Edith Layton (6 page)

Kate’s cousin, North, was as spectacularly handsome as she remembered. Quite the most good-looking male in the family, as her mother always said, to tease her
father. But as her father always answered, though North had used his looks to earn the worst reputation in his day, marriage to a charming beauty had settled him into the ultimate boring husband.

Kate didn’t find him boring. The viscount might be settled, but he was still dashing. Fair, with flawless features and the most interesting eyes, one blue and one gray. When she’d been a girl she’d thought him the best-looking man she’d ever seen. He was still handsome. But Kate suddenly realized growing up had changed her preferences. It seemed she preferred dark to light.

Viscountess North was as attractive as her husband, in her own way. She had a piquant face and a mop of curly hair, done up with a simple ribbon. She looked so charming and effortlessly fashionable, Kate was determined to try the same style herself.

They were the nicest hosts she could imagine, too, asking her how she liked London, telling her stories about it, urging her to visit them again before they headed back to the Lake District. At least, they said that when they could. Because they also had three lively young sons with curly heads, fascinating eyes, and never-ending prattle.

“Forgive us, we’re unfashionable,” her cousin North laughed as one of his sons, ensconced on Alasdair’s lap, refused to give back the watch he’d been given to play with. “Children are supposed to be in the nursery with their nanny. But we enjoy ours too much to let her have all the fun.”

“Now you see why we asked you to come back again,” his wife told Kate. “No one else will!” She grinned as Alasdair made a terrible face at one of the little boys in his lap, making him giggle.

Kate watched, enchanted. She was as taken with the
children as with St. Erth’s reaction to them. There wasn’t a trace of the raffish noblemen in his attitude. He was so tall, so big in every proportion, he had room on his long knees for two of the boys, and yet was gentle and knew exactly how to play with them. Kate had three younger brothers and could tell when an adult was shamming. Sir Alasdair wasn’t. Viscount Leigh’s smile was bemused, but he was obviously wary of children. Sir Alasdair seemed genuinely amused by them, and made them laugh until they got hiccups.

“Oh, but I’ll be happy to come back and visit,” Kate assured her cousins eagerly. She hesitated. “For as long as I’m here, of course. I’d planned to go home in a few weeks, but my aunt has just told me my parents wrote to her asking that I return sooner.”

“Indeed?’ Alasdair said smoothly, taking his eyes from the gold watch the two children were now vying for and fixing her with his dark gaze. “She told you that just this morning, did she?”

Kate nodded. “Yes, but they wrote to tell me the same thing only the other week. They miss me, you see.”

“Well, I can certainly understand that!” the viscountess said. “I’ll miss my children when they grow up. Which is why I’m so pleased we’ll soon have another. This time, a girl, I think, for me.”

Everyone exclaimed and offered good wishes, and the subject of Kate’s leaving was dropped. But Alasdair didn’t forget it.

He mentioned it to her when he said good-bye later, in front of the Swansons’ town house. He helped her down from the coach, but didn’t release her hand. “Yes, it was a good afternoon, and I’m glad you enjoyed it,” he said. “Now, what’s this nonsense about you running home?”

“Not ‘running home.’ If I’m needed there, there I’ll be.” Kate looked away as she said it because she knew it wasn’t so much as she was needed, as she was missed. But she realized she’d miss London, too. She’d have the rest of her life at home, and hated to leave just when things were getting so much more interesting.

He seemed to know that, he studied her so closely she had the eerie feeling he knew every thought she was trying to hide from him. And surely it wasn’t proper for him to keep holding her hand? Sibyl was talking to the viscount, her maid was flirting with a footman, so no one saw it. But Kate couldn’t ignore it. It was only her hand held in his light, warm clasp, but his presence was such she felt as though he was holding her by his side with far more than that. It made her stomach feel strange, and robbed her of breath. She forced herself to look at him. And took her hand back.

He smiled. “I’m sure when your aunt realizes there are benefits for her daughters in my continuing to call, she’ll stop reminding you of your duty at home. You’re only here for a little while, so surely it can’t hurt if you stay on a little longer?”

She hesitated.

“Because,” he went on in that deep, rich voice, his eyes intent on hers, “I begin to believe it would do me a great deal of harm if you left now.”

Too much!
Kate thought. The thought straightened her spine and brought any nervous airy fancies down with a thump. She knew her worth as well as this man’s experience. The two didn’t tally. She snapped back to attention. “Cut line, sir,” she said, looking him straight in the eye. “I’d be best pleased with truth.”

He laughed again, but nodded. “You’re right. It was only a half-truth. I’d like to see you again. I enjoy your company. I can’t say more now, because as you so
rightly think, it’s too soon. But if you leave, it can never be later.”

He stood before her, his broad shoulders blotting out the sun. Fortunately for her composure, his fascinating dark face was also cast in shadow. Kate gazed at that shadowy face with mistrust. What she’d told him when they’d set out was unfortunately still true. She might have dreams, but she was a realist and knew what she was and was not. She wasn’t a famous beauty. She wasn’t rich. It was flattering to think he’d been smitten with her, but she doubted it. She hadn’t gotten so much flattery in her life that she could be comfortable with it, and didn’t believe she deserved it. Especially not from this man. Why should he single her out?

Everything she thought was there to see in her eyes.

“Your expression, Miss Corbet!” Alasdair said. “All right then. What I said was true. But it’s also true that since I returned to London I’ve had some difficulty reestablishing myself in certain circles. I had a wild youth. I went off to the Continent and rumor grew. Now I’ve returned to find my reputation preceded me here. I’d like to repair it, and the company of a respectable female would go a long way to doing that.”

Kate felt a twinge of disappointment and a wash of relief. She was suddenly freed from something too deep and dangerous to contemplate. It seemed that anger wasn’t the only thing that could break the spell this man could cast over her. Nonsense did it, too.

She shook her head. “Fiddle! London’s stuffed with respectable young women, old ones, too, who’d be thrilled to keep you company.”

The front door to the Swanson house swung open. Alasdair glanced over to see a footman in the doorway, and the curtains to the front salon windows
pulled back. Swanson faces looked out, Leigh was slowly strolling toward the front steps with Sibyl.

“No, please listen,” Alasdair said quickly, turning his body so Kate couldn’t see the window or door. “My thanks for the compliment, and it is true that eligibility often does outweigh reputation in some circles. But I’d rather be liked for myself. Please hear me out. I have the uneasy feeling that if I don’t tell you now, I won’t have a chance later. You’re poised to leave, in more ways than one. I’d rather you didn’t. And not only because it’s hard for me to keep company with a wellborn, respectable female.”

She raised an eyebrow.

“But that’s true,” he said earnestly. “Not just because of my reputation. I
am
a gentleman and can behave like one. But think about it. If I do call on a lady, it will give rise to certain expectations on her part—and her family’s. You saved me once, and I have the uncanny feeling you could do it again. And you’re the most sensible woman I’ve met in a long while. There may be more for us, too, though it’s clear you doubt it. You seem sadly impervious to my charms.”

Kate blinked. He thought she was impervious to him? Lord! What did the other women who fancied him do? Salivate on his boot tops? Fling rose petals at him?

“Think of the advantages,” he persisted. “Not just the delight to be found in my presence,” he added with a self-mocking smile. “It will bring your cousin out of seclusion, too, and give the Swansons some much needed cachet. Not from my presence in their parlor. Fortunately, though I have a bad reputation, I rejoice in having good friends. My friend Leigh, for example, is a very respectable fellow and much admired. Where he leads, others will follow.”

Seeing the arrested look in her eyes, he quickly went on: “Think about it. It could be amusing for you. Going to parties, balls. We can see the sights during daylight, too. We can go riding or touring. Did I mention picnics? And fairs, if you like, as well as art exhibitions, poetry readings, whatever you want. Company grows thin in London as summer goes on, but it’s never extinct. There’ll be things to do and see. It will give you a chance to see London and have some pleasure in it.”

That last part was exactly what worried Kate, though it also tempted her.

“So, may I continue to call on you?’ he asked.

She looked at him closely and saw entreaty in his eyes and earnest hope in his expression, and experienced the slight dizziness she felt whenever she looked him straight in the eye. She could only nod, as charmed as she was flattered. His plan made sense. For the time being, that was all she needed it to do. And she reveled in it.

K
ate waited for her cousin to speak again. She sat in Lord Swanson’s study and watched his broad forehead furrow in thought. He was a fair man and a good fellow, or so her father said. She couldn’t say. She hadn’t seen much of him when she’d been a girl. That hadn’t changed. She’d been a guest in his house for weeks now and hadn’t exchanged more than a few sentences with him there either. He wasn’t rude, just occupied with his own affairs, which obviously didn’t usually include his guest or his daughters. But now they obviously did.

“Sir Alasdair didn’t come to ask my permission,” he finally said.

“He isn’t asking for my hand,” Kate answered carefully. “At least not for more than the time it takes to help me up into his carriage. He isn’t proposing walking down any aisle with me but one in a theater, you see.”

An unexpected smile lightened his expression. He
had a wide red face, not a very attractive one. But when he smiled Kate could understand why wispy little Lady Swanson spoke so fondly of her husband. If his daughters only smiled more, she thought. If only they tattled less, she thought with a slight frown. Their father wouldn’t have called her in for this embarrassing talk if they hadn’t run to tell him wicked Sir Alasdair was about to compromise their poor innocent country cousin. Or, at least, they’d done it after they’d picked their chins up off the floor, restrained themselves from throttling her, and gone in outrage to their mama. That poor lady, not knowing how to stop their squalls, had sent them to their papa. Who looked at her hopefully now, as though she could solve his problem.

“One doesn’t want to offend Sir Alasdair,” he said slowly. “Because though he has a certain notoriety, he’s certainly an eligible suitor.” He hesitated. They both knew how true that was. If the baronet really were a monster of depravity and had asked Kate to the theater, the Swanson sisters would have simply smirked. They did that very well.

“You couldn’t go alone, of course,” he went on thoughtfully. Before Kate could argue that of course she wouldn’t do that, he added, “And my wife and I are otherwise engaged that night.”

“I doubt he means to get up to any sort of debauchery in a theater,” she blurted. She hadn’t realized that an invitation to a young woman included that woman’s relatives. She’d thought he’d meant a chaperone.

He looked unhappy. “It isn’t that, though the theater does have a shocking reputation. My dear cousin, it’s because a young woman of breeding cannot just attend a theater with a gentleman on her own. Especially one like Alasdair St. Erth.”

Kate sat back and held her tongue. She didn’t know London. And she did know Sir Alasdair’s reputation.

“Still, I suppose we could have Mrs. August accompany you. She’s entirely respectable and always willing to do a favor. She might even find it a treat.”

Kate couldn’t think of a word to say. Old Mrs. August lived with the Swansons, the way a ghost could be said to live in a house. She was an ancient, faded lady, a distant connection to the family, who drifted on the margins of life in the Swanson household, taking her meals in her rooms and showing up at some of their innumerable parties, though always disappearing early in the evening.

“It could be done. If you wish. But, my dear,” he added, “do you think he has serious intentions toward you?”

Kate hesitated. If she said no, and told him Sir Alasdair’s reason for asking her out, he would definitely disapprove. It sounded too smoky by half. Well, it probably was. But if she could keep her head, she’d have such fun. She knew she could. Her wits could guard her heart because she didn’t trust the gentleman by half. No matter how attractive he was, she doubted she’d fall heedlessly in love with a man she couldn’t trust. And she was certain she’d be able to deal with whatever he really wanted of her when she discovered what it was. The mystery was half the fun, she assured herself.

She decided to skip over the direct question and instead tell Lord Swanson half the truth. With a little flattery to soften it. That usually worked when she played intermediary for her parents in their disputes.

“Please excuse my plain speaking,” she said, “but my parents brought me up to be forthright. I was joking about the debauchery, but whatever his plans, I
doubt Lord Alasdair means seduction. Whatever cloud there is over his head, he is, after all, by no means insensible to the conventions.”

Her cousin nodded, slowly. “And with all the beautiful women here in London,” Kate went on, “it’s hardly possible that he’s consumed with a sudden passion for me. Even if he’s suffered a head injury and has fallen under my spell,” she added, grinning, “the fact is that I
am
under your protection. The Swanson name is not one to be trifled with.”

“Indeed,” he said, obviously much struck by that thought.

“And so whatever his intention, it can’t help but be amusing for me. He wants to take me to the theater. We’ll be seen at all times, I’ll be back home soon enough, and it seems like such fun…” She paused, determined to keep that note of pleading out of her voice. She had to convince him she wasn’t a lovestruck chit, but a sensible woman. “It will be good for my cousins, too,” she said more firmly. “Sibyl will be coming along, Sir Alasdair said his friend Lord Leigh will be accompanying us, and surely the viscount is a model of good behavior.”

“As to that,” Lord Swanson said, looking a little hunted, “perhaps you might consider leaving Sibyl home, and taking one of her sisters instead? Sibyl is not yet out.”

Kate had thought this over carefully. “Yes, exactly,” she agreed. “But she’s my friend, and of an age to go out of an evening,” she added, to hint about that oversight. “Sir Alasdair already knows her, as does Lord Leigh. And exactly because she isn’t out yet they’ll know she isn’t expecting any offers. Their friends will know that, too, so it will put them more at ease with her. They’ll feel freer about visiting here in the future,
attending your parties and such, don’t you think? That will be better for everyone, won’t it?” She fell silent, hoping he’d accept that.

He glanced at her from under his bushy eyebrows. There were no fools in her father’s family. Her heart sank.

“Yes, I think it will,” he finally said. “So you may go. Sibyl, too. But, Katherine? If there’s any hint of impropriety or difficulty, or any pressures brought to bear on you because of this, don’t hesitate to come to me. And I don’t just mean those that may come from St. Erth.”

Kate stilled, thinking of his daughters’ spite. No, there were no fools in her father’s family. Her smile was gentle and heartfelt. “Thank you.”

“And Katherine?” he added as she stood. “It’s not without the realm of possibility that a gentleman might fall under your spell. Especially when you smile. Just remember that.”

“Thank you again, cousin,” she said, her eyes growing misty. “I’ll try to remember.” She laughed. “I’ll try to
believe
it, actually!”

“I can’t believe I’m actually doing this,” Leigh told Alasdair as he settled himself opposite his friend in his carriage. “I’ve risked my neck any number of ways for King and country, for friends, too. But this! This surpasses all. I’m taking a child to the theater,” he marveled. “And she’s one of the
Swansons
! Lord, the things I do in the name of friendship!”

Alasdair sat back as his coachman pulled away from the curb. “She’s hardly a child. Just a pale little mouse, as overwhelmed by her sisters as you are. Can you even remember what she looked like? I think half the reason Kate Corbet’s agreeing to this is to get that
girl out of the house and into the company of a single male before she’s ninety. Because if she has to wait to be presented until all her sisters are married off, that’s how old she’ll be then.”

“Fine. You escort her,” Leigh said. “I’ll have the Corbet woman on my arm…lap…or wherever she cares to perch. She’s a fine-looking woman and seems to have a brain in her head.”

“Certainly you may have her anywhere you wish,” Alasdair said, “
after
I’ve achieved my goals with her.”

“Alasdair,” Leigh said seriously, “that sounds terrible, even coming from you.”

“But of course you know better,” Alasdair said smoothly. “My motives may not be good, but they’re not evil. There’s a paradox for you. I don’t mean her harm, at any rate. I have my faults, too many to list, but I know a gentleman can’t give a respectable female pleasure without giving her his name, too. At least the kind of pleasure you mean. So her sweet body is safe from me. I can’t have it, and I know it. What I can have is her name—bruited about town in the same breath as mine. At least until it’s noted in certain quarters. Only that. Then you may do what you will with her. But not until then.”

“But what if she thinks you want more?”

“I don’t think she will,” Alasdair said thoughtfully. “The other reason she’s going with me is that she’s wondering why I asked her. She’s suspicious, and curious as a cat. That’s refreshing. And she’s open about it, which is even more so. Some of it must be that country upbringing. The rest is because she knows she’s leaving here soon. London has a certain unreality for her, I think, because I suspect she’s a very realistic woman on her own ground. We do things when we’re away that we’d never do at home, you and I certainly
know that. Travel gives us the freedom to be foolish. But I don’t for a minute think she’s ever that foolish. You’re right, she’s got more than a pretty face, she’s got a sensible head on those pretty white shoulders of hers.”

“But you noticed they’re pretty, and white,” Leigh said quietly.

“I’m well intentioned.” Alsadair laughed. “Not dead. Since when have you become your friends’ conscience?” he asked more soberly.

“I beg your pardon. A fault of mine. You’ve no idea of how much it limits me.”

“No,” Alasdair said. “It’s one of the reasons I value your friendship. You’re unique, my friend, a complete gentleman, but one who has a heart.”

“No,” Leigh said. “If I had one, I wouldn’t still be a single man.”

“You’re reclusive, and it’s difficult to find the love of your life under your chair. So I’m glad I’ve given you a reason to venture out, too. It’s time. You’ve a cautious heart, but you have one, never doubt it. I wonder if I possess a heart anymore. It got in the way, so I put it aside a long time ago, along with my morals.”

Alasdair laughed at his friend. “Don’t look so worried, I tell you all I want from Kate Corbet is her company, in public. But she is attractive…and I am what I am. So if I seem to be asking for more of her, let me know.” He stared out the window into the dark. “I don’t want to cause troubles while I end my own, because when I’m done with this business, Leigh, I’m done with it all. I’ll want to start life on a fresh page and finally forget the past.

“It’s been a long time and a lot of work. I think I’m becoming as eager to lay the burden down as I was to
assume it. You know?” he asked reflectively. “I worry that in time I may even miss this vile mission of mine. It’s consumed me. I can’t imagine life without it. I don’t know how to lead a normal life anymore and don’t know if I ever can again. But I’d like a chance to find out.”

“It’s almost done then?”

“It
is
done.” Alasdair nodded. “All but the final touches. I have enough information about them to make sure they can never be so much as seen in polite company again. I only want to be sure their names can never be spoken in it either.”

Leigh hesitated. “But—it’s possible you may sully your name, too, if you do that, isn’t it?”

Alasdair laughed. It wasn’t a pleasant sound. “
Sully?
You think the son of a suicide, with a cloud of dark rumors over his own head, can shame his name further?”

“Knowing what you’re capable of? If your plans bear fruit? Oh, yes. Alasdair,” Leigh said, leaning forward, his hands clasped between his knees as he stared at his friend, “I’ve never asked you for specifics about the matter, and I never would. But I hope you know that if you ever choose to confide in me, I’d never let it go further either.”

There was a silence. When it became uncomfortable, Leigh sat back, and went on, “Well, just so you know. The rumors about you are many. And unspecified. If what you do makes them clear, and they’re as bad as you seem to believe, then certainly, yes, it will ruin your name further. Completely. Why risk it? You’ve done so many good things for your friends and your country, why rake up old coals?”

Alasdair stiffened. “Because they’re coals from a fire that destroyed my life as surely as it did my father’s!”
His voice was too loud in the confines of the coach. He thumped his fisted hand on his knee for emphasis. “I
will
have my revenge. The rest doesn’t matter, it just does
not
.”

He took a deep breath, uncurled his hand, and looked at it. When he spoke again his voice was calm, too calm. “They caused my father to kill himself. They almost drove me to it, too. Yes, that’s true,” he said to Leigh’s appalled silence. “I chose to live only in order to revenge myself on them. I will. If it harms me in Society’s eyes, so be it. If it loses me my friends, then they weren’t really friends, were they?

“But I will destroy the Scalbys once and for all and forever.” Alasdair spoke the words like an oath he’d pledged many times. “I could kill them. Don’t think I didn’t consider it often in the early days. I could have done it then and anytime since. Slowly and fairly painfully, too. I learned to do that. But that’s not enough and would be too easy. It was then, it is now. Their pride must be crushed. Their name must become a definition of ’monster.’ Because it is. Not just in my case. They’ve destroyed others by means so unsavory even I don’t want to discuss it. But I can prove it. I will. That’s a worse fate for them. Because they’ll have to live with that. Or not.”

He shrugged. There was nothing casual in the gesture. It was a tic of one shoulder. His voice was dark and deep. “If
they
die, let it be by their own hands. Let them do as my father did. But I must be the one who causes it, and they have to know that. They have to see and hear it from me. In public. Then and only then, I’ll consider what else—if there is anything else—I want or need in this life.”