The Irish Duke (18 page)

Georgy climaxed a moment after he spent. As he collapsed on her, she bit his ear and whispered, “The Honorable Member for Horsham has presented an
Act of Fornication
before the House. All in favor say
Aye.
”

 

“May I have the pleasure of this dance, Lady Louisa?”

Lu smiled. “The pleasure is all mine, Lord Kerry. Isn’t Kerry an Irish title?”

“Yes, my father became Earl of Kerry when his cousin died without issue.”

“I see. I know your father has been appointed president of the council. Forgive my ignorance, but are you also a Member of Parliament, Lord Kerry?”

“Yes, I am the MP for Calne, in Wiltshire. Won’t you please call me Tom?”

“Since your father and my mother are such good friends, why not?”

“Did you know that my father once proposed marriage to your mother?”

Louisa’s eyes widened. “She turned down the Marquis of Lansdowne?”

“He wasn’t a marquis at the time—he was Lord Petty.”

Ah, that explains it.
“I’m glad they remained friends all these years.”

“So am I. If they had wed, I might be your brother.”

“Good heavens! I have too many brothers now. I don’t need another.”
Oh no, he’s gazing at me with longing. I said the wrong thing.
“On the other hand, Tom, I think you would make a very nice brother.” Louisa saw his longing change to disappointment. She quickly thanked him for the dance and retreated to her brother’s side.

“Johnny, thank goodness you’ve arrived. I think Lord Kerry is smitten with me. He told me that his father once proposed to my mother and I was terrified that he was on the verge of following in his father’s footsteps.”

“Marriage isn’t a fate worse than death, Louisa. The whole idea of a debutante having a season is to receive offers.”

“The thought of marriage frightens me and having children terrifies me. A female has so little control over her own life. There is no freedom to do as she pleases. She goes from her father’s home to her husband’s. A man has complete control over his wife. I realize Mother and Father have always seemed happy, but everyone knows that most women aren’t so lucky. And Aunt Susan’s husband divorced her and took her children from her.”

“A clever woman can wrap her husband around her fingers. Look at your mother. I warrant she gets her own way ninety percent of the time,” Johnny declared.

“But that’s because he adores her and can deny her nothing.”

“Then there’s your answer, Louisa. Find a man who adores you.” He glanced up to see James Hamilton and his brother Claud. “Speak of the devil,” he murmured.

Louisa raised her chin. “Devil is right.” She addressed Abercorn. “What are Tories doing at the Prime Minister’s Ball?”

Johnny chided, “Don’t play ignorant, Lu. You know Earl Grey is prime minister over both parties and both houses.”

“Such a pity,” she taunted.

“May I have the next dance, Lady Louisa?” Claud asked.

She gave him a radiant smile. “I would be delighted.”

“My brother enjoys your teasing. He has an amazing sense of humor.”

“You seem to idolize him,” she said lightly.

“There’s no doubt about it, my lady,” Claud said seriously. “James has been like a father to me. I couldn’t have endured it without his steadfast care and concern.”

“Endured losing your father at such a tender age?”

“Endured having Aberdeen for a stepfather. He was a tyrant with a heavy whip hand. James protected me by taking the blame for all my boyhood transgressions. Many are the beatings he took on my behalf.” His eyes gleamed with satisfaction. “The bully doesn’t dare raise his hand to us these days. He knows it’s more than his life is worth.”

Louisa shuddered. She had always sensed a dangerous quality about Abercorn
. He keeps his temper under a tight rein, but if he ever lost control and unleashed his fury, it would be deadly.

Lord John and Abercorn watched the couple dance. “Louisa feels safe with your brother, James. If she thinks someone is interested in her, she holds him at arm’s length.”

“She fights fiercely to hide her vulnerability.”

“Yes, she is skittish about marriage and terrified of having a child. She’s afraid of a husband having control over her. The thought of being a wife was always anathema to her. When she was a little girl, she vowed she would be a dancer on the stage. When she was about twelve, she learned that a duke’s daughter could never perform on a public stage. Poor Louisa was devastated. It ruined her life for at least a year.”

“I realize I will have a lot of competition for her hand. I take it I will have to add Lord Kerry to the list?”

“Don’t worry. She suspects that Kerry is smitten and will try to avoid him.”

Abercorn grinned. “Rivalry will only spur me on and harden my resolve.”

At the end of the waltz, Claud returned Louisa to Johnny’s side. She expected James to ask for the next dance and was looking forward to denying him. When he did not offer to partner her, she was acutely disappointed.

The Earl of Edgecombe bowed before her and begged her to dance. She smiled sweetly and allowed him to lead her onto the floor. She willed herself to stop thinking about his lack of chin.
The poor fellow couldn’t choose his ancestors.
She found herself thinking of Abercorn’s square jaw and felt annoyed at herself.
He’s obviously from a long line of dominant Irishmen!

When the dance was over, Louisa was approached by the handsome Earl of Winterton and happily followed as he led her onto the floor.

“I am a great admirer of your late uncle, the Duke of Richmond. Lennox was a renowned cricketer.” He leaned toward her as if he wanted to impart a confidence. “We have much in common. Lennox played for Sussex, and I play for Sussex. He was a right- hand bat, and I am a right-hand bat.”

“How extraordinary,” Louisa murmured, as her eyes glazed over. Her Aunt Charlotte’s husband had been deceased for over a decade and she had never seen him play. She connected cricket with her brothers, who wielded hard wooden bats as weapons to whack each other, as well as anything else that impeded their rowdy fun and games.

 

When Georgy returned to the ball, she glanced about the crowded room looking for Lord Burlington. When she found him, she threaded her way through the guests until she was standing beside him. Searching for something interesting to say, she remembered Louisa’s words about politics. “Hello, William. I understand your kinsman, the Duke of Devonshire, has been appointed Lord Chamberlain by Prime Minister Grey.”

“Yes indeed, Georgy. The ruling Whig families have finally returned to power.” He gave her a speculative look. “Would you care to dance? I quite enjoyed
partnering
you at your debutante ball.”

She went into his arms with a coy glance.
You’d like me on my knees again, wouldn’t you, Willy? I’ll hold out the possibility as a lure. You were easy to hook, but the trick will be keeping you on the line until you are caught.
“You showed me some exciting dance steps. You are a wonderful teacher . . . I quite enjoyed my lesson.”

“We both seem to enjoy the same things. If we practice, we may achieve perfection.”

“Yes, I agree we are a well-matched pair.” She licked her lips suggestively.

“Shall we see if we can find a secluded spot where we can . . . communicate?”

“How can I resist such an alluring proposal? But first, let’s indulge in a drink.”

“ ’Tis said that champagne lowers the inhibitions.”

“And tickles the tongue.”

Burlington’s cock bucked at mention of her tongue and he led her into the crowded supper room to ply her with champagne.

Georgy accepted the glass he offered and toyed with it in a provocative manner. She ran her finger around the rim, dipped it into the wine, then popped it into her mouth and sucked on it. “Mm, delicious!” She repeated the provocation, then drained the glass.

Burlington reached for her hand.

“I’d like another, before you lead me into temptation,” she murmured seductively. She accepted a second glass. “Thank you. This will really whet my appetite.” Georgy glanced around the supper room looking for a plausible excuse she could use for not following through on a sexual encounter with Burlington. Tonight she did not want to leave him satisfied; she wanted to leave him craving for her luscious mouth.

“Teddy, please forgive me. I completely forgot I had promised the next waltz to you. I am so sorry you had to come looking for me.” She drained her champagne glass and murmured to Burlington, “He’s a close friend of the family. I don’t dare disappoint him.” She glanced down at the bulge in William’s trousers. “I’ll smoke that cigar later.”

Teddy led her from the supper room. “What was all that about?”

Georgy decided to play one against the other. “He’s totally captivated. I have reason to believe he’s considering a match with the Duke of Bedford’s daughter.”

“Damn good thing he doesn’t suspect what we were up to earlier.”

“Oh, I don’t know. He might find a wife with experience extremely rewarding.”

It wasn’t until the last dance in the early hours of the morning that James Hamilton offered to partner Lady Lu. She had fully expected him to seek her out all night. When he did not, she asked herself if she felt relief or disappointment.

His eyes smiled down at her. “I’ve saved the best for last.”

“Flattery, begod.” She gave him back his own words. “You must have an ulterior motive.”

“Self-preservation. If I’d asked you earlier, you would have turned me down.”

“You are an astute devil.”

“Is that a criticism or a compliment?”

“I suppose it is both. I admire your shrewdness yet detest the fact that you know me so well. Your powers of observation are much keener than those of other men.”

“Here is what I have observed about you, Louisa. Though you have your mother’s exquisite beauty, you are not a social butterfly. You don’t really enjoy these balls.”

“I find having a season offensive. Debutantes are presented on a tray like fancy desserts so that gentlemen can take their pick. To me, it is demeaning.”

“You prefer dancing alone on a stage to dancing in a crowded ballroom with a man partnering you and forcing you to follow his steps. You like to be admired from afar.”

“And here is what I have observed about you, Abercorn. Your charming surface masks a will of iron. You have a dominant and determined nature, and you enjoy being in control. Yet underneath it all, you yearn to be part of a large, loving family.”

“Then you may as well say
yes
now, and have done with it.”

She caught her breath.
Are you proposing to me?
She saw the teasing light in his eyes.
No, you are laughing at me, you Irish devil!

“M
adame Madeleine’s, on Bond Street.” Georgy gave the Russell coachman the address of the fashionable modiste. Since she had ruined the lavender silk by spilling something sticky on it, she was to be fitted for a new ball gown.

“I’m not coming in with you,” Louisa informed her sister.

“You sly puss, you have an assignation! Who are you meeting? Not Teddy, I hope.”

“Don’t be daft, Georgy. If you must know, I’m going to the theater to see the matinee performance of
The Brigand.
When the coachman drops us off, I’ll take a hackney to Covent Garden.”

“But you’ve already seen it.”

“I could see it every day for a month and still not tire of it. I love everything about the theater.”

“But I wanted you to help me pick a style and a color. You have better fashion sense than I have. Besides, Mother would be furious if she knew you were wandering about London on your own.”

“I’m trusting you not to tell her. But I’d wager that when Mother was my age, she went wherever she pleased.”

“Well, you can return the favor when I have something to hide. But I still think it’s selfish of you to abandon me to Madame Madeleine.”

The sisters alighted on Bond Street and the coachman went to find a nearby place where he could park the carriage. As soon as he drove on, Louisa crossed to the opposite side and hailed a hackney.

 

“Kathleen . . . Kitty, you seem to have settled in quite nicely.”

“James, how will I ever thank you for providing me with such a fine place to live?”

“I consider it my duty to make sure you are safe while living in London, Kitty.” He looked around the apartment he had leased for her in the respectable house on Maiden Lane. He didn’t tell her that he had paid the landlady to keep an eye on her. “I’m glad you like it here. Since you have a matinee performance this afternoon, why don’t I escort you to the theater? I believe Covent Garden is within walking distance.”

“That’s one of the things I love about it. Maiden Lane is handy to everything.”

James helped her with her cloak then watched her lock the door with her own key. They walked past Rules Restaurant at the end of the street. “I believe this is the oldest eating house in London. I’ll take you to dine here one night after your performance.”

“That would be lovely. It’s very elegant. Lots of famous people dine here.”

James smiled. “You may be famous one day. I’ll be able to say that I knew Kitty Kelly when she was in the chorus.”

Kitty laughed, imagining herself the toast of the town, and perhaps Lord Abercorn’s mistress, if she were lucky enough.

As they crossed Covent Garden toward the theater, James was surprised to see Louisa Russell alight from a hackney cab. As he watched her approach the box office, he realized she would be attending the performance. Moreover, she was entirely alone. He escorted Kitty to the stage door entrance and bade her good-bye.

As he walked back to the front of the theater, it didn’t take him long to decide to buy a ticket to attend the matinee performance. He entered the theater and gazed up at the Russell family’s box. It was empty and he concluded that Louisa must be sitting in the audience. He waited until the lights went down and the curtain began to rise; then he walked down the aisle, scanning the patrons. He saw her sitting close to the stage in the front row and quietly took a seat behind her. She was completely focused on the performers on the stage and totally oblivious of the people around her.