Rendezvous (15 page)

“A safe. Yes, of course. Why didn’t I think of that? Do you suppose Lovejoy has one?”

“No doubt.” Harry shifted some volumes on the shelves of the bookcases. He hauled out a few of the larger ones and opened them. When they proved to contain only pages, he put them back on the shelves in exactly the same positions in which he had found them.

Seeing what he was doing, Augusta started working on another row of books. She found nothing. Alarmed that they might not find her vowels after all, she swung around in agitation and nearly stumbled into the globe. She reached out hastily to brace herself.

“Good grief, this is heavy,” she muttered.

Harry turned, his gaze riveted on the globe. “Of course. It is just the right size.”

“What are you talking about?” Augusta watched in amazement as he moved over to the globe and knelt beside it. She suddenly realized what he was thinking. “How very clever of you, my lord. Do you think this is Lovejoy’s safe?”

“I think it is a possibility.” Harry was already working on the mechanism that held the globe in its wooden frame. His fingers slid over the wood with a lover’s touch, testing and probing. Then he paused. “Ah, yes. There we are.”

A moment later some hidden spring gave way and the top half of the globe opened to reveal a hollow interior. A shaft of moonlight revealed a few papers and a small jeweler’s box inside.

“Harry
. There it is. There’s my note.” Augusta reached inside to pluck out her IOU. “I have it.”

“Right. Let’s be off, then.” Harry closed the globe. “Damnation.”

He went absolutely still at the faint sound of the front door of the house opening and closing. There were booted footsteps in the hall.

“Lovejoy has come home.” Augusta’s eyes met Harry’s as she spoke. “Quick. The window.”

“No time. He is coming this way.”

Harry was on his feet. He grabbed his cane and her wrist and yanked Augusta toward the sofa at the far end of the room. Pushing her down behind it, he hunkered beside her, the cane in his hand.

She swallowed heavily and did not move so much as a fraction of an inch.

The footsteps paused outside the door of the library. Augusta held her breath, fiercely glad that Harry was here beside her.

The door opened and someone came into the library. Augusta stopped breathing altogether.
Dear God, what a mess. And it is all my fault. I might very well succeed in plunging that paragon of propriety, the Earl of Graystone, into a scandal broth tonight. He would never forgive me
.

Next to her, Harry did not stir. If he was unduly alarmed about the prospect of impending humiliation and social disaster, he did not show it. He seemed unnaturally calm, even detached as the situation reached a crisis point.

The footsteps crossed the carpet. Glass clinked as someone picked up the brandy decanter near the wing chair. Whoever it was would turn and light a lamp now, Augusta thought in horror.

But a moment later the footsteps retreated back to the door. The door closed softly and the footsteps went on down the hall.

Augusta and Harry were once more alone in the library.

Harry waited a few heartbeats and then surged to his feet, tugging Augusta up beside him. He gave her a small shove. “The window. Hurry.”

Augusta hastened to the window and opened it. Harry grasped her around the waist and lifted her up onto the sill.

“Where the devil did you get yourself a pair of trousers?” he muttered.

“They belonged to my brother.”

“Have you no notion of propriety at all?”

“Very little, my lord.” Augusta dropped down onto the grass and turned to watch him come through the window.

“There is a carriage waiting in a lane down the street.”

Harry closed the window behind him and took her arm. “Move.”

Augusta glanced back over her shoulder and saw a light appear in the upstairs window. Lovejoy was preparing for bed. It had been a near thing and it was not over yet. If he chanced to glance out of his window and look down into the small garden, he might easily see two shadowy figures racing toward the gate.

But there was no angry shout or cry of alarm as Harry and Augusta let themselves out of the garden.

Augusta could feel Harry’s fingers clenched like a manacle around her upper arm as he led her quickly down the street.

A hackney carriage went past and then a gig carrying two obviously inebriated young dandies clattered down the street. But no one paid any attention to the man in the black greatcoat or his companion.

Halfway along the street, Harry jerked Augusta to a halt and turned into a lane that was not much more than an alley. The path was almost completely blocked by a handsome closed carriage that bore a familiar crest.

“That is Lady Arbuthnott’s carriage, is it not?” Augusta turned startled eyes toward Harry. “What is she doing here? I know she is your friend, but surely you have not made her come out at such an hour. She is too ill for travel.”

“She is not here. She was kind enough to loan me the carriage so that my own crest would not be noticed in this part of town. Get inside. Quickly.”

Augusta started to obey and then paused to glance up at the familiar-looking figure who sat on the box. He was draped in a many-tiered cape and a hat was pulled low over his bushy brows, but Augusta recognized him instantly.

“Scruggs, is that you?”

“Yes, Miss Ballinger, I fear it is,” Scruggs growled in an aggrieved tone. “Summoned from a warm bed, I was, without so much as a by-your-leave. I pride myself on being a first-class butler but I am not paid to handle the ribbons. I was ordered to ape John Coachman tonight, however, and I’ll do my best, though I don’t imagine I’ll get much of a tip.”

“You should not be out in the night air,” Augusta said with a frown. “Tis not good for your rheumatism.”

“Aye, that’s true enough,” Scruggs agreed dourly. “But try telling that to the high and mighty sort who like to run around in the middle of the night.”

Harry jerked open the carriage door. “Pray do not concern yourself with Scruggs’s rheumatism, Augusta.” He seized her lightly around the waist. “It is your own person you need worry about.”

“But, Harry—I mean, my lord—ooof.” Augusta landed with a thud against the green velvet cushions as Harry tossed her rather negligently inside the dark carriage. She heard him speak to Scruggs as she righted herself.

“Drive until I tell you to return to Lady Arbuthnott’s.”

“Drive where, man?” Muffled by the carriage, Scruggs’s voice sounded different now. The hoarse, rasping tone was gone.

“I do not particularly care,” Harry snapped. “Around one of the parks or toward the outskirts of town. It makes no difference. Just see that you do not attract any attention. I have a few things to say to Miss Ballinger and I can think of no other place where I shall have the privacy and leisure in which to say them except inside this carriage.”

Scruggs cleared his throat. When he spoke again, his voice still sounded different yet oddly familiar. “Uh, Graystone, perhaps you ought to reconsider this notion of driving aimlessly about tonight. You are not in the best of tempers at the moment.”

“When I want your advice, Scruggs, I shall ask for it.”
The edge on Harry’s voice was as sharp as a knife. “Is that quite clear?”

“Yes, my lord,” Scruggs said dryly.

“Excellent.” Harry bounded up inside the coach and slammed the door. He reached out and drew the curtains across the glass.

“There was no need to snarl at him,” Augusta said reproachfully as Harry dropped down onto the seat across from her. “He is an old man and he suffers a great deal from rheumatism.”

“I do not give a damn about Scruggs’s rheumatism.” Harry spoke much too softly. “It is you who concerns me at the moment, Augusta. Exactly what in hell do you think you were about, breaking into Lovejoy’s house tonight?”

It dawned on Augusta just how furious Harry really was. For the first time she began to wish she were safely back in her own bedchamber. “I got the impression you understood what I was doing, my lord. You seemed to know about my vowels being in Lovejoy’s possession. I presume you also know how I lost a thousand pounds to him. Did Sally tell you?”

“You must forgive Sally. She was quite concerned.”

“Yes, well, I tried to repay the debt, but Lovejoy refused to take the money. I must say, he is no gentleman. I got the distinct impression he had some nasty plans to use my signed note to humiliate me or perhaps you. I thought it best to retrieve it.”

“Damnation, Augusta, you had no business getting lured into a game of cards with Lovejoy in the first place.”

“Well, looking back on it, I can certainly see it was a mistake. But I must say, I was holding my own, sir. I was winning, in fact, until I got distracted by another matter. We started talking about my brother, you see, and all of a sudden I looked down and saw that I had lost rather heavily.”

“Augusta, a lady with any notion of proper behavior would never have gotten herself into such a situation.”

“You are no doubt correct, my lord. But I did warn you I was not the sort of lady you should even contemplate marrying, did I not?”

“That is beside the point,” Harry said through gritted teeth. “The fact is, we are going to be married, and allow me to tell you here and now, Augusta, that I will not tolerate another incident such as this. Do I make myself plain?”

“Very plain, sir. But for my own part, I would point out that it was my pride and my honor that were involved here. I had to do something.”

“You should have come directly to me.”

Augusta narrowed her eyes. “No offense, my lord, but I do not think that would have been such a brilliant notion. What would have been the point? You would have lectured me and made a most unpleasant scene, just as you are doing now.”

“I would have taken care of the matter for you,” Harry said grimly. “And you would not have put your neck and your reputation at risk as you did tonight.”

“It seems to me, my lord, that both of our necks and our reputations were at risk tonight.” Augusta tried a tentative smile of appeasement. “And I must say, you were most impressive. I am very glad you turned up when you did, sir. I would never have found my marker if you had not suspected the globe was a secret safe. It seems to me it all turned out for the best and we should both be thankful the thing is over.”

“Do you really believe I am going to let the matter rest there?”

Augusta drew herself up proudly. “I will, of course, understand completely if you feel my actions tonight have put me beyond the pale. If you feel you cannot possibly tolerate the notion of marrying me, my original offer still stands. I shall be quite willing to cry off and free you from this engagement.”

“Free me, Augusta?” Harry reached out to catch hold of her wrist. “I fear that is impossible now. I have come to the
conclusion that I shall never be free of you. You are going to bedevil me for the rest of my life and if that is to be my fate, I may as well take what consolation I can for what I shall be obliged to endure.”

Before Augusta had time to realize what he intended, Harry had yanked her across the short distance between them. An instant later she found herself lying across his strong thighs. She clung to his shoulders as his mouth came down on hers.

“H
arry
.”
   Augusta’s startled cry was stifled under the fierce, exciting pressure of Harry’s mouth. He took command of her senses in a single instant. Her stunned amazement dissolved into a shimmering excitement, just as it had that first time on the floor of his library.

Augusta wound her arms slowly around Harry’s neck as she recovered from the initial shock. He was demanding entrance into her mouth and she obediently parted her lips. The instant she did so, he was inside, claiming her warmth. Augusta shivered.

Her body was reacting so quickly she could not think clearly. Part of her was aware of the sway and jostle of the vehicle, the rattle of the wheels, and the ring of the horses’ hooves on stone. But here in the carriage, locked in Harry’s arms, she was in another world.

It was a world to which she had secretly longed to return ever since that first time Harry had held her like this. The hours she had spent reliving those intimacies in her
imagination paled now as reality took its place. A euphoric sensation unfolded within her as she realized she was going to have another opportunity to experience the wonder of Harry’s kisses.

Obviously he had forgiven her for the unpleasant business involving Lovejoy and her debt, Augusta thought happily. Surely Harry would not be kissing her like this if he were still angry with her. She clutched at him, her fingers sinking deeply into the heavy fabric of his black greatcoat.

“Good God, Augusta.” Harry raised his head slightly, his eyes gleaming in the shadows. “You are going to drive me mad. One minute I could cheerfully shake you and the next you make me want to drag you into the nearest bed.”

She touched the side of his face and smiled wistfully. “Will you please kiss me again, Harry? I do so like it when you kiss me.”

With a muffled oath, Harry’s mouth came back down on hers. She was aware of his hand gliding over her shoulder, stroking gently, and she froze for an instant when his fingers touched her breast through the fabric of her shirt. But she did not pull away.