To Tame a Dangerous Lord (42 page)

“I believe this belongs to you, madame.”

With a wary glance at her husband, the noblewoman took the pouch, but her expression turned to shock when she opened it and peered inside.

“Mon dieu,”
she breathed. Her hands shook as she withdrew a magnificent ruby necklace accented with smaller diamonds and gold filigree. “I never thought to see this again.”

“The necklace is rightfully yours, madame,” Gerard said gently, “since it was stolen from you many years ago.”

“Yes,
Maman,”
Lynette seconded. “Gerard risked his life to recover it for you. You should be grateful to him.”

Lynette was shading events in favor of her beloved, leaving out Rayne’s part in the repossession entirely, but Madeline knew this was not the moment to quibble.

“I know not what to say,” the vicomtesse murmured, tears of astonishment and awe pouring down her cheeks.

The vicomte’s scowl had faded as he studied Gerard’s battered face, but now his voice turned suspiciously husky when he added with evident gratitude, “This necklace is our only legacy from our former life.”

Madeline understood why it was an emotional moment for both aristocrats. At least she’d had a home and a country to belong to, since her English father had wed her French mother and spared Jacqueline the destitute life of an émigré. But Lynette’s noble parents had endured a much harder existence.

The vicomtesse finally regained enough composure to reach up and embrace Gerard and kiss both his cheeks. “My dear boy, this was good of you—exceedingly.”

“It was my pleasure, madame,” Gerard replied with appropriate humbleness. “I wished to repay you in some small measure for the honor of wedding your beautiful daughter.”

At the allusion to their elopement, the vicomte’s dark frown returned. But rather than growling out fresh invectives, he gritted his teeth and cleared his throat in an obvious struggle for forbearance.

Rayne moved to Madeline’s side then and spoke quietly. “I suggest we leave these good people to resolve their differences. Ellis, you have transportation to convey your bride and her parents home to Chelmsford?”

“Yes, my lord. My carriage is stabled nearby. I cannot
thank you enough, Lord Haviland,” Gerard added gratefully.

“As I said before, you should thank your sister.”

Gerard dropped his young wife’s hand and stepped closer to Madeline, pulling her to him in a fierce embrace. “My eternal thanks, Maddie,” he whispered in her ear. “You truly are the best of sisters.”

Feeling the ache of tears in her own throat, Madeline returned his embrace warmly. “Just promise me you will keep out of trouble for a while at least.”

Releasing her, Gerard stepped back, grinning. “I will do my best, I swear it.”

Leaving her brother beaming with relief and happiness, Madeline allowed Rayne to hand her into his coach. As she settled next to him, she felt hopeful that Lynette’s parents might come to forgive Gerard for stealing their daughter from them.

As the coach pulled away from the cottage, she turned to Rayne at once. “I gather Ackerby agreed to sell you the necklace?”

“Yes. You needn’t worry about him any further, Madeline. He means to drop the entire matter.”

“He did not appear too happy about it.”

“He was not,” Rayne replied dryly. “Particularly since I warned him that if he dared to threaten you or your brother again, I wouldn’t hesitate to put a bullet through him. But I gave him a signed vowel, which he will redeem as soon as he returns to London.”

“How much did you offer him?”

Rayne hesitated a moment. “Ten thousand pounds.”

Swallowing a gasp, Madeline gazed at him with regret. He had paid an outrageously exorbitant price so
that Gerard could gain approval for his marriage. “I wish it had not cost you so very much.”

“It was worth it to free your brother from his difficulties. And before you protest your increased debt to me, you should know that I consider the necklace our wedding present to Gerard.”

She felt a rush of gratitude toward Rayne. She had wanted to give her brother a chance for happiness, but Rayne had made it possible. If she hadn’t fallen in love with him before, his generosity would have won her heart irrevocably.

Still, she knew her own chance for happiness had grown depressingly more dim. At the moment she couldn’t read a single emotion on Rayne’s face, but she couldn’t forget his ugly suspicions about her. Without even basic trust between them, she doubted he would ever return her love.

His tone, however, was rather quiet when he spoke again. “I suggest we return to the inn to pay your shot and collect your clothing. And I need a word with James before we return to London.”

Madeline looked a question at him. “We?”

“Yes,” Rayne replied. “I’ll discharge your hired carriage so that you may travel with me. I have urgent business to attend to in London, so I must be on my way as soon as possible.”

She felt uneasy at his plan. With their marriage on such precarious ground, she didn’t know if she could bear so many hours in a closed coach with Rayne. Yet after all he had done for her, she had no right to argue.

When they arrived at The Blue Boar, Madeline dutifully went upstairs to collect her valise. Then, while
Rayne attended to the other matters he had spoken of, she returned to his coach to wait for him.

She was deep in her morose thoughts when Mrs. Pilling came hurrying out to the yard, carrying a large basket, which she handed inside to Madeline. “His lordship ordered victuals for you, my lady. And some hot bricks for your feet.”

It was considerate of Rayne to think of her comfort, Madeline admitted, even though his thoughtfulness was likely driven more by mere courtesy and his particular brand of chivalry toward the fair sex than by his desire to succor her specifically.

The bricks were very welcome, considering how chilled she was. But that, too, was a measure of her despondency, since she suspected her shivers were not solely caused by the brisk weather.

When eventually Rayne settled beside her on the velvet squabs, the feminine places in her body reacted as they always did to his nearness, with heat and longing. Yet other parts of her—her stomach especially—responded by tightening. This was the moment she had been dreading. She couldn’t face any more of Rayne’s damning accusations just now, not when her defenses were so frail.

As the coach began to move, they stared at each other for a long drawn-out beat, the tension rife between them.

Then Rayne surprised her by handing over her pistol. “James professes his thanks for its use.”

To her further surprise, Rayne’s mouth quirked with a semblance of his former humor as she tucked the weapon safely in her reticule. “Isn’t this how we first
met? At an inn, with me returning your pistol after you brandished it at me?”

Madeline, however, could not bring herself to smile at the memory, or argue that she had never actually brandished the weapon at him. Just now she could only regret that first unexpected meeting with Rayne. If not for that, she would never have fallen headlong in love with him and made herself so pathetically vulnerable to crushing heartache.

When she remained silent, Rayne indicated the basket on the floor. “Why don’t you see what Mrs. Pilling supplied? You need to eat.”

She was not particularly hungry, despite the fact that the danger to her brother had passed. But eating offered a distraction from her conflict with Rayne, so she inspected the contents of the basket, finding bread and cheese and cold meats, a bottle of wine, and a flask of hot tea.

Madeline partook of the food without enthusiasm, while Rayne settled for a glass of wine. Eventually he broke the silence.

“I am fully aware that I owe you an apology, Madeline. Several in fact.”

At his quiet admission, she went still, scarcely believing she had heard correctly. Her gaze flew to his face and remained there while he continued.

“You should have come to me when you first realized your brother was in trouble, but I should have been more accepting of your reasons. I regret the accusations I made, sweetheart. I should have known you would not be trysting with a lover.”

Madeline bit her lower lip. Was Rayne saying that she was the kind of woman who wouldn’t attract a lover? Or that he believed her claims of innocence?

He seemed sincere, perhaps even contrite—or was that merely wishful thinking on her part?

“You were right,” he added in the same solemn tone. “I
have
been keeping secrets from you.”

Her searching gaze locked on his blue eyes, while her stomach clenched in a knot. At his mention of secrets, she was suddenly certain Rayne meant to confess to having his own adulterous affair.

Yet his next words dispelled her worst fear. “My absence from Riverwood this past week had nothing to do with having a mistress, Madeline. I am not keeping one. Rather, I was commissioned by the Home Secretary to investigate a plot to assassinate the Prince Regent.”

“A plot?” she repeated after a moment, afraid to let herself feel relief.

“Yes. You recall meeting my friend, Will Stokes? He assumed my duties during my absence today, but events are coming to a head, which is why I must return to London at once.”

“Of course,” Madeline murmured, her sinking despair reappearing with a vengeance. Rayne had left important matters of state at a crucial stage in order to rush off to Maidstone to deal with her problems, and now he was clearly impatient to resume his responsibilities.

“Perhaps it would be best if you returned to Chiswick tonight,” he suggested. “Just now my staff there can better care for you than I can. As can your new friends.”

Madeline flinched inside, even though understanding why Rayne wanted to be rid of her. She would only be a distraction when he needed to concentrate on foiling the plot. Rayne would find it hard to forgive himself—or her—if the Regent was killed while he was away.

“Yes,” she agreed, latching on to the first excuse that occurred to her, “it would be best. I am scheduled to teach at the academy tomorrow, and I have neglected my classes long enough.”

Judging from his expression, it was not the reply he wanted. Yet he didn’t press her. “Very well. My carriage will take you on to Riverwood after depositing me in London.”

Nodding, Madeline returned the remains of her meal to the basket. Then folding her arms protectively over her middle, she averted her gaze to stare out the coach window. The emptiness inside her yawned wide, while countless self-recriminations pummeled her.

She had been such a fool, Madeline reflected. She’d tried to become a
femme fatale
, allowing Rayne to take over her heart so completely that she had become a different creature, one she barely recognized.

She should have known that seducing him would never work, that winning his love would be impossible. She blamed herself most, but Rayne was at fault as well, because of all the things he’d made her hope for, yearn for.

She wished now that she had guarded herself better against hope. If she had, she wouldn’t be feeling this desperate hurt in her heart.

She had to do better at protecting herself, Madeline vowed.

Acting on her new resolve, she eased away from Rayne, from the warmth of his big, muscular body.

“I think I would like to try and rest now,” she said in a dull voice. “I had little sleep last night.”

He hesitated for a moment, as if he might say more, but again he didn’t press. “As you wish.”

Something dark and heavy pressed down upon Madeline’s chest as she curled up in the far corner, facing away from Rayne.

Even though she pretended to sleep, however, she remained awake the entire time, her eyes dry and burning. The rhythmic jolt and sway of the coach was broken at regular intervals when they changed teams.

It was several hours later, after darkness had fallen, when she thought she felt Rayne’s light touch against her nape.

“We are here.”

Madeline sat up as the coach came to a halt.

A footman opened the vehicle’s door, and Rayne gave her a long, silent look before stepping down.

Then he turned back to say quietly, “I meant my apology, Madeline. But we will discuss it when this is all over.”

Only then did she realize that what Rayne was doing could be highly dangerous.

“Please take care,” she urged in a small voice.

“I will, love.”

Love
. He didn’t mean the endearment, of course, she knew as he shut the door. It was merely a figure of speech for Rayne, one he used frequently.

The coach moved on, leaving her feeling excruciatingly lonely and alone. There was a great, deep emptiness inside her that she feared would never go away.

How does one survive heartache, Maman?
Madeline thought bleakly … although she was unsurprised when her mother failed to answer.

Faith, but she was miserable, Madeline thought as she drove herself home from the Freemantle Academy the following afternoon. Not even the lively enthusiasm of her pupils during a French grammar lesson had been able to dispel the gloom that covered her like a shroud.