Authors: Elizabeth Thornton
Briony bristled. It was bad enough that Ravensworth had not solicited her opinion, but to cast her past misdemeanors in her teeth before witnesses was inexcusable. "You have not consulted my wishes in the matter, my lord," she said in a voice clipped with irritation.
Ravensworth's dark brows drew together, and the hand holding his glass of wine froze halfway to his lips. He replaced it on the table and regarded Briony impassively. "Did I not, my love?' His tone was mild but Briony could see by his expression that she had angered him. "Then permit me to correct the omission." He scraped back his chair and offered her his arm. "A turn in the Gardens is in order, madam wife, I think."
Briony's
eyes flew to her cousin's in mute appeal and on seeing it, Harriet started to her feet. "A capital idea," she said in a rush, and reached for her shawl. "Why don't we all go? I've heard that the illuminations are quite extraordinary at night." Avery shook his head in silent warning, but Sir John was before him.
"Sit down, miss," he said bluntly, grasping Harriet by the wrist. "Cant you tell when you're not wanted? I know that you and Briony have been as thick as thieves since you first met up with each other, but I take leave to tell you that you're wide of the mark if you think that Ravensworth and I will permit that unwholesome relationship to continue as before." When he saw Harriet
open
her mouth to protest, his expression hardened. "Did you hear me, miss? I said sit down." He yanked on Harriet's arm and she fell back into her seat.
There was an uncomfortable silence for a moment or two,
then
Lady Esther, with customary aplomb, set herself to ease the tension of what gave every indication of becoming an ugly contretemps. She addressed herself to Ravensworth. "Run along with your bride, sir. On this occasion only, we shall permit you to monopolize
Briony's
society." Her words were lightly spoken and her smile arch. "In future, try to remember,
Ravensworth, that
it is not good ton for married couples to behave like lovelorn
halflings
. I shall send Avery and Harriet to look for you in half an hour."
Ravensworth bowed gracefully in acknowledgment. "Your servant, ma'am," he responded with a returning smile, "and I shall try to compress all my lover-like sentiments in the scant time I have been granted." The look bestowed on Briony, however, in that young lady's estimation, was far from lover-like.
She walked reluctantly at Ravensworth's side, not in the least deceived by the last convivial exchange between her aunt and her husband. She had observed that Ravensworth's temper had been on a tight rein for some time and the conviction was growing that he intended to unleash the full force of his fury against her at any moment. The thought goaded her into taking the offensive.
"How dare you treat me like some brainless child and in front of my relations?" she demanded in a voice tight with anger. "Who gave you the absolute right to decide where we are to reside in the future? It would have been civil in you, my lord, if you had consulted my wishes. Your manners are deplorable."
"
Tch
,
tch
," Ravensworth responded, not at all displeased with
Briony's
show of resistance. "The lady is only a bride of hours and so soon she wishes to usurp the authority of her husband! It would be better for you, madam wife," he went on with an edge of quiet menace in his voice, "if you learned to resign yourself to your fate. You may have tricked me into this precipitous marriage," he added with relish, "but don't think to find me a complacent husband. As my mistress, my dear, you would have been in a much better position to dictate terms. As my wife, you have forfeited every claim except to that of my name and my bed." There was a malicious light in his eyes.
Briony was speechless, but only for a moment. Her bosom rose and fell in her agitation. "
You.
. .unscrupulous, insufferable, ungentlemanly brute," she hissed at him through clenched teeth. "Is this all the gratitude I am to receive for the sacrifice I have made to save your miserable skin? You know as well as I do that this marriage of convenience is as little to my liking as it is to yours."
"Don't put yourself to the trouble of denying that events have fallen out just as you wished," went on his lordship blandly with a sideways glance at his seething companion. "You succeeded where other females failed because you caught me off guard. I never expected such duplicity in a Quaker lady," he added to fuel her fires.
They had come to a secluded part of the walk and Ravensworth halted and turned Briony to face him. She was magnificent when she was angry, he thought as his hands cupped her face. He itched to take the pins from her coiled hair and let his fingers run through the swath of soft blond silk. The thought of the tempestuous night ahead of him as he tamed this wayward girl made his breath choke in his throat. The longing to possess her and make her his own in every respect was a raw ache inside of him. His blue eyes darkening to slate absorbed everything about her. "Deny it on peril of your immortal soul, Lady Ravensworth," he dared her, "that you cherish a
tendre
for me in your breast."
It was so unfair in him to use one of her few virtues to gain mastery over her. How could she answer him? "Don't count on it, Ravensworth," she whispered as his lips moved over her face. "A very small flame is easily extinguished."
His hands moved to her back, molding her to his length. "But I shall take such pains to fan it," he responded, capturing her pouting lips with his own.
Footsteps were heard approaching and Ravensworth reluctantly released Briony. His eyes continued to drink her in as though he could absorb her, and Briony could not bear to tear her gaze away.
"Ravensworth, you sly dog!" a husky, feminine voice intoned. Briony recognized it instantly and inwardly flinched. She turned to acknowledge the presence of Lady
Adfele
St. Clair and noticed with a start that her escort was the Earl of Grafton, quite recovered, so it seemed, from the wound she had inflicted on his lip. The lady's eyes were sparkling with some emotion that Briony could not read. Ravensworth, at her side, seemed completely at his ease.
"Adele!" said Ravensworth with a show of pleasure. "What a delightful surprise. The last time I was in your company you gave no indication that you intended to come to this godforsaken town. I would have thought that the diversions which this magnet for dowagers and graybeards boasts too tame by half for one of your discriminating tastes." His bow to the man who had attempted to rape her, Briony observed darkly, was everything that was civil.
"My dear," the beauty at Ravensworth's elbow said in a throaty voice, "when you told me about your little errand here"—she swept Briony with a patronizing look and smiled knowingly at Ravensworth—"I thought that it might relieve the tedium for you if I should join you, but you have completely overset my good intentions. How could I know that you would fall prey to the wiles of some ingenuous wench? Let that be a lesson to you, Hugh." Then rounding on Briony, the fair lady said, "You are to be congratulated! You have captured the most eligible bachelor in England." Her eyes narrowed with malice. "Grafton told me how you accomplished it, but I shan't hold it against you. All is fair in love and war, is it not?" The challenge to Briony was unmistakable. Ravensworth appeared to be flattered, but Briony was completely taken aback.
"Permit me to offer my felicitations," said a bemused Grafton quietly in
Briony's
ear. She gave him one of her clear-eyed gazes, but was not reassured by the measuring expression which she caught in his eyes. There was something about the Earl that Briony deeply distrusted.
'Thank you," she answered stiffly. He proffered his arm. Briony looked to Ravensworth for guidance but that capricious gentleman had already forgotten her presence and was leading the way with the flirtatious Countess. She fell silently into step with the Earl, watching the couple ahead of her closely as they became engrossed in animated conversation, blond and black heads bent intimately together. Briony felt abandoned.
"I owe you an apology, my lady," she heard her companion say. She felt uneasy. The distance between herself and Ravensworth was growing. Grafton seemed to be careless of keeping pace with their companions and Ravensworth never once looked over his shoulder to ascertain that his wife was following.
Briony's
anger at her husband for such cavalier treatment on their wedding night, of all nights, began to simmer to a slow boil.
"I don't wish to be reminded of your insulting behavior when we first met," Briony finally responded in as cool a voice as she could command. "I prefer to forget the circumstances of that encounter."
Grafton's smile was enigmatic. "Oh, you mistake if you think I mean to apologize for my former conduct toward you. Any red-blooded male would have acted as I. How could I help it?" His admiring look held a hint of insolence. "Your appearance, on that occasion, as I recollect, was far different from the restrained lady whom I am now privileged to partner."
Briony was puzzled. "What then?" she asked, ignoring the blatant provocation in his words.
"I wish to apologize for escorting Adele here to plague you. If I had known that you were to be in attendance this evening, please believe me, nothing would have persuaded me to bring the lady."
"Why, what can you mean, sir?" asked Briony perplexed. "Lady St. Clair has every right to enjoy herself as much as I."
"With your husband?" he asked dryly.
"
Briony
froze
. "
What are you saying, sir? Speak plainly, if you please."
"Forgive me if I have spoken out of turn. I thought you knew."
"What should I know? Tell me at once if you have something to say."
Grafton shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "Ravensworth's long-standing liaison with Adele is universally known. The lady had
ambitions,
I collect, to become the next Marchioness."
It took a moment or two for his meaning to penetrate.
Briony's
eyes widened in disbelief.
"Are you suggesting, my lord, that Adele is his mistress?"
Grafton looked pained. "I have said too much already," he replied in a regretful tone. "This loose tongue of mine will be the death of me. Please forget that I ever mentioned it."
Briony's
mind went numb. As she looked along the walk, she could see that Ravensworth and his inamorata had turned to wait for them. The distance between them gave her a little time to compose herself. She gave a convincing laugh which she hoped was carried to the ears of the shameless couple up ahead. "Do not refine too much upon it, Lord Grafton," she said with a proud lift of her head. "You must know that this marriage is one of convenience only. I am sorry that I have robbed the lady of her rightful place. I take leave to tell you that it was not my intention."
They were on a level with the
Marquess
, and Briony was sufficiently recovered to face the bewitching creature who had pressed herself close to Ravensworth's side. Briony masked the aching pain in her breast and looked defiantly into Ravensworth's questioning gaze.
Ravensworth's eyes flickered to Grafton then returned to Briony. He saw the fragility behind her false air of bravado and knew intuitively what had transpired. In some perverse way, he was glad that she knew about Adele—glad that it had the power to give her pain. In some small way it made up for all the slights which he had suffered at her hands since the first moment of their acquaintance. He had always intended to explain about Adele when the right opportunity presented itself, since she moved in the same circles as he and he wanted to protect Briony from the barbs of malicious tongues. Grafton had got to her first, though, and the damage was done. He cursed himself silently for having delayed in confessing his involvement with the worldly widow. But
Briony's
confounded scruples had made him more dishonest than he wished to be. She was the worst kind of idealist imaginable. Well, tonight she had had a brush with reality and she didn't care for it. What
had she
expected from him, he thought in exasperation. He wasn't a bloodless monk, after all, and it was months since he had given Adele her conge. Briony surely couldn't believe that he had arranged for the notorious lady's removal to Bath. That notion was
idiotish
, and he dismissed it instantly from his mind. He would make it up to
her,
he thought impatiently, his eyes eloquently expressing his silent apology for all he knew she must be suffering.
Briony's
eyes flashed daggers at him. "Ravensworth," she said in a voice brittle with emotion, "Lord Grafton has been amusing me with the latest on
dit
from London, and I can barely wait to share it with Harriet. She will be as highly diverted as 1." Ravensworth's eyes narrowed. "It would appear," she went on with false gaiety, forcing her lips into a smile, "that a gentleman of our acquaintance who has expressed himself quite severely on
my
want of conduct is not the pattern card of propriety which he pretends to the world." She noticed the imperceptible tensing of his shoulders and felt fiercely glad. "I should like to return to my cousin," said Briony, giving Ravensworth her indifferent "cool appraisal"
stare
. "Harriet, like
myself
, finds the practiced deceptions of hypocrites too droll for words."