How To Build The Perfect Rake (21 page)

‘Let me go back now.’

‘I don’t want you to go.’

‘You don’t get to choose
any more,’ she hesitated for a moment. ‘I wish you happy, however.
Probably more so in a year’s time than I do now, but I
do
wish you
happy.’

‘I will go and see Carisse,’ Luc said,
sounding increasingly desperate. ‘I will get out of the
engagement!’

‘You can’t. You know you can’t. We have to
accept this.’

‘I don’t want to accept it. I love you
Olympia.’

Did it help that he was hurting as much as
she was? Probably not. She did not wish him pain, could not for
this was Luc and no matter what, she wanted the best for him.
Tilting her face up, she kissed him quickly then slipped past him
before he could react. Hurrying from their sheltered alcove, she
surprised a startled gasp from a wide-eyed maid but was incapable
of caring. She had never been more miserable in her life. All she
really wanted was a quiet corner to hide away in for a year or so.
Somewhere that she could nurse her bruised emotions. Somewhere that
she would not have to see Luc and his new bride.

For that might well be more than she could
bear.

Luc could not believe what an idiot he
was.

After Olympia was gone, he leaned back amid
the clutter of coats and thought about how completely he had gotten
things wrong in the past six weeks. Thinking he was in love with
Carisse who, while being the loveliest girl he had ever laid eyes
on, had absolutely nothing to recommend her but her dazzling looks.
The fault did not lie in her, of course. He had been swept away by
a pair of glorious blue eyes, not realizing that looks were only
half the tale.

But the biggest mistake he
had made was not realizing that the girl whose company he had
enjoyed for so long was the girl he should have been making up to.
For who else would he want to spend the rest of his life with but
Ollie? That kiss… The thought of Olympia’s lips on his made his
body quicken, heart beating a little harder when he had thought of
the sweet softness of her mouth against his own. That kiss had
seemed to make everything suddenly, shatteringly clear. He loved
Olympia. He was
in
love with Olympia.

And he was about seven hours too late in
working it out.

Why had he never seen it
before? It was only in retrospect that the whole thing was
blindingly obvious. Carisse’s beauty should have commanded his
admiration, not his adulation. But Olympia, his best friend…
suddenly the thought of her left him breathless with wonder. It was
hardly surprising he had not been able to countenance her being
courted by another male for none could possibly measure up. How
could they? Nobody was good enough for Olympia. Even
he
was not good enough
for Olympia and yet she had, rather miraculously, discovered what
his heart was now assuring him was true.

He groaned, dropping his face into his
hands.

A small sound made him look up quickly and
he looked around at the narrow entrance into the coat receptacle,
hope flaring at the possibility that Olympia had returned. But
instead, he met the startled gaze of a footman.

Luc managed a weak smile. ‘I… ah… am looking
for my coat.’

‘Can I help you find it, sir?’

‘No. Oh no… I don’t think I need it any
more. I’ll just run along now.’ And he thrust himself from dim
obscurity back into the fray.

Actually, his life had changed so much in
the space of a few short minutes that it came as something of a
surprise to see that the party was still underway, people standing
about talk, couples beginning to take to the dance floor.
Incredibly, life continued on as normal. Luc felt that this was all
wrong. He was so full of misery that the rest of the world should
feel at least a tinge of his pain. But instead, everything was
moving along quite merrily. The whist tables were already filling
up and he could see Flora Richmond in a chair, face intent as she
peered at her cards. He looked around but he could not see Olympia
and for a moment he hesitated, wondering what he should do. He
found himself fighting an instinctive urge to go in search of her.
But what was the point? Even if he found her, he was still engaged
to Carisse Houghton. At the thought of Carisse, he glanced around
him swiftly, suddenly furtive. She had said that she would see him
tonight but as yet, there was no sign of her. Would she have told
many people of their engagement? Was it possible he could get to
her in time and suggest that she did not? That he had made a
dreadful mistake and he was terribly sorry but perhaps she would
find it much more agreeable to become a duchess after all…

Even in his head, that particular
conversation sounded impossible. He could not imagine how she would
react. Worse, he could not imagine how her mother would react for
Mrs. Houghton had seemed particularly pleased by his offer and had
even gone so far as to embrace him. He shuddered at the memory. Oh
no; Mama Houghton would definitely not take the withdrawal of his
proposal in good part.

‘Mr. St James! I am so glad to see you here
tonight. I thought all of my dancing partners would be dreadfully
dull.’

Luc turned to discover the freckled face of
Miss Evangeline Gaffney smiling up at him. He rather liked Miss
Gaffney for she was a pleasant sort of girl and not nearly as
wearisome as some of his more enthusiastic followers. That was the
worst of this rake business. He had not realized it, but females
could be extremely improper! The biggest discovery since assuming
his new persona was that a young lady could bandy naughty innuendo
far more shockingly than any man.

Unfortunately, Miss Gaffney’s greeting was
singularly ill timed for he had absolutely no desire to speak to
anybody, let alone dance.

‘Miss Gaffney, you must excuse me this
evening. I…’ he paused, wondering what the devil to say. Generally
speaking one turned up at this sort of affair to do exactly what he
was least inclined to do; to dance, to be seen, to make nice with
ones peers. But tonight, he simply didn’t have it in him. If he
couldn’t speak with Olympia again, and he instinctively understood
that now might not be the best time to try, then he just wanted to
go home. It was craven, but he had no desire to spend any time in
his new fiancée’s company. He needed a place to think so he could
try and find a way out of this mess. For there must be one. He had
just discovered his real heart’s desire and to lose it now would be
too cruel.

‘Yes, Mr. St James?’

‘I am afraid I must leave.’

‘But the night has only just begun.’

‘And yet it seems to have been going on
forever,’ he returned grimly. The whole day felt as if it had been
going on forever, spiraling into an ever-increasing series of
blunders.

Miss Gaffney raised an enquiry eyebrow. ‘Oh
my! That’s sounds rather grim.’

‘Indeed. So I am sure you will excuse me. I
would be very poor company tonight.’

‘Of course,’ she gave him a wicked smile,
‘although I wanted to ask you something in particular. There is a
very interesting rumor traveling around.’

Luc’s heart sank. Surely Mrs. Houghton had
not been so indelicate? She was supposed to wait until the wretched
banns were posted. ‘A rumor?’

‘Oh yes. I heard that you bested Monty
Althorpe in a wager. Something about stealing a kiss from Damaris
Prentice?’

Luc stared at her for a moment before it hit
him what she was referring to. Several days earlier he and
Althorpe, along with Freddy Featherstone and Benjamin Prentice, had
been drinking heavily at Waiters. Always one for a ridiculous
wager, Mr. Althorpe had put up five guineas if Luc could steal a
kiss from the notoriously straight-laced Miss Prentice, Mr.
Prentice’s prim and proper sister. While a brother might be
expected to object to such a suggestion, Mr. Prentice had laughed
uproariously and Luc, well in his cups, had happily agreed. Of
course, the man he had been a month and a half before would never
have dreamed of such a thing. But the new and improved Luc was up
for any kind of mischief. That was, after all, what a rake was
about. Or so he told himself.

That very night his small group of cronies
had set out to discover the presence of Miss Prentice, not too
difficult as her brother told them she would be at the theatre. Luc
had waltzed in, smiled – rather foolishly, in all likelihood – at
the startled debutante and had proceeded to take hold of her.
Conscious of being the center of several dozen pairs of curious
eyes, he had dipped Miss Prentice her over his arm and had given
her a resounding smack on the mouth.

It had been shocking, his behavior utterly
and completely beyond the pale. In any sensible society he would
have been given a good, swift kick up the backside. And truly, he
had no reasonable defense for the incident, apart from sporting a
skinful of alcohol but instead of censure he was told by Lady
Bramford, far more tolerantly than he deserved, that such behavior
was not the thing while the Duchess of Lester had given him a rap
with her fan along with the observation that he was turning into a
reprobate. Miss Prentice, having been restored to an upright
position, had looked both scandalized and delighted while his
friends had hooted with laughter. Job done, they had all bundled
out of the place smartly.

‘Poor Miss Prentice,’ he said now, rather
lamely. ‘I’m afraid I rather overset her delicate emotions.’

‘More like brightened her night,’ Miss
Gaffney replied with a wry twist of the lips. ‘She is certainly a
great deal more popular than she was before the event.’

‘Is she?’ He shook his head. He could rattle
about town for years and he still wouldn’t understand the vagaries
of Society. It seemed to encourage a certain kind of behavior in
some while being brutal about other, far less shocking stuff. ‘I
was going to write a note of apology but have not gotten around to
it.’

‘Don’t apologize. Nobody expects a fellow
like you to apologize. We live for your next scandalous act, I
assure you.’

‘I’m not
that
bad.’

‘Probably not. But what you don’t supply, we
make up in our heads so it more or less works out the same
way.’

‘Good God.’

She gave him a particularly sweet smile.
‘Where is Miss Grayson tonight?’

Olympia. The weight of the past half hour
descended again, pressing down on him. ‘I don’t know,’ he said
heavily, then shook his head. ‘Please excuse me, Miss Gaffney. I am
afraid I must be off.’

‘Good night, Mr. St James. And don’t look so
tragic! I’m sure whatever ails you cannot be as bad as you
imagine.’

But in that, Luc knew she was incorrect. It
was worse.

Heading out the front
door, he was fleetingly grateful that he had not thought to bring a
coat, as the footman would undoubtedly remember him. He hurried
down the steps, anxious not to encounter anybody else who would
want to speak with him.
Especially
Carisse. Who would have thought that becoming
engaged to the most beautiful woman in London could cast a fellow
into such despair?

‘St James!’

Luc considered, just for a moment,
continuing on. He could pretend that he had not heard Jasper
hailing him. Several carriages had arrived and were disgorging
their occupants so there was a great deal of chatter. It would be
entirely believable if he were to claim ignorance…

With a sigh, he stopped and turned to face
Olympia’s brother. Jasper was standing at the top of the steps,
hands on his hips. Reluctantly, Luc walked back up to join him.

‘Jasper.’

‘Have you seen Olympia?’ There was a note in
Jasper’s voice that made Luc feel a little uncomfortable. He
sounded almost accusing.

‘She’s not with me.’

‘Clearly she is not with you. But where is
she?’

‘I have no idea.’ He knew he sounded
defensive.

Jasper looked at him consideringly. ‘Did you
see her earlier?’

‘Earlier?’

‘Try not to be dense. I know that Olympia
was planning on seeking you out. Did she?’

‘Y-es.’ He said the word with the utmost
reluctance. Could Jasper possibly know anything of what had
transpired between Olympia and himself? Surely not! And yet, the
siblings were remarkably close and had always confided a little too
heavily in each other, unlike he and his own siblings. He had
quickly learned in life that the less he told his three sisters,
the better it was for him.

‘So what happened?’

Luc stared at Jasper with anguished eyes.
‘Whatever happened between Olympia and myself should remain between
us, surely.’

‘You botched it.’ Jasper sounded thoroughly
disgusted. ‘I might have known. How can you possibly prefer that
empty headed coquette to my sister? Carisse Houghton has all the
conversation of a rubber tree.’

Luc flushed. ‘I do
not
prefer Miss Houghton
-’

‘So you didn’t botch it then?’

‘Of course I did!’ Luc snapped, thoroughly
exasperated with the entire conversation. ‘I had no idea how I felt
about your sister until she… until…’

‘She kissed you,’ Jasper said impatiently.
‘Go on.’

‘I don’t
want
to go on. This is
between Olympia and me.’

‘Clearly not, as I cannot find her and
you’ve messed it up.’

‘She’s inside. Probably in the retiring
room. I gave her some very upsetting news.’

Jasper’s dark eyes narrowed. ‘What kind of
bad news.’

Luc sighed. There was no point in
pretending, not with a fellow that had known him practically
forever. ‘I became engaged this afternoon. To Miss Houghton.’