs that constituted the
ton
. 
Alexandra considered herself most firmly “on the shelf”, and planned on staying
there.  The notion of her uncle marrying her off was ridiculous and
laughable.  No man had ever looked at her twice.

Lost in her
own thoughts, she didn’t immediately notice the quiet. The music from the
ballroom sounded mute and distant.  She had missed the turn for the Ladies
Necessary Room and a dark hall dimly lit with sconces stretched before
her.  Alexandra turned, meaning to go back the way she had come when a
small ping sounded on the marble beneath her feet.  She sighed in
frustration, knowing a pin restraining her hair had given out.  An unruly
curl, delighted with its freedom, spiraled down her back.  Another ringlet
sprang free accompanied by another ping.  

“Damnation!” 
She squinted in the dim light. One runaway pin twinkled on the floor and she
grabbed it.  Now where was the other?  She looked up and spied a
slice of light farther down the corridor with something glinting in it. 
She moved to collect her other pin and came to a dark paneled door, standing
slightly ajar.   The crackle of a warm fire greeted her ears. 
She rubbed her shoulders, chilled from the cooler air of the hallway.  
Alexandra looked down the hall.  Surely no one would mind if she popped
into the room and warmed up before returning to the ballroom. Curious, she
snuck a peek into the room and gasped in pure pleasure.  A library. 
A beautiful, lovely, library!

She clasped
her hands with joy, inhaling the musty smell of paper and ink mixed with
leather.  Books!  Wonderful, wonderful books!  Obviously, Lord
Dobson had to be a great reader, for certainly it couldn’t be Lady
Dobson.  That earnest lady lectured Alexandra on the evils of young ladies
being too well read from the moment Alexandra first met Lady Dobson.  Alexandra
moved forward, the hair pins clutched in her hand as she spied the large walnut
bookcases lining the room. 

Wandering
over to the far wall, she ran her finger over the spines of fine Moroccan
leather.  Titles jumped out at her, books on history, geology, and
science.  Her hand hovered over a large book on farming.  Fingers
shaking, she pulled her hand down.

Two weeks
ago the thought of her uncle even remembering she existed, let alone deciding
to marry her off, would have been absurd.  As she lay dying, Aunt Eloise assured
Alexandra that Helmsby Abbey would belong to her when she reached her
twenty-fifth birthday.  Oliver Burke would have no claim to the estate or
Alexandra’s small inheritance.  Her birthday, two months away, would free
her.  She was positive Odious Oliver was oblivious to this fact.  The
family solicitor, Mr. Meechum, would assist her in getting away from her
uncle.  She sent a missive to Meechum & Sons just this morning
urgently requesting the solicitor’s help.

“Bloody
hell!”  Alexandra whispered to the quiet room.  It felt good to use
such foul language. The current circumstances warranted it.  Her much
unloved uncle needed money and the only things left to sell were Helmsby Abbey
and Alexandra.  

A chilling
embrace wrapped around the smooth bare flesh of her arms.   The
possibility of what would happen to the people of Helmsby Abbey, should Oliver
sell it, filled Alexandra with dread.  Too elderly to find other
positions, Mrs. Cowries, Jameson and Cook would have no where to go should
Oliver turn them out.  They depended on Alexandra.   Uncle
Oliver dangled the fates of all she loved in this world over her
head.   She felt very much like a rabbit caught in a hunter’s
snare.  How in the world would she escape without chewing a limb off?

Footsteps,
firm and measured, sounded in the hallway.  She heard the sound of a man’s
laughing baritone as a dark shape hovered outside the library door.

Alexandra
frantically searched for a place to hide herself.  Large damask curtains
hung from the windows and she slid behind the dense folds.  She shook the
curtain, making sure her slippers were covered and pressed herself against the
wall.  Alexandra held her breath, afraid to stir the curtain as the man
moved into the room.

“Are you
hiding from me, Lord Reynolds?”  A woman’s husky voice sounded in the
hallway.  “Making me give chase, you wicked,
wicked
man.”

Alexandra
stood very still behind the curtain. 
Lord Reynolds?  Satan
Reynolds?

She heard
the click of the library door as it shut.

“Hello,
darling! What a boring party!  Lady Halston nearly put me to sleep with
her gossip.  She finds you quite depraved by the way.” 

“Lady
Halston should be more concerned about Lord Halston’s wickedness than
mine.”  The deep baritone vibrated down Alexandra’s spine. An image of
Lord Reynolds as he appeared in the ballroom leapt in front of her.  His
voice sounded as beautiful as he was. 

The woman
laughed lightly. “I adore your depravity.  Besides, it certainly hasn’t
stopped every mama in London from pushing their simpering daughters at
you.”  

 “Mmmm.
I’m not interested in virgins, simpering or not.  I find them
tiresome.” 

“Your
grandmother does not.  I’m told she interviews young girls by the
dozens.  Her specifications are quite exacting.  She wants you
married with an heir.”           

Alexandra
peered through a small crack in the curtain and snuck a look at the
couple.  Lord Reynolds had his back to her.  Her eyes traveled down to
the spill of inky black hair over his shoulders.  She looked lower. 
His trousers were indecently tight.   She looked away.  Ladies
did not notice such things.

Lady
Fellowes moved to stand in front of Lord Reynolds, pushing her breasts forward
suggestively. 

Lord
Reynolds lifted a hand.  His fingers drummed against the redhead’s
bodice.  “Caro.  You should go back to the ballroom instead of
tempting me.”  The dark head pressed a kiss against the white flesh
mounded over Lady Fellowes’s bodice. 

 “
Do
I tempt you, Cam?” Lady Fellowes purred.

Alexandra
nearly had a fit.   She quivered in a mixture of excitement and
embarrassment as she shrank back into the curtains.  Could she sneak out
while Lord Reynolds occupied himself with Lady Fellowes? What if they saw her
as she tiptoed to the door?  She could just imagine waving nonchalantly to
Lord Reynolds, telling him to ‘carry on’ as she waltzed out.

A muted sigh
of satisfaction reached Alexandra’s ears.  Lady Fellowes clearly relished
whatever Lord Reynolds was doing to her.  Alexandra tried to summon up
disgust and revulsion, but instead her own traitorous breasts began to ache in
response to the sounds she heard.  She forced herself to stay still even
as every nerve in her body tingled.  
Think of something else
Alexandra!  Like cleaning out the stables!

The thump of
a body landing on the couch, accompanied by a rustle of clothing piqued her
curiosity. 
I shall only peek
. She popped one eye around the edge
of damask. 
Good Lord!
  Lady Fellowes had wrapped her legs
around Satan Reynolds’s torso and she was attempting to wrestle him to the
couch.    Lady Fellow’s bright green garters were in shocking
contrast to her pale thighs and stark black gown.  She tried to pull Lord
Reynolds’s hand inside her skirts.

“Come be
naughty with me.” Lady Fellowes pouted her red lips and swiveled her hips.

Lord
Reynolds smiled indulgently.  Long elegant fingers ran down Lady Fellowes
legs in appreciation.  “I don’t think this is an especially good time for
this, Caro.” 

 Lady
Fellowes hugged him with her legs.  She took one of Lord Reynolds hands
and placed it on her breast.  The redhead sighed dramatically.

Alexandra
stood frozen. 

“Cam, Cam, I
want you so badly.”

The broad
shoulders shifted as Lord Reynolds shrugged his dark hair back.  A piece
of green glinted amidst the inky strands, dangling and beckoning to Alexandra.

He has an
earring
? Pirates and all
sorts of other disreputable characters wore earrings.  Something dark
swirled down Alexandra’s stomach and between her thighs when she watched Lord
Reynolds.  As he had in the ballroom, he sufficiently squashed all
thoughts of her dire circumstances with his presence.  Alexandra sniffed
the air.  The library smelled of cinnamon.

Lady
Fellowes thrust herself against Lord Reynolds and tried to pull him
closer.  The gloved hands ran through the too long locks of his
hair. 

Alexandra
stood transfixed, knowing she should look away, close her eyes, and possibly
put her hands over her ears.  She clasped one hand to her stomach.  A
flutter danced its way back and forth, twirling across her body.  She
wondered if the champagne she drank earlier caused her discomfort.  Her
drawers felt damp.  One gloved hand wandered down to lay between her
legs.  Shocked at herself, Alexandra snatched her hand away.

Lord
Reynolds kissed Lady Fellowes, pushing her down into the sofa cushions. 
The redhead, pinned in place against the couch, moved suggestively under Lord
Reynolds as he kissed her.  Alexandra saw the flick of his tongue against
the woman’s lips before he broke away from her.

Lady
Fellowes narrowed her eyes as she regarded the man in front of her.

“Oh,
my.” 

Oh my
indeed!
Alexandra panted
a bit.  She told herself it was only the thickness of the curtain and the
dust in the air.  Aunt Eloise said kissing was disgusting, particularly if
one kissed in the ‘French’ way.    Alexandra looked at Lady
Fellowes.  The woman did not appear disgusted.   Her face bore a
silly, blissful expression.  Alexandra thought perhaps her aunt’s opinion
of relations between a man and a woman had been colored by marriage to Odious
Oliver.