Wickeds Scandal (The Wickeds) (29 page)

“Shush.  Stop, my Badger. You do not
disgust me.”

Her eyes, glazed with laudanum and wine,
filled with tears. “You mustn’t call me that.” A shaky hand set down the glass
of wine.

“Why ever not?” Sutton rubbed his thumb
over her swollen lower lip.  Just touching her made every nerve in his
body tingle with want.  He wanted the prickly, mulish, spinster in front
of him as he had wanted nothing else in his life. 

Alexandra’s hands fluttered in her
lap.  She tried to turn her head and avoid his stare, but he didn’t allow
her to move away.   Lightly, he brushed his lips over hers.

The Badger moaned softly. Her body leaned
towards him. 

Sutton shot a glance at the door, just in
time to see it swing shut.  No doubt Harry followed The Dowager’s
instructions.

Sutton pressed soft kisses over
Alexandra’s temple and down to her ear, pausing to nibble at the lobe. 

Alexandra placed her palms against his
thighs.  “Sutton,” she whispered against his mouth.

Gently, he pressed his lips to
hers.  His heart beat erratically, as if this were the first girl he’d
kissed.  The kiss became urgent, possessive.  He should
stop.   Guiltily, he knew Alexandra would take exception to being
manipulated, even if she was willing.  Even if it saved her from marrying
Runyon. 

Her hands kneaded his thighs. 
Alexandra’s body became fluid as she molded herself to him.

He pressed her back into the couch until
she lay underneath him.  He half straddled her, one leg on the floor, the
other pinning her small body down.  The wispy lace of her skirt tore
further as he moved his knee.

“Oh, no!”  Her eyelids fluttered
open.  “This is the finest gown I have ever owned.  I wanted you to
see me in it.  I –“

“Find you beautiful in it.”  He
answered the question he saw in her face.  “My Badger.”

Her arms wound around his neck.  She
smiled.  Her hips moved underneath the layers of silk and petticoats.

Sutton’s hand roamed over her
bodice.  He circled the tiny nub of nipple through the silk, massaging it
until it hardened into a peak.  Softly, he pinched the peak.

Alexandra flinched.  Her eyes flew
open. 

Thinking he’d hurt her, Sutton moved his
hand away.

“No.” She took his hand. “He…I’m,”
Alexandra’s faced reddened, “bruised.” She gave him an apologetic half smile.

Sutton swore under his breath. “He will
never touch you again.”

“You can’t promise that – you can’t
–“

It occurred to Sutton at that moment that
Alexandra truly had no idea she was about to be publically ruined at his
hands. 

Voices sounded outside the door. 
Sutton heard Harry denying someone entry.

His lips lingered against the milky flesh
of Alexandra’s breasts. 

“Try to remember how much I want you, as
I’ve no doubt you will want to kill me after this.”   He whispered
into her ear.   “Forgive me.  There was no other way.”  He
pressed his face into the nape of her neck, inhaling the smell of tart, green
apples. He pulled her bodice down farther.

The door burst open.  Sutton looked
up, covering Alexandra with his arm.  He hoped he appeared to be
surprised. 

The Dowager wore a smug, satisfied
smile. 

Lady Jeanette Reynolds stared at their
prone bodies with horror.

 Archie Runyon howled with impotent
rage.

                                                            ***

Alexandra was jerked behind Sutton’s
larger form as the room erupted around her.  Guests milled about the hallway
outside the door, curiously trying to catch a glimpse of the disgraced
Alexandra Dunforth.    Mr. Runyon would never marry her now. 
She nearly fainted her relief was so intense.  Then fear enveloped
her.  Helmsby Abbey.  My God what had she done?

“You!”  Mr. Runyon rushed at
Sutton.  “I should call you out for this insult.  How dare
you!”  Mr. Runyon’s angry words sounded in a whine.

“Then why don’t you?”  Sutton
answered.  “Come on, Archie.  I’m sure Jeanette would stand as your
second.”

A collective gasp came from the crowd
outside. 

Jeanette, her porcelain skin blotchy with
anger, screamed commands to Harry and Zander, who ran to the door. 
“Direct my guests back to the ballroom.  Immediately.”  She stabbed a
terrified Harry with her index finger.  “You will never work for any
family again.  Pack your bags.  No references.”

The Dowager pushed her cane between
Jeanette and Harry.  “I don’t think so. Harry works for me.  Not
you.”  She smiled kindly at the footman.  “Run along to the kitchens,
Harry, and get yourself something to eat.”

Jeanette bared her teeth at the
Dowager.  “
You
did this.  I should have known.  It has
all the hallmarks of an addled, elderly –“

“Stop there, Mother.”  Sutton stood
in front of Alexandra, shielding her.  He faced Jeanette.  

Jeanette closed her mouth at the look on
her stepson’s face.  Her chest heaved in fury.

Alexandra peered around Sutton’s chest.

Mr. Runyon’s face, a bright shade of red,
gave him the appearance of an enraged tomato.  Rage rolled off of him in
vicious waves, causing his slender body to shake.  The pale blue eyes
looked nearly translucent and filled with the promise of retribution as he
glared at Alexandra.

“No!” Oliver Burke stood to one side of
the door, clutching his chest. 

Alexandra wondered idly if her uncle
would have a fit of apoplexy. 

Lady Reynolds watched Sutton with a look
of utter hatred on her face before she turned to the Dowager.  “You
planned this,” she hissed.

The Dowager stood calmly amid the chaos,
one silver brow raised in question.  She barely glanced at Alexandra.
“Really, Jeanette, you can’t think I would ever sanction such
debauchery
.” 
Looking towards Sutton, she composed her face into a mask of offense. “This is
quite uncalled for Sutton.  And, during your stepmother’s birthday
celebration.  Well, there’s no help for it.  You’ll have to do the
honorable thing.”

Lady Reynolds paled.  She marched to
the doors of the parlor and slammed them shut.

Mr. Runyon snapped at Alexandra from
across the room.  “I guess Jameson will walk the streets tonight. 
How will he support his ill wife?”

“No!” Alexandra whispered from behind
Sutton.

Sutton turned to look down at her. 
“I will not allow that to happen.”

Alexandra put her hands over her
face.  The Dowager said her name from across the room.

Lady Reynolds bore down on Alexandra and
Sutton like a crazed harpy. “Over my dead body will I allow this…this..harlot,
who betrayed my cousin’s good faith and honor, to become a member of my
family.”

Sutton laughed at his stepmother. 
“Honor? Oh, that’s rich.”

Jeanette’s face mottled and her eyes
bugged. 

Sutton stepped away from Alexandra, ready
to do battle with his stepmother and Archie.

Alexandra rocked back and forth on the
couch.  What had she done?  Her head throbbed unbearably until she
felt it would split open.   

A low growl sounded behind her.  A
beefy hand caught underneath her arm, and attempted to pull her over the
couch.  Odious Oliver, his eyes bulging with hatred, gave Alexandra’s hair
a brutal wrench. 

Pins fell to the floor as Oliver gripped
the mass of curls and shook Alexandra as a dog would a rabbit.

“You whore.”  Spittle formed at the
corner of his mouth.  “Just like your mother aren’t you?  You filthy,
fucking
whore
.”

Miranda cried in alarm from across the
room.

Every eye in the room turned to
Alexandra’s position on the couch.

Sutton spun about, returning to the couch
so quickly Alexandra barely saw him move.  The grip on Alexandra’s hair
was suddenly released as Odious Oliver flew through the air, landing with a
thud.  Several knickknacks, unaccustomed to being rattled from their
perch, fell to the floor and shattered.

Miranda ran to Alexandra’s side, her
strong arms encircling her.  She whispered into Alexandra’s
hair.   “I’m so sorry.  We didn’t think it would be quite so…dramatic. 
My poor, dear friend.”

Alexandra, still in shock from her
uncle’s attack, reeled with the implications of Miranda’s words.  Miranda
and the Dowager…
planned
to have her ruined!

Sutton sauntered over to Odious Oliver
who lay mewling like an injured animal.  Blood poured from his broken
nose.  Sutton nudged the man with his foot.  “Get out of my
house.  Now.” 

“I won’t agree to this marriage!  I
am her guardian!  She’s to marry Runyon.  She has to marry
Runyon.”  Lord Burke whined and shook his head erratically.  Drops of
blood rained across the Dowager’s perfect parlor.

“Marry?  Why I wouldn’t take this
little tramp out to tea now that he’s had her.”  Mr. Runyon sneered. 
He walked jerkily over to Lord Burke’s prostate form on the floor.  “The
deal is off.  The betrothal is broken.  The entire
ton
will be
afire with the gossip of this scandal by nightfall.”  Mr. Runyon sounded
like shards of ice dropping on marble.  “My solicitor will call upon you
tomorrow, Lord Burke, to discuss the payment of the debt owed to me.”

Uncle Oliver wailed as if he’d been
stabbed. 

 Mr. Runyon turned to Alexandra who
hid her face in Miranda’s shoulder, desperate to avoid his glacial stare. 

Sutton’s large form blocked his path.

Mr. Runyon chuckled, holding up his hands,
all signs of his earlier anger, gone.  “Don’t worry, Cam, I’m leaving.”

“See that you do.  There is an inn
not too far away that you can stay at tonight, as you will not spend another
night under my roof.  Tomorrow, you can escort my stepmother back to
London.”

Jeanette gasped.  “But my
party!  My guests!”

“Your guests are no doubt running to
their carriages in a race to see who will make it to London first.  They
have gossip to spread.  You wished for your party to be talked about for
months.   Now I’m sure it will be.”

Jeanette lost complete control of her
emotions.  She ran at Sutton, her hands up, prepared to claw his face with
her nails.  “I hate you!  How dare you do this to me!” 

Mr. Runyon grabbed her around the
waist.  He smoothed her hair and whispered into her ear.  “Come
cousin, do not waste your time on him.”

Sutton regarded his stepmother as if she
were no more than an insect in his path.  A muscle ticked in his jaw, the
only sign that Jeanette’s words affected him.  “Good evening, Jeanette.”

Jeanette gave a dramatic wail and leaned
against Mr. Runyon as she allowed him to lead her out the door.  “I will
never forgive you, Sutton!  Never!  You will pay for this!”

Mr. Runyon stopped abruptly.  He
swiveled his head to look directly at Alexandra.  “I’ll see you
soon
,
Alexandra.”  He smiled, a chilling grin that froze Alexandra to her
core.  Then he was gone.

Sutton turned to the butler. 
“Zander?  Please dispose of this-“ Sutton jerked a thumb towards Oliver
Burke, who lay sobbing and bleeding over the carpet, “person.  Make sure
that his valet and Miss Dunforth’s maid are packed off as well. 
Immediately.”

“Yes, my lord.”  Zander snapped his
fingers and two large footmen appeared.  “Please escort Lord Burke to his
rooms and stay with him until he is packed.  See that his valet and Miss
Dunforth’s maid go with him.”

The two footmen reached for Lord Burke,
as he swatted ineffectually against their hands.

“No!  She has to marry Runyon! 
She must!”  Lord Burke put his head in his hands. “I’m ruined.  That
little whore has ruined me!”

Sutton brushed aside the two footmen and
wrenched Lord Burke up.  “Have a care for the way you address the future
Marchioness of Cambourne.”  He snarled at Burke.  Sutton shoved Burke
away from him towards the footmen.  “Get him off my property.”

Odious Oliver clawed at the footmen who
restrained him.  He sobbed and wailed.  Alexandra watched in relief
as the two footmen escorted her uncle from her sight.  Sutton’s words sank
in.  The future Marchioness of Cambourne?  She disengaged Miranda’s
arms from around her waist.  She remembered Miranda’s guilty look. 

“Thank goodness that is
over
.” 
The Dowager intoned.  “Sutton, the vicar of Covington owes me a
favor.  I’m sure he will be able to provide you –“

“Stop it!”

The Dowager looked from Sutton to
Alexandra.

“Does no one care what I wish for?” 
Alexandra’s head ached.  Her heart hurt.  Manipulated, first by her
uncle and Runyon, now by the Dowager and Miranda.  And Sutton?  
Had he been manipulated as well?  Did he even truly want her?

 The Dowager reached out and took
Alexandra’s hand in her own.  She squeezed gently.