Captive Hearts (5 page)

“Shall we get on with it,” Talbot suggested.

“There are some specific conditions I must place upon the receipt of your ship and the proceeds of the cargo, Hamilton.” Lord Rudman lowered his considerable bulk into one of the sturdy chairs pulled close to the fire. He produced a handkerchief from his sleeve and wiped the sweat from his sparsely covered pate. His attention focused on Matthew as he lowered his hand. “You must have no contact with my wife, nor shall you mention to her you have been detained, and you must leave England within a month, or I will reinstate the charges against you.” “That will be no hardship.” He kept his voice even with an effort as he accepted a glass of brandy from Talbot, and then acknowledged his uncle’s warning frown with a tip of his glass.

“I must say you are being very civil about all this.” Edward cupped the bowl of the brandy snifter within his hand with dainty grace and took a seat.

Matthew sipped his brandy. He didn’t want to be civil. A savage desire to lash out at both Lord Rudman and Edward Leighton tormented him. He moved to the French doors to look out into the garden, hoping to find some calming distraction there.

The French doors across the courtyard opened, and Katherine exited the house. She crossed the raised stone patio, her movements decisive as she descended the steps and followed the path to the back of the garden.

So she too felt the need to escape the confines of their guest’s presence. He wondered what Jacqueline Rudman might have said to her. The woman had shown her claws more than once over the course of dinner. Fresh anger sparked his resentment anew.

He turned to address both the men behind him, determined to have an end to it all. “I’ll leave it to you to find a way to keep your wife from seeking me out, Rudman. I won’t be held accountable for her behavior.” Unprepared for the attack, Lord Rudman’s cheeks grew flushed and his lips opened and closed like a beached carp as he sought a reply.

Matthew stepped close to Edward’s chair, forcing the other man to bend his head back to look up at him. “You left me in that pit for two weeks after we reached our agreement. Your actions are proof enough to me that you have no honor, nor can you be trusted. If you were more a man, I would settle this in a physical manner, but for Katherine’s sake, I’ll forego that pleasure.” He poked the man’s bony chest with a forefinger. “For the remainder of my time here in England though, you would do well to stay out of my way.”

Edward sputtered in outrage. “The bans had to be posted, and I had no way of knowing whether or not you would remain in England should you be released. I thought it wise to keep you secured until the wedding.”

“You thought me as lacking in honor as you and he are.” He thrust a thumb at Lord Rudman in a backhanded movement. “In America, we settle our disputes one man to another. There’s no need for such underhanded backbiting.”

He glared at Avery Rudman. His contempt for both men stewed inside him, sickening, ferocious. “We have

other means of managing our women without lowering our morals to do it.”

His expression stony with control, Lord Rudman offered no reply to Matthew’s diatribe.

Matthew turned to his uncle. “I need some fresh air.

I’m sure you’ll understand if I don’t return until our guests have taken their leave.” Talbot nodded, his expression grave.

Matthew stepped from the room and closed the French doors behind him. He drew a deep breath as he sought to leash his temper, his stomach muscles contracting painfully. The possibility of being returned to prison because of his lack of control preyed on his mind.

They would have to kill him. He wouldn’t be put back into that hellish place.

He strode down the steps and followed the path Katherine had taken. Her presence at the table had acted as a buffer between him and their guests. Her dark violet eyes, copper streaked hair, and clear creamy skin had drawn his attention again and again. The rise of color in her cheeks each time he showed her attention fascinated him. He wondered what experience, if any, she might have garnered at court, for her response to his kiss had been hesitant and uncertain. He found it hard to align the self-assured young woman who had faced him with such determination in the prison with the innocent who blushed at his every glance.

The late afternoon sun did little to alleviate the nip in the air as he circled the fountain. He paused beside the decorative structure to enjoy the bubbling dance of water springing from the center of an unfurled flower held within the hand of a scantily clad maiden.

He breathed in deeply the fresh breeze wafting against his face. The air of liberation smelled of damp ground tinged with the evergreen scent of freshly trimmed shrubs.

He found himself facing several paths running in spokes to the back of the garden. Not knowing which Katherine might have taken, he continued on the one leading straight forward.

The indistinct sound of a voice behind him caught his attention. He turned to see Jacqueline Rudman bearing

down on him. Alarm displaced his calm and his gaze swept the garden for any threat accompanying her. “Your husband will miss you, Jacqueline, and I came out here for a moment’s quiet.”

The woman’s bottom lip protruded in a pout. “How can you be so cold to me, Matthew? You barely spoke to me at dinner or even afterwards, though you had plenty of opportunity.”

He braced his feet apart and folded his arms in a stance he hoped she would find less than welcoming. “Did you expect me to ignore my bride at our wedding reception?”

Her elaborately coifed blond hair gleamed as she stood before him. She brushed a nonexistent piece of lint from his coat in a proprietary gesture, her fingers curling around the open lapels of the garment. “No, but I did not expect you would ignore me so completely either.” Her lips curled downward into a pout. “Especially after all we have shared in the past. Our having wed other people doesn’t have to mean we cannot enjoy one another again.” This woman had cost him his freedom for nearly three months and, at her husband’s insistence, remained completely oblivious to it. Repugnance washed over him, and he controlled his expression with an effort. “You approached me when I first arrived months ago, Jacqueline. I told you then I don’t sleep with married women. I haven’t changed my mind.” Anger flashed across her features. “I gave myself to you without reserve, Matthew. I deserve better from you than a few trinkets.”

He shut down the small niggling of guilt before his conscience guided him to say something he would regret.

“I was not your first lover, Jacqueline and your persistence leads me to believe that your husband will not be your last.”

“You have no right to sit in judgment on me.” Her green eyes narrowed. “You did not hesitate to enjoy my favors before.”

“As I remember it, I wasn’t the only one who experienced pleasure. I accepted nothing that you didn’t offer with complete freedom, Lady Rudman. But now I’m married, as are you. I’ll be occupied with spending time

with my wife, Jacqueline. We are, after all, newlyweds.” Her green eyes fastened on him with open hunger.

Leaning against him, her ample breasts pressing against his arm, she stroked the front of his waistcoat. “You forget how well I know you, Matthew. One woman will never be enough for you.”

“He shall just have to learn to endure the affections of only one from now on, Lady Rudman. I do not intend to share him.”

Jacqueline started and turned at the challenge.

Katherine stepped from around a bend in the path and crossed the distance between them. Though her cheeks took on a rosy hue, Jacqueline stood her ground.

Katherine flashed him a look of disgust before leveling her attention on the woman. “Whatever your past understanding with Matthew might have been, he will no longer need your attentions now we are wed.” Jacqueline gasped in outrage. “How dare you speak to me in that manner?”

Katherine stepped close, her violet eyes burning with a dark smoldering heat. “How dare you behave in such a manner? You have approached my husband on our wedding night intent on weaning his affections from me.

How else would you have me speak to you?” A spiteful look flashed across Jacqueline’s thin patrician features. “Had he remained in England last year, he would have wed me.”

“No, Jacqueline.” he shook his head. “Such was never my intent, as you well know. There were never any promises spoken between us.” He grasped Katherine’s hand and drew her to his side. “I suggest you return to the house and your husband.”

Sullen lines of frustration marred the woman’s face.

Jacqueline raised her chin and returned her attention to Katherine. “We both know why you wed him so quickly.” Katherine grew completely still, and though her expression remained calm and purposeful, there was a contained violence in her stance that caught his attention and had him stepping closer should he need to intervene.

“Take care what you say, Lady Rudman, and to whom. Unlike Matthew, I do not have to play the gentleman and be discreet in expressing my displeasure.

Your husband has obviously accepted your past indiscretions as being in the past. I would think very carefully on what you have to lose should he discover you are openly pursuing another woman’s husband. “ Jacqueline retreated a step then seemed to recover her composure and raised her chin. “What makes you think he will believe you?”

She shrugged. “He does not have to. The gossip and speculation that can be started will do the damage. I no longer have anything to lose with my family gone and a new home awaiting me in America. Just what are you willing to forfeit?”

Some of the color receded from Jacqueline’s cheeks and with a growl, she wheeled about and stalked away.

Lady Rudman had just disappeared around a clump of brush when Katherine jerked her hand free and rounded on him. Her eyes smoldering with emotion, she thumped his chest with a doubled fist. “You fool! If you are witless enough to come out into the garden with her, you deserve to rot in jail.” She stomped off in the direction Jacqueline had just traversed.

Matthew watched the saucy sway of her hips as she stormed up the garden path. Outraged anger at her accusation warred with the interest piqued by her passionate flare of temper. He touched the spot her fist had struck. She had actually raised her hand to him.

He strode after her. He caught her arm before she reached the house and swung her around to face him. “I didn’t come out with her. She must have followed me. Do you really believe I’d risk my freedom again over a bit of fluff?”

With a jerk, she attempted to twist away from him.

He grasped both arms above the elbow and held her.

She glared up at him, her cheeks flushed from her exertions. “I do not know what you would do. I do not know you.”

The weight of those words momentarily cooled his anger. She was right. They were strangers to one another.

But not for long. Her eagerness to act the outraged wife surprised him, especially since she had allowed her perspective bridegroom to languish in jail an extra two weeks “so the bans could be posted”. His temper fired

anew. He would be happy to oblige her by behaving the besotted husband in return for such consideration. His gaze fastened upon the luscious curve of her bottom lip.

The woman had the most delectable mouth he had ever seen. He could almost taste it beneath his.

“Matthew, our guests are taking their leave.

Katherine will wish to say goodbye to her uncle,” Talbot called to them from the steps of the study, breaking the angry awareness that tugged and pulled between them.

He straightened and released her arms. “We shall have time to become more intimately acquainted this evening, Madame, once we have wished our guests on their way.” Ignoring the wariness that immediately crept into her expression, he tucked her hand into the bend of his arm and drew her down the stone walk to the steps.

Katherine drew a deep breath of relief as Hannah and Clarisse Willingham finally closed the door behind them. Their womanly wisdom and advice still echoed in her head making her face burn and her stomach to twist tight with knots.

Though her memories of that night, three months past, were incomplete, she thought she understood what men did to women. She couldn’t believe there could be any pleasure in such an act. Surely, women only endured it in order to have children. A shudder shook her.

Matthew would behave himself. She had to believe he would.

But the changes in their circumstances made it difficult for her to feel at ease with him. And she did not trust the bold way he handled her as though she belonged to him. The balance of power had shifted in his favor and would remain unchanged as long as they stayed married.

In short, he could do as he pleased with her, and there would be nothing she could do about it.

That thought brought with it a fresh wave of anxiety making it difficult for her to breathe. She rose and donned her robe and retrieved a flintlock pistol from the chest in the dressing room. She cocked it to check the priming of the weapon then eased the firing pin back down.

The barrel too long to fit into the pocket of her robe, her gaze moved about the room seeking a convenient hiding place for the firearm. The reasoning behind her need for some form of protection struck her, and tears threatened. Men could not be trusted. Her father had proven that with his treatment of her mother. Her uncle had proven it with the lack of regard he had shown for her and her family. Matthew Hamilton would prove it as well.

When he did, she would be ready. She thrust the firearm beneath a pillow on the bed.

Matthew’s knock came all too soon. She took several

calming breaths before opening the bedroom door. Her attention rested on the tails of his lace-trimmed stock that was even with her vision before she tilted her head back to look up into his face. The devilish smile he offered her had her stomach turning end over end. Was this all some hideous jest to him?

His gaze swept her features then traveled over her hair, released from its fashionable confines. His well-arched brows rose as his eyes raked down the length of the heavy woolen robe covering her from neck to ankle.