Regency 03 - Deception (14 page)

“
Is anyone going to tell me how
you all know my business?”

All eyes turned to Levi, mostly amused. Derringer
appeared annoyed but everyone knew appearances were oft deceiving.
It was Lord Holt who answered his question.

“
We are not the only ones who
know, Vi,” he said lazily. “Your dear mama has seen fit to inform
the
ton
of your unfairness in cutting off her generous
allowance.” He shrugged. “When she added that things would soon
change, it was obvious to everyone what your plan is.”

“
I should have known,” muttered
Levi.

Lord Delwyn Deverell entered the room looking around
as if in search of someone. He spied the four gentlemen in the far
corner bending over a pair of dice and talking idly. With a grim
look of determination, the young lord sauntered over.

“
Hazard, gentlemen? For shame,” he
admonished with a smile.

“
Spare us your lectures, Devil,”
sneered Derringer, “and pull up a chair.”

Lord Delwyn glanced uncertainly at the duke.
“Actually, I am here on a mission,” he told them.

The duke leaned back in his chair to study the
younger man closely, a look of feigned excitement on his chiseled
features. “Do tell? A mission, you say. I vow I am on tenterhooks
of anticipation. For whom are you on this noble mission, Lord
Devil? The corpulent Prince of Wales, perhaps? Or maybe mad King
George himself?”

This last suggestion was met with astonished silence
by some of the tables close enough to overhear. To say the king was
mad smacked of sedition—although it was true. Of course, no one
present was daring enough to call the duke out on it.

Lord Delwyn looked at Levi, who shrugged.
“Actually,” he said, “I am here in search of you, Vi. Lady Greville
asked me to inform you that she is feeling unwell and would like to
depart. She is awaiting you in the little salon just next to the
blue drawing room.”

Derringer frowned but said nothing. Levi looked
expectantly from the duke to Lord Delwyn, then at the frowns of
Farnsworth and Lord Holt. That the lazy earl was frowning was
enough to cause prickles of alarm.

But there was no help for it. He stood. “Very
well.”

As Levi moved around to leave, Derringer laid a hand
on his arm. “Don’t trust her, Vi. You know as well as I that she is
hatching something and most likely it is not to your benefit.”

~~~~~~

Upon entering the specified room, the earl was
suddenly sure that Derringer was wholly correct in his estimation.
Something wasn’t right. First of all, his mother, whom one would
have trouble missing, was not in the room. Second, although the
room was lit by two or three candles, he could see no one. He
sensed he wasn’t alone, however.

“
Damn,” he muttered. He turned and
made for the door but a lady in pale pink blocked his
path.

A long-suffering sigh exited his lungs. “Lady Mari,
whatever are you about?”

Her normally pretty though insipid features were
twisted into a look of anger. Levi realized he was seeing the old
Lady Marigold Danvers, the one who was known for her quick mind but
stupidity in the face of not getting her own way.

“
I have had it with the barely
veiled dislike with which you are fond of greeting me, my lord. I
want your title; I want your properties. In a minute, you’ll be
caught with me and you’ll be forced to marry me.” As she spoke,
Lady Marigold reached up and tore her dress so that her stays were
visible. “When I scream, we’ll be joined by Lady Watson, who is
more than happy to destroy a reputation or force someone into a
marriage as miserable as her own.”

A smile stretched across her face like a cat about
to devour a helpless mouse. Levi strode forward and clamped a hand
over her mouth before the expected scream could emerge from her
lovely throat.

Holding her tight enough to elicit an alarmed
squeak, he bit out, “I would not do that,
Lady
Mari, if I
were you. I have already been caught making love to one woman
without offering her marriage. I liked that woman. What I feel for
you is quite the opposite. What makes you think I would offer for
you when I have not even offered for her?”

Lady Marigold jerked her head from his grasp,
glaring at him awfully. “My father would call you out. He would
never let me suffer the scandal of being attacked by you.”

“
I will not marry you.”

With complete faith that she’d never destroy her
reputation in such a way, thereby making a duel with Lord Charteris
unnecessary, the earl released her. A moment of indecision crossed
her countenance.

Then Lady Marigold screamed.

Levi stared at her in dumb shock, surprised at her
daring. He was bluffing. He would never duel with Lord Charteris,
would do anything to avoid it, in fact, and evidently the quick
mind hidden in Lady Mari’s lovely head had picked up on that
pertinent truth. He wished she were truly as brainless as she
delighted in acting.

Her scream was cut off suddenly as the Duke of
Derringer entered and slammed the door behind him. Turning the key
in the lock, he swung around to glare at Lady Marigold. She
squeaked and shrank away from him, clutching her dress closed in
front of her.

Stalking her, he didn’t stop until she had backed
into the wall and he was nearly standing on her toes. Grasping her
wrist, he leaned down, putting his face within inches of hers.

“
One more sound, Lady Marigold,
and you will learn the lesson your father should have taught you
years ago,” he whispered harshly. “Never enter a room alone with a
man unless you plan on losing what you so carelessly wave in his
face.”

Derringer kissed her hard on the mouth and tossed
her away from him, seemingly oblivious to the fact that she had
burst into wrenching sobs of horror. He ignored her and turned his
glaring countenance to his friend.

“
I saw Lady Watson marching this
way and waylaid her. She was far more intrigued by a certain Mr.
Quincy who was drunk as a lord and singing a naughty ballad within
hearing of the delicate ears of her daughters.”

Levi glared at Derringer. “I could have handled it,
Hart. I don’t need someone forever rescuing me.”

A brief scratch at the door made the duke unlock it
for whoever desired entrance. “Very well, Vi. And may I offer my
congratulations?” he retorted with a mocking bow.

Luckily, it was only Lord Holt, Eden Farnsworth and
his married sister, Lydia. Gideon favored the room with a sleepy
smile and said, “We thought the presence of another female might
not come amiss.”

“
Not necessary, Witless,” assured
Derringer. “Levi has just informed me that he does not require our
help. Apparently, he would like to wed Lady Mari.”

The earl’s sleepy gaze rested on Derringer. “Remind
me to call you out later.”

Eden said, “Silence is coming.”

Levi groaned. “Just what I need. Lady Jersey
declaring Mari’s torn frock to all and sundry.”

“
Do not worry about that, my
lord,” murmured the energetic and effervescent Lydia. The young
lady rushed over to Lady Marigold. “Oh, my dear, I am so sorry! I
have inadvertently torn your gown. How very clumsy of me,” she
declared in a voice loud enough for half the kingdom to
hear.

Levi noticed a beautiful brooch was clasped in
Lydia’s hand. He sent a questioning look to Eden whose benign smile
revealed nothing.

“
It is such a flimsy material,
Lady Mari,” continued Lydia in what Levi was sure was not her
acting debut. “I will replace it for you, you can be sure. I just
wish I had been more careful when trying to fasten this
brooch.”

“
Brilliant, Witless,” muttered the
duke disparagingly. “I assume this was your plan. It has all the
brains you can boast.”

“
I don’t see you coming up with
anything better, your grace,” snapped the earl. “What were you
planning? Threaten the girl until she ran screaming from the room?
You would have had the Watch called down on all our
heads.”

Derringer opened his mouth but said nothing, struck
speechless in the face of Lord Holt’s unusual display of
temper.

The look of boredom that usually rested on Lord
Holt’s features returned and he smiled lazily. “Admit it, Hart.
That’s all the better plan you had.”

“
True,” admitted the duke,
neglecting to admit that he had already threatened her the most
effective way he knew how. “But it has yet to fail me. Do you
really believe this plan of yours will work?”

“
We will see
momentarily.”

The door opened then to admit Sally, Lady Jersey, a
look of anticipation on her pretty face. She was disappointed when
she caught sight of Lydia leaning solicitously over Lady Marigold
as well as the presence of the four gentlemen.

Derringer stepped forward and daringly pulled her
against him. “Sally, you delectable creature, why do you tease me
so with your air of innocence? Let us run away together. I could
teach you what it is to be loved by a real man.”

Lady Jersey giggled like an ingénue and pulled out
of his arms. “You, your grace, are a sinful flirt. I know you
merely try to distract me from getting at the truth in this
situation.”

Derringer effected outrage at such a suggestion.
“How could you think I would be so unfeeling, so…heartless?”

His query made everyone stop what they were doing
and stare at the duke. Shrugging, he propped his muscular form
against the wall, making himself nothing more than a casual
observer.

Levi, having been nothing more than a curious
spectator for the last several minutes, decided it was time to
speak. He favored Lady Jersey with his heart-stopping smile. “My
lady, I fear you have caught us all out in an indiscretion.”

Her ladyship perked up at this tidbit of
information.
Like a hound on the scent of a fox. Will she howl
and take off at a run?

“
You see,” continued Eden
Farnsworth, “my sister offered to help Lady Mari to reattach her
brooch when it had unexpectedly become unclasped.”

“
In my exuberance,” inserted
Lydia, with the look of a brainless twit, “I accidentally tore her
gown. Such a clumsy mistake.”

Lady Jersey looked unconvinced but in the face of
everyone assuring her this was the truth, she couldn’t refute it.
Lady Marigold remained wisely silent on the whole matter.

Lady Greville joined their group to gape at the
young lady who had tried to compromise her son. “What has
happened?” she asked imperiously.

“
I am sorry, my lady!” exclaimed
the much distressed Lady Marigold. “I tried…ow!”

Lydia turned to Lady Marigold. “Oh, my dear, did I
prick you? I’m so sorry. Let us retire to the ladies’ withdrawing
room. I do think you may be bleeding.”

The young ladies departed before Lady Marigold had
the chance to further damage her reputation. As she passed the Earl
of Greville, Lydia muttered, “You are fortunate I did not stab her
to death. You owe me a grand favor for this.”

The look of laughter that crossed Lord Holt’s
features—as he happened to be near enough to hear the comment—was
gone in an instant. Levi nodded to the young lady.

“
Well, I have had about enough of
this damnable business,” declared Derringer, pushing away from the
wall. He crossed to the door, pausing next to Lady Greville, his
face blanked of all expression, his eyes focused somewhere over her
ladyship’s head. “I wondered that she even attempted to entrap your
son. Was my earlier threat not enough, do you think?”

Levi could hear Derringer’s softly uttered words and
was not really surprised that his mother had orchestrated the
entire contretemps. The profound disappointment he felt was far
more surprising.

“
Next time you decide to cause
mischief,” the duke offered softly, “be sure I am not in
attendance. You may not want me to reveal to Society what I know of
you.”

“
You, young man, have always been
a menace,” snapped the countess.

Derringer bowed just enough to be insulting
and walked out.

*

It was a well over a month after the incident at
Lady Osmond’s that Aurora finally left her house. She took Rhiannon
to the park in the morning as she used to do. Ellie did not
accompany her and Aurora made Mary stay home as well. She wanted to
be alone.

Aurora sat down on the bench where she usually sat
with Raven. She idly wondered if the woman would make an
appearance.

Staring at the little girl that the world considered
her sister, Aurora wondered how anyone would believe such a
taradiddle. It was obvious to a blind man that the child was hers.
Why had she not taken the easy way and claimed to be a widow?

It hardly mattered now. A lie was a lie and she had
told too many to ever hope for understanding or forgiveness from
the only man she’d ever love.

Observing her daughter chase a colorful butterfly,
Aurora felt the unmistakable sensation of being watched. She didn’t
turn around. She hoped the person would realize that she was not
the one they were looking for and leave.

She had purposely dressed that morning in a drab
gown of dark blue kerseymere that buttoned up to her throat and
sported long tight sleeves. Her plain black bonnet was devoid of
ornamentation and her pelisse was equally drab with no frills or
furbelows. Her goal was to appear the part of a governess and
thereby avoid the looks of revulsion and disgust that she was sure
to receive should she be recognized as the girl who had been
discovered with the Earl of Greville at Lady Osmond’s ball.