Compromised Miss (21 page)

Then Harriette was alone, to face Luke with all the stark suspicion between them, as solid as a newly constructed redoubt between opposing armies. The air between them quivered as taut as a wire. Harriette waited for what he would say. All she could see was the banked fury in his eyes where fire burned and flickered, a tight anger in the lines of his face, under control but only just. Standing rigidly to his full height he looked magnificent, but it was the face of an avenging angel who would strike and wound without compassion.

Luke kept a fierce hand on his temper. To walk in on Harriette and find her in the arms of her damned cousin—it pulled him up short as a fist to the jaw. Not five minutes after he himself had held her and kissed her and had contemplated the blessed release of laying his insurmountable problems at her feet, he had discovered her in appallingly intimate discussion with Alexander Ellerdine.

And just what advice had the flamboyant Mr Ellerdine been giving her? Luke bared his teeth in the approximation of a snarl. How could he have been so misguided, so completely taken in by her? She did not seem in any degree contrite. Guilty, of course, springing to her feet with consternation shadowing her beautiful eyes. At least he had had the sense to keep his tongue between his teeth and not rage at her as impulse had prompted. He had not pounced to seize her shoulders and shake her and demand why she could not find comfort in
his
embrace, from his body. It
took a masterly degree of control, of which he was cynically proud.

And he had been crass enough to consider telling her of the fate of Marie-Claude de la Roche and his own duplicitous attempts to rescue her. He might as well have put a notice in the Morning Post. And if, through Ellerdine and the smuggling fraternity, Jean-Jacques Noir got wind of it…

How could Harriette have betrayed him in this blatant manner? He supposed it should come as no surprise to him that there was a closeness between Harriette and Alexander Ellerdine. But for her to fall into that man’s arms at the first opportunity…And she had been weeping. If she was in trouble, in distress, then she should have come to
him
. Wept on
his
shoulder. Allow
him
to kiss away her tears, not Alexander Ellerdine.

Had the man dared to kiss her?

Which centred his thoughts back to the heart of the problem. The two were close. In blood and in business dealings. Smugglers and Wreckers.

By God! She had allowed that man to touch her, to kiss her!

Footsteps and the murmur of servants’ voices beyond the door came to his ears and prompted a decision. ‘We will continue this conversation in the privacy of your room, madam.’

‘I have nothing to say to you.’ She faced him, refused to look away.

‘But I have much to say to you. And you have much to explain!’

‘No. I will explain nothing.’ Harriette took a step in retreat, but with a stride that closed the distance between them Luke grasped her wrist. Ineffectually Harriette tried to wrench free.

Luke felt her shudder, but she was not afraid of him. Her eyes were wide and fearless on his, and he thought she might just defy him. ‘If you do not come with me, I shall carry you. I would rather you saved us both the humiliation.’

She stood perfectly still for a moment. ‘Very well.’ Without another word Harriette accompanied him up the stairs, conscious of his fingers hard round her wrist. Once in her room, released, she went to sit at her dressing table with her back to him, but able to watch him in the mirror.

‘Well?’ Luke demanded.

‘I have nothing to say.’

‘I don’t care to see you in the arms of another man. Understand me, my lady. I will not have it!’

Harriette’s fingers had clenched around her ivory comb, anything to give her fingers something to do to prevent them from trembling, as she lifted her chin to return that uncompromising regard in the mirror. If there was to be a confrontation between them, she would not retreat from it. She kept her voice low, even.

‘I was not
in his arms
, in the manner that your words imply, my lord. Alexander is my cousin.’

‘As I am aware. Of what importance is that? He is an attractive man.’

‘I have known him all my life!’ she retorted.

‘That, too, I know. An association of long standing.’

Distressingly formal, cold as winter but with an undertone of scorching heat beneath the sneer that curled his lips. A heat that might at any moment leap out of control. Meeting those brilliantly furious green eyes now, she shivered. Luke had seen her in Alexander’s arms. She could well guess his thoughts on being faced with that incriminating little tableau. His face had become a mask, his words short and brutal, as if he suspected her of the most
shocking of betrayals. Perhaps she was not altogether blameless…But did that give him the right to address her in this peremptory manner? To actually threaten to carry her to her room? She continuted to sit before the mirror, unaware and uncaring of the attractive picture she made, all her good intentions to
explain
about Alexander draining away.

‘My
association
with Alexander, as you put it, is from the day I was born.’ Harriette took a steadying breath. ‘How would he not comfort me?’

‘I am also aware, for it was common knowledge in Old Wincomlee, that you and your cousin would make a match of it.’

‘Common knowledge?’ Harriette spun round on the stool to face him, brows raised in disbelief. ‘Who told you that? It is a lie.’

Luke shrugged aside the denial. ‘I presume you wish you had. The appearance in my parlour would suggest that.’

‘I wish no such thing!’ Now she was on her feet, the comb discarded with a clatter. ‘You have misjudged me entirely. How dare you have suspicions of my integrity? How dare you question the sanctity of my marriage vows?’ Anger trickled dangerously through her blood. Conciliation had been abandoned with the comb.

In a stride he was there, so close that the silk eau-de-nil ruffles of her gown brushed his thighs. Before she could retreat, his hands were on her shoulders, holding her. His eyes raked her face, his fingers gripped savagely. There was no softness in him, no laughter, no tolerance.

‘I won’t have it, Harriette.’

‘Nor will I have you putting a burden of guilt on me that I do not deserve.’

‘You are my wife. You will behave with discretion.’

‘You said I should be free to order my life as I wished.’

‘It was not my intent that you take a lover!’

‘Nor have I!’

‘Nor will you. I’ll not allow it. You are my wife. You are mine.’

She saw the change in his face, a shiver of something more than anger, more dangerous than fury, the moment before he lowered his head and covered her open lips with his. Heated, passionate, he gave no quarter, until she was aware of nothing but the power of his body against hers, the force of his tongue taking possession. It set light to the emotions in her own blood and she clung, responded, arched demandingly against him, in spite of all her misgivings.

‘Harriette…’ he murmured against her mouth as he stooped to lift her, to carry her to her bed.

‘No…’ She forced herself to push against his shoulders. Panic rippled through her at the conflict in her feelings. How easy it would be to let him take her, fill her with pleasure. It was what she wanted, what her mind and body desired. How easy it would be to rip to shreds all the accusations and suspicions that lay between them and bury them beneath the sheets of her bed. But when he left her the cold divide would still be there, the weight in her heart would remain. So, wife though she might be, she would not. ‘No!’ Harriette repeated more forcefully.

Luke lifted his head, his lips, as if she had struck him. Allowed her to slide to her feet. And Harriette, in her distress, allowed all her fears to transmute into words. She expressed, fatally, the first thought that came into her head.

‘I won’t go to bed with a man who is engaging in espionage, or, even worse, treason!’

‘What?’ His hands fell away.

‘I said that I won’t share my bed with a traitor,’ she
stated with as much composure as she could muster, as her throat dried in trepidation, her heart fluttered.

‘I am not guilty of such a crime.’ His brows were a black bar.

‘But you did not tell me the truth, Luke. Don’t deny it.’ Harriette lifted her hand, fingers splayed against his chest, when he would have interrupted. His own heart beat as hard as hers. ‘I know about Captain Henri, your prisoner of war, waiting to be transported back to France. He would not tell me about the agreement between you, but I think there can be only one reason.’

‘I see.’ Luke’s face was an essay in bitter betrayal. ‘I was away too long, it seems. In my absence you have tried and condemned me.’

‘Yes. For I must.’ She must say what was in her heart. She could hide the facts no longer. ‘I know about the gold waiting for you in your study from Hoare’s Bank. I know that you have been visiting a parole town—how can that not be in connection with your prisoner of war?’ When she received no response, she continued. ‘And I know about the letter from Jean-Jacques Noir. You are still in league with him.’

From her list, Luke homed in on one detail. ‘You’ve been reading my correspondence?’ His mouth tightened in a disdain that, she discovered, could match hers.

‘Yes.’ Refusing to feel shame, yet silently begging him to refute all her accusations. ‘In the opinion of the Monsieur Marcel in Port St Martin, Noir is a man of neither morals nor principle.’

‘Ha!’ The bark of laughter was harsh. ‘Morals? Principle? A fine condemnation coming from the leader of a gang of smugglers.’

‘Perhaps. But Marcel does not sell his country’s secrets
to the enemy. Nor does he help his enemy’s army with gold and escaped prisoners.’

‘Which is what I do, I suppose.’

‘Why not? Since you refuse to explain to me, I have to presume that you are involved in some terrible treachery against England’s welfare.’

Luke fought to find his breath, stung almost beyond control by the accusation, yet astonished at how much she had discovered of his carefully disguised secrets. But that was not important! He stoked his own temper. She had the temerity to accuse him when he had discovered her in Ellerdine’s embrace. The bright memory of Ellerdine’s smile destroyed the last vestige of control. Fired by pure male jealousy, without thought for the words he chose, he uttered the one accusation that had been a burr against his skin since that morning at Lydyard’s Pride.

‘And are you any better, more righteous than I, Harriette? If we are to speak of morals and principle, can you put yourself on a high pedestal? I think not. You might be beautiful when in the grip of temper.’ Once again he closed the space, dragged her to him and kissed her, suddenly, shatteringly, all force and fire. She was his. She would never belong to her damned cousin! He captured her mouth again. ‘But beauty can be a mask for all manner of deceits.’

Harriette gasped at the unexpected. ‘I don’t understand you. You have always known my connection with the Free Trade.’ She felt the flush rise in her cheeks. He was suddenly so close to her, so angry. So magnificently furious! A sudden premonition of disaster flooded her, but still she replied calmly. ‘My smuggling has never been a secret between us.’

‘You are ridiculously naïve if you would have me believe that’s all you’re involved with,’ Luke spoke,
smooth as silk, deadly as the edge of a knife. ‘Are you willing to stand there in such lovely innocence and deny that you are a Wrecker?’

It was as if a bolt of lightning charged the atmosphere in the room. As if a bottomless abyss, dark and deadly, opened at Harriette’s feet.

‘A
Wrecker
?’

Luke watched the effect of his accusation with a tightening of a band around his heart, yet closed his senses against the swim of horror in her lovely eyes. ‘My education was extended to remarkable lengths in my short stay in Old Wincomlee. When too stormy for smuggling, there are those who would think nothing of attracting a vessel into an unfriendly bay, on to the rocks. Who consider the safety of the cargo to be paramount compared with the safety of the crew, who can be left to fight for themselves, to sink or swim. A welcoming light on a dark and stormy night would seem to be a sign from God for a foundering vessel. I think the Tower Room at Lydyard’s Pride could be used for any number of distasteful activities.’

Harriette was stunned. This was beyond belief, that he should believe her capable of such atrocities.
But you think him to be capable of treason. What difference?
Harriette banished the voice.

‘How dare you!’

‘Do you deny it?’

‘I do. And I will as long as I have breath in my body! What possible proof do you have that I might be a Wrecker? Who would make such an accusation? No Lydyard would ever give their assent to such an operation. I would
never
do such a thing.’

‘No? What about the
Lion d’Or
?’

‘I recall it. It foundered in the bay.’

‘And the crew?’

‘Lost. In spite of all we did.’

‘What happened to the cargo?’

‘Alexander sold it.’

‘So you saved the cargo, if not the lives of the crew.’ The lines around Luke’s mouth were deeply sardonic. ‘Who lit the lamp in the Tower Room, Harriette?’

‘It was not lit.’

‘George Gadie was not as sure as
you
appear to be.’

‘It
shouldn’t
have been lit—not on a night like that…’ The heat of anger in Harriette’s blood was suddenly replaced by a deep chill. Breath was ripped from her lungs.

‘So you say. But the question is, do I believe you? You have no difficulty in distrusting me, Madam Countess.’ It ripped at her heart, cruel claws.

So she retaliated. ‘Do you blame me, all things considered? Why, even when you asked for my hand in marriage, what was it you said? We will make a business contract. My reputation in exchange for the use of the
Ghost
. Was it to smooth your negotiations with your French contacts? You refused to explain, as I recall.’