The Devil's Match (3 page)

“How generous to let me have you all to myself,”
she remarked drily. “But your mind must be disordered if you think
I still want you. Then again,” she continued in her acerbic tone,
“given your adopted lifestyle, it’s only to be expected you would
eventually suffer the same affliction as your fa—”

“Don’t!” He growled. “Don’t ever presume to
judge me or aspects of my private life you can know nothing about.
The sooner you understand that, my dear, the better.”

His body tensed, and his hands clenched by his
sides, yet Diana refused to be cowed by his intimidating shift in
demeanor. She lifted her chin. “And the sooner you understand I
have no interest in further dealings with you, the better.”

DeVere took his departure with a mocking
chuckle. “Methinks the lady doth protest too much.”

Chapter Three

DeVere House, Bloomsbury, three days
later

Though he knew it must be near noon by the
hideous blaze of light that slashed across his face when his valet
drew back the heavy, velvet bed curtains, Ludovic nonetheless
cursed a blue streak at being roused. Truth be told, he’d been in a
damnable temper for the past several days—since he’d seen Diana.
She’d aroused a fierce desire such as he’d not experienced in a
very long time, and then she’d spurned him. Oh, he’d earned her
scorn, all right, just as he’d made a life’s work out of tempting
the devil. It was a game he oftimes played with himself, pushing
away that which he most yearned for just to make the later
attainment of it all the sweeter.

DeVere groaned and scrubbed his face,
inadvertently brushing his bruised and swollen lower lip, a tender
memento of his recent encounter with the she-dragon. Ah yes,
that
had come as a surprise! He
grimaced. Although he’d expected at least a showing of reticence on
her part, he’d not anticipated the sting of a viper. Bedding Diana
might not prove as easy as he’d thought. But then again, her
newfound venom rather excited him.

For this reason he’d chosen to dull his senses
with drink, rather than slaking his fevered lust with another. Now
he found the heavy drinking he’d turned to as a temporary
palliative had backfired with a vengeance the moment he awoke,
inducing him to further indulgence in order to alleviate his
damnably excruciating headache. It was a vicious cycle, but one
he’d become accustomed to—living large only to pay the piper.
Still, he determined to lay off the Arrack punch for a while in
favor of claret.

“You wished to be informed the moment Captain
Hewett returned,” the wooden-faced servant replied after having his
ears singed by his lordship’s hangover induced invective.

“Is he, indeed?” Along with his swollen lip,
Ludovic’s tongue felt thick in his mouth, making coherent speech an
effort. “And the girl, Lady Vesta?” he asked, taking care not to
lisp.

“She is arrived, as well, my lord.”

“And how do you perceive the situation on that
front?” Ludovic inquired of his beleaguered servant.

“What do you mean, my lord?” the valet
asked.

“How would you gauge my brother’s humor at
present?”

“I would say he appears in exceedingly high
spirits, my lord. Several of the staff have remarked that he seems
almost as he was before the war.”

“Does he now? Then the little virago must have
succeeded,” Ludovic murmured with a self-satisfied smile. He rose
from his bed and groaned, ignoring the proffered dressing gown, and
half staggered behind the Chinese screen to relieve himself in the
chamber pot. “Ensure the girl is attended to,” he called over his
shoulder, “and then convey to my brother that I will see him at
once.”

“In your dressing room, my lord?”

“Where else?” Ludovic snapped and then
clutched his pounding head between both hands. “And bring coffee
when you return, Masters. I require a
great deal
of coffee.”

“Might I suggest a hair of the dog?” his servant
suggested. “Mayhap a touch of brandy?”

DeVere’s stomach lurched. “You’d best bring the
whole damn bottle.”

***

“Good afternoon, brother mine. You look like
hell,” Hew declared.

Ignoring the remark, Ludovic waved Hew to a
chair and took a sip of coffee. He scowled at the cup and then
sloshed some brandy into it with a trembling hand. He emptied it in
one draught before returning the cup to the saucer.

Hew raised a brow. “Rough night?”

“The usual,” Ludovic answered
noncommittally.

“You know, you’re slowly killing yourself with
this life you lead.”

“I’m hardly in a humor for homilies.”

“I just hate to see it,” Hew protested. “You are
a man of considerable parts and still in the prime of life. A man
of your station with your talents could do so much good, and yet
you choose to waste it all on self-indulgence...indeed, on
self-destruction.”

“How I live is no one’s concern but my own,”
Ludovic snapped. “Besides, I did not summon you to talk about me. I
wish to know your intentions toward Vesta.”

“Vesta?” Hew bridled. “That is a matter between
me and her father. What right have you to ask?”

“As her godfather, I am placing myself in her
father’s stead.”

“Really? That’s a convenient shift.” Hew
scoffed. “I hardly think Ned would have condoned her recent
activities or your complicity in them. You encouraged her to entrap
me by imposing a compromising situation when you knew damned well I
had no interest in that quarter. I could not have stated it more
clearly—” Hew’s jaw dropped at the sight of Vesta in the
doorway.

Her face went deathly pale before their eyes. “I
h-had come to greet my g-godfather...to share our happy news,” she
stammered.

Hew rose and strode toward her, his features
contorted with a tortured expression and then stopped. “Vesta, my
love.” He raised his hands plaintively. “What you heard... It’s not
what you think—”

Though her lips quivered, Vesta elevated
her chin to meet his gaze. “I told you, Hew, that I would never
have a man who didn’t love me. So I gladly relieve you of
your
loathsome
obligation.”
She turned to Ludovic with surprising calm. “Godfather, I have
returned your yacht, and I thank you for your generosity, but it
seems I shall have no further need of your assistance as I will be
returning to Yorkshire with all dispatch.” With a swish of skirts,
she disappeared.

Hew raked his hair with an anguished cry.
“Bloody hell! Look what you’ve done!”

“What I’ve done?” Ludovic repeated.

“Yes! Devil take you! She now thinks I don’t
want her!”

“But you just said you had no interest in her,”
Ludovic pointed out.

“Hadn’t as in
past tense!
I didn’t want the bewitching little
termagant until I spent three days with her. Damn it all, she’s so
full of life and vigor. She makes me forget all the miseries of the
past. I realize now that I wasn’t living but only sleepwalking when
I returned from America. Can you understand that, Vic? And now that
I know the difference, I can’t do without her.”

“Then what was the point of your little speech a
moment ago?”

“Hang it all! I only wanted to vent my spleen
regarding your meddlesome machinations before I saw that damnable
smug expression when I told you we were to be wed.”

“Me smug? When am I ever smug?” Ludovic smirked.
“But I think you were a bit premature on the latter part. It seems
you’ve made a quite a damned mess of it now, haven’t you, Hew?”

“Me?” Hew stormed. “I’m the bloody victim in all
this! First, I’m drugged and kidnapped. Then I risk my life
climbing a hundred-foot mainmast in a tempest only to subsequently
be driven to contemplate an ocean dive—”

“An eventful three days,” Ludovic
interjected.

“You have no idea.” Hew groaned. “Now I ask,
would any man go to such lengths for a woman he didn’t adore? By
some miracle, I managed to navigate it all without mishap but then
not five minutes in your company, and all is lost, and I haven’t a
clue how to repair the damage.” Hew gave his brother a harried
look. “Damn you to hell, Vic!”

Ludovic raised the brandy bottle to his lips.
“Undoubtedly.”

***

Caught between rage and tears, Vesta didn’t
trouble to retrieve shawl and gloves before calling for the
carriage. “Take me home, Mister Pratt,” she commanded.

The jockey-cum-Man-Friday gave her a curious
look. “What of the cap’n, miss?”

“I care to know nothing more of him.” She
sniffed. “Pray do not even mention his name again in my
presence.”

The grizzled little man gave a knowing nod. “Ah,
that be the way of it, then.”

“The way of what?” Vesta demanded.

“A lovers’ tiff between you and Ca—”

Vesta shot him a warning glare.

“A certain gentleman,” Pratt finished with a
grin.

“It’s not a tiff. It is finished. I won’t have
him now under any circumstances.” She jutted her chin. “I only wish
to leave this horrid place and go home to Yorkshire. Please take me
now.”

Pratt gaped. “To Yorkshire?”

“Yes, did I not say so?”

“When ye said home, I naturally thought ye meant
the house on Upper Grosvenor, miss. Ye can’t think to hie off all
the way to Yorkshire at the drop of a hat.”

“And why not?”

“’
Tis three days. Ye’ll need money for
lodgings and a change of clothes for your person, let alone a
chaperone. I durst not take ye, miss. Not wi’out his lordship’s by
your leave.”

“Botheration! Then take me to Upper Grosvenor,
though I don’t know what I’m going to say to Aunt Di after all of
this.”

“I’ll have the horses set to, miss. And by the
by, my lady, ye might try the truth with the baroness. I’ve seen it
work wonders on occasion.”

She opened her mouth to protest, but Hew arrived
in the vestibule. Pratt tugged his forelock with a nod to the
captain and swiftly departed. Vesta, meanwhile, gave Hew her
back.

“Vesta, please,” Hew pleaded. “You must let me
explain.” He tried to claim her hand, but she spun out of his
grasp.

“You explained everything very clearly to
your brother only a moment ago. I did
not
coerce you! I only took you away from Diana
so you could reason more clearly, but I see how mistaken I was. I
will never wed you just because you think you compromised
me.”

“I don’t just
think
I compromised you, Vesta. After three
nights together, there is no question of it.”

“Nevertheless, I free you of your obligation, so
you have no fear of blemishing your status as a gentleman, Captain
DeVere. Your precious honor remains intact.”

“To hell with all that!” Hew threw his hands in
the air. “I gave myself to you of my own volition, Vesta. I thought
we had settled that. What you heard me say to my brother had
nothing to do with us. I was only expressing my resentment of his
underhanded meddling, but damn it all, let the ends justify the
means. I need you.” He knelt by her feet and took her hand in his.
“I love you, Vesta. You have given me back my life, and I don’t
want to live it without you. Please say you will still be
mine.”

“Do you truly mean that, Hew?” she whispered,
misty-eyed.

“With all my heart. Please let us be wed at
once.”

“But Papa—”

“Should be arriving any day,” Lord DeVere
supplied as he descended the stairs. “I confess I am impressed,
Hew. I never knew that beneath that hardened soldier’s veneer lay
the heart of a poet. Such a touching display. I was almost moved to
retrieve my handkerchief.”

“Sod off, Vic.” Hew glowered.

“Not my usual preference,” Ludovic shot back.
“Now if you lovebirds are quite finished, I have a pledge to keep.
Let us depart for Upper Grosvenor.”

***

“So you see, Aunt Di,” Vesta explained, “Captain
Hew is not to blame for any of this. It was completely my
idea.”

Ludovic sat back, studying the scene with an
amused smile, a glass of claret dangling between his fingers, and
one booted ankle crossed over his knee.

Diana looked aghast. “I can’t believe it,” she
said. “What could have possessed you to do such a thing?”

“Does it really matter now?” DeVere interceded
on Vesta’s behalf. “They wish to wed, so it’s all just water under
the bridge.”

“No, it is not!” Diana retorted. “I can
only believe
you
contrived
this!”

“Me?” he asked with feigned affront. “How can
you blame me?”

“You have unduly exercised your influence over
the poor girl, for Vesta is far too young to know her mind. She
cannot possibly wed so soon. She hasn’t even had her come-out for
heaven’s sake! And you, Captain DeVere”—she turned blazing eyes on
Hew—”I cannot believe you accept this situation with such aplomb
when you had no interest in Vesta only days ago.” Her gaze
narrowed. “Indeed, I begin to think you as capricious as your
brother when only a short while before, you were paying your
address to—”

Hew flushed. “My apologies if my sudden
turn-about offends you, but please, believe my feelings for Vesta
are unwavering and true. And come what may, I promise to claim full
culpability for my part in this escapade when Sir Edward
arrives.”

DeVere added, “At the risk of further affront to
your injured sensibilities, madam, it matters not a whit what you
think of me or my brother; it is for the girl’s father to decide.
And I can see no good reason for Ned to object to Hew.”

Diana gave both DeVeres a resentful glare before
capitulating. “Very well. I suppose there’s nothing more to be done
until Sir Edward arrives, but I think it would do Hew and Vesta
both a great deal of good to take a few days to let passions cool
and reflect upon this. Marriage should not be entered into
frivolously. So I ask that you respect my wishes to refrain from
seeing one another for a few days.”